When ‘The Sound of Music’ opened at the Walter Twinn Theatre on March 20, 1987, the cast and crew had their share of opening night jitters. They knew they had something pretty special cooked up, but it wouldn’t matter if nobody showed up to taste it.
Of course the people did show up. They showed up in big numbers and loved every minute of it, proving that live theatre is appreciated in Slave Lake and confirming that town council had done the right thing in providing the building for a new theatre.
The success of The Sound of Music set the tone for many productions to follow, up to and including last fall’s ‘Murder Most Fouled Up.’ ‘Murder’ – which had a six-show run – turned out to be the final play at the Twinn Theatre, which has been deemed unfit for public events. After a mere 17 years of existence, the theatre that so many worked so hard to establish is no more. The Slave Lake Musical Theatre Association (MTA) and all its equipment are homeless.
But in March of ’86 nobody was thinking about how long the building might last.
By all accounts The Sound of Music was a huge success. Directed by Chet Gilmore, the Rogers and Hammerstein musical about the von Trapp family in pre-war Austria featured 22 acting roles, plus a nine-member chorus and eight dancers. They proved that the Walter Twinn Theatre was big enough for a major musical. Lorraine Cook played Maria von Trapp and Jim Dearden was Captain Georg von Trapp. Current theatre stalwart Dave Symington appeared in his first Slave Lake production in the role of Baron Elberfeld. He’s also listed in the program as a dancer.
Gilmore says they managed to fit it all in “by being creative.” That included having part of the cast perform in the aisles in some scenes.
“It was a bit tricky,” says Heather Labrie, who played Sister Sophia. But it worked. The people came, drawn perhaps by the notoriety of the play but probably also to see the new theatre in action. This would be a new experience for all involved.
“It was wonderful,” says Labrie. “The whole atmosphere was different (than doing a play in a school gym).”
Gilmore says he was reluctant to accept the director’s hat for such an ambitious project. As he wrote in the program notes, he first declined the challenge on two grounds: first that the story line “was too sentimental and priggish. The other reason was that SLMTA was too limited technically to pull it off.”
Gilmore allowed himself to be persuaded and later realized he had been wrong on both counts.
The way it turned out, “blew me away,” he says.
The Musical Theatre Association had acquired the building that became the Walter Twinn Theatre three years earlier. Thanks to the efforts of MTA President Bob Meredith and others, town council agreed early 1984 to turn over the former Alberta Housing office and shop to the MTA. The deal was they could have it for five years at a cost of one dollar per year.
Winning council’s approval had been a bit of a battle. There was some dispute as to whether the MTA should get the lease on the building when other groups (the library in particular) was looking for a new home at the same time. The Slave Lake Fire Department was also apparently eyeing the building for a new home in 1983. Newspaper reports in late 1983 said council was holding off a decision pending, “more detailed financial plans” on how the MTA will renovate and operate its facility if it gets it. Working against the MTA proposal was the fact the town could lose $85,000 in revenue over the next five years from a property in a prime downtown location. Some suggested that the theatre group should wait for a new complex that could house a theatre, the library and a museum. Councillors Dave Kryskow and Florence Pearson both supported the lease, but said they thought it an inappropriate location for a theatre. Councillor Gordon Ferguson supported it too, but said the town would have to look for a larger facility as the town grows.
According to the newspaper reports, the history of the ambitious musical theatre group helped to sway council. Since its formation in 1973, the MTA had staged Hilites from Broadway (1973), World of Walt Disney (1974), Oklahoma! (1975), Finian’s Rainbow (1976), Fiddler on the Roof (1977), South Pacific (1978), My Fair Lady (1979), Mame (1980), Oliver (1981), Annie Get Your Gun (1982), Camelot (1983) and An Evening With Neil Simon (1983). Those were just the major ones. As council deliberated , two more shows were in the works for 1984: Hello Dolly! and Arsenic and Old Lace.
Mayor Pally Pillay and town council approved the lease in late January, 1984.
The body of the theatre-to-be was a two-bay garage. The MTA estimated they’d need $175,000 to turn the building into a theatre, but they later scaled it down to an $82,000 job. Starting in the summer of 1984 a small army of volunteers threw themselves first into fundraising and then renovating.
Donations of cash, labour and materials from dozens of businesses, organizations and individuals helped. There was no shortage of willing hands, but the need for funds slowed the process down. SLMTA Treasurer at the time, Adie Versloot, says the association held several raffles. They ended up securing a loan from a local bank to finish off the renovations, but even that wasn’t enough.
“We didn’t have enough for lighting,” says Gilmore. “I knew of a way to make lights out of soup cans so that’s what we did.”
Pat Potvin – owner of the nearby Granny’s Kitchen – saved up some cans and Gilmore and crew converted them into stage lighting for the first show or two at the new theatre. By the following year proper lights were installed.
How did the theatre get its name? According to Gilmore it was a decision of the executive of the day to honour Sawridge Chief Walter Twinn.
The theatre was ready to host shows by the spring of 1985 when the MTA was doing Rogers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!. Gordon (Curly) Ferguson says he distinctly remembers rehearsing in the theatre. But due to the large cast, director Belinda Pack decided the new theatre wasn’t big enough and Oklahoma went ahead at Roland Michener School.
The new theatre hosted some minor shows such as coffee houses and guest performers from out of town in its first year or two of operation. One of the early functions was a December, 1986 ‘Coffee House Variety Show’ billed as “the first of its kind in the Walter Twinn Theatre.’ It featured performers John and Shelley Waniandy, Danielle Dalton - the ‘singin’ solicitor,’ Pat Guidera, The Poop Reporter, Jim Dearden singing ‘songs from a bleeding heart,’ John Tarsitano, Susan McNeely and Shelley Leishman and the musical quartet of Richard Bourgoin, Doug Gagnon, Donovan Gilmore and Shelley Waniandy.
The first major show at the new theatre hit the stage in March of 1986. It was the Slave Lake Children’s Theatre production of “Peter Pan’, directed by Chet Gilmore. It had a cast of about 70 young performers, with Faye Kryskow as Peter Pan, Michelle Millar as Wendy and Jeremi Seinen as Captain Hook. The kids got a big kick out of performing at a real theatre, says Danielle (Larivee) Dennis, who was in Grade 6 at the time and played Mrs. Darling.
“It was very exciting. It felt much more professional than when we were doing it in our school gym.”
The theatre hosted something completely different in the summer of 1987. The burlesque revue ‘Sorry ‘Bout That Too!’ was a big hit during Riverboat Daze of that year. Directed by Gilmore, ‘Sorry ‘Bout That returned to the Walter Twinn for two succeeding years during Rubberboot Daze.
“It was a good moneymaker,” says Gilmore.
The little theatre was home to another ‘major’ production in the early spring of 1988 with Neil Simon’s ‘The Odd Couple,’ directed by Belinda Pack. It featured Steve Wilde as the slovenly Oscar Madison and John Tarsitano as his neurotic roommate Felix Unger.
The Belinda Pack pack was back in the fall of the same year with ‘Jitters,’ starring Dave Zuberbier, who of course went on to a distinguished five-year career as a Lakeside Leader reporter.
At the close of 1988 the MTA reported to town council on their record of keeping the theatre busy during the five-year initial term of their lease. Council was impressed and renewed the lease.
In February of ’89 two one-act plays appeared on the Walter Twinn stage – Cinderella Wore Combat Boots, and Babel Rap. April of that same year saw a return of the large-cast musical with ‘Guys and Dolls,’ directed by James Jack. The 1989 season finished off with ‘Resurrecting Will’ a Shakespearean coffee house.
In the 13 years that followed the theatre was in regular use for theatre and musical performances and rehearsals (see accompanying list). Following the smash success of last year’s Murder Most Fouled Up, the MTA had planned to produce ‘No Sex Please, We’re British’, but with the lease revoked those plans are shelved for the time being.
“It is sad to see,” says Gilmore, who lives in Island Lake but visits Slave Lake regularly. “I hope the Town of Slave Lake can see to replace the Walter Twinn Theatre with a better facility. You can do (shows) in a high school gym, but they’re not built for music or acting.”

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