Canadian theatre director Paul Crepeau died of a heart attack on January 19 while driving from Regina to Saskatoon in Saskatchewan. He was 60 years old.

Crepeau studied directing at the University of Victoria in the 1980s (as a transfer student from the William Head Penitentiary Theatre program), according to Georgia Straight contributor Mark Leiren-Young, who met him as a fellow theatre student. Crepeau later founded Fend Players in Victoria, which later moved to Vancouver. The troupe performed at the Station Street Arts Centre, which they built on Main Street, from 1989 to 1996.

"He did have such a profound significance on the city's theatre scene and acting scene from the time he started Station Street," Leiren-Young said by phone. "He launched so many careers. He gave so many people the chance to do the work they dreamed of doing."

Fend Players performed 56 full-length productions at the venue, including American Buffalo, A Particular Class of Women, Beggars in the House of Plenty, and more. In his 1995 review of Four Dogs and a Bone, Georgia Straight theatre critic Colin Thomas wrote that Crepeau "sculpted the play's scenes beautifully" and called the production "so delicious". In his review of the 1992 futuristic AIDS–drama Beirut, Thomas noted that "Paul Crepeau's direction is invisible, which is both his strength and his trademark".

Crepeau won the 1992 Jessie Award for distinctive programming serving a major part of the community that otherwise has no outlet for their work to be seen.  

Crepeau also launched TheatreStreet, a program for street kids, and ran a film-catering company, Reel Appetites, with his wife.

The troupe left Station Street in 1996 due to structural problems in the building. In 2001, the troupe received a federal grant to create a 1,400-square-foot studio space at the Flying U Ranch in the Cariboo (which Crepeau partly owned) for an artists' retreat.

In addition to directing, Crepeau acted in numerous productions as well, including Good News Week and Savage in Limbo, the latter for which reviewer Thomas credited Crepeau with providing "nice support" in his role as a bartender. 

Leiren-Young also attested to Crepeau's acting chops.

"The production I saw that made me forget he was my friend Paul Crepeau was Kiss of the Spider Woman, where nothing I saw on stage resembled the guy I knew," Leiren-Young said. "There were shows where I'd go, 'Wow, that's not Paul. That's someone else on stage.' "

Crepeau was also a visual artist, who made jewellery and neon signs, had an art collection, and once owned an art gallery.

Crepeau had left Vancouver in the early 2000s and moved home to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, to live with his mother. He had enrolled at the University of Regina to pursue a master's degree, and had become involved in filmmaking. 

Bryan Pike, former Station Street general manager and Crepeau's friend of 30 years, said by phone that Crepeau, who he described as a very giving and generous person, "left a big hole here" when he left Vancouver. When Pike was looking at condolences posted on Crepeau's Facebook profile, he said he was amazed that not only were former associates paying tribute to what an inspiration and influence Crepeau was but also young university students.

"He's a 60-year-old man in unversity with a bunch of 20-year-olds, and only Paul would have had the energy to do that," Pike said, referring to Crepeau's time at the University of Regina. "That's probably one of the most common things when people think of him, was the amount of energy the guy had."

A celebration of life event will be held for Crepeau on March 9.