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Thursday, March 14, 2019 | Your community newspaper since 1916

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

Condo construction Crews shovel off the deck at the Parkhouse condominum development that is being built beside city hall at the end of George Street.

Grinhaus, Brotman leaving TNW Building code Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca Two of Prince George’s leading theatre lights are drifting over the horizon. Jack Grinhaus and partner Lauren Brotman have been anchorpoints for Theatre Northwest (TNW) the past five years, Grinhaus as the artistic director and Brotman as the associate artist. A family health issue has necessitated they move back to their hometown of Toronto. “This has nothing to do with Prince George, we love Prince George deeply, Prince George took us in and made us a home and a life we love. Our son has spent almost his entire life here and that is going to be forever imbedded in him,” said Grinhaus. “We got opportunities here that we could never have gotten in Toronto, and I hope that we gave some things to Theatre Northwest and this city that were also special and unique.” It was an effort that went beyond the natural challenges of mounting successful professional plays. Grinhaus inherited a theatre that had already served about 20 years of theatrical life, so physical upgrades were needed like a complete set of new theatre seats, a full foyer renovation, an online digital box office system, inroads with local visual artists for complementary displays coinciding with plays and increased public support from all levels of government. Upon their arrival, there was also a preexisting court case involving TNW not of Grinhaus’s making that was successfully concluded but cost significant

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Theatre Northwest creative director Jack Grinhaus and associate artist Lauren Brotman are leaving the theatre company to deal with a family health issue. personal energy and stress, plus theatre resources. Grinhaus said he is proud to have been there to steer the notfor-profit company through the challenges and the others that faced the company right from his

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start in TNW management. “We know he leaves behind a legacy that will never be forgotten and the theatre is better because of his time here,” said Hans Suhr, chair of the TNW board. “We are saddened to see Jack leave us after

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his five-year tenure at the theatre.” Brotman, too, made artist contributions that wowed TNW audiences, earned high praise from her co-stars from here and across Canada, and also worked behind the local cultural scenes to write, teach, create events and mentor others in the creative field. Some of her roles included The Secret Mask, The Girl In The Goldfish Bowl, Drowning Girls, Half Life, and the first actor to inhabit the eponymous lead role in Hedda Noir. This original script was written by Grinhaus especially for her to debut, based on the 19th century classic play Hedda Gabbler. If post-production buzz on the street is a gauge, Hedda Noir was one of TNW’s definitive triumphs over the past five seasons. Brotman was also the leading force behind an outdoor summer spectacle on the steps of city hall she entitled Shakespeare Unfolded, which she presented for the city’s 100th anniversary. She produced and assistant directed Isitwendam (An Understanding), a coproduction between her company B2C Theatre and TNW along with Grinhaus and principal creator Meegwun Fairbrother. It was a world premiere and it isn’t finished its development to full play just yet so they urge local audiences to be ready for more Isitwendam one day. Brotman also created a program that mentored and created new performance work with the youth of Fort St. James. Along with Amy Blanding, Brotman was well into the act of codeveloping a Prince George-set play called Painting The Streets. — see ‘I HAVE, page 3

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to allow taller wood buildings Joannah CONNOLLY Glacier Media There could soon be a rise – literally – in wooden residential buildings across the province, after the B.C. government announced changes to the provincial Building Code to allow for mass timber structures of up to 12 storeys, up from the previous limit of six storeys. “Mass timber technology allows faster construction where large sections of a building can be manufactured in a plant and then assembled on site,” said housing minister Selina Robinson in Wednesday’s announcement. “The faster we can deliver the homes that people need, the better for communities right across B.C.” The benefits of mass timber construction have already started to be embraced by multi-family residential developers such as Adera Development Corporation, which has built a number of six-storey projects using prefabricated cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels. Its latest such project is Virtuoso, a sold-out six-storey condo and townhome development at UBC’s Westbrook Village that won a Georgie Award on March 9 for Best Multi-Family Mid/High-Rise Residential Building. — see ‘THIS IS, page 3

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