Kay Meek Centre is ushering in the summer season with the announcement of a new executive director as well as offering a preview into its programming notes for 2016-2017.
Rob Gloor assumed his new role as head of the West Vancouver cultural institution June 21, following in the footsteps of Jeanne LeSage and Paul Gravett.
“I really love the North Shore and the people on the North Shore and this is a really special venue. People all over the place know that Kay Meek Centre is a very wonderful, special theatre. It has so much opportunity for great programming in this absolutely amazing environment. It’s a lovely room, there’s also the studio theatre, which is a great flexible space. It’s a really interesting venue that can do a lot of variety of programming, which is exactly what we do,” he says.
According to the 46-year-old Bowen Island resident, there are many aspects of Kay Meek Centre that excite him.
“One of them is all of the programs that we’ll be presenting but the other is the many partnerships with the other groups in the community that make the Kay Meek Centre their home for, some of them one night a year, some of them many times throughout the year. I’m very excited about working with the arts groups, ensembles, the arts community and all of the people who support them as members of the audience. We have a really special asset in West Vancouver with this theatre and it’s an honour to be given the opportunity to steward its relationship with the community,” he says.
Gloor has a strong background in the arts. Prior to coming on board with Kay Meek, he served as executive director of the Alliance for Arts and Culture. Other recent roles include principal with GSI Management Consulting (which saw him work with a variety of arts organizations, including Lions Gate Sinfonia), managing director of Pacific Cinémathèque and executive director of Orchestra London Canada.
“I grew up outside of Stratford, Ont., and always had music and theatre as the themes of my childhood. It was just always a part of my life growing up and that was partly by circumstance. I was living near one of the great theatre centres in the world, and so I had opportunities there that were right in my backyard. But also my family went out of their way to make sure that music was a part of my experience growing up and that I had access to piano lessons and singing in choirs and all of that sort of stuff that helps to shape the experience of a person. . . especially when you’re in a rural area and don’t necessarily have access to all of the amenities of a big city where so much is going on. I was very fortunate to have access to so much,” he says.
At university, Gloor studied both music and business.
“It was always in my head that I wanted to work in the arts but I was really interested in the business side of the arts - that was in my head from the time I was a teenager really. So producing theatre, productions, even in high school and university, was a part of my experience. … Managing a touring choir at university, coming out of my bachelor’s degree and moving into the general management of a youth orchestra when I was 21, was probably what solidified it for me and I’ve been in that business ever since,” he says.
Gloor is excited about Kay Meek’s 2016/2017 season, set to launch in September.
One of the biggest and most popular offerings of the centre is its Music in the Grosvenor Theatre series, which this year is featuring performances running the gamut from world music to rock ’n’ roll to jazz.
“We’re opening that series with the continuation of a bit of a tradition. This show, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust: A Vancouver Celebration, is building on the excitement and momentum of a couple of previous years, like last year’s Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out!,” says Gloor, referring to the October 2015 performances presented at Kay Meek led by Steve Dawson in celebration of the 45th anniversary of live concert recording Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! The Rolling Stones in Concert.
“(The performances) brought together B.C. musicians who are all-stars in their own right, and recreating and reimagining that particular album and some of the other music that went along with that period,” says Gloor.
This year’s Bowie tribute, similarly led by Dawson and the Black Hen House Band, and featuring musicians including Alex Cuba, Jim Byrnes and Roy Forbes, will continue on in that vein.
“It’s not just a cover show of the album, but actually each performer takes one of the numbers and brings their own style and energy to it – honouring the original but with a totally fresh take,” he says.
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust will be presented Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 and is being co-presented with the Cap Global Roots Series.
Other music series highlights include Tales of a Charlie Brown Christmas with the Jerry Granelli Trio, Dec. 9, in collaboration with the Coastal Jazz & Blues Society and the Vancouver International Children’s Festival.
“That show takes advantage of the leadership of Jerry Granelli who was part of the Vince Guaraldi original soundtrack and sharing the story behind the music of the creation of that whole experience,” says Gloor.
Boogie-woogie pianist Michael Kaeshammer, who performed to a sold-out crowd at Kay Meek in 2014, will take the stage April 22, 2017.
“It’s great to have him back and we expect it to be another really huge popular show that will probably sell out early,” says Gloor.
Kay Meek’s 2016/2017 theatre series will feature three Arts Club on Tour works, Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, The (Post) Mistress and Bittergirl: The Musical.
“We’re very excited about that because the Arts Club always does top-notch productions and they’re three really contrasting pieces, a lot of comedy, a lot of music,” says Gloor.
Kay Meek’s family theatre series will showcase award-winning Mermaid Theatre’s adaptation of Margaret Wise Brown’s Goodnight Moon in Goodnight Moon & The Runaway Bunny Dec. 4.
“They have such a great style and they’re really acclaimed around the world,” says Gloor of Mermaid Theatre, which presented The Very Hungry Caterpillar at the centre in 2014.
Other 2016/2017 season offerings include a cabaret series, offered in a jazz club format and boasting reserved seating and refreshments during performances, Musically Speaking - Classical Matinees, and a film series.
Gloor is currently in week three of his new position and is continuing to settle in.
“It’s a good time to start because it is a bit quieter time of year and there’s lots to absorb,” he says.
That said, while there are indeed minimal public presentations going on right now, Kay Meek is currently a hive of activity as its summer youth conservatory musical theatre programs got underway this week, seeing students ages eight to 18 interested in developing their singing, acting and dancing skills, take over the building through Aug. 6. Participating students will cap off their experience with presentations of Disney’s Peter Pan Jr. The Musical July 22-23 and Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Jr. The Musical Aug 5-6.
A variety of ticketing options exist for Kay Meek Centre’s 2016-2017 season, including single tickets, discounts for multiple shows and family packs. Visit kaymeekcentre.com for full details.
