BF23: Miles Potter comes out of semi-retirement to direct 'Chronicles of Sarnia'
BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN
Canadian theatre stalwart Miles Potter will be directing Chronicles of Sarnia this summer at Memorial Hall, coming out of what he’s categorized as semi-retirement to do so. Really, Potter says he’s just about retired, but for the fact that he’s taken on this project.
Potter has been an important part of Canadian theatre for 50 years, from his early acting days as a member of the Theatre Passe Muraille troupe that collectively created The Farm Show and 1837: The Farmers’ Revolt to a long and robust acting career to directing shows at theatres big and small across the country in more recent years. He and his work researching The Farm Show even served as the inspiration for The Drawer Boy by Michael Healey, one of the country’s most celebrated and widely-produced plays.
Now, as he’s chosen to ride off into the sunset, he’s kept the door open for projects with a select number of people or theatres and an unofficial condition that he be able to either walk or drive to work.
After directing the world premiere production of The New Canadian Curling Club at the Blyth Festival several years ago, written by his friend Mark Crawford, Potter says he began considering bowing out of the day-to-day workings of the theatre world. He was convinced to direct a tour of the show in Winnipeg and says that when he returned home he remembers performing a small, quick dance in the hallway, knowing that he’d flown to a theatre to work for the last time.
As a young theatre professional, Potter said in an interview with The Citizen, staying in a hotel isn’t bad, as it’s an upgrade to where you’re living. Then, after a while they level out, only to, later in life, be eclipsed by your home and he feels he’s reached that time in his life.
While he has directed in Stratford, Blyth and Toronto, many of his directing projects were in far-flung parts of the country like Vancouver, Winnipeg and Calgary and that time away from home was no longer appealing to him. Potter also says he now has a four-year-old grandson whom he and his wife Seana McKenna spend much of their week with and that suits both of them just fine.
After “retiring”, Potter would again team up with Crawford to direct Crawford’s one-man play, Chase the Ace, as part of the Blyth Festival’s 2021 outdoor season at the Harvest Stage. Then, he received a call out of the blue from Artistic Director Gil Garratt about overseeing a workshop of Chronicles of Sarnia.
Potter gave it some thought but, in the end, told Garratt to save the Festival’s money and not worry about a workshop, but rather go straight through to producing it. Some more time passed and Garratt put the ball back in Potter’s court, saying that if he was so enthusiastic about the project, perhaps he’d consider directing it and he eventually agreed.
Potter says he’s looking forward to diving back into the process, especially with the group of actors that have been assembled to bring playwright Matt Murray’s vision to fruition. There’s Crawford, of course, his long-time collaborator, and Severn Thompson, who Potter remembers bouncing on his knee when she was a baby and he was touring with her parents Paul Thompson and Anne Anglin for The Farm Show.
This is far from Potter’s first foray with the Blyth Festival. In fact, Potter has been a member of the Huron County theatre community since before the Festival was even created. He came to the area with the Theatre Passe Muraille group that would go on to create The Farm Show under the direction of Paul Thompson, which would prove to be a watershed moment for Canadian theatre.
Potter would also go on to direct The Drawer Boy, another of Canada’s most famous plays. Written by Michael Healey, it tells a fictionalized story of Potter and others as they worked to create The Farm Show. Potter directed the first production of it for Theatre Passe Muraille, while the late David Fox, one of Canada’s great actors and another who was part of The Farm Show, acted in the show.
At the Blyth Festival, Potter has directed many shows, including memorable collaborations with playwrights Beverley Cooper - Innocence Lost: A Play About Steven Truscott and If Truth Be Told - and Mark Crawford with Stag and Doe, The New Canadian Curling Club and Chase the Ace.
When asked about the impact he’s had on Canadian theatre over 50 years, Potter says it feels good to have accomplished all that he has, and that he is content in having no regrets when reflecting back on his career.
One thing he takes tremendous pride in is that he was one of a few theatre professionals who worked his way up from the radical, collective creations of the 1970s to some of the biggest theatres in Canada, but remained in touch with and working at some of the country’s more modest theatres as well. Having that breadth of a career, he said, makes him feel as though he’s accomplished something both unique and special.
Chronicles of Sarnia opens on Saturday, Aug. 5 at 2 p.m. and closes on Friday, Aug. 18.