By Kelsey Jacobson
In February and March 2021, Kelsey Jacobson interviewed eight “avid audience members” as part of the Gatherings project: people who identified as theatre aficionados due to their consistent attendance at various theatre productions over the past several years. Sandy Moser, for instance, was nearing 1000 shows attended before COVID-19 hit, while Vera Kadar had attended over 1300. Perhaps more impressively, both had records tracking their attendance at all of these shows.
Each of the eight interviewees offered passionate descriptions of their theatregoing past, describing their personal memories and the individual forms of archiving they use. In conversation, they walked Kelsey through their past experiences with rich detail, thought, and reflection. Taking their interviews together, themes emerge about theatrical valuation, the audience experience, and the ways in which micro acts of preservation offer insight into both individual and collective meaning-making processes.
Research Assistant Chanel Sheridan, who assisted in the analysis of the data, put together this audio project to share the voices of the Gatherings interviewees: Don Kendal, Francie Kendal, Kit Moore, Barbara Moore, Vera Kadar, Shirley Davis, and Janis La Couvée.
Photos from left to right: Robin Hood by the Lakeside Players in Kingston, ON August 2023. Audience photo of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Bridge Theatre in London, UK June 19 2019. Everybody by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins at the Dan School of Drama and Music in Kingston, ON in March 2023.