Ontario Off Stage

by Brandon Moore, Community Theatre and Communications Manager

Conversation Starters

• David Ferry writes for Intermission about audience behaviour, and a hope to “find a way to hear everyone’s stories with respect and attention.”
• The latest contributor to Playwrights Guild of Canada’s “Canadian Plays Recommended by Playwrights” was Kristen Da Silva.
• Scott Walters' “Strategies for Becoming an Independent Artist” on Creative Insubordination begins with “Tip #0”: Forget Everything.
• This week’s SpiderWire by Michael O’Brien (part of a Theatre Ontario Professional Theatre Training Program with Sarah Garton Stanley at SpiderWebShow) explores the idea of “faith.”

Behind the Scenes at Ontario’s Theatres

• Business for the Arts brings its ArtsVest sponsorship training program to five new communities: Oakville, Thunder Bay, Collingwood, North Bay, and Kawartha Lakes.
• Theatre Kingston’s Storefront Festival is now officially part of the CAFF Fringe Circuit.
• The Playwrights Residency grant program at the Ontario Arts Council is now part of the Theatre Projects program, with the deadline of February 16.

In Case You Missed It

• Meet the new members of our Youth Advisory Committee for 2017.
• Browsing Our Bulletin Board, featuring workshops for actors and creators on launching your career, bringing your show to schools, grant writing, dramaturgy; weekend intensives on auditioning and stage managing; improv course in Sudbury, artist educator training in Toronto, a forum for creative leaders in Vaughan and more.
• ONstage Openings this week in Aurora, Mississauga, Oshawa, Hamilton, Toronto, Cobourg, Peterborough, and Kingston.

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

Browsing Our Bulletin Board

Coming Up from Theatre Ontario

Courses and Workshops at Theatre Ontario

• Learn the necessary skills to produce creative works, in a one-day session at our Creator Bootcamp, featuring smART Money 2-in-1: Personal and Project Finances with Natasha Mytnowych, Project Management Tools for Producers with Ruth Cumberbatch, and Fundraising with Alicia Rose on May 7 in Toronto.
• Our Annual General Meeting is on May 9 at 7pm in Toronto. Following the AGM, our Youth Advisory Committee is hosting “Now What? An Emerging Artist’s Guide to the Theatre Universe.”
• Answers to your FAQs about the business of acting: Launching Your Career workshop with Rebecca Ballarin and guest Sochi Fried on May 16 in Toronto
• Theatre Ontario Festival is a province-wide celebration of community theatre featuring performances, adjudications, workshops, and celebrations. Tickets are now available. The Festival opens May 18 in North Bay.
• We are seeking a student for our Education Assistant summer experience position. Application deadline is May 20. 
• Treat yourself to a unique learning adventure at our Theatre Ontario Summer Theatre Intensive, August 7 to 13 in Peterborough, featuring courses for actors, directors, stage managers, and opera performers.
• Members save 50% on E-learning courses from WorkInCulture. One of the six courses available is Business Planning—Plan your work and work your plan. If you’re starting a career in theatre or starting up a theatre company, your new business deserves extensive planning and prep work. So where do you start?

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

Upcoming on The Bulletin Board

• Shaw Festival’s Beyond the Stage for educators is on May 6.
• Shaw Festival’s Beyond the Stage for youth—a workshop on improvisation for teens—is on May 7.
• Sudbury Theatre Centre is hosting an “Intro to Musical Theatre – Singing in Character” workshop with Michael Doherty on May 7.
• Cahoots Theatre is hosting a free community event “ASL Explore” with Joanne Cripps from the Deaf Culture Centre on May 13 at 6:30pm at Theatre Passe Muraille.

New on The Bulletin Board

• Nightwood Theatre is now inviting submissions from emerging women playwrights for the 2016/17 Write from the Hip program.

Check out these items, and other postings from our members.

• Grants
• Calls for Submission and Nominations
• Volunteer and Non-Paying Positions
• Community Events and Conferences
• Workshops at Ontario Theatres and Other Arts Service Organizations
• Adult Continuing Education Programs
• Youth Training Programs

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

• Look as natural under stage lights as you do outdoors—Join us at More than Face Value: Basics of Effective Stake Makeup workshop with David Antscherl on April 25 in Toronto.
• Producing a show or starting a company? Join us at our Unleashing Your Inner Entrepreneur workshop with Rebecca Ballarin and Amy Lee on April 27 in Toronto.
  
• Learns the secrets of a successful voice acting career: Voice Over Workshop with Elley-Ray on April 30 in Toronto.
• Preparing an OAC application? Get the inside scoop at our free Grant Writing Information Session recorded webinar with Pat Bradley of the Ontario Arts Council on May 3.
• Learn the necessary skills to produce creative works, in a one-day session at our Creator Bootcamp, featuring smART Money 2-in-1: Personal and Project Finances with Natasha Mytnowych, Project Management Tools for Producers with Ruth Cumberbatch, and Fundraising with Alicia Rose on May 7 in Toronto.
• Theatre Ontario Festival is a province-wide celebration of community theatre featuring performances, adjudications, workshops, and celebrations. Tickets are now available. The Festival opens May 18 in North Bay.
• Treat yourself to a unique learning adventure at our Theatre Ontario Summer Theatre Intensive, August 7 to 13 in Peterborough, featuring courses for actors, directors, stage managers, and opera performers. Early-bird prices available under May 1.

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

Upcoming on The Bulletin Board

• Oshawa Little Theatre is seeking a director for their Fall production of the The Underpants (honorarium.)
• Deadline for applications for Ontario Trillium Foundation Seed Grants is today.
• Deadline for applications to direct at Georgetown Little Theatre in the 16/17 season (non-paying) is April 10.
• Deadline for applications for Ontario Arts Council grants for Théâtre and Jets de theatre is April 15.
• Deadline for applications for Canada Council grants for Theatre International Program and Individual Creation, Playwright-in-Residency, Artist-in-Residency and Professional Development is April 15.

Check out these items, and other postings from our members.

• Grants
• Calls for Submission and Nominations
• Volunteer and Non-Paying Positions
• Community Events and Conferences
• Workshops at Ontario Theatres and Other Arts Service Organizations
• Adult Continuing Education Programs
• Youth Training Programs

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

• Wayne Burns, from our Youth Advisory Committee, writes about what success looks like in “Bo(u)lder” 
• #CdnCult Times from SpiderWebShow explored issues for artists around climate change.  Especially thought-provoking for me was Aislinn Rose’s “The arts funding pipeline” exploring the ethics of corporate arts sponsorship
• The day after Equity in Theatre’s symposium, gender parity activists from across North America gathered in Toronto to discuss strategies and proposed seven steps for gender parity in theatre

"Playwriting for Youth--Taking the Stage!"
at Essential Collective Theatre

Behind the Scenes at Ontario’s Theatres

• Congrats to Essential Collective Theatre in St. Catharines on the success of “Playwriting for Youth—Taking the Stage!”, funded by the Youth Theatre Training Program
• The next stop on the Ontario Fringe Festival tour is Ottawa—the Ottawa Fringe Festival opens June 17

This issue marks the start of our summer publishing schedule, with “Ontario Off Stage” coming out every two weeks.  Our next issue will be on June 26.

Ontario Off Stage

by Brandon Moore, Communications Coordinator

Conversation Starters

• Kate Taylor wrote in the Globe and Mail about the research work of Business for the Arts: “When it comes to arts funding, can corporate dollars replace government grants?”
• “As professionals, we need to be a part of inspiring the next generation to take up behind-the-scenes roles as stage managers”—one of Lois Dawson’s “Five Random Thoughts on Stage Management.”

Behind the Scenes at Ontario’s Theatres

• As was implied when Michael Wheeler was announced as “Executive Director and Transformation Designer”—STAF in Toronto is undergoing a transformation.  They are shifting from providing subsidized administrative services to building the skills and capabilities of independent theatre.
• Spacefinder Toronto has launched: a project between the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts, ArtsBuild Ontario, WorkInCulture, and Fractured Atlas.  Venues with an hour’s drive of Toronto looking to showcase their space for rentals can post a listing for free.
• TheatreWiki by SpiderWebShow is the first community-maintained Canadian online encyclopedia of the performing arts.

TO Toasts

Eastern Ontario Drama League One-Act Festival Award Recipients

• … to Jordan Tannahill and Playwrights Canada Press who won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama for Age of Minority (video)
• … to the recipients of awards at the Eastern Ontario Drama League One-Act Festival
• … to the recipients of the Capital Critics’ Circle Awards in Ottawa

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

Ontario Off Stage

by Brandon Moore, Communications Coordinator

Conversation Starters

• Has the conversation about “what’s wrong with Canadian theatre” confused the ideas of “populism” and “middle-of-the-road”?  Jacob Zimmer writes about the distinction on #CdnCult Times on the SpiderWebShow
• Scarcity thinking has a tendency to drive us towards “tearing things down”—Gwydion Suilebhan reminds us in “Angry Birds and Airplane Dreams” that we need to dedicate ourselves to building things instead
• In a similar vein, Polly Carl reflects on the Anxiety of Generosity and the Abundance of the Commons on HowlRound
• Micheline McKay wonders if artists say thank you enough on The Arts Advocate Blog
• The puppet and the purpose: Andrew Taylor suggests on The Artful Manager that arts administrators can learn a valuable lesson on leadership from the techniques of puppetry
• “It's not that you should see plays when you can because they might have famous people in them; it's that if you never see plays, it's easy to forget how different they are from absolutely everything else, no matter who is in them.” Linda Holmes reflects on "the blood and breath of live theatre" on NPR’s Monkey See blog after seeing Daniel Radcliffe in The Cripple of Inishmaan.
• Developing leadership is one of the best investments for not-for-profits, from James W. Shepard, Jr. on the Stanford Social Innovation Review

From The Wire

• The Ontario Nonprofit Network has released their analysis of the provincial parties platforms on the non-profit sector
• In early 2014, the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres commissioned a survey from Nanos Research on Canadians’ thoughts on theatre in our country. The research focuses on the value and role of theatres in creating vibrant communities across Canada.
• Peter Raymont argues in the Globe and Mail that arts programming can save the CBC from oblivion
• Business for the Arts was granted a four-year investment from the Ontario Trillium Foundation to expand the artsVest program for a mentorship program that will further develop the relationships between the corporate sector and arts and cultural organizations

Behind The Scenes at Ontario’s Theatres

Beth Kates' maquette for The Road to Mecca at Soulpepper

• Beth Kates, Set and Lighting Designer on the Soulpepper Theatre production of The Road to Mecca shares her approach to the show’s design
• Classic Theatre Festival in Perth has launched a new youth theatre project “Perth Through the Ages”, a theatrical historical walking tour, “animating the town core, re-creating key characters and events in the town’s storied 200-year history”, made possible from the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport’s Celebrate Ontario program, along with the valuable assistance of the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund, and the Perth and District Community Foundation

Migrations

• Rona Waddington, a past Neil Munro Intern Director at the Shaw Festival, will be the new Artistic Director of St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival in Prescott in 2015

In Case You Missed It

• PTTP Profiles: Exploring Projects Funded by the Professional Theatre Training Program

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