Having a network of support is vital to creating anything, says a local thespian.
COVID-19 put everything into perspective for Jessie Bergeron.
“Like many others, I was evaluating my life and thinking life’s too short and what really brings me joy and fulfills me, and right away I was like, art. Theatre,” she said.
Reaching out to other performers and artists, to submit her work when she saw calls for artists, put her on a path back to theatre.
“It was like the universe just responded tenfold,” she said. “Any calls for artists, I just started to try. For every 20 rejections, you’ll get one acceptance and that’s all it takes, so that put me into connection with the right people.”
Lisa O’Connell at Pat the Dog Theatre Creations was one of those connections, and that relationship led in directions Bergeron did not expect.
“She said, if you’re interested in pursuing this, I’ll bring you into a writer's room, and you can continue to develop your craft,” she said.
Bergeron kept working with her growing network of friends and mentors and learning as she participated in the Play Smelter festival in Sudbury.
That’s when the need for something similar in Timmins hit her.
“During one of our many conversations, I just mentioned that Timmins needed something like this, and Lisa said, then do it,” she said. “We kept talking about it and the ideas started to really flow and what it could be and how it could help and invigorate the community.”
It took two years of work to put the Tamarack Festival together, and she’s hopeful it can help other artists in the city build their own network.
“For me, when I was living in Timmins, I did a few shows at Take Two, and I was part of the Timmins writers group, but I still felt isolated because there isn’t the support financially or resource-wise that you have in urban centres,” she said. “That was the need that I saw, was to build that infrastructure so that there are places for artists to turn for support and that we’re actually valuing artists as an integral part of any community.”
Bergeron wants to see future performers have space and support to work in the north, allowing them to share stories and art specifically from the north.
“I already knew that wanting to be an actor, I was going to have to leave Timmins, and I don’t want that to be the case for future generations,” she said. “I want them to be able to say ‘I’m going to be an artist, whatever that artform is, and I’m going to do it here in my hometown.’”
She also wants to see people who have stepped back from the arts to get back out there.
“Because I had stepped away for almost a decade, it really felt like I was an imposter that was trying to get into this world that I wasn’t part of, that I didn't belong to anymore,” she said. “I still deal with the imposter syndrome, but I just decided to ignore that part of my brain.”
“This is a baby step toward trying to build that infrastructure for theatre,” she said. “And the talent is here!”
She points to the theatre program at O’Gorman High School as an example of the support needed for the next generation of performers.
Compensating artists and performers is one of her goals with this weekend's festival.
“We need compensation because, without it, we can’t continue to practice our art because we’ve got our joe job, and we get burnt out there, and there’s no energy left,” she said.
The support from the wiser arts community has bolstered her.
For the inaugural festival she's wearing multiple hats — organizer and director. Her show Witches in the Woods opens on Saturday, Sept. 14 at 2 p.m. at the Timmins Museum: National Exhibition Centre.
“The support is unbelievable,” she said. “They’re driving from the Sault and from Kitchener just to support, and there’s something special about that. There’s this spirit of collaboration.”
Sharing experiences and hard stories is part of what she sees as the power of theatre, said Bergeron.
“My focus right now is on our stories. I want to tell northern stories,” she said. “I feel like theatre is a way we can change people’s minds and hearts because it is such a full-on experience.”
The full schedule for the Tamarack Festival this coming weekend is available on the website.