Ontario Off Stage

by Brandon Moore, Community Theatre and Communications Manager

Conversation Starters

• Megan Robinson shared her “Confessions from Theatre School” in Intermission’s “Artist Perspective” series, and her story opened up a vigorous discussion of shared experiences. At Theatre Ontario, we want to help organizations and individuals create in a safe space. For example, that’s one of the reasons we hosted an “Intimacy for the Stage” weekend intensive with Tonia Sina last November and will continue to be offering more initiatives in the future. This is an important dialogue about how these experiences shape people coming into our industry.
• “Cahoots Insider” is celebrating Cahoots’ 30th anniversary with conversations with past leaders of the theatre—beginning the series with Jovanni Sy (and a conversation that includes a flashback to Theatre Ontario c.1992 and a cameo by our then-Cross Cultural Services Coordinator Jean Yoon.)

Behind the Scenes at Ontario’s Theatres

• Congrats to the recipients of Ontario150 Community Capital Program Grants from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, including members Goderich Little Theatre, Lighthouse Festival Theatre (Port Dover), Ottawa Little Theatre, Owen Sound Little Theatre, Port Stanley Festival Theatre, Thistle Theatre (Embro), and Westben Arts Festival Theatre (Campbellford).
• Acting Up Stage Company in Toronto has become The Musical Stage Company, nearly tripling the size of their program, scale and impact.
• The line-up of all-Canadian-written plays for the Western Ontario Drama League Festival in Guelph has been announced: Mar. 13 Ten Times Two from Theatre Tillsonburg, Mar. 14 Albertine in Five Times from Cambridge Community Players, Mar. 15 Willow Quartet from Theatre Sarnia, Mar. 16 Better Living from Ghostlight Theatre of Windsor, and Mar. 17 Outlaw from Elmira Theatre Company.
• Theatre By the Bay has launched the “Barrie Theatre Lab” bringing together the city’s playwrights and actors.

Migrations

• Ryan Cunningham is leaving as Artistic Director of Native Earth Performing Arts.
• Graham Abbey is the new Artistic Director of Festival Players of Prince Edward County.

In Case You Missed It

• Stories from the Professional Theatre Training Program, featuring training projects in artistic directions and directing classical theatre.
• Profiling Youth Theatre Festivals, from the 2016 Youth Advisory Committee: Toronto’s Paprika Festival.
• Rachel Kennedy wrote about our work with Professional Theatre Training Program grant recipients and “making the most out of your mentorship.”
• Browsing Our Bulletin Board, featuring grant deadlines, workshops on self-producing and voice-over, recorded webinars on grant writing, weekend intensive on stage management, and more.
• ONstage Openings this week in Ottawa, Smiths Falls, Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay, London, Fergus, Toronto, Cobourg and Peterborough.

You can also receive news from Theatre Ontario every month by email. Our archives are online and the February issue is now available.