There was a belief long ago that taking a photograph would capture the superstitious believer’s soul. Naturally it’s not true (I think), but if it were, Bob Hicks would be the guardian of all 320 souls as represented by the photographs on the upper lobby walls. As the one responsible for the head shots, he ensures that they are up to date with the proper faces beaming back at the viewer from the current show boards.
Pictured here is Bob Hicks in his Ottawa Little Theatre cycling Jersey standing in front of his 2011-2012 Lost in Yonkers poster board.
Bob has been involved with the OLT for the past 35 years. Over the decades, he has acted in over 20 plays (9 with his partner Jane Morris) and has been a member of the Season Planning Committee and the Chair of the Learning Committee. He is currently organizing the National Playwriting Competition.
Prior to retirement, he worked as a librarian and as a programmer & MIS director and the combination is certainly being put to good use both in cataloguing and displaying the photos as well as developing the software program which Jane uses to archive the 106-year history of the OLT. If needed, Bob can always be called on to use his librarian skills to shhhhh anyone who is being noisy during a performance.
The process that Bob has developed is quite regimented because he is working with a strict time frame. The photo boards must be completed prior to opening curtain on opening night. Given that sometimes the photos may be delayed or there is an early fundraising opening, the time frame may be altered abruptly. That being said, he has successfully delivered on all 9 plays a year since he started in January 2018 at the request of the OLT staff.
His system is mostly based on the volunteer database and he works in close collaboration with Jane and Maria (our resident photographer). Jane maintains the database. She proofreads the house program and enters the new show with cast and crew. Bob then produces a report before each show that sorts all qualifiers by the date they last qualified and the number of total shows they’ve been involved in. The walls of the lobby are divided into sections A – N, with A being on the south wall along Besserer, F,G,H,I being the four rows that face King Edward, and N being the North wall of the Janigan Studio. Our production board has 18 headshot slots, which are always filled. If there are more than 18 qualified people in the show, we do group shots. If there are fewer, Bob picks non-qualifying volunteers to fill the holes. As new volunteers arrive and we need space for them in the foyer, he pulls photos for people who haven’t appeared for a while. (The last photos he retired were from November, 2015). He tries to remove photos for people who have only done one show.
Although sounding quite complicated, it actually works seamlessly and this is why photos should not be taken off the walls by just anybody because it would disrupt the well oiled system.
As you glance around at the faces, there are certainly some famous alumni from past OLT performances. These include: Jessica Holmes (actress, comedienne Royal Canadian Air Farce), Stephen Hart (6’11” actor who once played Frankenstein’s monster at the OLT and was “The Voice” on CBC’s The Current), Raoul Bhaneja (television actor and musician), Holly Larocque (actor Under the Umbrella Tree, Homes By Design) , Dan Aykroyd (actor, musician Saturday Night Live, Blues Brothers, Ghostbusters), Luba Goy (actress, comedienne, Royal Canadian Air Farce). Saul Rubinek (actor director – Unforgiven, Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Blue Bloods), Rich Little (impressionist, voice actor), Robin MacNeil (news anchor, journalist MacNeill/Lehrer Report).
We would be remiss if we did not mention one last characteristic of Bob. He is a champion cyclist successfully winning many North American championships. He also teaches courses and does a lot of work for the Ottawa Bicycle Club, one of the oldest and largest cycling clubs in North America.
During the cycling months you can see him working in his racing gear around the OLT and we love the cycling jersey with the OLT logo. What a great promotional piece for the theatre being pedalled around the city.
– Albert