Picton’s Regent Theatre Makes History at York University
Here’s part of a news release I sent out to my professional contacts today. I’ve reached a personal goal a decade in the making!
Picton, ON – The 90-year-old theatre on Picton’s Main Street has made a different kind of history today. While in its heyday, the Regent was among rural Canada’s first movie theatres, two essays about the theatre have today become the first to enter a new archive at Toronto’s York University.
The university’s recent Yorkspace initiative endeavours to collect online the works of York alumni. Jennifer Lester’s two 1999 essays – “The Legacy of George Cook” and “The Element of Truth” – today became the first entries into the university’s Faculty of Theatre archive.
“This moment is a long time in the making,” said Ms Lester.
“I held onto these essays for ten years, thinking I could do something big with them. Today I feel that having archived these essays at Yorkspace is that big thing.”
Lester said now the information she collected will be much easier for future researchers to find.
“Until now, these essays and the information they contain was unavailable anywhere else. When I was researching these papers, no one was using the Internet much, so my research was much harder and slower than it will be for researchers going forward.”
Lester grew up in and around Picton and left in 1996 to pursue a bachelor of fine arts degree in theatre at York University. The essays are a result of an independent study she did in 1999, under the guidance of Professor Ross Stuart. Last year, she co-produced a video documentary on the theatre with Wandering Journalist Productions called, “The Dreamer of Main Street”. Lester now works as an independent writer/broadcaster from her home near Picton.
