Sunil Mahtani
Publicity Director, Theatre Lac Brome & Artistic Director, Sunshine Theatre Productions

THEATRE LAC BROME
For close to 30 years following Brae Manor Playhouse's final performance, there was no English theatre in Knowlton. It took another expatriate to revive it. British actress Emma Stevens, who trained at the Guildford School of Acting and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, came to the Townships in the late 1970s. Infused with a love of theatre, she, like the Sadlers before her, began training the young people of the region. She organized workshops with the Knowlton Youth Group and directed plays in the early eighties. A professional company, Theatre Lac Brome, was created in 1986, and, for two seasons, its plays were mounted at the Glen Mountain ski lodge and the Lakeview Inn, the same hotel the Sadlers played in.

History continued to repeat itself as a consortium of local businesspeople, some of whom remembered the vibrancy of Brae Manor, decided there should be a permanent summer theatre in Knowlton. Gerry Wood, owner of the Knowlton Pub, built a 150-seat theatre at the rear of his building to be leased to the Theatre Lac Brome in 1988. From its initial eight weeks of summer theatre, Theatre Lac Brome has developed into a year-round cultural centre with professional theatre running from mid-June to Labour Day and features an active community theatre the rest of the year.

Lakeview Inn, c.1930. (Photo: Farfan Collection)

Since 1991, under the artistic direction of Nicholas Pynes, a transplanted New Yorker, Theatre Lac Brome has sought to reflect the cultural diversity of Quebec with such plays as Marie-Lynn Hammond's bilingual De Beaux Gestes et Beautiful Deeds and Michel Tremblay's The Impromptu of Outremont. By producing French works in the language of Shakespeare, the theatre is weaving together the common heritage of all Canadians and bringing a new spectrum of plays to theatres across the country.

From the Brae Manor summer playhouse to Theatre Lac Brome's year-round activity, theatre has contributed immeasurably to the economic and cultural vitality of Knowlton and the Eastern Townships, helping to make the village a destination of choice for visitors and adding an important dimension to the quality of life to those who choose to make the Townships their home.