7 Days In Ontario Theatre

What's Happening?

• Approximately 50 members of Ottawa's performing arts community gathered for the second Backyard Theatre Conference; I'm really looking forward to reading the results of the discussion
• Odyssey Theatre in Ottawa has been blogging about their Youth Apprenticeship Program, funded by the Youth Theatre Training Program
• From the AV Club: Should artists lives or opinions affect how people perceive their art?
• The Ontario Arts Council has published their Grant Survival Guide to find out how to prepare an OAC application (download the PDF)

New and Upcoming From The Bulletin Board

• Deadline for the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival is July 30.
• Stratford Shakespeare Festival is holding a workshop on auditioning on August 7.
• Factory Theatre in Toronto is holding a new summer training program for youth 14 to 18.
• The Ottawa Theatre School is now accepting applications for the Fall 2010 session.  Deadline is September 1.

Check out all the current items on the Bulletin Board on the Theatre Ontario website.

Migrations
Congratulations to Daryl Cloran who has been appointed as the new Artistic Director of Western Canada Theatre in Kamloops.

Welcome To Our Newest Member Theatres
Welcome to Workman Arts of Toronto.  You can find links to all of our Theatre Ontario member companies on the Theatre Ontario website. Performing companies can be found on ONstage with listings of upcoming productions. Training organizations can be found on our listing of Studios.

Join Theatre Ontario Industry Night at the Hamilton Fringe

Theatre Ontario is hosting Industry Night at the Hamilton Fringe Festival on Friday, July 23rd at 9pm.

Join us for a night of socializing and networking with the members of Hamilton's arts community, the Fringe artists and audience, and the members and staff of Theatre Ontario.  There will be lots of door prizes and music, and the bar will be open all night.  Industry Night will be at the Hamilton Fringe Club, 197 King William Street.

For more information, please contact Mandy Rumbolt, Membership Coordinator, at membership@theatreontario.org or 416.408.4556 x.16.

July E-Newsletter Is Now Online

Catch up on all the monthly news from Theatre Ontario in our monthly e-newsletter.  The July issue is now available online.

You can find the past year's back issues on the archive page, and sign-up for the enewsletter to get new issues in your inbox when they are first distributed.

Whatever your communications preference--email, Facebook, Twitter, or this blog--Theatre Ontario is there for you at every stage.

ONstage Openings

Opening this week across Ontario:

In South Central Ontario:
July 23, Broadway Gold II at the Rose Theatre (Brampton)

In Southwestern Ontario:
July 20, Cowgirls at Victoria Playhouse Petrolia
July 22, Knickers: A Brief Comedy at Port Stanley Festival Theatre, with a preview on July 21
July 23, Age Of Arousal in previews at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake

In Toronto:
July 20, Can You See Me Yet? at Randolph Academy for the Performing Arts

In Central Ontario:
July 19, Sylvia at Highlands Summer Festival (Haliburton)
July 21, See How They Run at Drayton Entertainment-King's Wharf Theatre (Penetanguishene)

In Ottawa and Eastern Ontario:
July 20, the first My Summer Crush Improv at Arts Court (Ottawa)
July 20, Murder On The Nile at Ottawa Little Theatre
July 22, Freedom 85 at The Regent Theatre (Picton)
July 23, Master Harold And The Boys at Thousand Islands Playhouse (Gananoque) with a preview on July 22

For all the theatre current playing across Ontario, or for information for theatres on how to add/update your listing, visit ONstage on the Theatre Ontario website.

Accessibility in Theatre Customer Service

by Brandon Moore, Communications Coordinator

As we first reported back in January 2009, theatres in Ontario will need to comply with the Accessibility Standards for Customer Service by 2012.  This is part of Ontario's commitment to a fully accessible Ontario by 2025.

Last month, I attended a forum run by the Accessibility Directorate of Ontario, aimed at the not-for-profit sector on how to implement these requirements. We've already started discussions with other arts service organizations on how we can collectively train you on these new standards and how they impact your theatre.

This particular standard and the 2012 compliance deadline is not about the requirements for the accessibility of your "built environment" (your theatre itself) but rather how you interact with audience members who may have a disability.

But that also means that it's not just theatres that have a venue that need to pay attention to this standard...it's any theatre company that has an audience.  (Hopefully that's all of you!)  Indeed, it's an opportunity for theatres to assess better how you can reach a significant and often neglected audience.

Feel free to contact me at brandon@theatreontario.org or call 416.408.4556 x.15 if the standard is causing you anxiety, and you'd like to have a one-on-one chat about it.