BF26: The Herman Effect - A look at a pair of Blyth's beloved volunteers
BY SCOTT STEPHENSON
Sometimes, the most compelling theatre stories are the ones that happen offstage.
Since the 1970s, longtime Blyth Festival supporters Floyd and Liz Herman didn’t just share a love of theatre - they shared their love with theatre. If you’ve ever attended a Blyth Festival production, chances are you've encountered one, the other, or both. Maybe Liz has taken your ticket, sold you a 50/50 ticket, or helped you find your seat. Perhaps Floyd served you a drink at intermission, pointed a patron toward the elevator, or entertained visitors with one of his stories.
The Blyth Festival could not exist without its volunteers, and so The Citizen sat down with Liz Herman herself for an Italian run-through of the two-hander she and Floyd spent nearly 50 years writing together.
Act I - The Curtain Rises
Liz grew up in Listowel, while Floyd hailed from the tobacco fields of Delhi. Their paths crossed. “We both worked in the hotel in Listowel,” Liz recalled. “He was teaching at Grey Central Secondary School, and he thought - ‘maybe if I get a job at the hotel, I’ll meet some local people there’. And I worked there.”
After a time, a couple that happened to work at the same hotel let them each know that they liked each other. “He asked me out, and I said - ‘of course I would.’”
They started going to see shows at the Blyth Festival. “I’m sure that, even before we were married, we went to the plays,” Liz informed The Citizen. “We were married in 1977. Floyd and I both loved theatre, so we attended all the shows back then, and supported it as much as we could. When we were first married, he did some shows at the theatre in Harriston. He did a lot of shows at the Goderich Little Theatre. And then he did a couple here at the Blyth Festival - he was pretty proud about that.”
In those days, the couple had to make the drive into Blyth when they wanted to catch a show. “We lived up near Ethel, because Floyd taught at what is now Northwoods. He loved it there - he taught music there as a Grade 8 teacher,” she said. “We bought this old schoolhouse, so we lived in this old schoolhouse, and we would come to the plays…. We moved 10 times in 48 years. Floyd would come home and say ‘I found another neat place’. And I would just pack the bags.”
Act II - Blyth Spirit
As time marched on, the pair developed a deep connection to the village of Blyth and the theatre that bears its name. “We bought a store that was on the main street in 1980. And then I became involved - I joined the board of the theatre. And then, I became the chair of the board,” Liz explained.
Their favourite Blyth Festival play? “Quiet in the Land by Anne Chislett, because Floyd was in it,” she recollected.” More than a few students likely remember when their principal left their Grade 8 graduation early dressed entirely in Amish garb.
During that production, Floyd inadvertently discovered that being mistaken for an Amish man can have its advantages when the clerk at the store in Auburn didn’t charge him the tax when he went in to buy cigarettes!
They also really loved He Won’t Come in from the Barn by Ted Johns. “I was on the board then, and there was quite a stir,” Liz explained. “Because the show’s cow calved. It was a big deal, and there was a lot of discussion.” Chislett’s The Tomorrow Box was another favourite, as was Cakewalk by Colleen Curran.
When the Hermans first became part of the fabric of the Festival, it was at a critical make-or-break period. The Festival’s success depended upon volunteers willing to roll up their sleeves and get down to work. “When I was on the board, we had a fundraiser that was a cakewalk, and everybody made the cakes and got all dressed up for it. We did fun things like that at the theatre,” she recounted. “When the mortgage was paid, we did ‘Raise the Roof and Burn the Mortgage’. That was a whole weekend of events, and oh my lord, it was busy, and we raised lots of money - that was one of the kinds of things we did back then. It was just fundraise, fundraise, fundraise. We really were a working board. That was how we made money for the theatre. And that’s how we’ve been, all through our life. We always said - ‘we don’t have a lot of money, but we can give our time, and our passion with it’ - that’s how we got involved with so many different things.”
About nine years ago, the couple decided to downsize, so they moved one more time - into an apartment in downtown Blyth. “Coming back, it was full circle - he got a job working front of house at Cowbell and bartending at the theatre. And he said back then that he’s gonna keep working - as long as he’s got something he loves to do, he would keep doing it,” Liz explained. “And I’ve become involved as a childminder at the theatre over the last few years, and I love it!”
In her time at the Festival, Liz has found that volunteering can create the opportunity for some pretty interesting encounters. “I often get the job of phoning people and asking them to be the guest of honour at the opening night dinner. So I had to call Gordon Pinsent. And when I called, it was his wife, Charmaine, that answered. I told her what it was about, and she said she’d have Gordon call me,” Liz recollected. “A couple days later, he called. And I said, ‘Gordon!’, and he said ‘How did you know it was me?’ And I said, ‘It’s that voice - anybody would know that it’s you’. And that broke the ice, and we had a great chat! And he came for opening night!”
Those experiences became some of the rewards for countless volunteer hours. “Those kinds of things are fun,” Liz pointed out. “Floyd and I had to meet and host lots of people, like Maureen Forrester and the Minister of Community and Culture - we kind of liked doing that - it was fun to do together.”
This season, Liz will once again be working to help care for the children performing at the Festival - another chapter in a beautiful story that has already spanned decades. “I love volunteering. The main thing I ever wanted to do is sell 50/50 tickets. I love doing that because I love meeting people,” she told The Citizen. “It’s a challenge every time: to do better. I meet a lot of people. And I love thanking them for coming to the theatre. There’s a way to do that, and I love doing it.”
Floyd found his own way of sharing stories with visitors, spending time as a storyteller at Cowbell Brewery and helping champion the folklore and character of Huron County. “He’d come home from doing his storytelling at Cowbell, and he’d be exhausted, and I just knew it,” Liz recollected. “I’d maybe pour him a drink, and leave him on the deck so he could just unwind. But he loved doing the storytelling, and at Cowbell at the time, you got a free case of beer every month. And he didn’t even drink beer very much - he brought it all home for me!”
These days, volunteering continues to provide purpose, connection and community. “Volunteering is great,” she declared. “Especially now, it makes me get out. And once I get there, I’m fine. It’s a good thing to help others, and help the theatre. And also, I can see the shows.”
After nearly half a century of supporting the Blyth Festival, Liz remains convinced of what makes it special. “This theatre talks about what’s happening in the rural community - it’s real theatre. It’s what we understand. And it’s educating other people that are coming in, to understand what we’re about. And people love it. And the best part of our theatre is that it’s all Canadian.”
Act III - The Long Goodbye
For Floyd and Liz Herman, the story of the Blyth Festival was never confined to the stage. It has been woven through their marriage, moves, board meetings, fundraisers, opening nights, standing ovations and volunteer shifts. So when Floyd passed away last year after a short illness, there was only one place to hold a celebration of life for the community: Memorial Hall.
It was a sold-out show that took much preparation. People came from all over to say goodbye to a man who had, in one way or another, impacted their lives. “The number of students that came to his celebration of life showed what he was as a teacher. They loved him. They said he listened, he was fair, he was considerate and he was very caring for people that he felt were being bullied,” she recounted. “He desperately wanted to fix that. He was a great, great teacher and principal. I’ve got lots of words. Outgoing. Fun. He was just a dynamic person, just a great personality. Even if he was tired, when he was in that role, he would have made it work.”
Floyd stayed in character until the very end. “He was a really good actor,” Liz informed The Citizen. “He did a lot of funny stuff that was all about the timing. And that’s what he said when he was dying. When we got into the hospice, he said to [our daughter] Laura - ‘you know, my dear, it’s all in the timing’. He was very good at what he did, and he loved it.”
Looking back, Liz couldn’t have asked for a better scene partner. “We were married 48 years, and it was always interesting,” she confided. “Everybody has their ups and downs in life, but we hung in there. He was a good husband. He was good to me, and I realize that even more when he’s not here… but it was good while it lasted.”
Curtain Call
Since his passing, people all over Huron County have been coming up with their own way to honour Floyd. “They’re putting a stone out at the Huron Hospice, and he’s also got his own memorial golf tournament, with all the money going to the Goderich Hospital MRI fund…. Our oldest daughter, Laura, is the chair, so that’s pretty cool!” Liz boasted. “There was something else that just came in… something else somebody wanted to do to honour Floyd, but I forget what it was - it’s just crazy! He’s left a legacy.”
That legacy also lives on in the family the two built together. “Our girls have lots of stories and lots of good memories. And we have three grandkids - Lola’s going to be 23 in a couple weeks, her brother Lars is going to be 18 in June, and Harrison is 17. So, at least they were the age where they knew their Papa,” Liz told The Citizen. “They all got pillows made with his shirts for Christmas. The kids kept giving him ‘Pink Floyd’ t-shirts, so we’re going to get a quilt made out of all his Pink Floyd shirts.”
One man, in his time, plays many parts. Floyd Herman played a volunteer, an actor, a choir leader, a husband, a father, a grandfather, a teacher, a principal, a bartender, a friend and a storyteller. And he played them all better than most. So let’s have one more round of applause for the Blyth Festival’s most versatile, undersung performer: Floyd Herman. He was among the best of us, and he is missed. Shine on, Floyd.