Festival Lennoxville

Festival Lennoxville

Festival Lennoxville opened in 1972 at BISHOP'S UNIVERSITY in the Eastern Townships of Québec. Drama department chairman David Rittenhouse and director William Davis founded it to present new productions of outstanding Canadian plays staged earlier by other theatres across the country. Their first season included Ann Henry's Lulu Street, George RYGA's Captives of the Faceless Drummer, and Mavor MOORE's The Ottawa Man. Robertson DAVIES's A Jig for the Gypsy and Hunting Stuart, Lister SINCLAIR's The Blood Is Strong and Ted Allan's The Secret of the World were 4 older plays revived. Plays by Michael COOK, Sharon POLLOCK, Betty Lambert, David Freeman, Herschel Hardin and Michel TREMBLAY were presented. Richard Ouzounian, artistic director from 1978 to 1980, had to adopt a more commercial version of the original policy, selecting more musicals and comedies to attract larger audiences and increase revenue. Festival Lennoxville cancelled its 1981 season to reduce its deficit and to give new artistic director Scott Swan time to plan. However, in spite of Swan's efforts to design a repertoire that would appeal to both anglophone and francophone audiences, Festival Lennoxville closed permanently after a truncated 1982 season.