Ontario Off Stage

by Brandon Moore, Community Theatre and Communications Manager

Conversation Starters

• Caleb Marshall, Artistic Director of Sudbury Theatre Centre, responds to an anonymous patron’s criticism of Canadian and “ethnic” plays with why “Northern Ontario stories are important.”
• Andrew Taylor suggests on The Artful Manager that we think about the arts not as being “accessible” but as being “hospitable.”
• Amelia Sargisson writes in Intermission about the relationship between Restoration period and “millennial culture” in Erin Shields’ The Millennial Malcontent—Erin will be our Playwright-in-Person at this year’s Theatre Ontario Festival.

Behind the Scenes at Ontario’s Theatres

Richard Howard

• Sad to share the news of the passing of Richard Howard. Richard was a long-time member of our Talent Bank as an adjudicator and instructor of acting and directing. He also supported our Festival and Summer Theatre Intensive for many years by sponsoring the Richard Howard Award, which gave a scholarship for a summer course to one of the Festival directors. He was honoured with our Maggie Bassett Award for his contribution to theatre in Ontario, and by our Community Theatre Committee with a special Michael Spence Award for his innovative and professional contribution to community theatre in Ontario. The Sault Star wrote about his contribution in Sault Ste. Marie.
• Our new Summer Theatre Intensive partnership with Off the Wall Stratford Artists Alliance was featured this week in the Stratford Beacon Herald.
• Congratulations to the Ontario theatres who were recognized with Grow Grants from the Ontario Trillium Foundation for 2017: Essential Collective Theatre (St. Catharines), Lookup Theatre (Grey-Bruce), and Théâtre français de Toronto.
• Playwrights Guild of Canada has launched their expanded PlayConnect—their program funding playwright readings in communities across Canada (including Playwright-in-Person at Festival and the Summer Theatre Intensive.)

Migrations

• Keith Barker is the new Artistic Director of Native Earth Performing Arts. 

TO Toasts

• ... to the recipients of the Association of Community Theatres—Central Ontario Festival's THEA awards. (We’ll also share the Eastern Ontario Drama League Full-Length Festival awards as soon as they are published.)

In Case You Missed It

• Stories from our Professional Theatre Training Program, featuring training in sound design, set and costume design, and directing.
• Welcome to our final two Festival participants: Northumberland Players of Cobourg and Toronto Irish Players.
• Browsing Our Bulletin Board featuring opportunities across the province including developing long-term career goals, our Summer Theatre Intensive, grant writing, and more.
• ONstage Openings this week in Sudbury, Oakville, Georgetown, Stouffville, Simcoe, Guelph, Waterloo, Embro, London, Hamilton, St. Catharines, Toronto, Cobourg, Lindsay and Ottawa.

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