The Occupation of Heather Rose became the occupation of Jennifier Cundy-Scott.
This play, a seminal work by Canadian playwright star Nancy Lill, was the first production ever done by upstart professional drama company Theatre Northwest (TNW) in Prince George.
The year was 1994 and Cundy-Scott (she was Cundy-Ma back then) was the first actor ever employed by TNW. She was also as young, naive and ego-informed as the character.
Heather Rose was a newly minted nurse set to take on the injustices and maladies of the world and Cundy-Scott was fresh from her graduation at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles. She couldn't believe that her first professional gig would be back in her hometown.
A lot has happened in the 25 years since she stood on stage as the first TNW actor in the first TNW play. When she saw that Theatre Northwest was remounting the show for its silver anniversary season, she was vortexed back to those halcyon years and took a long look at all the flashbacks along the way.
The most noticeable image is an irony at which Cundy-Scott herself marvels. She did not pursue acting, after her TNW triumph. Instead, she became - can you believe it? - a nurse. Her performance and her character's traits played a direct role in this choice.
"I've done a complete life change," Cundy-Scott told The Citizen. "At the time my two girls were just babies. Now they are 27 and 25, which is unbelievable to me. I remember with the travelling that it was quite hard to be apart from them and I remember thinking to myself 'hmmm, I don't know if this lifestyle is sustainable.' I decided I wanted to focus more on my family life, concentrate on the kids."
Life had several stages for Cundy-Scott, with several twists in the plot. Her first marriage ended; another one blossomed. She moved to the States and, as a dual citizen of Canada and the U.S., was able to live 18 years in Washington and Hawaii. It was while living in Las Vegas that she was finally accredited as a nurse.
"You're never too young or too old to start anything," she said. "I always had a passion for nursing. I had an elementary school teacher tell me once that I should be a nurse, but I had the acting bug. I wanted to do that first. As I was performing the play, I remember thinking that this role, the profession of the character, was somehow a part of me. I believe it's a calling. You don't become a nurse, you are a nurse inside of yourself. Definitely the play put it back in my head that I should pursue that as my true profession. And what I loved about the plot of that story is this nurse, Heather Rose, was so excited to get out and make a change in the world, but there was this immaturity at the core of her being. I was about 23 at that time, so I had some of that, too, and I think most young people have that, at least a little bit. She was thinking she could walk into a diverse culture, another world, and tell those people how they could live their lives. Now, as a nurse for real, I am faced with this quite a lot - people who choose to live their life a certain way I don't understand - and it is not my job to tell them how best to live their life. It's my job to help them live their lives as they feel is best for them. Heather Rose wasn't very culturally competent, is how I would describe her, and we learn that in our nurses' training to be respectful of differences in cultures and in belief systems and we have no magic wand, we are there to help people but not change people."
One can only change one's self, as Cundy-Scott demonstrated when she shifted gears from the stage to the operating room.
She switched again when she moved into primary care nursing, doing house calls in Prince George. It's a version of the job she loves because of the personal interactions, and that interactive touch is what won her the 2015 Daisy Award "for exceptional nursing" handed out in Everett, Wash., by the Daisy Foundation and AONE-American Organization of Nurse Executives.
"That was the best day at work ever, and that's what Heather Rose wanted. She wasn't going about it in the right way, but its how she wanted to have an impact," said Cundy-Scott.
Even her experience with the play contained an element of that outreach. TNW did not yet have a home theatre, so a few Prince George performances were done at the College of New Caledonia (some were command performances for the Northern Interior Health Unit, North East Native Health Conference, Community Arts Council, that year's Wimmin's Conference, and a show especially for local nurses) but then also on tour for the regional communities of Kersley, Mackenzie, Vanderhoof, Fort St. James, Burns Lake, Williams Lake, Quesnel, McBride, Wells, Fraser Lake, Hixon, Smithers and Terrace.
Cundy-Scott came back to Prince George a few years ago along with husband Doug who "has been a real trooper" in cold weather to which he is not accustomed.
She has not ventured back into the acting and dancing that were such formative aspects of her youth here.
As a dancer, Cundy-Scott won the top prize (the Norman & Sophie Blackstock Scholarship) at the 1986 Dance Festival for her ballet prowess. The same year she represented her hometown at the B.C. Festival of the Arts held in Prince George.
The same year she worked with director Sonia Church and choreographer Judy Russell in a Prince George Theatre Workshop production of Anne of Green Gables, for which her singing and acting were praised by critics.
A year later, she starred opposite Kennedy Goodkey in the PGSS production of Guys & Dolls directed again by Church but this time Cundy-Scott was also that show's choreographer. Citizen reviewer Arnold Olson said at the time "one cannot refer to this production without running smack into the considerable talent exhibited by Jennifier Cundy. One member of the audience condensed the reference into the comment 'That lead girl was marvelous' as if the musical were hers alone."
Goodkey then called on her to join his youth-led hit show Summer Stage '87 along with Brian Clarke, Don Mitchell, Demetri Goritsas, Traci Steves, David Hooper (with whom she performed an acclaimed dance duet), Nicholas Harrison, Emmanuel Soupidis, Chris Clugston and James Marshall.
She had a role in the Prince George Theatre Workshop production of Barefoot in the Park in 1990, then got the lead in their 1991 production of Nuts.
Cundy-Scott then directed the Centrestage Dinner Theatre production of Beyond Therapy in early '92 alongside her brother Derrick Cundy McCandless, Bas Rynsewyn, Stuart Gilby, Susannah Edwards, Ryan Cardwell and Allison Haley.
During that time, Cundy-Scott also shared with Debbie McGladdery the teaching of children's theatre classes at the P.G. Playhouse.
Now that she is settled in Prince George amongst family and friends, her children grown, and her master's degree in nursing recently completed, she is finally feeling enough personal space to perhaps get back into the performing arts scene of the city.
The first step will be going to see the new TNW production of the part she knew so well and played such a pivotal role in return for hers.
The Occupation of Heather Rose is on now until Feb. 24 starring nationally celebrated Cariboo actor Julia Mackey.
Get tickets 24-7 at TNW's website or in person at Books & Company.
