An Interview with EODL 2023 Best Director: Stephanie Haines

By Stephanie Haines and Albert Lightstone

As we gear up for the start of our 111th season, we fondly look back at our last season (2023). OLT had once again outdone itself in the offerings of plays: comedy, Agatha Christie, Norm Foster, Jules Verne, Charles Dickens; all 10 plays had something for everyone. Wait one minute, did I say 10 plays? I must have meant 9 plays. Actually, it was 10 plays.

Every year since 1937, OLT holds a National One-Act Playwriting Competition, now organized by our very own Bob Hicks. Sometimes we select one of the winners to enter as the OLT’s submission of the EODL (Eastern Ontario Drama League) One-Act Play Festival. This year’s entry was entitled The End of the Day written by Ron Davies and directed by Stephanie Haines. We were treated to a preview performance at a Pub Night for volunteers on October 21. And then in early November at the EODL Festival hosted by the North Grenville Community Theatre in Kemptville, Stephanie was awarded the prize for Best Director.

I took a moment and sat down with Stephanie to chat about this well deserved victory.

Where are you from?
I am originally from Labrador City, Newfoundland. Moved to Ottawa at age 16 and have been back and forth between Toronto and Ottawa ever since.

What do you do for a living?
I work remotely for TD Bank as a Communications Manager.

How did you end up in Ottawa?
This time around? (This is my fifth time living in Ottawa). I recently moved back to Ottawa to help care for my amazing aging parents. 

How did you become involved with the theatre?My first play was in high school; I played Lucy in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. I remember being bent on getting the part. I rented VHS tapes of Charlie Brown cartoons and studied Lucy.

What else have you done in theatre?
After playing Lucy, I decided I wanted to pursue acting, so I studied Theatre at U. of Ottawa. I then moved to Toronto (the first time) to get an agent, act, the whole nine yards. With OLT, I’ve done a fair bit. I’ve acted in five plays (spread out over 30 years). I’ve been props designer, stage manager, lighting crew, costumes assistant and prompter.

What is the EODL?
The Eastern Ontario Drama League is a wonderful organization that fosters development and interest in the performing arts. It provides community theatre a medium to showcase plays in a fun, spirited, competitive way. [Albert: Please note that I had previously interviewed Val Bogan about the EODL which you can read about here.]

Have you directed before?Yes! I studied directing as part of my undergrad at U. of Ottawa. I had an amazing teacher – Peter Froehlich. Under his tutelage I directed several scenes, then a one-act. I always chose the classics – e.g. scenes by Tennessee Williams. The one-act was by Edward Albee; one of his lesser known plays – Counting the Ways. I also had a job with Parks Canada where I directed a series of historic plays about Eastern Ontario; plays about the Rideau Canal, Thousand Islands National Park, Fort Wellington in Prescott, Laurier House. I did this for three years. Lastly, I directed a play for the Fringe once – called My Mother’s Daughter, (now titled Corners).

Did you just want to do the one-act play or would you have preferred to do one of the longer season plays?The one-act suited me perfectly. I was in a play, and working full-time, so it fit my time schedule.

Where did this play come from?
The End of the Day was one of the winners of the 2022 Ottawa Little Theatre National Playwriting Competition. I was given a choice of the three winners to direct, and I chose this one because of its relatable subject, and it was funny. The author’s name is Ron Davies – he’s been a winner in the playwriting competition multiple times. I wanted his play to be staged.

What was your vision for directing?
To have fun! And we did, every step of the way.

Is the approach for a one-act play different from a full-length play?
Great question! It’s less work LOL. As an example, if you estimate the number of rehearsal hours as one minute of script equals one hour of rehearsal, we only had to have about 45 hours of rehearsal. You still put in equal(?) time on the strategy and vision, but overall it’s less time for sure.

How many performances did you actually put on?
We did two – one at OLT as a sort of dress rehearsal, and our show in Kemptville. 

Any challenges in putting on the play?
Of course! Where do I start? I had a lot of anxiety when I first took it on, as I had to search for a team. But once I had the tech team and actors, I was okay. Another challenge was figuring out how to get the set pieces to Kemptville. Lindsay Laviolette and Venetia Lawless helped with that (among multiple other things), as did Jim Mantle.

What were you looking for in terms of the actors to portray the characters?
I was looking for honest performances. For me, that’s the most important thing. For this particular play, I needed two actors who could play multiple characters/accents. I was looking for actors who could handle different accents while still being understandable. This was super important to me. For the lead character, I was looking for a strong actor who could hold the audience’s interest from beginning to end.

How did your actors pull off the characters?
I had two actors who were more “method” and one who was not. So they approached the characters in very different ways. For the two women, we talked a lot about objectives and obstacles; the “why’s” etc. For Chisholm, I discovered that his approach was very different. His character came to life more when we focused on the physicality – different mannerisms and movements that he portrayed – so that when he did them, his character looked more anxious (as the play went on). I had a lot of help from Cynthia Sugars for this.

How does the selection process work?
I built my tech team first, and I spent a lot of time and thought on this. Then I held open auditions at OLT, and had duos go off together to practice various scenes before going on stage to perform.

Were you nervous?
The only time I felt nervous was just before we went up at OLT. Once the play started, I was fine. By Kemptville I felt pretty confident.

How did you feel when you won?
I couldn’t believe it! I honestly felt like a million bucks. And so incredibly proud of the cast and crew.