The Toronto Star, August 25, 1997
Ontario Theatre Kingston Summer Festival

The Kingston Summer Festival is closing its theatre season two weeks early as a result of an irreconcilable dispute with a member of the company.

Productions of "Sir John Eh?" and Mad Boy Chronicle, written about extensively in Saturday's Star by drama critic Geoff Chapman, were to continue at the Grand Theatre until Sept. 14 and Sept. 12 respectively. Now they'll shut down at the end of this month. The dispute is with actor Michael McManus, who plays the key role of the "mad boy" Horvendal in Mad Boy Chronicle (a variation of the Hamlet tragedy) and five parts in "Sir John Eh?" (a musical about the life of Canada's first prime minister) McManus has appeared on stages across Canada and in Britain.

"The actor insists on pulling out Aug. 31. We have made every effort to seek a replacement actor and have tried to find other solutions, but it hasn't been possible", said festival executive producer Nancy Helwig. Kingston festival to wrap up early: organizers cite actor's resignation. James Adams.

The sudden resignation of a main performer at this year's Kingston Summer Festival has forced the event to wrap up two weeks ahead of schedule, organizers say.

However, the actor in question, Toronto's Michael McManus, says he shouldn't have to bear the brunt of the blame.

McManus resigned from the festival's repertory company late on the evening of Aug. 15, saying he would be leaving his key roles in the plays "Sir John Eh?" and Mad Boy Chronicle at the end of the month. The festival's artistic director, Jim Garrard, and executive director Nancy Helwig tried last weekend to dissuade McManus from leaving but were unsuccessful. According to Garrard, "no clear reason" was given for McManus's sudden departure.

Festival organizers announced this week that a season that was supposed to end Sept. 14 will now be concluding Aug. 30. Helwig said McManus is virtually irreplaceable in that he plays "four or five singing and dancing parts" in "Sir John Eh?" and is the co-star of Mad Boy Chronicle. Because the repertory company consists of only nine performers, there is no real understudy for his parts.

Helwig, said McManus's abrupt departure will likely cost the festival, now in its fifth year, $50,000 in gross revenue, including $20,000 in refunds to patrons, and result in layoffs of 30 performers, stage hands and other support staff.

McManus said yesterday it is within his contractual rights as a member of Actors Equity to give two weeks notice. Moreover, he argued "it would be easy to replace me; that's the nature of the business we’re in."

What prompted his departure, he said, arose shortly after his arrival in Kingston when "I found out that I would have to move out of my rental accommodations Sept. I to make way" for students returning to Queen's University.

He and other members of the company said they asked festival organizers for help in finding new accommodations and parking, but their response "wasn't very helpful." Earlier, the organizers had suggested that the company should spend its last weeks in the Alexander Henry, an icebreaker that has been converted to a bed and breakfast. McManus declined because he said the Alexander Henry had restrictive hours and prohibitions against smoking and pets, among other "hassles."

McManus added that he felt the real reason for the cancellation of the festivals last weeks had more to do with poor attendance at the 485-seat Grand Theatre than his departure. In fact, at least one other member of the company had announced he was leaving before McManus without precipitating a crisis.

Helwig acknowledged yesterday that attendance has not been especially high at this year's festival, which began July 1 with productions of Fool for Love and The Comic Lover. "We definitely needed more people than we got."

On several occasions, the theatre was filled to only 10 per cent of capacity. However, the final two weeks of the scheduled season promised to be the most profitable as students and staff would return to Queen's from holidays and at least two corporate nights had been organized. Performances of Sir John for 3,000 Kingston-area school children had also been organized.

Helwig agreed that finding decent accommodation for actors "is a perennial problem." However, "they knew that before they came to Kingston. . . . We also did give them a list of places, with addresses and prices that were available for two weeks and asked them to look at them themselves."

She indicated that the Kingston festival will return next year for a sixth season, but it will be on a "restructured basis."

Copyright © The Toronto Star 1997 All Rights Reserved.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_A._Macdonald Canada's first prime minister John A. Macdonald

http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/vol6/no1/sirjohneh.html Sir John, Eh? - A Musical in Two Acts