Rick McNair (1942–2007), was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

basketball player and coach. He was the former Director of

Theatre Calgary Theatre Calgary, is a theatre company in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, established as a professional company in 1968. It was preceded by Workshop 14, a theatre study group founded in 1944 by Betty Mitchell. Calgary's ''Betty Mitchell'' awards are ...

and the

Manitoba Theatre Centre Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre (Royal MTC) is Canada's oldest English-language regional theatre. Next to the Stratford and Shaw Festivals, MTC has a higher annual attendance than any other theatre in the country. It was founded in 1958 by John ...

and the founder of the

Winnipeg Fringe Festival The Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival is an alternative theatre festival held each year for twelve days in July in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. History Founded in 1988 by the Manitoba Theatre Centre with Larry Desrochers as the first Executiv ...

. Born in

Amherst, Nova Scotia Amherst ( ) is a town in northwestern Nova Scotia, Canada, located at the northeast end of the Cumberland Basin, an arm of the Bay of Fundy, and south of the Northumberland Strait. The town sits on a height of land at the eastern boundary of th ...

, he died in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

on January 31, 2007.

Early years

McNair grew up in

Sarnia Sarnia is a city in Lambton County, Ontario, Canada. It had a 2021 population of 72,047, and is the largest city on Lake Huron. Sarnia is located on the eastern bank of the junction between the Upper and Lower Great Lakes where Lake Huron fl ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

where he was very active in sports, in particular basketball and baseball. Upon graduation from college he began a teaching career that eventually led him into the theatre. While teaching at Galt Collegiate Institute & Vocational School (now located in Cambridge, Ontario) in the late 1960s and 1970s, he was responsible for establishing the Theatre Arts Program and Curriculum at GCI and a student performance group called the GCI Harlequin Players. Rick was a devoted teacher and had an affinity for recognizing and developing skills and talents in students that surpassed their own self cognizance. He was also one of those teachers who always had time for a chat, school related or not. He also had a close affiliation with The Galt Little Theatre.

Career

Although successful as a teacher and basketball coach, he was smitten by the theatre and in 1977 headed west and joined Theatre Calgary as the director of Caravan, which was a touring theatre troupe that traveled to schools throughout

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. In 1979 Caravan was rebranded as Stage Coach Players and is known today as Quest Theatre. McNair's sojourn as artistic director at Theatre Calgary began in 1979 and was characterized by a particular emphasis on Canadian playwrights, commissioning works from writers such as

Sharon Pollock Sharon Pollock, (19 April 1936 – 22 April 2021) was a Canadian playwright, actor, and director. She was Artistic Director of Theatre Calgary (1984), Theatre New Brunswick (1988–1990) and Performance Kitchen & The Garry Theatre, the latter ...

, John Murrell and

W.O. Mitchell William Ormond Mitchell, (March 13, 1914 – February 25, 1998) was a Canadian writer and broadcaster. His "best-loved" novel is '' Who Has Seen the Wind'' (1947), which portrays life on the Canadian Prairies from the point of view of a smal ...

among others. From Theatre Calgary McNair moved to Winnipeg, where between 1986 and 1989 he was Director of the Manitoba Theatre Centre and where he continued to emphasize Canadian writers. McNair also founded the

in 1988 and was an active participant in many small venue productions as a writer, director and actor. His last production was as director of

Tom Stoppard Sir Tom Stoppard (born , 3 July 1937) is a Czech born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and politi ...

's "After Magritte". McNair explored many different performance media. In 2001 he penned the libretto of Turtle Wakes, a one-act opera for young people, with music by Allan Gordon Bell. This work was originally commissioned by the

Calgary Opera Calgary Opera is a Canadian opera company based in Calgary, Alberta. The company has its administrative base at the Mamdani Opera Centre, a facility in the Wesley United Church, since July 2005. The company gives its seasonal mainstage productio ...

in 2001, and it was toured to

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

and Southern Alberta schools again in 2005. Over the years he gave many performances as a Story Teller, traveling to schools throughout

as well as the Winnipeg Children's Festival, the

Winnipeg Folk Festival The Winnipeg Folk Festival is a nonprofit charitable organization with an annual summer folk music festival held in Birds Hill Provincial Park, near Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The festival features a variety of artists and music from around the ...

and The Winnipeg Fringe Festival. His story telling experiences eventually led to the writing and publication of a children's book, The Last Unicorn of the Prairies, illustrated by Chris McVarish-Younger. In addition to the many other backstage aspects of performing that McNair participated in, he was also a player and actor appearing in small parts in film and television. He appeared in many plays and his last role was as the

Ghost of Christmas Present The Ghost of Christmas Present is a fictional character in Charles Dickens' 1843 novella '' A Christmas Carol''. The Ghost is one of three spirits which appear to miser Ebenezer Scrooge to offer him a chance of redemption. Following a visit ...

in the 2005 Manitoba Theatre Centre production of

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. ''A Christmas C ...

Other contributions

McNair contributed to many aspects of the culture of Winnipeg, he and partner Richard Orlandini operated Borealis Books for many years, they were thoughtful bibliophiles who set the standard for a used book store in a city that is renowned for them. At the time of his death McNair was the President of the Manitoba Association of Playwrights.

Works

Plays :Napi, The First Man :Beowulf! :Punch & Polly :Chagall :Dinosaurs :Dr. Barnardo's Pioneers (Theatre Calgary, 1978) :Hamlet - Who Cares? (Theatre Calgary 1979) :Ghost Town (Theatre Calgary, 1982) :To Far Away Places (Ship's Company Theatre 1989) :The Frank Slide - One Hundred Seconds :Global Village (2001) :Gulliver's Travels :A Life in the Movies (2001) :Merlin and Arthur :No More (2001) :Shoe Fly Blues (2002) :Sit Calm! (2001) :Merlin and Arthur (2004) Libretto :Turtle Wakes (Calgary Opera 2001, 2005) Children's Book :The Last Unicorn of the Prairie

See also:

List of Canadian writers This is a list of Canadian literary figures, including poets, novelists, children's writers, essayists, and scholars. __NOTOC__ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X ...

List of Canadian playwrights Playwrights from Canada include: A * Marianne Ackerman * Kawa Ada * Evan Adams * Carmen Aguirre * André Alexis * Hrant Alianak * Martha Allan * Anne-Marie Alonzo * Karim Alrawi * Janet Amos * Debra Anderson * Hugh Abercrombie Anderson * Joh ...

References

Rick McNair entry in the Canadian Theatre Encyclopedi

br /> Theatre wiz Rick McNair deserved bette

Winnipeg playwright McNair die

Rick McNair, Playwrights Guil

br /> Winnipeg Free Press Obituar

br /> Rick McNair entry in the Internet Movie Databas

br /> "Manitoba's Artistic Community Mourns the Passing of Former MTC Artistic Director Rick McNair", ''Ovation''. Studio Publishers Inc. Volume 14, No.6. April 2007, p. 17. {{DEFAULTSORT:McNair, Rick 1942 births 2007 deaths Bibliophiles 20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights Canadian theatre directors Canadian theatre managers and producers Sportspeople from Sarnia Canadian male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian male writers Canadian artistic directors