‘Being dramatic made me strong’
Creator of Burlington Student Theatre celebrates 40 years
The last time I saw Rainer Noack he was decked out in a stunning, full-length fur. Something sparkly peeked out from underneath. A tuft of blond hair stood tall on top of his head. But that wasn’t it.
It was the slightly naughty, but still cherubic smile that lit up his face that made me smile.
“Am I outrageous? Of course I am. It’s my survival kit. I come by it naturally. And no, this isn’t a calculated image. It’s not manufactured. It’s just who I am.”
“When I was a kid and went to school here in Burlington I was the one wearing rose-coloured glasses and Star Trek boots. My dad would look at my mom and say, ‘Are you going to let him go to school like that?’ She’d say, ‘Yes.’”
“Well, it got me through. Being different was difficult. School, for instance, was difficult. It did damage to my self-esteem. So I chose to be dramatic. And you know it made me strong.”
Rainer Noack vowed then and there he’d create a safe place for those young people who are special. In many ways Burlington Student Theatre was born from a personal need to make things better.
“I was born in East Berlin,” he says. “When I was two we escaped, just before the (Berlin) Wall went up. We came to Burlington and I’ve been a Burlington boy ever since. Of course, I didn’t fit in. I was this weird immigrant child in a rather conservative place. At school some kids called me Nazi Boy. Was I hurt by such things? Yes, but I moved on.”
Noack started Burlington Student Theatre 40 years ago.
“It was about giving everyone a safe place and a voice to be heard. “Then, it was a novel idea,” he says. “Now it’s part of the Canadian ethos.
At 16, Noack took a job in recreation and things just spiralled from there. He took over a music camp in 1984 and turned it into a theatre camp. He went to town officials — to anyone who would listen, in fact — and he pitched his case for a student theatre program. Folks did listen.
Forty years later, Burlington
Student Theatre has students from 4 to 17 years of age. It offers creative drama as well as performing arts programs. It averages two to three hundred students each year.
“We do five shows a year. We say we bring Broadway to Burlington. We’ve done 26 shows in the Burlington Performing Arts Centre (BPAC). Everything is revenue generated. We raise money from enrolment fees, ticket sales and fundraising events. We don’t get grants from any level of government.”
Noack says most of his students don’t come to Burlington Student Theatre to get into the performance profession.
“They come for community. They come because they believe in the values we project. Some have gone on to professional careers. Jesse Robb and J. Elaine Marcos, for instance.”
Robb has choreographed for major productions and danced in a number of them, including
“Fame.” Marcos did “Flower Drum Song” and “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” on Broadway.
Nowak says most people come to his theatre group because, “Every day is happiness and beauty. That’s what students find here. They gain confidence, strength and transferable skills. They are acknowledged. They’re seen and they’re called by their first name. We involve ourselves in everything in Burlington cultural life. We support the arts. That’s something that doesn’t happen enough in Burlington.”
“It’s better, but it still has a way to go. We have this beautiful arts
centre and we’re struggling to find audiences to fill it.”
Nowak has been on the board of Theatre Aquarius, helped with the planning of BPAC and has won Burlington Theatre Person of the Year twice. He was also chosen for the Wall of Fame at BPAC.
This year, for the 40th anniversary show at BPAC May 24-25, Noack will have a cast of 55 young people performing in “Little Shop of Horrors.” (The show normally has 12.)
“I picked Little Shop because it’s a show I’ve never done, plus it’s fun and filled with fantasy.”
When you ask Nowak to describe himself, he laughs.
“I would say I’m an introspective and mindful human being. I have a great deal of empathy and I try to teach that to others. And I’m happy. I love happiness. I try to be full of energy and buzz. Am I larger than life? You bet.”
“I’ve made things happen here. But you know you don’t do it alone. You don’t do anything alone. I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank all those who work with us at Burlington Student Theatre They all help to make the magic happen.”
It is Student Theatre Week in Burlington May 21 to 27.
‘‘
(Burlington Student Theatre) was about giving everyone a safe place and a voice to be heard. Then, it was a novel idea. Now it’s part of the Canadian ethos.