Artistic Process

The Enderby and District Community Play was by, for, and about the community. We were guided by the plan laid out in Ann Jellicoe’s book “Community Plays: How to Put them On” London: Methuen, 1987). Jellicoe, a London playwright, struck upon the form after moving to a small town in Dorset England, where she was asked to write a play for the school and it expanded to involve the whole of the community. Because the story was about the town itself, involving people of that town who were connected to the story in many ways including some being related to the historical characters, the performance had a depth of commitment and unusual and thrilling qualities for both audience and performers. 

The form was brought to Canada by playwright Dale Hamilton, who had worked with the Colway Trust in England, and presented the first of the Canadian community plays in the community of Rockwood, Ontario in 1990. Rachel VanFossen spearheaded another in Fort Qu’appelle, Saskatchewan. 

In Enderby and District, a local steering committee was formed to support the process. For an intense 18 months, we did outreach in every possible way, following the rigorous principle “Everyone’s Welcome”. We held events involving many individuals and groups, each of which was eventful in itself: a Mardi Gras, Dandelion Day dance, Womens’ History month, a Floating Lantern Ceremony, open workshops in mask-making, puppetry, comedy, improv, song. Stories were gathered in a multiplicity of ways and places: school classes, seniors’ gatherings, and drop-in gossip sessions. The cultural historian of Splatsin Band, Rosalind Williams, took on the collection and selection of stories from the First Nations Community, and joined the writing team of local resident Cathy Stubington and visiting Director James FaganTait. 

When the script was ready, we held auditions and everyone who came had a part - starting with 70 and growing to the final 163. Rehearsals went on for three and a half months culminating in the two-week run, for which there were no absent cast members!

Rosalind joined James in directing the play and local musician Murray MacDonald led music both choral and instrumental. At an open workshop in an empty wing of the hospital, many people helped to create the costumes, masks, puppets and props. Ruth Howard (now Artistic Director of Jumblies Theatre in Toronto), who had designed costumes for both previous Canadian community plays, was able to share her experience and spend three months in Enderby helping local sewers to generate a huge wardrobe of costumes, while Cathy led in making puppets and props. The more the people that gathered the larger the project became, and because our intention was to involve everyone, we allowed the project to expand in as many ways as possible up until the final days.

Participation & Impact

This lengthy, multifaceted process was powered by continuous invitations to participate, which allowed for in-depth learning about the past and the present, as well as the birth of many relationships (both individual and collective) that wouldn’t have otherwise happened. 

*For anyone interested, photos documenting the collaborative process and final community production are held at the Enderby and District Museum, as are other archival documents about the play.

The play itself had a very special relationship with the people from the area who came to see the play. They were seeing their home in a new light, hearing and seeing the stories and history of the place they lived in take a new shape, whether they were newcomers or oldtimers. Many in the audience had taken part in the lead-up events -- sharing stories, making costumes -- and were thus part of the success of the project. Others came from further away - from outside the valley, and from other parts of BC both rural and urban, some even from across the country. 

It was a remarkable collaboration between indigenous and non-indigenous people/communities (long before Truth and Reconciliation was on the table), which could be seen and felt in the performance and around it. The selection of stories were not simply a celebration but brought to the fore many local concerns and challenges that the writers heard over and over during the research process; issues that were not often talked about. 

The play project offered myriad opportunities to take part in the arts, which was exciting for participants who had never thought of themselves as creative. People joined in from all walks of life, getting to know people they would not have otherwise, crossing many social boundaries. Children, teens, adults, and seniors all enjoyed each others’ company in this intergenerational effort (inspired very much by practices of Splatsin community). 

“Not the Way I Heard it”  is part of precious personal and collective memories. For a long time, the play put Enderby on the map -- changing its reputation from being a “drive-thru town” or “Enderbush” to a place of positive collective artistic action. It was the foundation of Runaway Moon Theatre and of an ongoing practice here of Community Engaged Arts, and collaborations with many organizations.

A few years later, a group of people assembled to make a huge mural commemorating the play, that is on the back wall of Enderby’s City Hall building. The lead artist was Frances Hatfield, with many local residents helping out.

The play was largely funded as one of the selected projects for a pilot project called Arts and Communities (a collaboration between BC Arts Council, Canada Council, and Vancouver Foundation) and showed what could be achieved when professional artists work with the broader population with a common goal. Being part of this pilot made sure that the Play Project influenced artists, communities and funders across the country. It directly inspired a similar project in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver (“In the Heart of a City” produced by Vancouver Moving Theatre) and a network of community play practitioners, who continue to consult and share their work to further enhance and explore this form.