A vivid imagination coupled with fierce determination enabled Diane Dupuy to put a number of developmentally handicapped people on the world stage. As founder and artistic director of Famous People Players, she has won the support of such entertainment luminaries as Liberace, Paul Newman, Phil Collins, and Tom Cruise and the admiration of countless thousands who have seen the unique black-light puppet show performed at its own Dinner Theatre in Toronto or on tour across Canada, the United States, and even China.

Diane had plenty of naysayers when she obtained a small grant and a church basement, in 1974, for a group of mentally challenged people to manipulate puppets on stage. Some health professionals felt she was demanding too much of them, and some parents worried their children were being “exploited,” but Diane, whose own early life had been, at times, one of hurt and frustration, persisted even though it took a year for the group to master a three-minute skit.

A native of Hamilton, Diane left school at 16 when she failed grade nine because of a learning problem that she had had since childhood. Best described today as an attention-deficit disorder, it was largely unrecognized by anyone when she was at school. It caused some classmates to call her insulting names and her father to banish her to the basement because of her below-average achievements. At six, however, she “got the greatest gift of my life” when her mother gave her a cardboard puppet theatre and Diane found an outlet for her untapped, vivid imagination and creativity.

On leaving school, she put her puppets aside to work at several unsatisfactory jobs before rediscovering her beloved puppets when she was 20. Because the originals were too small, her mother, now divorced and a successful dress designer in Toronto, built a new set while Diane created the skits, one featuring Prime Minister Trudeau’s courtship of Barbra Streisand. She also talked her way into staging her own show at the Canadian National Exhibition where Bill Cosby saw her act and told her about European puppet theatres that use black lighting in which the performers wearing black are invisible.

The idea of creating such a show using people who are mentally challenged occurred a few years later after she had worked for a handicapped association. Her ambition, however, was not just marginally to improve their skills but to develop a thoroughly professional troupe, even though some of her candidates could barely dress themselves, couldn’t read or write, and would get lost on the city’s public transport system. Despite these concerns, she persevered, using a mixture of anger, threats, scorn, persuasion, and love to train 11 young adults to manipulate the life-size puppets designed by her mother, Mary Thornton. One of Mary’s first designs was of Liberace with his piano and candelabra and Diane, determined that he should see the result, boldly crashed a party honouring him while he was in Toronto.

Liberace was amused but did not see the show for another year. When he did, he loved it and invited the troupe to be part of his six-week show at Las Vegas, a booking that continued annually for several years. He also used them on tour and introduced them to others who could help them get bookings. In 1986, they won critical acclaim on Broadway with a show that not only featured puppet replicas of such stars as Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Elton John, and Phil Collins but also had whimsical skits involving fish, chickens, and a sleeping Santa Claus. “No praise is too high for the visual art effects, the lighting, and the dazzling expertise of the unseen performers,” wrote a New York Post critic.
 

Founded nearly a quarter of a century ago by Hamiltonian Diane Dupuy, C.M. (1981), viewed here standing next to Newman’s Own Bandito Diavolo, Famous People Players is a troupe of professional artists made up of mentally challenged individuals who have learned to manipulate puppets on stage and perform dramatically and innovatively using black lighting. “No praise is too high for the visual art effects, the lighting, and the dazzling expertise of the unseen performers,” wrote the New York Post when the troupe played Broadway in 1986. [Photo, courtesy Famous People Players]

Their success prompted a CBS Movie-of-the-Week called “Special People” and appearances on a number of talk shows. It also prompted Diane to write Dare to Dream, an account of the founding and early struggles of the troupe; profits from its sale were reinvested in Famous People Players. Then she dared to dream a second project: to build a restaurant/theatre complex in downtown Toronto so that her veteran performers who wished to give up touring or take on a new challenge could do so.

Paul Newman was among those she consulted. He encouraged her by donating funds for the kitchen through sales of Newman’s Own products. After several failures to find proper facilities, she struck a deal with the owners to convert the old warehouse that had served as their rehearsal hall for years. She hounded numerous corporations and individuals for support, and the project became a reality when the Governor General, in 1994, officially opened the $3 million complex. Since then it has been — like the Famous People Players themselves — a hit, attracting not only tourists and Torontonians but also numerous groups who enjoy its tasty food, good service, and the dazzling show that follows.

Now Diane has a new dream. It is, she told Linda Peterson of A&E Biography Magazine in its April 1997 issue, “To open a home for these people to live in when their parents are gone,” and the writer concluded, “It’s a safe bet she’ll do it.”

Mel James