It goes without saying that $2 bought a lot more back in 1965 than it does now. But not even Doreen Ramus, who was there at the birth of the Howe Sound Drama Club, could have guessed that it would buy some 35 years' worth of laughter, cheers, songs and tears for the citizens of Squamish.
As Ramus tells it, what was to become Squamish's first local theatre troupe began at a dinner party at which eight couples - mostly relative newcomers to town -were asked to put $2 each onto a plate.
"As I looked around, I thought maybe some of these people could act," the club's co-founder, now 87, said during a recent interview. "We were having a good time and I asked everyone to put $2 on a plate and said we're going to start a drama club."
That $32 was used to purchase scripts for the play Aladdin, produced and directed in 1966 by Ramus, who had been involved in local theatre back in England starting from the age of five. Audrey Owen, as Aladdin, and Al McIntosh, as the Genie of the Lamp, starred on stage at the Mamquam Elementary School gym.
While the Howe Sound Drama Club folded in 2000, the company grew to become a community institution, tackling two or three productions a year. The memories of those productions have been collected into a series of photos, newspaper clippings and the like for something called the Howe Sound Drama Club History Project.
Thanks in part to a grant from the Squamish Arts Council, Ramus, Tony Biggin-Pound, Eric Andersen and Louisa Jardine-Ourum pulled together the exhibit that's now on display in the atrium of the Artisan Building until early May.
Those involved in past productions, their family and friends, or those just interested in taking in a slice of local history during the centennial year of the town's renaming are invited to wander and peer through the Artisan's windows along Main Street, across from the Squamish Public Library.
The foursome pulled together the collection from the scrapbooks of various local families, including that of Bob and Audrey Owen, who were with the club from the start. Photos from Detlef Rudolph and Al Bird, both skilled amateur photographers, and by Rose Tatlow of the Squamish Times, are also featured, as are play reviews written for the Times by Constance Rulka and Forrest Johnston, and for The Chief by Patricia Heintzman.
After that inaugural production of Aladdin, the drama club attracted community-wide interest, Ramus said.
"From there on, a lot of people came on board to act and to direct, and work backstage - it was incredible," Ramus said. "This is why I want to do this, to honour those people who worked so hard to keep the drama club going in every aspect."
Most of the more than 75 productions were comedies, she said. But the final production, Camelot -produced by Rosanna and Detlef Rudoph and directed by Jardine-Ourum -was a musical.
"Probably between 1,000 to 1,200 people have been involved in those many productions over 35 years," Andersen said.
The club, which staged productions at local schools as well as the Brackendale Art Gallery, Brennan Park Auditorium and Eagle Eye Theatre, folded in 2000. According to Ramus, "I just felt that I could not battle anymore for places to perform. I think my get up and go had gone," she said with a wry smile.
She said the fact that the Kathy Daniels-led Between Shifts Theatre "was going great guns" at the time made it easier for her to pull the plug on the long-running drama club.
"I wanted to be sure there was a future for theatre arts in Squamish before deciding to shut the company down," she said.
The staff at the Squamish Public Library has been helpful in locating newspaper clippings and such. As well, local artist and curator Linda Bachman has lent her technical expertise to the Howe Sound Drama Club History Project.
The group is currently fundraising to help it assemble the collection into a large scrapbook that will be available for permanent display, as well as an online exhibit celebrating the club's history. For information about donating, or to contribute to the collection, email Ramus at [email protected]
