Colleagues, the flags were lowered to half mast on July 17 at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and on July 19 on the campus of Queen’s University to honour the passing of an iconic Canadian artist, a brilliant pioneer in Canadian theatre, a beloved professor, a relentless and creative challenger of the patriarchy: Kim Renders.

Kim was my high school friend, that person who was clearly otherworldly in her talents, whom our schoolmates and I loved and admired. Her Dominion Drama Festival Award-winning performance in the play “Chamber Music” — Kim was Joan of Arc — was an early harbinger of what was brewing inside this uniquely creative woman. Always a trailblazer, in 1979 Kim was a founding member of Nightwood Theatre, the oldest professional feminist theatre company in Canada. A writer, director, actor, musician and designer, Kim Renders worked in Toronto at the Factory Theatre, Tarragon Theatre, Canadian Stage Company, Volcano Theatre, Theatre Direct and Nightwood.

Kim performed and directed at theatres from coast to coast, from the Belfry Theatre in Victoria; the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre; the Grand Theatre in London; the Grand Theatre in Kingston; the Universities of Guelph, Waterloo and Queens; and the LSPU Hall in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

Her one-woman show, “Motherhood, Madness and the Shape of the Universe,” was performed across Canada and Britain, and was adapted for CBC Radio. Kim Renders was made an honorary member of the Canadian Association for Theatre Research, and was awarded the Maggie Bassett Award by Theatre Ontario for distinguished service in 1995.

“Go to that place that terrifies you. Stand there and breathe. And then dismantle that terror piece by piece.” That is what Kim Renders taught and challenged her adoring students to do at Queen’s, and the Universities of Guelph and Waterloo. Kim was always breaking down internal and societal walls, whether she was working with inmates in a federal correctional institution or the Chipped Off Performance Collective, a feminist, queer company that brought together local artists and community groups in Kingston.

Kim Renders described herself as an optimist misdiagnosed as a pessimist. Kim was a fierce crusader. Her drive to make a difference was contagious. Tove Jansson said:

A theatre is the most important sort of house in the world, because that’s where people are shown what they could be if they wanted, and what they’d like to be if they dared to and what they really are.

Kim understood the power of live theatre. Kim’s dear family, her awestruck friends, her beloved students and the greater theatre community will remember this female force of nature as one of a kind. As her obituary states, “Kim Renders will be remembered for her art, her fire and the impact she had on all of us that were lucky enough to know her.” I’m so glad I was one of the lucky ones.