St Ann's Academy | Auditorium

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Chapel

Humboldt Gates

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Auditorium

he stage was, of course, the focal point of the auditorium. A proscenium arch was created above the stage space. This arch was the space between the curtain and the audience. At six metres wide, with an ornamental plaster frontispiece and set with lights, the arch was an attraction in itself. The stage and forestage were fitted with proper stage lighting, and behind that, a backdrop and wings in heavy velvet drapery awaited the opening of the curtains.

Castle Drop Curtains
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The original drop curtain for the auditorium stage was painted when the auditorium was built in 1910. The work was done by Sister Mary Osithe, "who, knowing Victoria to be essentially English in character, chose as her subject a typical English scene - Warwick Castle". (from essay by Rosette Lee, Grade 10, in The Aquinian, 1934) This castle was originally built by the Normans and rebuilt in the 14th century. Complete with swans and a moat, the mural-like painting was a fitting scene for the many dramatic productions put on by the people at St. Ann's.

Theatrical productions, plays, pageants, choir concerts, ballets, operettas and creative mixtures of the performing arts were the highlight in the education of many students at the Academy. The Sisters and students were renowned for these theatrical events. Every Christmas, a pageant was staged, with a Christmas theme, and a Nativity tableau, complete with stables and angels. Girls were selected to play Santa and Mrs. Claus. A special concert, in which the choir played a key role, was also planned. The girls would usually sing in their uniforms, but one year, one of the Sisters acquired the special red robes of the altar boys, adding a splash of colour and a festive spirit to the stage. Choir performances were very popular, and held often.

Auditorium Today
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Many Sisters were talented seamstresses, and the students were taught needlework and sewing skills, so the costumes were often masterpieces. These clothes were stored in different parts of the school, starting above the stage, and in the attic, until there became so many that they were moved out into an old house built for laymen working at the Convent. There were ballerinas, Virgin Maries, of many shapes and sizes, Medieval garb and angels. If there was no sign of what a young director was seeking for her characters, new costumes were designed. Fabric, buttons, feathers and the like were recycled many times.

Auditorium c.1955
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During the early 1950s, Dorothy Galvin, a young writer, scripted the play "Lady of the Lake", inspired by the study of the writing of Sir Walter Scott in the English programme. The Grade 7 class was sent to the auditorium to produce the show. The students recall that the Sisters "turned us loose into what we used to call the 'flag gallery', and all the costumes and everything." It was the girls who did the research, learned the lines, found the costumes, made the sets and did everything else associated with the production, almost all on their own. The play was a success, and "It was because the Sisters gave us the freedom." (S. Scott) Little Women, Joan of Arc and many other wonderful stories with an unusually high number of female roles required, were acted out on the auditorium stage.

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