Ontario Off Stage

We’re pleased to welcome Zainab Amadhay and Janiece McIntosh to our staff at Theatre Ontario.  Zainab will be our Community Outreach Coordinator and will work with Anne Mooney on our outreach and liaising with community theatre organizations and individual artists.  Janiece will be our Fundraising Coordinator and will be responsible for coordinating and overseeing our fundraising campaigns.

We also have some sad news to share: Dusty Miller, the former Mayor of Thunder Bay and a founding member of Theatre Ontario died on February 14.  Apparently, she chose to run for council in 1974 when she realized “the city’s government lacked expertise in arts and culture.”

Conversations

• The Commission on the Reform of Ontario’s Public Services—better known as the Drummond Commission—released its final report this week.  You can read the full report on the Ministry of Finance website, but Micheline McKay has provided arts-focused analysis on The Arts Advocate blog
• Ken Gallinger, Ethics Columnist for the Star, responded to a question about whether it was ethical to use discounted theatre tickets
• Janine Palencia and James Memeji, two young Filipino Canadian artists attended our Showcase with Renna Reddie, Artistic Director of Carlos Buloson Theatre—and both shared their perspectives on what they saw at the event
• Carmen Aguirre’s Something Fierce was chosen as the winner of Canada Reads 2012 after a week that started off with comments from one of the panelists that seemed to be deliberately incendiary as much for self-promotion as actual literary debate; for a better understanding of Carmen Aguirre’s story, catch up on this fascinating profile in the Guardian

From The Wire

• Le Théâtre du Nouvel-Ontario will be using surtitles in two upcoming productions, new for this Sudbury company
• Employees at the Ontario Arts Council voted in favour of joining the Association of Management, Administrative and Professional Crown Employees of Ontario (AMAPCEO)
• And the best tumblr site I’ve seen in awhile: a trash-talking EugMEME O’Neill (“I was crushing dreams before Miller could walk”)

Migrations

• Lise Ann Johnson is leaving as Artistic Director of Great Canadian Theatre Company in Ottawa at the beginning of the 2012-2013 season
• Su Hutchinson is the new Managing Director of Canadian Stage in Toronto (PDF)
• Charles McFarland was dismissed as Artistic Producer of Theatres for the City of Ottawa

Remember, you can also receive our news every month by email.  Our archives are online and the February issue is now available.

Assembled by Brandon Moore, Communications Coordinator