Bill & Sylvia (Mobey) Hosie, VHS class of '61
Interviewed by Kathryn Taddei
& Zach Cameron
VHS class of 1012
& Zach Cameron
VHS class of 1012
INTRODUCING : BILL AND SYLVIA HOSIE, VICTORIA HIGH'S THEATRE PIONEERS
"We loved this school. If you can say you loved a school, we loved this school."
"We loved this school. If you can say you loved a school, we loved this school."
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Sitting across from Bill Hosie in the Victoria High auditorium, the auditorium from which he graduated fifty years ago, I could tell he wasn't lying. Perky and full of unexpected quips, even in his mid-sixties, Bill eyed the stage on which he'd performed as a teenager with a mixture of fondness and nostalgia.
"It's like I was here yesterday," he reminisced, "honestly, it hasn't changed. Still the same."
"It's like I was here yesterday," he reminisced, "honestly, it hasn't changed. Still the same."
Bill & Sylvia, with Zach & Kathryn - Wallace Auditorium, VHS
Sylvia Hosie, short, well-dressed and with an intelligent twinkle in her eyes, seconded her husband's statements: "We had a lot of fun in this room," she said, "I could have gone to Mt. Doug or Mt. View, but because [Vic High] was the school, I took the bus here."
Having spent the past four years at Victoria High myself, improvising, writing plays and taking acting classes with the current Drama teacher, Alan Penty, I thought I might have a slight clue about why the Hosies were so attached-- the school's atmosphere is to this day renowned for being wonderfully accepting-- but I wanted to know in particular what the Theatre department was like back in the 60s, when they were students.
Having spent the past four years at Victoria High myself, improvising, writing plays and taking acting classes with the current Drama teacher, Alan Penty, I thought I might have a slight clue about why the Hosies were so attached-- the school's atmosphere is to this day renowned for being wonderfully accepting-- but I wanted to know in particular what the Theatre department was like back in the 60s, when they were students.
Calamity Players 1961, Tommy Mayne at centre
"Well, Vic High got the best teachers," Sylvia told me, quite matter-of-factually, "Tommy Maine, our drama teacher, gave me my first directing assignment. He was putting a piece from "Pride and Prejudice" in the Festival, and he had a little meeting with me that he'd like me to direct it. I had never directed anything in my life, but I did, and we put it in the Festival, and that opened the door to directing for me."
For Bill, being introduced to Theatre at Vic High was a bit of a personal challenge.
"I used to have a lisp, right, when I was smaller," he told me with a laugh, "and I was playing Vincent Van Gogh, but I'd never done a play- I'd done musicals and I'd done music- but I'd never done a play."
The long-time couple played siblings in this production of Lust for Life, with Sylvia Hosie (in the tenth grade at the time) playing Elizabeth, Van Gogh's sister, who according to the actress "hated everything her brother did- she thought he was lazy."
"I used to have a lisp, right, when I was smaller," he told me with a laugh, "and I was playing Vincent Van Gogh, but I'd never done a play- I'd done musicals and I'd done music- but I'd never done a play."
The long-time couple played siblings in this production of Lust for Life, with Sylvia Hosie (in the tenth grade at the time) playing Elizabeth, Van Gogh's sister, who according to the actress "hated everything her brother did- she thought he was lazy."
"Lust for Life" - Bill seated right - Sylvia standing far right
"Our scene was a screaming match," Sylvia explained.
Bill simply smiled. "She got my attention," he said, meeting his wife's eyes, "and that's how we met."
Bill simply smiled. "She got my attention," he said, meeting his wife's eyes, "and that's how we met."
And they've continued to create theatrical magic ever since, Bill performing in the first show at the now popular Belfry Theatre back in 1978 (Putting on the Ritz) and Sylvia directing a myriad of shows throughout her professional career- all thanks to the footing that they received at Victoria High in the 1960s!
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Kathryn Taddei/Zach Cameron
2012
