It’s been just over a week since the announcement from the University of Windsor President Robert Gordon that he had chosen to shut down the University Players, along with the EPIC Centre, due to budgetary constraints. The University Players is a professional level theatre company operated out of the University’s School of Dramatic Arts. Students from several facets of the department come together to mount six productions per school year. Now, due to a unilateral decision by the University’s Administration, this training ground for students no longer exists.

The University Players has an illustrious history spanning 65 seasons. It is foundational to both the education of its students as well as the cultural fabric of the city of Windsor. While Windsor has several theatre companies ranging from independent to professional theatre, I know from first hand experience how challenging it can be to attempt to operate a theatre company in that city. To have done so for 65 years is truly a Herculean feat.

The University Players allows students to find their passion within the theatre world, providing them hands on experience throughout their degree on productions of all genres and time periods. Everything from set to lighting, makeup and hair, costumes and front of house are ALL duties which are taken on by students. With professional guidance from their professors who are notable theatre artists in and of themselves, these students get the opportunity to learn from the inside out what it takes to work in a professional theatre environment. I have personally witnessed success stories of our graduates in several different facets of the theatre world just here in Toronto alone. Would any of it have been possible without this practical element to their education?

Since the announcement, it has come to light through an article in the Windsor Star that the decision was not brought before the University of Windsor’s board, thus being made without any consultation. The article states “Current board chair Helga Reidel told the Star Tuesday that the decision to kill the program was made at the administrative level without consulting the board, an oversight body responsible for governing and managing the affairs of the university.” (https://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/uwindsor-board-members-blindsided-by-decision-to-terminate-university-players) There’s something about this which truly doesn’t sit well with me at all, and is part of the reason why I wanted to take some time to write about the situation. The fact that the board wasn’t consulted, that this decision might not have happened should the board have been presented with it, haunts me. The entire point of having a board is to help make decisions like this one, so why weren’t they a part of it? Why did the University’s president and other members of the administration go around their own board?

For those of you in the GTA reading this and wondering “what’s this got to do with me?” you’ve likely seen the work of a UWindsor Drama grad within the past 6 months, heck probably within the past 2 or 3! Do you like going to the Stratford Festival? The current Artistic Director, Antoni Cimolino, is a graduate and so are many of the actors you see on stage there. We’ve had Dora Award winning performers and designers who all got their start by helping to produce a play at the University Players, six recent graduates nominated this year alone. You’ve witnessed their excellence time and time again, and it stems from the education they received there.

Personally, I was a patron of the University Players for the vast majority of the time I spent as a student, as well as several years after I graduated. The student rate for tickets was unbeatable, and my friends and I got subscription packages so that every second Thursday performance, we were there. It made for a lovely break and a nice night out for all of us. I continued to attend long after my graduation as I was then running my own theatre company, as well as assisting with others, and would go to see the artists I was working with perform. I’ve seen everything there from Chekhov to Miller, Molière to Shakespeare. After graduation, I even helped to do research on a production of Twelfth Night; it was a formative glimpse for me into the world of directing/assistant-directing which would help shape the next few years of my theatrical career.

What’s most important to me is that going to see the University Players so often is part of what sparked my interest in writing about theatre. I was seeing 6 shows a year at that theatre alone, and these talented artists deserved more coverage than the dwindling offerings from the major papers. Without UP, I wouldn’t have gotten the itch which has lead to a career doing what I love most: seeing theatre and sharing my thoughts about what I’ve seen.

Last week, I sent an email in to the President of the University, as well as to the Alumni Association to express my shock and disappointment with their decision. Normally, I’m a proud UWindsor Lancer, proud of my alma mater and the education I received there. But now that pride has lessened, as the thing which made my time there enjoyable and exciting will be no more. There has been an outpouring of letters with sentiments much like mine, and one can only hope that so many voices coming together will at the very least prove the strength, passion, and wide reach which this renowned institution has had on the community.

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