Welcome to Keith Barker as Theatre Ontario Festival 2019 Playwright-in-Person

Theatre Ontario Festival 2019 is excited to welcome Keith Barker as “Playwright-in-Person” at this year’s Festival. Keith will be reading from his work on Friday, May 17 at 1:30pm at The Curtain Club in Richmond Hill.

Keith Barker is an Algonquin Métis playwright, actor, and theatre director from Northwestern Ontario, and the current Artistic Director at Native Earth Performing Arts. He was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for English Drama in 2018 for his play, This Is How We Got Here. Keith received a Saskatchewan and Area Theatre Award for Excellence in Playwriting and a Yukon Arts Award for Best Art for Social Change for his play, The Hours That Remain. Prior to taking the job at Native Earth, Keith served as a Theatre Program Officer for the Canada Council for the Arts.

We are particularly excited to welcome Keith, as This Is How We Got Here will be presented by Gore Bay Theatre on Thursday, May 16 as the Festival entry on behalf of QUONTA, the northeastern Ontario community theatre association. This is the first time since Theatre Ontario Festival 2007 that our Playwright-in-Person has also been the author of an entry chosen from a regional festival.

Playwright-in-Person has been part of Theatre Ontario Festival since 1999. The program brings professional playwrights to Festival communities for script readings, Q&A, and more. Playwright-in-Person is made possible by a grant from the Playwrights Guild of Canada’s “Play Connect” program, funded by the Canada Council. Recent Playwrights-in-Person include Lisa Codrington, Erin Shields, Donna-Michelle St. Bernard, and Damien Atkins.

We are also excited to welcome Playwrights Canada Press who will be bringing plays for sale on Thursday through Saturday of Festival, with their usual Festival discount—30% off one or two books, 50% off for three or more.

Theatre Ontario Festival is our annual celebration of community theatre in the province. It’s a showcase of outstanding community theatre productions, a symposium for passionate and dedicated community theatre artists, a celebration of excellence in community theatre, and a destination bringing together theatre lovers from across the province. Festival 2019 is hosted by The Curtain Club, with performances at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts, in partnership with Theatre Ontario and the Association of Community Theatres—Central Ontario.

Learn more about Theatre Ontario Festival 2019