A driving force in Nanaimo theatre passed away last Friday.
Leon Pownall, the founding artistic director of Shakespeare PLUS, now known as TheatreOne, died in Stratford, Ontario at 63 after a year-long battle with bowel cancer. Pownall was know as a passionate, fiery dedicated soul, said his long time friend Joelle Rabu.
"He was very fearless, and sometimes that made him some enemies," she said, with a laugh. "He had a strong Welsh, Gaelic spirit and I got along with him well because I so understood that Welsh passion, that head first attitude. He'll be remembered as a very colourful character."
Pownall gave Rabu one of her first big breaks on the Nanaimo stage with a lead role in Cabaret.
"He offered me a break and allowed me to further develop my skills on stage," she said. "He also helped me record my first vinyl EP. He was a huge guide at the beginning of my career. He believed in me more than I did."
For more than 50 years, Pownall was a professional actor, writer and director and worked in many of North America's major theatres including the Stratford and Shaw festivals. His long list of movie credits includes: The Dead Poet's Society, Bethune, Million Dollar Babies and his performance in The Sleep Room garnered him a Gemini nomination. He was known for his highly acclaimed creation and performance in the one-man play Do Not Go Gentle, about the Welsh Poet Dylan Thomas.
Pownall fell in love with Nanaimo in 1983, during a guest directorship for the Malaspina College theatre department's production of Oh, What a Lovely War. He went on to direct Mal-U's revival Deceit and Paper Wheat the next year. In 1984, Pownall was the driving force behind the quest to establish a professional summer theatre company in Nanaimo, with dreams of making it the 'Stratford of the West'. During his tenure as artistic director of Shakespeare PLUS, his trademark energetic drive, humour, passion and no-nonsense attitude created world-class productions of Cabaret, Irma la Douce, Romeo and Juliet and Taming of the Shrew.
Daurel Neve, general manager with TheatreOne said everyone at the company knows the impact Pownall had on Nanaimo artistic community.
"TheatreOne is grateful for all the hard work he put into establishing the company years ago. It's a credit to himself and all the people back from the early days that the company is still the only professional theatre company in central Vancouver Island," she said, adding although she never met Pownall, his reputation as a director is well known. "I did see the shows he directed in the early years and they were all excellent calibre and the productions right from the very beginning were all at the highest professional standard."
Rabu said with the creation of Shakespeare PLUS, Pownall was ahead of his time.
"He wanted to have tourists coming from all over the place to see summer theatre in Nanaimo," she said. "He truly had big visions for Nanaimo . . . but I think he was ahead of his time, Nanaimo was still then know for its malls. The town was growing but it was still in its infancy culturally."
Pownall was born in Wales and came to Canada with his parents in 1957. He leaves behind sons Monty and Peter, stepdaughter Barbara and many theatre friends.