Ontario Off Stage

by Brandon Moore, Community Theatre and Communications Manager

The Musical Stage Company's production
of Dr. Silver: A Celebration of Life.
Photo by Dahlia Katz

Conversation Starters

• Playwrights Guild of Canada’s Women’s Caucus introduced the inaugural release of The SureFire List, a community-generated resource of shows by women or trans-femmes.
• As part of HowlRound’s series on “Leadership in Transition”, May Antaki spoke with Brendan Healy, the new Artistic Director of Canadian Stage.
• Designing an Immersive Musical – Nick Blais shared his experience being part of the design team for The Musical Stage Company’s production of Dr. Silver: A Celebration of Life.

Behind the Scenes at Ontario’s Theatres

• Four new 2019 Ontario Summer Theatre season announcements from The Foster Festival in St. Catharines, Blyth Festival, Port Stanley Festival Theatre, and the Gravenhurst Opera House.
• The Ontario Arts Council has released “The status of women in the Canadian arts and cultural industries: Research review 2010-2018”, synthesizing existing research on the status of women in the arts in Ontario and Canada.

Migrations

• Lisa Marie DiLiberto is the new Artistic Producer of Theatre Direct in Toronto.

TO Toasts

• ... to former Board and Staff member Barry Freeman who was one of the recipients of a Nathan Cohen Award for excellence in critical writing from the Canadian Theatre Critics Association. While celebrating the accomplishment, the University of Toronto Press has made Barry's Canadian Theatre Review article available for free.

In Case You Missed It

• Stories from our Summer Theatre Intensive: Cassel Miles was learning to love again at Learning to Love Your Monologue.
• ONstage Openings this week in Sault Ste. Marie, Aurora, Beaverton, Richmond Hill, Waterloo, Sarnia, London, Hamilton, Toronto, Ottawa, and Sudbury.
• Browsing Our Bulletin Board, including workshops, grant deadlines, and more.

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

Ontario Off Stage

by Brandon Moore, Community Theatre and Communications Manager

Conversation Starters

• Alex Colle, a fourth-year Theatre major at York University wrote about what he has been learning as a playwriting student.
• Cautionary example of how NOT to market your immersive theatre experience, and why you should always reflect on your audience’s experience, from Cindy Marie Jenkins.
• Centennial College is currently in the process of developing a new post-graduate program called Arts in Community Education. They are seeking feedback from prospective students of this program for arts education and community development activities. At this phase, this is a confidential investigation in order to better inform the team working on the new program. The survey is active until the end of the month and the developers would be very grateful for any and all participation. Help shape the future of arts education training in Canada.

Behind the Scenes at Ontario’s Theatres

Andy Trasuk

• It is with great sadness that we share the news of the death of Andy Trasuk, a former Theatre Ontario Board member, long-time supporter, and leader in the Cornwall theatre community. The day of his passing he was honoured as an inaugural member of the Cornwall Arts Hall of Fame.

TO Toasts

• ... to the nominees for Capital Critics Circle Awards in Ottawa, including many of our members and supporters.
• ... to Vivienne Muhling who was honoured with the inaugural Mary Jolliffe Award for Senior Arts Administrators, a triennial award recognizing career and contributions made by an Ontario arts administrator in the field of arts communications, marketing and.or development in the non-profit arts sector.

In Case You Missed It

• Stories from our Professional Theatre Training Program, featuring training in artistic producing and curation, scenography, playwriting, artistic direction, and choral conducting and music direction.
• Stories from our Summer Theatre Intensive, profiling advanced directing with John P. Kelly.
• ONstage Openings this week in Waterloo, Aylmer, London, Sarnia, Niagara Falls, Toronto, Millbrook, Orangeville, Cobourg, Morrisburg, Ottawa, and Mississauga.
• And catch up on ONstage Openings from last week in Aurora, Cambridge, Guelph, Woodstock, Belleville, Cornwall, Smiths Falls, and Sault Ste. Marie.
• Browsing Our Bulletin Board including workshops on getting produced for playwrights, writer’s block, health and safety, intimacy for the stage, and building your brand, plus grant workshops, a symposium on rural performing arts, and grants for creators.

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

Ontario Off Stage

by Brandon Moore, Community Theatre and Communications Manager

Conversation Starters

• Diane Ragsdale proposes five ways that arts organizations may need to adapt their philosophies and practices in relationship to their communities if their goal is deeper, more meaningful engagement.
• Jenn Stephenson writes about the immersive theatre experience, the preparatory emails that accompany it, and wonders what we may take for granted with our “non-immersive” theatre audience.
• Gwydion Suilebhan writes about leadership transitions and a playwriting collective in Washington DC that was intentional about its transition goals, and the value of renewal in arts leadership.
• “The cultural manager’s job isn’t accepting obvious solutions. The job is crafting solutions, step by step.” – Keen insight from Andrew Taylor on The Artful Manager.

Behind the Scenes at Ontario’s Theatres

Murray Finn receiving the Michael Spence Award for
his contribution to community theatre from Bruce Pitkin
at Theatre Ontario Festival 2016 in North Bay.

• ELATE celebrated Murray Finn, this year’s recipient of Theatre Ontario’s Michael Spence Award for Contribution to Community Theatre, with a celebration at the Lester B. Pearson Civic Centre in Elliot Lake.  (I will certainly confirm Murray’s description of our telephone conversation about the award—always one of my favourite tasks that I get to do each year.)
• fu-GEN Theatre Company’s “Walk the Walk: National Festival of Asian Canadian Women” introduced The 49—“plays by women of colour that you can program tomorrow.”
• Alex Mustakas, Artistic Director of Drayton Entertainment, was profiled on AQ’s Blog & Grill—a video-based weblog about entrepreneurship—and how Alex started Drayton Theatre, which is today one of Canada’s largest employers of professional artists.
• What does a Production Manager do? Seth Gerry shares his experiences at GCTC in Ottawa.
• The Stratford Festival has announced their productions for 2017—including an all-Canadian season in the Studio Theatre—and VOS Theatre in Cobourg announced their 2016/17 season.
• 4th Line Theatre’s new production of The Hero of Hunter Street—written by Talent Bank instructor and adjudicator Maja Ardal—was profiled on CBC Fresh Air.
• The next stop in the Ontario Fringe Theatre season is Hamilton—with the Hamilton Fringe Festival opening on July 14.

TO Toasts

• to Andy McKim, Artistic Director of Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto, who was awarded the 2016 Silver Ticket Award from the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts.
• and to all of the winners at the 2016 Dora Mavor Moore Awards.

Ontario Off Stage

by Brandon Moore, Community Theatre and Communications Manager

Conversation Starters

• Equity in Theatre invites registrations of women theatre practitioners in their directory.
• From HowlRound, Erin Mee writes about stage managing immersive, site-specific, and participatory theatre
• Howard Sherman reflects on “Why A White Christmas (Eve) Is Nothing to Celebrate on Avenue Q”

Behind the Scenes at Ontario’s Theatres

• The Ontario Trillium Foundation is holding workshops across the province on Collective Impact for complex community issues.
• Family Life Theatre in Sault Ste. Marie is closing its doors after thirty years, with the retirement of Michael Hennessy as Director of the theatre. They represented QUONTA at the Theatre Ontario Festival in 2001 and 2005.
• “Northern Ontario’s Friendliest Blood Sport”: QUONTA Festival opens next Tuesday in Sudbury.
• Sault Theatre Workshops preps for their QUONTA performance of Frozen with a pub fundraiser in Sault Ste. Marie.
• Meanwhile, Theatre Sarnia is hosting an encore showing of 33 Variations in preparation for the Western Ontario Drama League Festival.
• Theatre by the Bay, Talk Is Free Theatre, and the Barrie Filmfest join together for “arts capaCITY” – a four-year plan to grow the arts in Barrie. 

In Case You Missed It

• Stories from the Professional Theatre Training Program

Browsing Our Bulletin Board

Coming Up from Theatre Ontario

• Are you seeking funding for a unique youth theatre training project?  The next application deadline for our Youth Theatre Training Program is October 15.
• Grant Writing Information Session free recorded webinar with Pat Bradley (Ontario Arts Council) – Preparing an application to the Ontario Arts Council? Get the inside scoop –October 20 at 6pm.
• “Free Money” Entrepreneur Boot Camp is on October 24 in Toronto – Learn the necessary skills to produce creative works in a one-day session!  Featuring smART Money: Project Finance Basics with Natasha Mytnowych, Project Management Tools with Ruth Cumberbatch, Fundraising with Alicia Rose, and Tips for Creative Proposals with Denise Bolduc.
• Act Bravely workshop with Jorie Morrow – Practical strategies to conquer stage fright on October 26 at 5:30pm in Toronto.
• Unleashing Your Inner Entrepreneur workshop with Rebecca Ballarin and special guest Emma Mackenzie Hillier – Planning on producing a show or starting a theatre company? Start here – October 28 at 3pm in Toronto.

Check out all of our upcoming Career Stream and Creator Stream workshops. 

Upcoming on The Bulletin Board

The Paprika Festival
Deadline for applications for 2015 programs is October 14.

• Deadline for applications for Outside the March’s Forward March (for creators of large-scale immersive performance) is October 9.
• Deadline for applications for Theatre InspiraTO’s Playwriting Academy is October 10.
• Upcoming Ontario Cultural Strategy Town Hall sessions are in Barrie (October 13) and Hamilton (October 15).
• Deadline for applications for Paprika Festival’s 2016 Festival programs (Productions, Creators Unit, Resident Company, Playwriting, Advisory Board, Director’s Lab) is October 14.
• Deadline for applications for Ontario Arts Council’s Jets de theatre and Multi and Inter-Arts Projects grants is October 15.
• Deadline for applications for Canada Council’s Theatre International grant is October 15.

New on The Bulletin Board

• Canadian Stage invites applications for their RBC Emerging Artist Programs.  The Director Development Residency has a deadline of October 19, and the Company in Residence program has a deadline of October 20.
• Festival Players of Prince Edward County invite submissions for their Theatre Creators’ Reserve, with funding priorities for rural and/or epic themes.  The submission deadline is November 2.
• Mississauga Players is seeking a volunteer lighting designer for The Sunshine Boys.

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 and job postings on our Theatre Ontario Individual Member Resources on our website

Browsing Our Bulletin Board

"Make It Happen" Career Boot Camp
at Theatre Ontario

Coming Up from Theatre Ontario

• Do you need financial support for professional development or a "change of direction" in your career? The next application deadline for our Professional Theatre Training Program is October 1.
• “Make It Happen” Career Boot Camp—featuring smART Money with Natasha Mytnowych, Can Social Media Get You Work? with Seb FoxAllen, Contract Law for Actors with Derrick Chua, and Ask an Agent with Alicia Jeffery—is on October 3.
• Launching Your Career workshop with Rebecca Ballarin and special guest Paolo Santalucia on October 5 at 3pm - Get answers to your FAQ’s about the business of acting
• Are you seeking funding for a unique youth theatre training project?  The next application deadline for our Youth Theatre Training Program is October 15.

Check out all of our upcoming Career Stream and Creator Stream workshops.

Upcoming on The Bulletin Board

• Deadline for the John Hobday Awards in Arts Management, for established and mid-career arts managers looking for funding to pursue professional development or mentorship opportunities is September 30.
• Deadline for Ontario Arts Council grants for Artist(s) in the Community/Workplace, Arts Education Projects, and National and International Residency is October 1.
• CPAMO is holding a KasheDance and COBA workshop on building collaborations on October 5 in Toronto.
• Deadline for applications for directors for Alumnae Theatre’s New Ideas Festival is October 5.
• ArtsBuild Ontario has a Learn It | Build It | Manage It workshop on October 6 in Sudbury.
• Deadline for applications for Outside the March’s Forward March (for creators of large-scale immersive performance) is October 9.

New on The Bulletin Board

• Shaw Festival’s Fall Teachers Day is on October 23, focusing on the Shaw prop shop in “Prop It Up.”
• Sudbury Theatre Centre’s next Adult Workshops are “Intro to Acting” with Bill Lane and “Intro to Stage Managing” with Eamonn Reil, both on October 24.

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 and job postings on our Theatre Ontario Individual Member Resources on our website

Browsing Our Bulletin Board

Coming Up from Theatre Ontario

• Theatre Ontario is seeking a volunteer to teach theatre techniques in a classroom setting with the goal of improving literacy and communication skills. The deadline is September 18.
• Launching Your Career workshop with Rebecca Ballarin and special guest Joseph Recinos – Get answers to your FAQs about the business of acting – September 21 at 3pm in Toronto.
• Reciprocal Agreements between CAEA and ACTRA with Arden R. Ryshpan (CAEA) and Indra Escobar (ACTRA) – Learn how the new agreement affects you – September 21 at 6pm in Toronto.
• Adjudicators Symposium – Professional development and networking – September 26 at 10am in Toronto.
• Unleashing Your Inner Entrepreneur workshop with Rebecca Ballarin and special guest Scott Dermody – Planning on producing a show or starting a theatre company? Start here – September 28 at 3pm in Toronto.
• Grant Writing Information Session free recorded webinar with Pat Bradley (Ontario Arts Council) – Preparing an application to the Ontario Arts Council? Get the inside scoop – September 29 at 6pm.
• Do you need financial support for professional development or a "change of direction" in your career? The next application deadline for our Professional Theatre Training Program is October 1.
• Are you seeking funding for a unique youth theatre training project?  The next application deadline for our Youth Theatre Training Program is October 15.

Check out all of our upcoming Career Stream and Creator Stream workshops. 

Upcoming on The Bulletin Board

West Side Story at Curtain Call Players.
Their annual general meeting is September 20.

• Helen Donnelly’s Discover Your Clown course in Toronto starts today.
• TAPA’s workshops on Standard First Aid with CPR/AED (Sep 21 to 22) and Emergency First Aid with CPR/AED (Sep 21) both have registration deadlines of September 17.
• Curtain Call Players in Toronto invites the community to their Annual General Meeting on September 20.

New on The Bulletin Board

• Sudbury Theatre Centre launches their Adult Workshop series on September 27 with Intro to Stage Combat with Caleb Marshall.
• The Canada Council’s John Hobday Awards in Arts Management offers up to two awards of $10,000 annually to established and mid-career arts managers looking for funding to pursue professional development or mentorship opportunities.  The deadline is September 30.
• Alumnae Theatre seeks directors for the 2016 New Ideas Festival.  The deadline is October 5.
• Outside the March invites applications for Forward March from playwrights and creators interested in working to develop original, large-scale, immersive experiences.  The application deadline is October 9.

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 and job postings on our Theatre Ontario Individual Member Resources on our website.

Ontario Off Stage

by Brandon Moore, Communications Coordinator

Conversation Starters

"Disappearing Act: A Public Forum on
Canadian Theatre and Toronto Audiences"

• Mitchell Marcus, Artistic and Managing Director of Acting Up Stage Company, reflects on the low income of artists, and how artists subsidize our own industry
• The Title Block podcast’s recent episode included “Disappearing Act: A Public Forum on Canadian Theatre and Toronto Audiences” - the event's organizers invite people to respond to a survey
• “Audience Instructions for Our Immersive/Experimental Theatre Production in an Abandoned Middle School in Bushwick.” by Rachel Klein

Behind the Scenes at Ontario’s Theatres

• The Capitol Theatre in Port Hope—home of the Port Hope Festival Theatre—is being evaluated for an historic site designation
• The Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts has launched a new website

Migrations

• Ontario’s loss is New Brunswick’s gain: Thomas Morgan Jones (a Professional Theatre Training Program alum) is the new Artistic Director of Theatre New Brunswick

In Case You Missed It

• Profiling projects from the Professional Theatre Training Program

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

Ontario Off Stage

by Brandon Moore, Communications Coordinator

Conversation Starters

• Anne Heathcote, our Ontario Summer Theatre blogger, has visited her first theatre: Upper Canada Playhouse in Morrisburg
• “The combination of games and theatres is too full of new possibilities to not explore it more”—Learning from the Gamification of Theatre by Megan Reilly on HowlRound
• In The Green Room started a series profiling the Tarragon Theatre’s Playwrights Unit with a conversation with dramaturg Andrea Romaldi

From The Wire

TheatreBooks - closing their doors after 39 years

• TheatreBooks is closing their doors after 39 years due to “the changing retail landscape.”  Leonard McHardy and John Harvey have made an invaluable contribution to our community—for me, time browsing in their store was always time well spent
• Simon Brault, the new C.E.O. of the Canada Council, talks in a video about his vision of public engagement in the arts, the pivotal role played by artists in our society, and the importance of the Canada Council’s mission
• The Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas International Conference live-streamed several sessions—and the archives are now available for viewing

Migrations

• Michael Coteau is the new Ontario Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport
• Victoria Steele is the new Executive Director of the AOE Arts Council in Ottawa

TO Toasts

• Congratulations to Ian Farthing, outgoing Artistic Director of the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival, named as Prescott’s inaugural Citizen of the Year
• Congratulations to all of the recipients of the Dora Mavor Moore Awards

In Case You Missed It

• In part one of a two-part series, Colin Bruce Anthes reflects on “Practicing Deeply” at training with SITI Company as part of the Independent Theatre Creators International Training Scholarship