Ontario Off Stage

Gravenhurst Opera House Costume Designer
Chris Cristobal preparing costumes for Swing!
Photo by Bryan White

by Brandon Moore, Community Theatre and Communications Manager

Conversation Starters

• From the Ontario Summer Theatre blog: Gravenhurst Opera House—A Tradition worth Coming Back For
• Marlene Smith was interviewed by R.H. Thomson on “becoming a theatre producer” for Theatre Museum Canada. Marlene is a Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts’ Silver Ticket recipient and served as a Professional Theatre Training Program mentor for one of our former Executive Directors, Jane Gardner.

Behind the Scenes at Ontario’s Theatres

• The next opening in the Ontario Fringe Festival season is the Ottawa Fringe Festival, opening June 8.
• The Government of Ontario is providing $20 million to help fund the Stratford Festival’s re-development of the Tom Patterson Theatre. 
• Nightwood Theatre and Soulpepper Theatre announced their 2017/18 seasons.
• Heidi Stock, one of our Theatre Ontario members, is participating in a giveaway draw of her book Mentor Me: Instruction and Advice for Aspiring Writers.

TO Toasts

• ... to all of the nominees for the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) Dora Mavor Moore Awards, including long-time Theatre Ontario Board member Elley-Ray and Summer Theatre Intensive instructor Philip Akin.
• ... to Marjorie Chan, Artistic Director of Cahoots Theatre Projects, who received TAPA’s George Luscombe Mentorship Award. Marjorie has mentored several Theatre Ontario Professional Theatre Training Program grant applicants, including Kevin Matthew Wong, Stephanie Jung and Jasmine Chen. Her acceptance speech was published on the Cahoots Inside blog.
• ... to Mitchell Marcus, Artistic and Managing Director of The Musical Stage Company, who received TAPA’s Leonard McHardy and John Harvey Award for Arts Administrators.
• ... and to Joanna Yu, set and costume designer, who received the Pauline McGibbon Award from the province of Ontario. 

In Case You Missed It

• Stories from the Professional Theatre Training Program, featuring training in artistic producing and curation, directing, production management, and lighting design. 
• Change, Growth, and Looking Forward with Anticipation and Optimism at our Annual General Meeting.
• Browsing Our Bulletin Board featuring opportunities across the province including workshops (Intimacy for the Stage and Voice Over), our Summer Theatre Intensive, youth training, and more.
• ONstage Openings this week in Belleville, Ottawa, Richmond Hill, Stratford, Simcoe, St. Jacobs, Toronto, Cookstown, Owen Sound, and Tottenham.