In Central Ontario
Jan. 11, Hedda Gabler at Peterborough Theatre Guild
In Eastern Ontario
Jan. 8, All My Sons at Ottawa Little Theatre
In South Central Ontario
Jan. 10, Hide And Seek at Burl-Oak Theatre Group (Oakville)
In Toronto
Jan. 9, The Amorous Adventures of Anatol at Tarragon Theatre (currently in previews)
Jan. 10, Someone Else at Canadian Stage, with previews from Jan. 7
Jan. 10, The Penelopiad at Nightwood Theatre, with previews from Jan. 8
Jan. 11, Robin Hood: The Legendary Musical Comedy at Hart House Theatre
For theatre already playing across Ontario, and information on how to submit your productions, visit Theatre Ontario’s ONstage theatre listings on our website.
Monday, 7 January 2013
Monday, 31 December 2012
ONstage Openings for the week of December 31
In Toronto
Jan. 1, The Amorous Adventures of Anatol at Tarragon Theatre (in previews)
Jan. 2, Next Stage Festival from the Toronto Fringe Festival
Jan. 3, This Is War at Tarragon Theatre (currently in previews)
Jan. 3, Rabbi Sam at TEATRON Toronto Jewish Theatre (with a matinee preview)
For all the theatre currently playing across Ontario, and information for theatres on how to submit your listings, visit TheatreOntario’s ONstage theatre listings on our website.
Jan. 1, The Amorous Adventures of Anatol at Tarragon Theatre (in previews)
Jan. 2, Next Stage Festival from the Toronto Fringe Festival
Jan. 3, This Is War at Tarragon Theatre (currently in previews)
Jan. 3, Rabbi Sam at TEATRON Toronto Jewish Theatre (with a matinee preview)
For all the theatre currently playing across Ontario, and information for theatres on how to submit your listings, visit TheatreOntario’s ONstage theatre listings on our website.
Monday, 24 December 2012
ONstage Openings for the week of December 24
In Toronto
Dec. 28, This Is War at Tarragon Theatre in previews
Dec. 28, Cinderella In Muddy York at Puppetmongers Theatre
For all the theatre currently playing across Ontario, and information for theatres on how to submit your listings, visit Theatre Ontario’s ONstage theatre listings on our website.
Dec. 28, This Is War at Tarragon Theatre in previews
Dec. 28, Cinderella In Muddy York at Puppetmongers Theatre
For all the theatre currently playing across Ontario, and information for theatres on how to submit your listings, visit Theatre Ontario’s ONstage theatre listings on our website.
Friday, 21 December 2012
Best wishes and happy holidays from my home to yours!
by Carol Beauchamp, Executive Director
It’s hard to believe that 2012 is almost over with the New Year rapidly approaching. This is a wonderful time of year filled with laughter, family, friends, and the opportunity to take in some great theatre! It is also a time for reflection, and a time for renewal and regeneration.
It has been a busy year at Theatre Ontario – we have completed the research phase of our strategic branding exercise, we have developed a number of new workshops, we have been working with the Ontario Arts Council and other Provincial Arts Service Organizations (PASOs) to deliver the message to our MPP’s on the importance of Arts funding in the province of Ontario. This is an extremely important message to carry, particularly as Liberal delegates will be choosing a new leader at the end of January, and there is the potential that we could see a provincial election as early as May, 2013. Theatre Ontario will continue working with the PASOs to deliver the message on the importance of arts funding in the province.
The arts and cultural sector is tremendously important to the creative, economic and social fabric of our amazing province. Some short and snappy facts that pulled together you can share with your local MPP (courtesy of the Ontario Arts Council):
Accessibility Standard For Customer Service – report due December 31st, 2012
The Accessibility Standard for Customer Service came into effect January 1st, 2012 and applies to all organizations (public, private and non-profit) that provide goods or services either directly to the public or to other organizations in Ontario and that have one or more employees in Ontario.
This includes consultants, manufacturers and wholesalers as well as other businesses and professional services.
The act requires that a report is filed by December 31st, 2012 for all organizations with over 20 employees. All organizations with over one employee should have a plan and their staff should be trained. If you haven’t yet put your plan in place (for organizations with under 20 employees), or submitted your report (for organizations with over 20 employees), visit the Ministry of Community & Social Services website for more details.
Not-for-Profit Corporations Act
Ontario’s Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, 2010 (ONCA) is a legal framework for not-for-profit corporations, including charitable corporations, and is targeted to come into effect July 31, 2013. It will set out how not-for-profit corporations in Ontario are created, governed and dissolved.
Existing not-for-profit corporations will have a three-year transition period once ONCA is in effect. This will allow them sufficient time to make any changes to their incorporation and other documents that are necessary to bring them into conformity with ONCA.
There is still currently some ambiguity with some of the details of the act (including the effective date), however, the changes will require a review by organizations of:
The last twelve months have been a tremendous experience for me personally. I have also had the great joy and privilege of meeting a vast array of committed, passionate and creative people who are producing wonderful theatre around the province–I consider myself extremely fortunate to have seen exciting theatre in venues as diverse as The St. Lawrence Centre of The Performing Arts, The Shaw and Stratford Festivals, a winery in Prince Edward County, a barn in Millbrook, a Church in Hillsburgh, a grand old theatre in Sarnia, and schools in Espanola and Saulte Ste Marie – and many, many terrific venues in between! The variety of plays has more than matched the variety of venues from classics to new works written and performed by Canadian artists. I never cease to be amazed by the magic that is created as I am moved to laughter or tears, inspired to create or become involved, provoked to think, consider, research and debate both controversial and motivating issues. Wow–Canadian theatre is alive and well in Ontario! Thank you to each of you who inspire and woo me with your creativity and passion.
I have been fortunate to have met many wonderful people from across the province, with highlights and memories abounding. The people of Sault Ste Marie opened their hearts and doors to us when Theatre SMC hosted Theatre Ontario Festival 2012–the city’s Mayor welcomed festival visitors at a lovely reception overlooking Lake Superior–it doesn’t get much better than that! The Ottawa Little Theatre celebrated its 100th anniversary, and our sister organization for the francophone community, Theatre Action celebrated their 40th anniversary on the same weekend.
I am very much looking forward to 2013: We will be kicking off the New Year with new workshops in January and Showcase 2013 for the graduates of Ontario’s theatre programs, held at the St. Lawrence Centre of the Performing Arts January 20th and 21st. I would be remiss if I did not say a big thank you, to you, our members. It has been a pleasure to work with and for you over the last twelve months, and I am anticipating with delight the opportunity of meeting many more of you in person in the next 12 months. Thank you for your commitment and your support. Have a wonderful and safe holiday season, and a healthy and prosperous New Year.
It’s hard to believe that 2012 is almost over with the New Year rapidly approaching. This is a wonderful time of year filled with laughter, family, friends, and the opportunity to take in some great theatre! It is also a time for reflection, and a time for renewal and regeneration.
It has been a busy year at Theatre Ontario – we have completed the research phase of our strategic branding exercise, we have developed a number of new workshops, we have been working with the Ontario Arts Council and other Provincial Arts Service Organizations (PASOs) to deliver the message to our MPP’s on the importance of Arts funding in the province of Ontario. This is an extremely important message to carry, particularly as Liberal delegates will be choosing a new leader at the end of January, and there is the potential that we could see a provincial election as early as May, 2013. Theatre Ontario will continue working with the PASOs to deliver the message on the importance of arts funding in the province.
The arts and cultural sector is tremendously important to the creative, economic and social fabric of our amazing province. Some short and snappy facts that pulled together you can share with your local MPP (courtesy of the Ontario Arts Council):
- Ontario’s cultural sector directly contributes $19.7 billion annually to Ontario’s economy, representing 4.2% of the province’s GDP
- Both Statistics Canada and the Conference Board of Canada recognize creators and creative producers as important first steps in the “creative chain”. The economic impact of the culture sector is derived through the creation, production dissemination and sale of arts and culture goods and services
- The Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Policy Statement on Social-Economic Development states that “arts, culture and heritage improve the ability of municipal governments to influence local economic development by attracting and retaining a skilled and talented workforce.
- In a 2010 survey of 18 mid-sized Ontario cities, all of the municipalities reported using cultural and recreational amenities (i.e. operation of cultural facilities, museums and galleries) as a tool for downtown revitalization.
- 95% of Ontarians believe that arts activities help enrich the quality of our lives
- 89% of Ontarians agree that if their community lost its arts activities, people living there would lose something of value.
Accessibility Standard For Customer Service – report due December 31st, 2012
The Accessibility Standard for Customer Service came into effect January 1st, 2012 and applies to all organizations (public, private and non-profit) that provide goods or services either directly to the public or to other organizations in Ontario and that have one or more employees in Ontario.
This includes consultants, manufacturers and wholesalers as well as other businesses and professional services.
The act requires that a report is filed by December 31st, 2012 for all organizations with over 20 employees. All organizations with over one employee should have a plan and their staff should be trained. If you haven’t yet put your plan in place (for organizations with under 20 employees), or submitted your report (for organizations with over 20 employees), visit the Ministry of Community & Social Services website for more details.
Not-for-Profit Corporations Act
Ontario’s Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, 2010 (ONCA) is a legal framework for not-for-profit corporations, including charitable corporations, and is targeted to come into effect July 31, 2013. It will set out how not-for-profit corporations in Ontario are created, governed and dissolved.
Existing not-for-profit corporations will have a three-year transition period once ONCA is in effect. This will allow them sufficient time to make any changes to their incorporation and other documents that are necessary to bring them into conformity with ONCA.
There is still currently some ambiguity with some of the details of the act (including the effective date), however, the changes will require a review by organizations of:
- Letters of patent: do they reflect the corporations current and/or future activities
- Review of by-laws
- Review of Director and Officer Provisions
- Review of Member Provisions
The last twelve months have been a tremendous experience for me personally. I have also had the great joy and privilege of meeting a vast array of committed, passionate and creative people who are producing wonderful theatre around the province–I consider myself extremely fortunate to have seen exciting theatre in venues as diverse as The St. Lawrence Centre of The Performing Arts, The Shaw and Stratford Festivals, a winery in Prince Edward County, a barn in Millbrook, a Church in Hillsburgh, a grand old theatre in Sarnia, and schools in Espanola and Saulte Ste Marie – and many, many terrific venues in between! The variety of plays has more than matched the variety of venues from classics to new works written and performed by Canadian artists. I never cease to be amazed by the magic that is created as I am moved to laughter or tears, inspired to create or become involved, provoked to think, consider, research and debate both controversial and motivating issues. Wow–Canadian theatre is alive and well in Ontario! Thank you to each of you who inspire and woo me with your creativity and passion.
I have been fortunate to have met many wonderful people from across the province, with highlights and memories abounding. The people of Sault Ste Marie opened their hearts and doors to us when Theatre SMC hosted Theatre Ontario Festival 2012–the city’s Mayor welcomed festival visitors at a lovely reception overlooking Lake Superior–it doesn’t get much better than that! The Ottawa Little Theatre celebrated its 100th anniversary, and our sister organization for the francophone community, Theatre Action celebrated their 40th anniversary on the same weekend.
I am very much looking forward to 2013: We will be kicking off the New Year with new workshops in January and Showcase 2013 for the graduates of Ontario’s theatre programs, held at the St. Lawrence Centre of the Performing Arts January 20th and 21st. I would be remiss if I did not say a big thank you, to you, our members. It has been a pleasure to work with and for you over the last twelve months, and I am anticipating with delight the opportunity of meeting many more of you in person in the next 12 months. Thank you for your commitment and your support. Have a wonderful and safe holiday season, and a healthy and prosperous New Year.
Thursday, 20 December 2012
Amazing Abundance
By Brandon Moore, Communications Coordinator
This was a good year for online conversation-starters. When Ken Gass was dismissed as Artistic Director of Factory Theatre in June, a debate unfolded on Praxis Theatre provoked by “open letters” from David Ferry and Aislinn Rose; Jacob Zimmer of Small Wooden Shoe made a public application for the vacancy; and Brendan Healy of Buddies In Bad Times Theatre wrote a much-shared and moving and motivating Facebook note.
Best of all, they accomplished the most important thing in online conversations—they moved the conversations into the community: in rehearsal halls, at lunch room tables, in bars over drinks, at opening night parties. Calls to action were proposed, debated, adopted and rejected. If you had a passion for theatre and a pulse, something came of it—perhaps even just a change of belief or behaviour.
But one of my favourite calls-to-action from the past year—which could function as a “new year’s resolution” that’s as good as any—came from Travis Bedard, my favourite agitator in the 2amtheatre.com community. In a post at the end of November and an ensuing conversation on Twitter, he challenged us to end the “black magical thinking” in theatre that both frames the environment negatively in order to fit challenging circumstances, and assumes “stupidity or evil” on the part of the public, audiences, governments, funders, and—especially—other theatre-makers.
I agree with his assertion that “this is a time of amazing abundance in theatre.” As he says, that doesn’t mean easy. He uses the metaphor of “gridlock” to describe the state of our current resources. But the opportunities to overcome the gridlock are plentiful and abundant—in new leadership, new spaces, new conversations.
2012 saw a number of significant changes at the highest levels of Ontario’s professional venued theatres. There is new artistic leadership at Great Canadian Theatre Company, the National Arts Centre—English Theatre, Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Thousand Islands Playhouse, and interim leaders at Blyth Festival and Factory Theatre. There are also new general managers at many long-established Ontario theatres—Canadian Stage, the Shaw Festival, Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Tarragon Theatre, and Young People’s Theatre. New leaders step forward, new visionaries take over the positions they leave—change creates an abundance of opportunities.
TheatreBooks moved. Playwrights Canada Press moved. And we’ll be starting 2013 in our new office at 401 Richmond Street West, with our suite-mates from Playwrights Guild of Canada and the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts. Domino Theatre opened a new venue in Kingston that we’ll all get to visit at our Festival in May. Milton celebrated the opening of a new Centre for the Arts. Artscape opened the Daniels Spectrum in Toronto (previously known as the Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre), and welcomed tenants, including Native Earth Performing Arts. The Theatre Centre “broke ground” for a new home. Next year will mark the grand opening of Drayton Entertainment’s Dunfield Theatre Cambridge. Theatre needs space to bring artists and audiences together; well-managed venues add to that abundance of opportunity.
On our community theatre stages, more groups are exploring new play development as a way to deepen their community connections, better engage their membership, and explore their creative potential as a company. The inaugural Tom Hendry Award for New Comedy from Playwrights Guild of Canada was awarded to Michael Grant for Shorthanded, which premieres at Elmira Theatre Company in February 2013; and the Outstanding Production at our 2012 Festival was The Mouse House by Robert Ainsworth, a work that was developed at Peterborough Theatre Guild.
Apocalypse watchers might point to the closures of the Vancouver Playhouse and Showboat Festival Theatre as signs of inevitable catastrophe. Indeed, these announcements were certainly among the “low points” of the past year—friends lost jobs, producing partners lost money, audiences lost theatre. But in response to the Playhouse closure, PACT—the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres—is now leading Dialogue On Theatre: “a national conversation about a vision for Canadian theatre in 2017 that the theatre community can support and work together to create.” The idea that everyone in Canadian theatre can start rowing together may provoke snark and cynicism; I remain hopeful that this Dialogue will give voices that are quieter, and often drowned out, to be heard at our major theatre institutions. That’s one of the ways we sustain abundance in a community.
But the most amazing abundance—the most important abundance—can be seen on our theatre stages. As a juror for the Dora Mavor Moore Awards during the first half of this year, I had the opportunity to see first-hand the breadth of quality at many Toronto professional theatres. In January, Toronto theatre critics were trying to remember a time when so many “four-star shows” were running at the same time. I heard similar stories at our summer theatres, our regional community theatre festivals, our fringe festivals, and from colleagues and friends across the province. When I update our ONstage listings every week, I’m struck by the breadth of shows you can see across our province—something for every taste. It’s good to hear that the quality of the theatre matches the choices available.
At Theatre Ontario, we’re looking forward to our plans for the new year. In the fall, we expanded our repertoire of workshops, and in the new year, we’ll be exploring ways to expand our workshops beyond our office in Toronto, while still making them cost-effective for our participants. On a personal note, I am looking forward to finding ways to expand our communications so that we can share more of the incredible stories of theatre in Ontario.
Thank you to our members and supporters. As the service organization for theatre artists in our province, we have accomplished an abundance of amazing things on your behalf—for forty years, you have been nurturing theatre artists at every stage of their careers and supporting and advocating for theatre across the province, through Theatre Ontario.
Let’s continue to seek out that abundance in the year ahead.
This was a good year for online conversation-starters. When Ken Gass was dismissed as Artistic Director of Factory Theatre in June, a debate unfolded on Praxis Theatre provoked by “open letters” from David Ferry and Aislinn Rose; Jacob Zimmer of Small Wooden Shoe made a public application for the vacancy; and Brendan Healy of Buddies In Bad Times Theatre wrote a much-shared and moving and motivating Facebook note.
Best of all, they accomplished the most important thing in online conversations—they moved the conversations into the community: in rehearsal halls, at lunch room tables, in bars over drinks, at opening night parties. Calls to action were proposed, debated, adopted and rejected. If you had a passion for theatre and a pulse, something came of it—perhaps even just a change of belief or behaviour.
But one of my favourite calls-to-action from the past year—which could function as a “new year’s resolution” that’s as good as any—came from Travis Bedard, my favourite agitator in the 2amtheatre.com community. In a post at the end of November and an ensuing conversation on Twitter, he challenged us to end the “black magical thinking” in theatre that both frames the environment negatively in order to fit challenging circumstances, and assumes “stupidity or evil” on the part of the public, audiences, governments, funders, and—especially—other theatre-makers.
I agree with his assertion that “this is a time of amazing abundance in theatre.” As he says, that doesn’t mean easy. He uses the metaphor of “gridlock” to describe the state of our current resources. But the opportunities to overcome the gridlock are plentiful and abundant—in new leadership, new spaces, new conversations.
2012 saw a number of significant changes at the highest levels of Ontario’s professional venued theatres. There is new artistic leadership at Great Canadian Theatre Company, the National Arts Centre—English Theatre, Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Thousand Islands Playhouse, and interim leaders at Blyth Festival and Factory Theatre. There are also new general managers at many long-established Ontario theatres—Canadian Stage, the Shaw Festival, Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Tarragon Theatre, and Young People’s Theatre. New leaders step forward, new visionaries take over the positions they leave—change creates an abundance of opportunities.
TheatreBooks moved. Playwrights Canada Press moved. And we’ll be starting 2013 in our new office at 401 Richmond Street West, with our suite-mates from Playwrights Guild of Canada and the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts. Domino Theatre opened a new venue in Kingston that we’ll all get to visit at our Festival in May. Milton celebrated the opening of a new Centre for the Arts. Artscape opened the Daniels Spectrum in Toronto (previously known as the Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre), and welcomed tenants, including Native Earth Performing Arts. The Theatre Centre “broke ground” for a new home. Next year will mark the grand opening of Drayton Entertainment’s Dunfield Theatre Cambridge. Theatre needs space to bring artists and audiences together; well-managed venues add to that abundance of opportunity.
On our community theatre stages, more groups are exploring new play development as a way to deepen their community connections, better engage their membership, and explore their creative potential as a company. The inaugural Tom Hendry Award for New Comedy from Playwrights Guild of Canada was awarded to Michael Grant for Shorthanded, which premieres at Elmira Theatre Company in February 2013; and the Outstanding Production at our 2012 Festival was The Mouse House by Robert Ainsworth, a work that was developed at Peterborough Theatre Guild.
Apocalypse watchers might point to the closures of the Vancouver Playhouse and Showboat Festival Theatre as signs of inevitable catastrophe. Indeed, these announcements were certainly among the “low points” of the past year—friends lost jobs, producing partners lost money, audiences lost theatre. But in response to the Playhouse closure, PACT—the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres—is now leading Dialogue On Theatre: “a national conversation about a vision for Canadian theatre in 2017 that the theatre community can support and work together to create.” The idea that everyone in Canadian theatre can start rowing together may provoke snark and cynicism; I remain hopeful that this Dialogue will give voices that are quieter, and often drowned out, to be heard at our major theatre institutions. That’s one of the ways we sustain abundance in a community.
But the most amazing abundance—the most important abundance—can be seen on our theatre stages. As a juror for the Dora Mavor Moore Awards during the first half of this year, I had the opportunity to see first-hand the breadth of quality at many Toronto professional theatres. In January, Toronto theatre critics were trying to remember a time when so many “four-star shows” were running at the same time. I heard similar stories at our summer theatres, our regional community theatre festivals, our fringe festivals, and from colleagues and friends across the province. When I update our ONstage listings every week, I’m struck by the breadth of shows you can see across our province—something for every taste. It’s good to hear that the quality of the theatre matches the choices available.
At Theatre Ontario, we’re looking forward to our plans for the new year. In the fall, we expanded our repertoire of workshops, and in the new year, we’ll be exploring ways to expand our workshops beyond our office in Toronto, while still making them cost-effective for our participants. On a personal note, I am looking forward to finding ways to expand our communications so that we can share more of the incredible stories of theatre in Ontario.
Thank you to our members and supporters. As the service organization for theatre artists in our province, we have accomplished an abundance of amazing things on your behalf—for forty years, you have been nurturing theatre artists at every stage of their careers and supporting and advocating for theatre across the province, through Theatre Ontario.
Let’s continue to seek out that abundance in the year ahead.
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