THEATRE TRIBUTE: Life of Gina Wilkinson to be celebrated this month
5 JAN/11

JOHN COULBOURN - QMI Agency

A memorial service for the late Gina Wilkinson is planned for Monday, Jan. 24, to be held at the Jane Mallett Theatre at 3 p.m.

A respected actor and playwright on the Canadian stage for more than 30 years, the British Columbia-born Wilkinson had only recently begun earning rave reviews as a director, scoring high praise for such diverse work as the Shaw Festival’s full-blown production of BORN YESTERDAY — a project in which she was tapped to replace an ailing Neil Munro — and the Tarragon Theatre’s more intimate production of WIDE AWAKE HEARTS last year.

Her success with BORN YESTERDAY as well as last summer’s HALF AN HOUR led to her being signed to helm a much anticipated production of CANDIDA in this summer’s festival. But sadly, it was not to be. Diagnosed with cervical cancer while directing a production of THE SEAFARER at the Manitoba Theatre Centre in November, she succumbed to the disease at age 50 on Dec. 30 in a Toronto hospital.

“Gina Wilkinson was very funny, very sexy and very, very smart — not a combo that many can pull off, but she did so with unparalleled brio,” Shaw Festival artistic director Jackie Maxwell said in a prepared statement. “We will treasure our memories of Gina, while nursing a brilliantly bright light that has gone out in Canadian Theatre.”

Wilkinson is survived by her husband, actor Tom Rooney, to whom she was married in December after a decade of partnership, and by her mother and two brothers. Details of a memorial award to support emerging female directors will be announced at a later date.