Ontario Off Stage

by Brandon Moore, Communications Coordinator

Behind The Scenes at Ontario’s Theatres

Roxanne Joseph
and Katya Senyshyn

• We’re thrilled to welcome two new faces to Theatre Ontario this week: Roxanne Joseph, our new Fundraising Coordinator, and Katya Senyshyn, our new Development Coordinator.  We also bid farewell to Aeriol Fitzgerald, who has been our Membership Coordinator for the past year.
• Hamilton’s theatre community is gathering tomorrow (March 1) for “Stage Directions: Imagining the Next Steps for Theatre in Hamilton”...
• ...and hear about community collaboration in London.

Conversation Starters: #thesummit

• #thesummit was a conversation of Washington, DC-area artistic directors about the representation of women and people of colour on American stages that blew up Twitter on Family Day evening.
• You can read the Storify on 2amtheatre.com for background.
• The only recent Canadian statistics that I’ve seen so far (and can share with a link) were gathered for Vancouver by local stage manager Lois Dawson; Playwrights Guild of Canada reported a 5% regression in the rate of female representation in playwriting from 2006 (PDF) to the 2012-2013 season.
• #CdnCult Times on SpiderWebShow followed up with a second Feminist Edition, with writing from Keavy Lynch, Alexander Offord, and Lisa C. Ravensbergen
• Elissa Goetschius, Artistic Director of Strand Theater in Baltimore was one of the attendees, and she reflected on what was said at 2amtheatre.com in Climbing #TheSummit.
• Andrew Taylor wrote some good analysis on a “risk-informed organization (and what values are non-negotiable)” on the Artful Manager.
• I’m also enjoying proposals for tangible actions: “Next Steps” from Tamara Winters and “Seven Initiatives” from Brett Steven Abelman are two that have piqued my interest so far.

Conversation Starters: Other Conversations

• Mike Lew reminds us that “arts education won’t save us from boring, inaccessible theatre”

TO Toasts

• Congratulations to the nominees of the 2013 Prix Rideau Awards
• Congratulations to the recipients of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association’s honours.  Among the honours were the CAEA Award of Distinction to Stage Managing the Arts (S.M. Arts) – founded by Winston Morgan (who was also recognized in 2010 with the Sandra Tulloch Award for Innovation in Arts and Culture for his work on S.M. Arts) and lifetime membership for Philip Akin (former Theatre Ontario Youth Theatre Training Program juror), Kenneth Welsh, and Janet Irwin—a past President of Theatre Ontario.

Janet Irwin

In Case You Missed It

• Staging Sustainability: Thriving through Innovative Thinking

Theatre Ontario Congratulates Gary Hall, Recipient of the 2014 Sandra Tulloch Award for Innovation in Arts and Culture

Theatre Ontario is thrilled to announce that the 2014 Sandra Tulloch Award for Innovation in Arts and Culture has been awarded to Gary Hall, in recognition of thirty-four years of leadership on behalf of artist-run culture, and practical initiatives that include Gallery TPW, Artist-Run Centres and Collectives of Ontario, the CARFAC Copyright Collective, and ArtsBuild Ontario.

Gary Hall

Gary Hall is the founding Director of Gallery TPW, established in 1980 to provide support and recognition for photography as an art form. Gallery TPW has premiered the work of countless Canadian photographers, and is now recognized as a leading artist-run centre committed to lens and screen-based art.

Gary was a co-founder of Artist-Run Centres Toronto, which later joined with regionally-based centres to form Artist-Run Centres and Collectives of Ontario, a provincial arts service organization serving the needs of artist-directed organizations engaged in contemporary cultural practices.  As a founding member of the CARFAC Copyright Collective, he helped secure exhibition rights for visual artists within Federal legislation.  He was also a founding member of ArtsBuild Ontario, working to address capital infrastructure needs of small and mid-sized arts organization, and played a leading role when ArtsBuild carried out the first comprehensive survey of arts facilities throughout Ontario.

“It's an honour to be recognized with this award, especially since it is named after someone I know and have the deepest respect for,” said Gary.  “Artist-run centres were founded by artists who banded together to change the system by creating spaces where artists could produce and exhibit their work.  By paying artists to exhibit we have upheld the rights of artists to earn a living at their profession. I’ve always believed in extending those principles by working collectively with other artist-run centres and with my colleagues in other disciplines to tackle the bigger challenges that face artists and arts organizations today.”

The award will be presented to Gary on May 5, 2014 at Theatre Ontario’s Annual Meeting at the Urbanspace Gallery at 401 Richmond Street West.  The Sandra Tulloch Award for Innovation in Arts and Culture consists of a trophy entitled “JOY” and a $1000 prize, and is made possible by the generous sponsorship of Marinucci & Company, Chartered Accountants.
The award is presented annually to an individual or a collective whose leadership, activism, and service has contributed to the development and strengthening of arts and culture in Ontario through innovative and practical initiatives.  While Theatre Ontario administers this award, it recognizes achievements in all artistic and cultural disciplines.  The award was established in 1998 by friends and colleagues of Ms. Tulloch on her retirement as Executive Director of Theatre Ontario and pays tribute to the outstanding contribution that she has made to the arts in Ontario.

Read more about the Sandra Tulloch Award for Innovation in Arts and Culture on Theatre Ontario's website

Browsing The Bulletin Board

Coming Up from Theatre Ontario

The Maggie Bassett Award

• Deadline for nominations for the Maggie Bassett Award is February 28, honouring significant, sustained, and unselfish contributions to the development of theatre in Ontario
• Deadline for applications for the Professional Theatre Training Program, offering financial support for unique and flexible training with a chosen mentor in any theatrical discipline except performance, is March 3
• Deadline for nominations for our 2014-2015 Board of Directors is March 12
• Deadline for applications for the Youth Theatre Training Program, offering financial support for programs led by professional theatre artists, which deliver accessible training to young people, is March 17

Upcoming on The Bulletin Board

• Toronto Fringe’s next Tent Talk in the Lab is today at 12:30pm: “Building a Sustainable Career in Theatre” with Brenley Charkow, Jack Grinhaus, and Mitchell Marcus
• Application deadline for the Toronto Fringe Festival’s Visual Fringe—including Shed Shows and Tent Shows (formerly known as AlleyPlays) is today
• Fanshawe College is offering a discount for Theatre Ontario members for their Acting Intensive, running May 5 to June 22 in London; application deadline is February 28
• Deadline for Ontario Trillium Foundation grants is March 1
• Deadline for Canada Council grants (Artists and Community Collaboration in Theatre, Theatre Production Project Grants for Emerging Artists, Theatre Production Project Grants for Established Artists) is March 1
• Shakespeare In The Ruff (Toronto) has a Shakespearean Character Arc Monologue workshop with Diane D’Aquila starting March 1
• Deadline for Ontario Arts Council grants (Artists in the Community/Workplace, Arts Education Projects, Compass) is March 3
• Aluna Theatre panamerican ROUTES | RUTAS panamericanas workshop: “Stand Up Comedy” with Martha Chaves starts March 3
• Application deadline for Buddies In Bad Times’ PrideCab for queer youth interested in collaborative creation is March 7

New on The Bulletin Board

• The Humber College Puppetry Intensive is a hands-on, 12-day training program in the art of puppet theatre.  Taught by some of the best professional puppet artists in North America, this unique program offers students the opportunity to work with four professional artists from three distinct companies: Foreign Landscapes Productions, CLUNK Puppet Lab, and Puppetmongers.  The Intensive runs from June 2 to 14, with early-bird registration deadline of April 1.
• Buddies in Bad Times Theatre has announced the creation of the Buddies Queer Emerging Artist Award.  This annual award will recognize and encourage the achievements of queer artists who are founding careers in the theatre while engaging with the community.  The nomination deadline is April 30.

Check out these items, and other postings from our members of funding opportunities, workshops, calls for submission, awards, and more—on Theatre Ontario’s Bulletin Board on our website

Theatre Ontario individual members can also access auditions, job postings, and volunteer opportunities on our Theatre Ontario Individual Member Resources on our website

Staging Sustainability: Thriving through Innovative Thinking

By Brandon Moore, Communications Coordinator

Staging Sustainability came to Toronto on February 3 and 4, 2014.  Organized by York University’s Centre for Sustainable Staging and ArtsBuild Ontario, the conference was built on “a dream of bringing innovation from around the world to Toronto’s theatre community” through a conversation about sustainability in the performing arts.  In the opening plenary, Arlene Goldbard defined sustainability with an emphasis on “thriving”—and indeed many of the stories we heard over the two days of the conference were encouraging.

I attended a morning panel focused on how organizations can integrate and balance sustainability as a core value.  It was an ideal starting point, because it was really applicable to any organization value—including sustainability.  From my point-of-view , it was best articulated by Tim Cynova of Fractured Atlas, who described healthy organization structures with the “accidental” acronym VERDI: Vision (clear and articulate), Empowered (what can we do that makes a difference?), Recognized (specifically and frequently), Don’t Be An A--h--- (self-explanatory), and Investing In Others (again, specifically and frequently).  Whatever core value an organization may aspire towards—including sustainability—it is impossible without a healthy organization structure.

After lunch, I attended a panel focusing on how arts facilities are being built to respond to sustainability.  Case studies on consumption, such as Katie Oman’s study at Seattle Repertory Theatre, challenged conventional thinking—for example, the assumption that lighting design has an enormous impact on energy costs.  While certain effects, such as saturated cyc lighting in a pre-show cue, was shown to cause spikes in consumption, the overall impact was far less significant when compared to facility operations.  Similarly, a study of Theater Winterthur in Switzerland by Annett Baumast (who joined us via video-conferencing) analyzed the impact of presentations at that venue, including transport of materials and infrastructure.  (Unfortunately, the scope of the study didn’t include the impact of audience travel.)

This was a good set-up for the next panel: How are presenters thinking about sustainability in their programming?  Local leaders like Franco Boni of The Theatre Centre and Tina Rasmussen of World Stage at Harbourfront Centre were forthright about their place on the learning curve for these issues, but they spoke eloquently of the power of artists to affect change and the lessons in their work that can help us comprehend these issues.  Marie Zimmerman of the Hillside Festival in Guelph demonstrated how founders committed to sustainability instilled that value from day one.  Harry Giles of Festivals Edinburgh introduced us to his work as the organization’s Environment Officer and the challenging questions he gets to ask about the carbon costs of Festival programming decisions.

My colleague Bruce Pitkin attended the second day of the conference.  One of the programs that caught his eye was the Broadway Green Alliance, which works to motivate and inspire the theatre community about environmental practice.  One of their techniques is to recruit volunteer “Green Captains” so that every production has someone specifically focused on environmental impact.  As is always the case, concurrent events meant that I couldn’t hear panels of about artists on the front lines, or innovation in sustainable practices, or many other significant conversations.

As we aspire towards a thriving theatre community, the benefits of sustainability-thinking—whether the goals are artistic or economic—were clear throughout the conference.  There is an eagerness to keep these conversations going, and we look forward to hearing more.

ONstage Openings for the week of February 24

In South Central Ontario
Feb. 28, Plays In Cafes at Shadowpath Theatre Productions (Vaughan)

In Southwestern Ontario
Feb. 28, Kiss The Moon, Kiss The Sun at Goderich Little Theatre

In Toronto
Feb. 25, Lungs at Tarragon Theatre, in previews
Feb. 26, Marry Me A Little at Tarragon Theatre, in previews
Feb. 27, Panamerican Routes | Rutas Panamericanas at Aluna Theatre
Feb. 28, Marion Bridge at Bloor West Village Players
Feb. 28, Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) at Hart House Theatre*
Feb. 28, Black History Month Celebration at Upfront Theatre Foundation*
Mar. 1, 6 Essential Questions at Factory Theatre, in previews – world premiere
Mar. 1, The Wanderers at Cahoots Theatre Company / Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, in previews – world premiere

ONstage Now Playing in Sudbury
Real Estate at Sudbury Theatre Centre
Allana Harkin and Patrick Howarth

Check out last week’s openings

For more information on all the theatre playing across Ontario, visit Theatre Ontario’s ONstage theatre listings on our website.

Theatre Ontario individual members can access discount ticket offers for shows marked with an * asterisk

Read more about our discount tickets program