A mutual friend introduced Alexis and me over Facebook. Our first face-to-face meeting was only 48 hours later at a Second Cup in Westboro where she lives. In between her job, her mentorship with David Whiteley at Plosive Productions, and producing her own theatre, Alexis is a busy person. She graciously made time for me at 10 a.m. Saturday morning over coffee.
Fast Facts
- Alexis struck me as a very down-to-earth and grounded person. She moved very calmly and calculatedly, buttering her bagel with total precision. However, she also seems to have the capacity for great bursts of enthusiasm.
- She’s the oldest of three girls. “It’s a lot of oestrogen,” she said.
- She misses her cats. She has two, which are currently with her family back in her hometown of Perth.
Projects
Alexis loves alternative venues. Loves them. She co-founded the theatre company Vacant House about a year ago. Their first play was The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine, which they put on in the basement of The Ottawa Backpackers Inn.
“We want to make an experience for an audience that you can’t get anywhere else,” she explained.
She has a show coming up in May in another basement. I laughed and asked if she does it for the cool venue or because the space is cheap to rent out. Without skipping a beat she said, “Yeah, this one’s free!”
This upcoming basement production sounds really exciting. The actors will use the fridge and cook on the stove found in the space during the performance.
She also has aspirations of using death row in the Ottawa Jail Hostel for a show. So far that’s proven difficult to work out logistically since the haunted walk uses the space for their tour. “It would be so cool though,” she said.
Philosophy on education for artists
When she graduated high school her family suggested she go to U Ottawa, but like many high school grads, Alexis wanted to move out of town. She was accepted into the University of Windsor’s prestigious theatre program. However, Alexis quickly found that the program didn’t suit her.
“I learned so much, but it just wasn’t the way my brain works,” she said.
The program was very rigorous, requiring both practical, hands-on work as well as 40-page academic papers. The aspect of the program that really didn’t jive with Alexis was the faculty’s approach to moulding the students’ futures.
“It was like, this is where we see you going, so we’re going to make you into that,” she said.
As Alexis made clear, she is definitely not comfortable with forcing artists into working a certain way. She is much more in favour of letting the artists determine their own approach to the work. She feels that this method brings out everyone’s strengths.
So, with University of Windsor not working out, Alexis took a year and a half off. She eventually found herself taking night classes at the Ottawa Theatre School, which inspired her to apply for their three-year certificate program. She was accepted and as she said, “It was the best place that I could have ever gone.”
She explained to me that the Ottawa Theatre School tailored the program to each class, changing to suit the needs of each particular group. This meant that, in contrast to Windsor, OTS didn’t try to type cast the students.
“They were extremely nurturing. I didn’t know going into the program how nurturing it would be, but it was exactly what I needed,” she said.
Alexis was part of the last graduating class OTS ever had, since it closed its doors due to financial troubles.
Ottawa theatre scene
OTS was responsible for welcoming Alexis to the Ottawa theatre community, which she now considers family.
“I wouldn’t be in Ottawa if it wasn’t for theatre,” she said. “I have nothing else here. When I go to shows and stuff I’m seeing my friends again.”
I found this to be really profound. The trend amongst most of the theatre people I knew was that you had to leave Ottawa in order to “make it”. The consensus seemed to be that you would have to go Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton, Vancouver, or the holy grail – New York. Literally anywhere but here.
But maybe we all had it wrong.
Alexis has found a warm, supportive community right here in Ottawa. And it’s the reason she stays.