Curtain call for longtime teacher

On the almost completely dark stage of the vast theatre at John Rennie High School, Grandmamma watches as a tiny hand puppet of a mouse looks up.

"How long do mice live?" The animal, her transformed grandson, asks her as Roald Dahl's The Witches near its ending.

"Not very long, I'm afraid," Grandmamma answers.

"How much longer will you live?" The mouse asks.

"Oh, not very long, I'm afraid," Grandmamma answers again. At this, the mouse rejoices, stating they will at least die together.

All is quiet and dark in the auditorium as the Pointe Claire school's students plough through their last full Saturday practice before a week of performances begins.

Their teacher, Louise Chalmers, sits alone, a small flashlight tied to the cap resting on her head flitting to and fro between pages of her notes and the stage.

"You've already said that," she gently but firmly reminds one of her pupils as he repeats a line during the rehearsal by mistake.

It has been 35 years now that Chalmers, a Lachine resident, has directed theatrical productions for John Rennie's drama class, and this one is the last.

She is facetious about retiring in person during an interview. "You get your full pension at 35 years," she says with a laugh, but adds that it has been long enough, and that she wants to stop while she stills enjoys it and does not feel burnt out quite yet.

She remains modest about her long track record.

"Somebody has to head (the plays) up, so I guess that's me, but it takes all of us to make it happen," she says, citing the example of John Rennie graduates who return to lend her a helping hand with productions.

Beaconsfield resident Grace Gordon, who now studies theatre at Dawson College, is one of those students, and decidedly less modest about Chalmers' accomplishments. "She's just such a fantastic woman," Gordon says, sitting outside the auditorium as practice for The Witches continues inside.

Gordon, who starred in two of Chalmers' plays throughout high school, said it was only natural for her to come back and help out now as Chalmers "was there as a mentor through all of high school" for her, and qualified her departure from the scene as a loss. "I'm so upset she's leaving," she says with a laugh, adding she understands why Chalmers was doing it.

Some of her other students have gone even further. Nicolas Wright, who appears every Monday night as a freeloading roommate to Jenna Elfman's boyfriend on CBS' Accidentally on Purpose sitcom, began his acting chops under Chalmers at John Rennie. He remembers arriving at the school halfway through an academic year in Grade 8, with production on Three and a Half Musketeers, a take on the classic novel by Alexandre Dumas, already underway. However, she saw clearly that he was passionate about acting and gave him a chance as an extra regardless. "She's so good at finding peoples' talent," Wright says, adding Chalmers may finally have the time, now that she is retiring, to catch up on watching all the drama and theatre she wants, without running after everyone.

For some students, her influence on theatre in Montreal, beyond the confines of John Rennie, are very clear. Wright recalls Chalmers was instrumental in bringing the Canadian Improvisation Games league to La Belle Province. Meanwhile, another former student, Alex McCooeye, has no doubts that rows of Montreal's professional actors have been through the program.

"I'm sure there aren't any statistics ," McCooeye, now an actor with the newly restarted National Arts Centre English Theatre Acting Company, says, but adds that many of her students have gone on to become pros. "A good number of them have gone through the theatre program and her teaching," he says.

Strangely, her students will get exactly that message this year when they see McCooeye perform live on-stage for the NAC's English Theatre Company's first couple of plays, Mother Courage and an adaptation of A Christmas Carol. Incidentally, he had played in yet another version of Charles Dickens' classic back at John Rennie with Chalmers.

"I didn't know he was in it when I bought the tickets," Chalmers says, laughing at the coincidence.

In theatre, a few seconds can seem like an eternity, however, and that show will have to wait until curtains fall on Chalmers' and her students' production of The Witches.

"This one has been very hard this year because of the swine flue," she says, mentioning an amount of absences during practice sessions that was higher than normal.

Still, the energy can be felt on-stage as her students practice. Even extras in a dining scene do not simply sit motionless at their table, instead acting out a silent lovers' spat behind the main actors.

Some of her students are hoping Chalmers, after many years of behind-the-scenes action, finally hops on stage to play the role of Grandmamma on the show's last night. "It's that whole idea of the ending, you see," she says, remarking on the parallels of the aforementioned dialogue and her retirement. But, as of the interview, she is undecided.

The Witches will be performed to the public on Dec. 10 and 11 at 7:30 p.m. Call (514) 697-3210 for tickets or show up at the door.