With the end of the school year drawing near, I thought I would finish up this article series about the buildings on campus. For this article we are going back in time to when the J.R.C. Evans Theatre was built. Like the other articles in this series, I discuss the history of the building and the person it is named after. In this article, though, I will also look at the future of the theatre. The aim of these articles is to help everyone understand how our campus evolved over the years and to learn about the people that made it happen.
The J.R.C. Evans Theatre started its life as a lecture theatre. It was built around the same time as the McKenzie building in 1960. In 1993, the George T. Richardson Centre and John E. Robbins Library were completed, surrounding the theatre and encasing the space within their walls.
John Robert Charles Evans, whom the theatre is named after, was born in Nanaimo, BC on March 15, 1891. He was the son of Daniel Evans and Margaret Woods, who were British immigrants to Canada, and he had a sister, Annie Evans Wright. Evans came to Brandon during his high school years and eventually graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brandon College in 1913. He taught at the Brandon Academy for a few years before leaving to earn a PhD in Geology at the University of Chicago from 1920-1924. Evans was offered a fellowship at the University of Chicago, but he turned down the offer and returned to Brandon to teach Geology and coach basketball at Brandon College.
In 1928, Evans became the college’s 5th president, and he held the position for 30 years. During his presidency, he guided the college through the major funding and economic difficulties of Great Depression and brought the college out of its denominational era, separating the school from the church. He traveled with A.E. McKenzie to earn funds for the college and eventually started pushing for a major expansion of the school’s campus. He drew up plans to add various buildings on campus, but he particularly dreamed of a place for assemblies to bring the growing student body together. This assembly place took the form of the J.R.C. Evans Theatre. Sadly, Evans died on July 23, 1959, not long before the Evans Theatre and A.E. McKenzie Building were constructed as the first part of Evans’ expansion plans for the college.
Over six decades later, the J.R.C. Evans Theatre now serves as a movie theatre, classroom and theatre for the university’s Drama Department, and a venue for multiple events in the community. However, with the rapidly expanding demand for cultural supports for Indigenous students and faculty on campus – 14% of Brandon University’s population identifies as Indigenous, according to a Brandon Sun article published in April 2024 – the Indigenous Peoples’ Centre is in need of more space. As early as April 2024, talk of the IPC taking over the J.R.C. Evans Theatre became public. In October 2024, the decision was confirmed when Department of English, Drama, and Creative Writing was informed that the theatre would be converted into a space for the IPC.
According to Dr. Deanna Smid – the Dean of the Department of English, Drama, and Creative Writing – there is no set date for when the department will lose access to the Evans Theatre, nor when the IPC will start any renovations on the building. Considering that there are still movie listings up until the end of the semester, any changes likely won’t begin until the next school year. In an email, Smid stated that “while the Department is certainly delighted that IPC is receiving a new, expanded space, we are devastated by the upcoming loss of the Evans, which has been an incredible resource for Drama students and for so many more groups on campus and in our community.”
Turning the Evans Theatre into a place for our Indigenous community on campus is certainly an excellent step towards Indigenization, and Truth and Reconciliation in our community. However, the community will also be losing a pivotal venue for films, Drama performances, the Brandon Film Festival, and many other public and private events. Not only that, but John Evans’ legacy could be lost with the possible destruction of the theatre.
All hope is not lost, though. According to Smid, the department and university are starting to look for new places on campus to turn into a space for the Drama program, their studies, and their performances. This is on the heels of a major overhaul of the Drama program at Brandon University, so there is no better time than now to change where the program enacts their studies. Smid concluded her statement with a call to action: “In fact, if anyone has any thoughts, ideas, or dreams about the new performance spaces on campus, or new opportunities in the Drama program, I invite them to reach out to me!”
So, students, what do you think? Is there anywhere on campus you think would make a great space for the Drama program and their performances? Do you think Brandon University should build a new space like the Evans Theatre for films, events, and the Drama program? And, perhaps, could we even continue Evans’ legacy by honouring the new theatre with his name, so all he accomplished for the university is not lost to our history books?
Sources: Brandon Sun, Manitoba Historical Society, Brandon University, S.J. McKee Archives, Dr. Deanna Smid.