The ‘Queen of the Northeast Kingdom’ sets down her crown
After 25 years of managing the QNEK Productions theater group Lynn Leimer, the “Queen of the Northeast Kingdom,” has decided to retire. Looking back, the former New Jersey native described a love affair with local theatre that has spanned both sides of the border.
For Leimer, the story begins the second she first laid eyes on the Haskell Opera House.
“I saw it and I thought: Oh my God I have to be on this stage,” she said, adding that that theatre, being the only one in the world located directly on the Canada-u.s. border and still having all of its original facing, appealed to her in an undeniable way.
“Of course, right after that they shut it down for three whole years,” laughed Leimer. “They needed to make it wheelchair accessible, so they gave it an elevator. They also needed to have it conform to the fire department regulations; it needed sprinklers and all that.”
Undeterred by the delay, Leimer took the opportunity to build her own production company and proceeded to spend the next three years moving to venues around the region. It was only in 1997 that the reopened Haskell approached her about becoming the resident production company at the theatre.
“I had all this experience under my belt, so they approached me!” the QNEK founder said, sharing that she has a total of close to 50 years of experience working in the world of theatre.
25 years later, QNEK has been putting on shows on both sides of the border ever since, with Leimer involved at all levels of production. After such serious commitment, however, she says now is the right time to step back.
“It is time to retire. I’m ready.” The founder said. “It’s been a long run, and I’m getting on. I feel like I need to pull back.”
“Obviously everyone is boohooing over here,” she continued with a laugh. “I feel very, very honored that the community has such an affection. It speaks volumes. The community has shown us so much love. We’re international, you know? People have taken to us.”
Leimer said that even though her production company is not a community theater, they still got residents involved. “We have professionals doing most of the acting and producing and stuff, but we do use people from the community to flesh out the remaining roles.”
Over the course of its lifetime QNEK Productions has put on a few world premieres and original productions, but the company has mostly stuck to Broadway shows. The group has also done more than its fair share of benefit performances
“We do a comedy every spring, a murder mystery in fall, and a drama every winter. That’s been our recipe over the years,” Leimer said.
The QNEK founder said that she will continue to teach in Newport, to educate people on the importance of theatre through her ‘Page to Stage’ program, but added that a recent tragedy has complicated that plan.
“When you’ve been doing this for 50 years, you pick up things. I had collected everything from my years in theater; costumes, props. I had beautiful vintage pieces,” said Leimer. “I had all of this stored in Derby Line, in a house. I had kept everything. Well, the house ended up being sold so I moved everything to the basement of a church.”
Days after moving, the company founder said, the pipes broke and the basement flooded. After delays in the insurance company coming to fix everything, rot set in to Leimer’s collection and destroyed all of it.
“Even if I changed my mind and said I was going back to theater, I couldn’t. I’ve lost everything. It was heartbreaking,” she said.
Despite the sad loss of her supplies and memories, Leimer is extremely proud of her accomplishment, but also humbled by the support and appreciation shown by the community.
“We took a small kernel of a concept and turned it into something huge,” she said. “Some of our people have gone on to do spectacular things. We got one girl working with Bon Jovi! This area loves theater, it craves theater. I’m honored that we are leaving behind a legacy.”
To honor that legacy, the second to last show that will be presented at Haskell by the group is the Q Review, a retrospective celebrating their past 25 years.
“I loved doing ‘Hello, Dolly!’ It was exhausting,” she said, recalling the show in which she was the star. “But I worked on every single facet. It was an artistic challenge and the end result was very powerful.”
In true theatrical style, though, Leimer is saving her favourite show for the curtain call.
“Nunsense is our signature play,” the founder said adding that her part as the reverend mother in the play has been called her most memorable role. “We’ve been doing it so long that we have a rapport on stage that is just intangible.”
The Q Review will be presented August 11, 12 and 13. For more information about the review and Nunsense, as well as the QNEK company as a whole, visit www.qnek.com.