It took him a few moments to collect his thoughts, but then Todd Hennessey summed up what knowing Ken Livingstone has meant to him with one simple word.
“Everything,” said Hennessey upon reflecting on the life of Mr. Livingstone, who died in Montreal this past Saturday.
He was 74.
Hennessey would have first met Mr. Livingstone when Hennessey enrolled in the first theatre class of the brand-new School of Fine Arts at what was then known as Sir Wilfred Grenfell College in Corner Brook in 1988.
Mr. Livingstone, who had moved to Corner Brook from Montreal in 1985, had co-founded the school with Michael Coyne, who is now a retired visual arts faculty member.
Graduation from the program in 1992 was hardly the end of their relationship. Hennessey went to Toronto that summer to find work with his new arts degree, but really had no idea what he was going to do.
Mr. Livingstone and his wife Carol Nelson happened to be spending that summer in Toronto too. Hennessey said they were instrumental in helping him, whether it was making sure he had something to eat, taking him to shows or introducing him to movers and shakers in the big city’s art scene.
It was Mr. Livingstone who wrote Hennessey a glowing reference letter when Hennessey went on to study for his master’s degree in fine arts.
“I was graduated, I was done (with school),” said Hennessey. “The fact they would be so supportive of me at that time when I really needed it was something I will never forget.”
A few years later, it was Mr. Livingstone who hired Hennessey for his first full-time gig in theatre arts as a faculty member at Grenfell, and later promoted him. Not long after Mr. Livingstone retired as head of the fine arts program, Hennessey himself took over that role as dean of the School of Fine Arts.
The lessons he learned from Mr. Livingstone inside and outside the classrooms at Grenfell, and those invaluable ones after graduation, have never been lost on Hennessey.
“I think the thing I learned the most from Ken is to pass it forward and try and be supportive of everyone else,” he said. “In my own career, I always think of Ken’s generosity and what that meant to me and to try and be generous to others.”
Mr. Livingstone was more than a mentor. He was an artist who Hennessey said, didn’t just have an incredible vision for his shows, but also the ability to make those stunning visuals a reality.
Even through his work as a director, Hennessey could see Mr. Livingstone making the extra effort to make sure everyone felt included in whatever production was being worked on.
“He had this great skill in communicating that vision to others and, when you worked on a show with him, you felt like you were part of something,” said Hennessey. “He had this great ability to make you feel comfortable and feel excited about it. You always thought you were in the middle of something special.”
Some career highlights of the late Ken Livingstone
- Born in Glasgow, Scotland on Jan. 21, 1945
- Emigrated with his family to Montreal in 1956 and discovered theatre in high school.
- Studied theatre at Bishop’s University and the University of British Columbia. Was a graduate of Canada’s first masters of arts program in theatre at the UBC in 1967.
- Co-founded the Gallimaufry Theatre in Vancouver, which developed a reputation for pushing theatrical boundaries until it shut down because of censorship issues in 1969.
- Taught and directed at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ont., where he led his own stage company for a decade after resigning from the university.
- Came to Sir Wilfred Grenfell College in Corner Brook in 1985 and helped create the fine arts program with visual artist Michael Coyne.
- At Grenfell, he served as the theatre program chair for many years.
- During his career at Grenfell, he directed more than 150 productions at the university, elsewhere in Newfoundland and Labrador and throughout Canada.
- In 2001, he designed and directed “West Moon” by Newfoundland and Labrador poet/playwright Al Pittman, touring it across Ireland. It was the first profesional Canadian production to tour that country.
- In 2003, his staging of “Blue/Orange” for Montréal’s Centaur Theatre won the Académie Québecoise du Théâtre’s Masque award for best English-language production.
- In May 2006, he was inducted into the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council’s Hall of Honour.
- Retired as head of Grenfell’s fine arts program in 2010.
Sources: The Canadian Encyclopedia and Grenfell Campus, Memorial University
***This article was edited May 7, 2019 to correct the date of death, which had been incorrectly provided to The Western Star.
