Saskatchewan’s love for opera began in the 1880s and is trying to hold its place in the province’s cultural scene. According to the Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan, visiting companies from all over the world used to come and tour across the province. The latter half of the twentieth century was the most popular time for opera, but there are still opera houses in Saskatchewan today.
Saskatoon has two opera houses, Saskatoon Opera and Little Opera on the Prairie (LOOP) and for the past few years, Shelby Lowe has worked for both as an assistant stage manager. This past year she also worked on the youth theatre program for Persephone Theatre. Having graduated from the University of Regina with a degree in set design in 2013, the designer-puppeteer-stage manager has been busy.
Since starting in her teens, she estimates she has done about 30 plays before the age of 25. Lowe got involved with theatre in her Esterhazy high school as an actor. The drama class didn’t focus on stage managing or prop building, but that didn’t curb Lowe’s desire to be involved in theatre. Lowe recounted her journeys to Binscarth, Manitoba in order to perform with a community theatre group.
“Many of my friends were involved with (theatre) too, so there was lots of carpooling.”
Although Lowe has many theatre skills, her work for the Saskatoon Opera house focuses on assistant stage managing. She has to keep track of where the props, and actors, are on stage. Lowe said she is already starting to repeat operas. She mentioned there is a lack of opera in Regina which is why she works mainly in Saskatoon.
“I would love to do other operas outside of Saskatchewan. I just got to figure out how to get work outside of Saskatchewan.”
Chrystene Ells, a puppeteer who worked on the famous Nightmare Before Christmas, said she admires Lowe for the work she’s able to do with the opera houses.
“For her to be stage managing an opera, I think it shows she has a magnificent brain in addition to her ability to work creatively … I haven't experienced her doing that but I find it really impressive that she's able to pull that off.”
Ells met Lowe at the University of Regina when Ells was seeking help for her play KaleidoCycle. The two became very close and continue to work together today.
Lowe said her time with KaleidoCycle sparked her desire to work more with puppets. Today, she makes puppets on commission, or for her friends, and she even went to Banff, Alberta for what she called a “puppet camp.”
The multi-talented woman also worked on Persephone Theater’s youth tour. Lowe designed the set and costumes for the two plays being taken across Saskatchewan. Lowe said during this time she went through a faze where she wasn’t sure if designing was for her.
“I went from designing a show where I had to build everything to a show where I had to just design it and let other people build stuff. My brain could not compute.”
Lowe has faced other challenges, such as her very first time working on an opera. She said the huge amount of chorus members, along with the boxes and boxes of props, were not easy to keep track of. That baptism by fire didn’t deter Lowe, though. Her love for opera has continued over the years, and she has many happy memories because of it.
However, working in theatre in Saskatchewan is a challenge. Lowe said she is getting by, but she has an in-between show job at Gale’s Florist. She said she never expected to take as much time off as she has, but she is grateful for Gale’s accommodation.
“Shelby, even though she's young and just starting out, she's able to keep working which is something that most of the young people I know aren't able to do,” said Ells.
In fact, Lowe has been kept so busy with her opera work that she is moving to Saskatoon for five months where she will continuously assistant stage manage for Saskatoon Opera.
Lowe has a lot of dreams for the future. She said she would love to do some sort of puppet building internship at the Old Trout Puppeteering Workshop – a group of puppet creators in Calgary – but she would be happy continuing to do what she does now.
Ells has high hopes for Lowe.
“If Shelby keeps doing what she's doing and turning out excellent work and making people like me fall in love with her, I think she has a great future … I don't have a crystal ball but I believe in Shelby.”
