Longtime artistic director enters final week at Globe Theatre

It is the last week of work at the Globe Theatre for Ruth Smillie, who’s retiring after 21 years as artistic director.

Smillie was a guest on The Greg Morgan Morning Show on Monday, when she reflected fondly on her tenure.

“A very full and very rich life as a result of my time at Globe Theatre. I really had a wonderful time,” Smillie said.

In her time with the Globe Theatre, Smillie directed more than 30 productions, authoring several others.

One of the things Smillie will be remembered for is putting on shows with popular appeal, like Mamma Mia, Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid.

These shows drew big crowds, generating revenue that could go towards programs that didn’t have the same commercial success.

“When I first started, there was this received wisdom that wasn’t true, that if you do great work, you’ll get more funding,” Smillie said. “The fact of the matter was, the Globe Theatre was already well-supported by the funding agencies and we really needed to change our business model.

“(Those shows) enabled us to pay for other initiatives, other productions that may have the same broad appeal, as well as the theatre school, the second stage, the conservatory. All those other programs were also subsidized by the main stage.”

As Smillie becomes artistic director emeritus, she will still be working on the Globe Theatre Redevelopment Project until the end of the year.

“We’re close to there being some significant funding announcements around funding for the project. This could happen any day now, which is very exciting,” she said.

“We’re getting set to start on schematic drawings for the building. We’re going to be doing a tour of some American-style theatres to get a sense of what best practices in terms of what kind of renovation we’re going to be doing in the building.”