We are now in a moment of revolutionary action. Revolution is never a one-time event but rather a process, and we are definitely in the middle of this process right now.
Continue readingTouch Change
Thank you for 2020!
Thank you to the Ontario Trillium Foundation for the $44,900 Resilient Communities Fund grant we received from the Government of Ontario!
Continue readingThank you for 2020!
Looking back, we are feeling proud and grateful for all the things we’ve accomplished together. The staff, the board, Residency artists, their collaborators—none of us would be here without you and the entire Theatre Centre community. Your likes, comments, shares, attendance at Zoom events, and generous donations have sustained us. Thank you!
Continue readingWhat’s On(line) + A Conversation with Jennifer Tarver
This month, we have something a little different for you. Marketing Coordinator Tamara Jones spent some time with Residency artist and Lead Creator of Bear Witness, Jennifer Tarver, to talk about oratorio, the fruits of remote collaboration, and how to shift our awareness towards self-compassion. If you’re curious about what the other Residency artists have been up to, make sure you stop by for the digital Residency showings next week!
Continue readingCOMEDY IS ART
TORONTO Tuesday, September 10, 2019 – The Theatre Centre announces COMEDY IS ART, a new Festival in support of comedy and comedians. Celebrating comedy as a recognized art form, COMEDY IS ART takes place from October 1–5, 2019 at The Theatre Centre (1115 Queen Street West). The Festival launches on Tuesday, October 1 at 7:00PM with a special announcement from The Theatre Centre followed by a performance by TallBoyz.
Canadians are responsible for exporting some of the world’s greatest comedic talents. Today we’re looking at you, Schitt’s Creek! (Congrats on being named the best show on TV right now by TV Guide!) Yet Sandra Battaglini, co-founder of the Canadian Association of Stand-up Comedians, describes being a comedian in Canada – for most artists – as a “circle of entrapment”. This means limited opportunities to earn a living, almost no access to funding to make work, and the need to leave Canada to make that work, all while watching content from outside of Canada dominating our stages and screens. Comedy isn’t even a recognized art form by most public arts funders, and while comedians are invited to apply as theatre artists, they’re immediately at a disadvantage, shoe-horning themselves into definitions that don’t fit.
Seeing these issues being raised in the community, The Theatre Centre began asking “what can we do? What do we have to offer?” Aislinn Rose, The Theatre Centre’s Artistic Director hopes to help address this issue: “I saw the incredible work that my friend and comic Sandra Battaglini was doing in terms of advocacy for comedians and the issue struck us as obvious – of course comedy should be eligible for funding. And while the tendency in the not-for-profit world might be to suggest there’s not enough to go around as it is, we’re more interested in sharing our resources to see them go further. And comedy is one of the greatest art forms available to us as we grapple with how to address this world around us – thank you Samantha Bee!”
As The Theatre Centre could see members of the community without access to space, funding, career development opportunities – the essentials for building strong artistic communities – they returned to the question they’ve been exploring for the last year or more: how can we be more reckless with our generosity? They reached out to Battaglini to ask how they could help, and COMEDY IS ART is just the beginning.
Liza Paul, The Theatre Centre’s Café/Bar Curator & Manager was the obvious choice for programming this festival. Having already lain the groundwork for comedy at The Theatre Centre, through developing regular late night events over the last few years, Paul was thrilled to have an opportunity to support comedy and comedians in a more fulsome way. “The artists I’ve programmed for the festival are all pushing the boundaries of comedy, and we are so pleased to have them here for what we hope will be the first of many initiatives.”
Programming includes: TallBoyz; Congratulations! (Courtney Gilmour); Drop the Mic: Joke or Choke (Crystal Ferrier); Amigas Cheetahs (Ben Sosa Wright + Brandon Ash Mohammed); Yas Kween (Nelu Handa); Good Morning, Tonight (Aidan O’Loughlin + Karis Anderson); Deez Laughs (Derryck Birch); SHADE (Anasimone George).
COMEDY IS ART is a declaration as much as a festival; in addition to programing 8 shows and 40 artists over 5 days, along with a number of events and parties, The Theatre Centre will work to continue its commitment to comedians in consultation with the comedy community. More to be announced on opening night of COMEDY IS ART: October 1, 2019.
Community Meal & Programming Announcement
Thursday, July 11, 2019
1-3:00PM
The Theatre Centre Café/Bar, 1115 Queen St W.
Please join us for a special Community Meal where we will be sharing our programming for the upcoming year!
Remington North, our original Community Meal chef, will be cooking up a variety of delicious tacos:
Buffalo Chicken
Korean Pork
Black Bean and Avocado
PLUS! Residency Artist (and uber-talented musician) Stewart Legere will be performing.
Join The Theatre Centre staff, board, and some of the amazing artists who are part of our 2019/20 programming to learn more about our year ahead. We’ll also take our yearly “Metcalf Family Photo” on the steps of The Theatre Centre.
We hope you can join us for a meal and to hear all our exciting news.
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Food is free, on a first-come, first-served, so make sure to arrive on time to avoid disappointment! Donations are always welcome.
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Our community meals give us a chance to share our passion for food experimentation and cooking with you. Like our Facebook page to be the first to hear what’s on the menu!
2019/20 Programming Announced
On Thursday, Artistic Director Aislinn Rose announced The Theatre Centre’s 2019/20 programming at one of the company’s signature (and delicious) community meals. The focus of the year ahead is on the idea of “reckless generosity”.
“A couple of years ago, UK artist Dawn Walton introduced us to the words ‘reckless generosity’,” explained The Theatre Centre’s Artistic Director Aislinn Rose. “The term was coined by screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce, who described reckless generosity as the engine of innovation. It’s about taking risks and actions without necessarily knowing where they will lead, without fear of failure, and even without much hope of reward. Since we opened our new doors 5 years ago, we’ve been trying to place the principle of generosity at the heart of everything we do, and so this articulation of reckless generosity has provided us with clarity about what this can mean for us and our community.
“There can be a tendency, especially in the non-profit sector, to work from a place of scarcity: the idea that there are not enough resources to go around, so you have to hold them close to protect them. But in our experience, we have found that resources go further when you share them, and working from a place of abundance begets abundance.”
While the notion of generosity has long been at the core of the company’s Residency program—with the offer of time, of space, of resources, of mentorship—in more recent years, The Theatre Centre has worked to increase its support of the work beyond the initial production.
“We were finding ourselves in this strange position of having to say ‘goodbye and good luck’ to artists who’d had a home with us for four years, and we wanted to find a way to continue to support these artists after their work left the building,” commented Rose. “Moving the work had been a long-held ambition at The Theatre Centre, but it has only been in recent years that we really turned our attention – and our resources – to touring in a significant way. Almost immediately we discovered a strong international appetite for the artists and the work we’ve been supporting and developing.”
After a hugely acclaimed run of their co-production of Daughter at the Edinburgh Fringe last year, The Theatre Centre returns to Edinburgh this summer with their production of Sea Sick, science journalist Alanna Mitchell’s searing, hilarious, and timely look at the state of our global ocean and climate change. The work has toured nationally and internationally since it opened The Theatre Centre’s new home in 2014, and the company is confident that the Edinburgh run as part of this year’s Canada Hub lineup will ensure it has a great future ahead.
Meanwhile, Daughter continues to capture the interest of presenters and audiences alike. After traveling to Australia’s Sydney Festival in January, the company heads across the pond for Latitude Festival in Suffolk, England. Closer to home, last year’s multi-Dora-nominated hit, Secret Life of a Mother, will be presented by Crow’s Theatre in their east-end home.
A cornerstone of the investment in touring support is this year’s launch of the company’s new Creative Producer training program. The program is designed to advance the skill set of experienced producers in the performing arts sector, increasing their abilities to support artists as they make, produce, and tour new work. At the end of the training period, the producers will not only have expanded their own knowledge and experience but will also be available to the community and can share their skills in national and international producing. The Theatre Centre believes this investment in the next generation of Creative Producers could have a major impact on the Toronto and Canadian performance ecology.
The Theatre Centre announced Toronto-based producers Rachel Penny and Sascha Cole as the first to join the program, starting with the Sea Sick tour to Edinburgh. The company also announced they are working with Artist and Producer Leslie McCue to support a 3rd producer-in-training from the Indigenous community. The support for the 3rd producer is being provided in partnership with Central Fire, The Theatre Centre, and Judy Harquail. All three trainees are receiving a $20,000 honorarium to participate in the program, with mentors including Rose, Judy Harquail (Ontario Presents), Leslie McCue (Central Fire), Karilyn Brown (formerly of Performing Lines, Australia), and Franco Boni (PuSh Festival).
Sascha Cole, a Creative Producer trainee, commented: “I’ve always brought an artistic lens to my producing practice and I am thrilled that The Creative Producer’s Training Program will allow me to further explore how that can be articulated, while building the skills to work in an evolving theatre ecology. The Theatre Centre’s strong national networks, and their international scope, make it an exciting place to learn, collaborate, and continue to build my practice as a producer looking for innovative ways to connect Canadian theatre with audiences at home and around the world.”
“I’m honoured to be invited to be a part of this program,” said Rachel Penny, Creative Producer trainee. “The Theatre Centre has been a site of incredible learning and community for me for many years and I’m looking forward to new challenges working with the brilliant roster of artists creating in this space!”
The three Creative Producers in training will work alongside the projects in The Theatre Centre Residency program to live-test their learning—from idea to production to moving the work. See below for more information about the 2019/20 Programming that was announced today.
The Theatre Centre programming falls under five pillars:
Residency is a structured two-year program which provides groups/artists with the necessary space, funding, and mentorship to craft ideas still in their infancy into works that are both provocative and innovative. Currently in Residency:
• Rimah Jabr is a Brussels and Palestine-based playwright now working in Toronto. Jabr, along with visual artist Dareen Abbas, is creating a new performance piece (Broken Shapes) investigating what happens to humanity in the context of borders, surveillance and fear.
• Stewart Legere, and his group the Accidental Mechanics, is working with a cross-country collective of queer artists and thinkers to create The Unfamiliar Everything. The piece ruminates on isolation and loneliness within the Canadian queer community, and dissects the notion of the “chosen family.” Collaborators include musician Rae Spoon, Mi’kmaq poet Shannon Webb-Campbell and cellist Cris Derksen.
• Co-written by Toronto-based writer, designer, and music artist Ian Kamau and his father, writer Roger McTair, and with composer Njo Kong Kie, Loss confronts a family history of mental illness and uncovers the story of Kamau’s paternal grandmother.
• Jennifer Tarver is collaborating with Nunuvat author and storyteller Michael Kusugak, along with singer Christine Duncan.
On ECT Collective Production
Dr. Suvendrini Lena is a practicing Neurologist at Toronto’s Women’s College Hospital. Together with the On ECT Collective, Lena is exploring how fragmentation and loss of identity in schizophrenia relates to the fragmentation we all experience.
A young man (later known as ‘Zephyr’) immigrates to Toronto from Martinique. As a black psychiatrist he grapples with racial discrimination and begins to hear voices. The doctor becomes the patient. Live performance, video, and interactive audio are woven together to create an immersive theatrical exploration of schizophrenia. The audience is invited to witness the story as well as to become the protagonist of their own perceptual journey.
Developed in Residency at The Theatre Centre, the project will be co-produced by The Theatre Centre and the On ECT Collective in November 2019. More details will be announced shortly.
The Particulars
Produced by Punctuate! Theatre in association with The Theatre Centre
Written and Directed by Matthew MacKenzie
After the Dora-winning run of Bears and the Dora-nominated production of After the Fire, Matthew Mackenzie and Punctuate! Theatre return to The Theatre Centre for an in Association production of The Particulars.
The Particulars is the story of one man’s struggle to maintain a daily routine born of emotional denial in the face of a home invasion. By day, Gordon forges systematically ahead, assiduously in control of every aspect of his life. But by night, the scratching which he has begun to hear in his walls is unravelling him, driving Gordon to the edge of cosmic desperation.
• With the recent change in leadership, The Theatre Centre has created the new role of Producer to directly support The Theatre Centre’s projects, productions, and artists. The Theatre Centre announced that staff member Alexis Eastman will take on the new role. As a skilled administrator, coordinator of The Theatre Centre’s Condo Project, and independent artist, Eastman brings many skills essential to the position. Having managed the national tour of This is the Point and supported Monday Nights at Luminato, this is a natural progression for Eastman, who will begin to take on more Residency projects and Theatre Centre productions.
No Foreigners
The Theatre Centre presents a Hong Kong Exile and fu-GEN Theatre Production
Created by Natalie Tin Yin Gan, Milton Lim, Remy Siu, and David Yee
Performed and co-created by April Leung and Derek Chan
Direction: Milton Lim
Text: David Yee
This multimedia performance investigates malls as racialized spaces of cultural creation and clash where fashion, food, and commodity tether communities to a vital sense of home. A collaboration between ground-breaking Vancouver interdisciplinary super group Hong Kong Exile and Governor General’s award-winning playwright David Yee of fu-GEN Theatre.
Cuckoo
Presented by The Theatre Centre at Progress Festival
Produced by CAMPO
Created and performed by Jaha Koo
In bittersweet and humorous dialogues, Jaha Koo and his clever rice cookers take the audience on a journey through the last 20 years of Korean history, combining personal experience with political events and reflections on happiness, economic crises, and death.
Last year saw The Theatre Centre make a greater commitment to helping artists and companies forge relationships with national and international presenters early on, so the work can find touring audiences after the first production at The Theatre Centre
Daughter
Co-produced by The Theatre Centre and QuipTake with Pandemic Theatre
Presented by Latitude Festival
Written & Performed by Adam Lazarus
Co-created by Adam Lazarus, Ann-Marie Kerr, Jivesh Parasram, Melissa D’Agostino
Directed by Ann-Marie Kerr
The controversial, Dora-nominated production written and performed by Canada’s Bouffon King Adam Lazarus heads to England for the Latitude Festival. More touring news to come.
Sea Sick
Produced by The Theatre Centre
Created and performed by Alanna Mitchell
Directed by Franco Boni with Ravi Jain
Alanna Mitchell’s Dora Award-winning look at the state of the global oceans has already toured extensively both nationally and internationally and will head to Scotland for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as part of CanadaHub.
Secret Life of a Mother
Crow’s Theatre presents
The SLOM Collective and The Theatre Centre co-production
Written by Hannah Moscovitch with Maev Beaty and Ann-Marie Kerr
Last year’s multiple Dora-nominated production about modern motherhood makes the long trek east of the DVP for a remount at Crow’s Theatre. A playwright writes an exposé of modern motherhood: a confessional piece about her own darkly funny and taboo-breaking truths. One of her oldest friends, an actress, tells this story, and through it, her own motherhood secrets start to surface. Tickets on sale now through Crow’s Theatre.
A fundamental belief at The Theatre Centre is that resources go further when you share them. That philosophy informs many of their partnerships and initiatives, including:
• The Creative Producer training program: a learning opportunity for the next generation of Creative Producers who can strategically build national and international relationships, and share that knowledge within the sector
• The monthly Community Meal is a chance for artists, staff, neighbours, and friends to gather in the Café for an affordable home cooked meal.
• Twelve years ago The Theatre Centre teamed up with City of Craft and every December they host the city’s best crafters and artisans over a three-day event, which sees over 4000 attendees.
• After a wonderful inaugural year, that saw many beautiful community events including Durga Puja and Deep End Weekend, The Theatre Centre will continue its long-term relationship with Nova Dance to provide space and a home-base for Nova Bhattacharya’s renowned dance company.
• A long-term relationship with Why Not Theatre, and continuing to host their RISER Project.
• For the fifth year, The Theatre Centre will host Volcano’s Conservatory.
• After a successful test version of The Night Shift (an experiment where The Theatre Centre turned over the building to a “Night Shift” of creators) this innovative use of time and space will return in 2019/20.
• The Condo Project: working with The Bohemian Embassy residents to co-develop social and cultural activities for condo residents.
Lisa Neighbour: Punishment
“The first human who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the founder of civilization.”
– Sigmund Freud
Occasionally I have a day where everything, all day long, makes me laugh until my sides hurt. The compulsion to make art is so absurd, and so filled with contradictions and self-delusion, that I suspect these “laughing days” are my only antidote. Rather than ceasing to make art altogether, I decided instead to extend the comedic moments and spend a couple of months laughing at myself, and making art about the inherent funniness of anger. My own incoherent, blustering rage is the funniest thing of all. Next in line after that is other peoples’ anger. The text in these prints were taken from hand-written notes found at variety of virtual and real locations. This is My Punishment was part of a huge sign worn by an adulterer by the side of the road. Watching Porn was on a post-it note in a university dorm. Written notes represent an outburst of spontaneous speech—they are often written in anger, and unintentionally funny.
“You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger.”
– Buddha
Q. You have been using found texts for many years in your work. Texts, notes that are floating around online somewhere, but often obscure and requires research. They all seem so personal and private that wouldn’t normally be shared in a public setting. Some feel more like a personal letter that I shouldn’t be reading. Can you talk about where you found them? Why you began looking, and working with these texts?
LN: When I started making the work with engraved knives I was still recovering (physically and emotionally) from a serious illness. I started researching how other people face death: what they feel, and say, and how they try to come to terms with mortality. I was looking especially for the last words that people said, both well known people and more obscure ones. There’s a strange website from the Texas prison system that records the last statements of condemned prisoners before their execution. It amazes me how some of them seem so sad, and appologetic for their crimes. Others are calm and accepting of imminent death. The word “love” turns up frequently. I also bought a book of poetry written by monks who prepared for death ahead of time by composing haiku and lines of prose. The other sources were also books, of recorded last words, mostly of famous historical figures. They seemed surprised, or angry, and sometimes in deep denial that they were in their last moments of life. This research made me accept that everyone has to face death eventually, and it’s not as big a deal as I thought. I’ll be ready, I have words prepared in case I have a chance to say something!
Q. Do you ever use what your friends might say?
LN: So far I haven’t used words written or spoken by people I know personally. I’m hoping nobody dies for a while. I don’t think I can maintain an objective point-of-view about the death of people I know. When there is a personal tragedy, humour, irony, and sarcasm go underground for a while.
Q. When we first met in 2007, you were doing work around death that often involved violent destruction or catastrophe, and even with a sense of affirmation, or determination. In this new work, you talked about anger and humour. Could you talk a little bit about this change in the work—death to anger and humour?
LN: Once I got a little time and distance between myself and death, some black humour came into it. I felt a teeny bit arrogant, as if I had escaped my just deserts. The anger is always part of me, I’m not sure why. I was born with it, and it helps me to survive. When I was sick, I raged away like a captive tiger, waiting to get out and claw things to bits. My theme song was Tupac’s “When I Get Free”. Maybe that’s why I can relate to the Texas prisoners in some way, illness is like being in jail.
Q. Post-it notes that once felt creepy and uncomfortable are now taking up a significant part of someone’s wall as these beautiful artworks—no longer subtle creepy messages. They almost seem so inviting and not creepy at all. How do you feel about that? Do you see it this way?
LN: I see secret cryptic messages in them, meant for me! I think it’s funny how angry people can get over trivial things, like a parking space, or a noisy party. They don’t try to talk about the issue, but leave a rude note instead. It takes courage to go and ask someone to turn their music down, or tell them that you hear everything through the wall. I recently had roommates for a short period of time, and wow, I forgot how hard it is to coexist with strangers—the hairs in the sink, the loud sex, the annoying puddles of coffee, my missing food. I didn’t say anything. My excuse was that I was going home soon, and it was really their permanent home, so I was the interloper.
Q. Could you share the original story of the adulterer that led to making ‘This is my punishment’?
LN: From my memory of it, there was a gloomy looking man standing by the side of the road, wearing a huge sign that said “I cheated and THIS IS MY PUNISHMENT”. I couldn’t stop obsessing over it. First of all, I’m married, and faithful to my partner. But I grew up in a home where there was a lot of “cheating” and it broke up my parents’ marriage. I am constantly worrying that I will become a cheater myself, as if I have some sleazy genetic tendency in my DNA. Then I also watch my partner carefully to see if he shows any signs of turning into a adulterer. I have no faith in myself or others. This print is an acknowledgement of how dumb this is, but I can’t help it.
Q. Can you talk about the finger print texture that makes up the words, This is my punishment?
LN: The pattern is a faux wood grain, and it hasn’t got any special significance in the work.
Q. Can you share your thoughts behind the choice of materials—the glitter, stain glass and all those vibrant colours?
LN: This series of prints was a celebration and a treat to myself, after some dark times making sad, violent, monochromatic and emo stuff. It was almost an overnight transformation. The light came back on in my life. The colours, and sparkles are an exaggerated and rowdy “up-yours” aimed at myself, for having been so indifferent to my luck and privilege.
Q. ‘Punishment’—You titled these series as ‘Lisa Neighbour: Punishment’—could you comment on this? Like, was this your punishment to yourself? Can you share why you titled these series as Punishment?
LN: Originally, the show at G Gallery (in 2013) was called “This Is My Punishment” after the print. I thought it made a good title, because showing my work has always been a bit of an ordeal for me. If people like the work I wonder why, like my work is fake, or they must be mistaken. If they ignore my work I feel that I deserve it because I’ve failed. If people dislike it, I want to fight them with swords or something. So the punishment is for me, for thinking I have the right to show my work and call myself an artist.
Q. I always appreciated your often unconventional ways of engaging with the public, and creating alternate art spaces and market. I remember those beautiful unframed prints you had at Katherine Mulherin Gallery that you sold for $15–$20/ print, right beside the framed artwork that sold for much more, or rather what is expected in the contemporary art market. You also made other living artist multiples, like the Smithereens t-shirts. Can you talk a bit about your thoughts and process? When did you start making them and why?
LN: If I could just make work and give it away, I would. It’s expensive to make art—the materials, the framing, the time, the whole maintaining your delusional optimism in the face of futility thing. Then artworks collect around the house, getting dusty, falling off shelves, having to be moved from one apartment to another, into storage, pimped out to fundraisers, endlessly reminding you that your career is a complete fabrication. I like the idea of gifts, and cheap things that people don’t have to treasure forever. A t-shirt is really the best kind of artwork. I’m genuinely happy with making t-shirts.
Q. Often the production end of an exhibition or artmaking is a mystery to the general public. All the invisible labour behind all the production often goes unnoticed and unaware in a clean gallery. You had listed Carlo Cesta, Nestor Kruger, Joel Herman, and the board of G Gallery, Superframe, and Paula at A.J. Stained Glass Supply—could you respond how these people have supported this project in particular
LN: Sure, you’re right! The gallery is like a theatre, and everything is staged to make it seem like the framed prints appear as if by magic. Carlo (my partner) is the only person I trust to be a critic and advisor while I’m making the work. He’s very knowledgeable, has strong opinions, and is respectful and honest with me. Nestor and Joel helped me put together the exhibition at G gallery, where these prints were first shown. Superframe were open to framing with stained glass, in odd proportions, and with a tight deadline to boot. Paula helped me choose colours and cut the sheets to very precise measurements without making me feel like I was causing her extra trouble.
Q. Could you share with us what’s next for you?
LN: Ummm. I don’t really know yet. Does anyone want to show my work? I’ve just finished a period of intense production, lots of prints, watercolours, video, photographs. I am fixated on the Gander demolition derby, and each car in it. I’ve made portraits of them. If I wasn’t so phobic about pain I would get tattoos made of them. I want to do some more travelling, after having been nomadic for a few months. Right now I have a great job teaching print (Sheridan/UTM joint program) and I’m squirrelling away some of my depleted funds. Life is so great. I hope that wasn’t a jinx!
MSK: Thank you for being generous in sharing your thoughts and your beautiful work with us!
LN: Thanks Myung-Sun, you are a dear friend.
Myung-Sun Kim is an artist and the Manager of Artist & Community Activation at The Theatre Centre.
About Lisa Neighbour:
Lisa Neighbour was born in Montreal, Quebec, and now lives and works in Toronto, Ontario. She graduated from OCADU in 1982, and received an MFA from York University in 2009. Her recent exhibitions include: Smithereens, YYZ Artists’ Outlet, Toronto, Ontario, This is My Punishment, G Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Micah Lexier: One, and Two, and More than Two, The Powerplant, Toronto, Pilot X: Death in the City, Le Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Beyond in Western New York, at The Carnegie Art Center in Tonawanda, N.Y. and Bite the Dust, at Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Art Projects in Toronto. For Lisa’s CV click here. For more information please visit Lisa’s website and blog.
The Theatre Centre 2018/19 Programming
The 2018/19 year marks two milestone anniversaries for The Theatre Centre, the 40th anniversary of the organization’s founding, and the 5th anniversary of moving into our permanent home! For 40 years, The Theatre Centre has been committed to investing in artists and developing new work and new ways of working. Moving into 1115 Queen St. 5 years ago allowed us to further that commitment and start to redefine what a theatre can mean to its community.
“40 years ago, a group of young artists, who didn’t see their voices reflected in the cultural scene, came together to create a space for their work. The crazy shit they did in those early years inspired future generations of artists at The Theatre Centre to value experimentation, failure, collaboration, and generosity. It’s been said that The Theatre Centre’s great strength is the consistency of its inconsistency. It’s our superpower. It’s been a true honour, not only to steward the resources of this place, but to uphold the institutional value of uncertainty. As daunting the task, The Theatre Centre has never wavered in its pursuit to sow seeds of imagination and understanding.” – Franco Boni, Artistic Director, The Theatre Centre.
This year’s programming features intimate and personal works from a diversity of people and places. “We are honoured that artists trust us with their most personal stories” says Aislinn Rose, Creative Producer at The Theatre Centre.
The Theatre Centre programming falls into 5 pillars: creating, producing, presenting, moving the work, and sharing.
Residency is a structured two-year program which provides groups/artists with the necessary space, funding, and mentorship to craft ideas still in their infancy into works that are both provocative and innovative. Currently in Residency:
• Rimah Jabr is a Brussels and Palestine-based playwright now working in Toronto. Jabr, along with visual artist Dareen Abbas, is creating a new performance piece (Broken Shapes) investigating what happens to humanity in the context of borders, surveillance and fear.
• Stewart Legere, and his group the Accidental Mechanics, is working with a cross-country collective of queer artists and thinkers to create The Unfamiliar Everything. The piece ruminates on isolation and loneliness within the Canadian queer community, and dissects the notion of the “chosen family.” Collaborators include playwright Jordan Tannahill, musician Rae Spoon, Mi’kmaq poet Shannon Webb-Campbell and cellist Cris Derksen.
• Neurologist-in-residence Suvendrini Lena continues to develop On Every Corner a Terrorist, an immersive theatrical exploration of schizophrenia. The work challenges the idea that there are clear boundaries between perceptual experience in schizophrenia and the altered states we may all experience and recognize at times.
• Co-written by Toronto-based writer, designer, and music artist Ian Kamau and his father, writer Roger McTair, and with composer Njo Kong Kie, Loss confronts a family history of mental illness and uncovers the story of Kamau’s paternal grandmother. In addition to Residency showings at The Theatre Centre, Loss will travel to Montreal for a workshop production with La Chapelle (November 1-2, 2018).
• Jennifer Tarver is collaborating with Nunuvat author and storyteller Michael Kusugak, along with singer Christine Duncan on the beginnings of an idea that will be announced in greater detail later in the year.
• Secret Life of a Mother, developed in Residency at The Theatre Centre by Hannah Moscovitch, Maev Beaty, and Ann-Marie Kerr, will premiere October 2018. An honest look at pregnancy, birth and early motherhood, this personal piece subverts and rewrites prevailing narratives around childbearing and maternity with biting humour, lush theatrical metaphor, and disarming gothic honesty.
• Jani Lauzon’s Prophecy Fog, originally developed through The Tracy Wright Global Archive and produced by Paper Canoe Projects, Nightswimming Theatre, and The Theatre Centre will premiere in May 2019. Based on a journey to the Mojave Desert to visit Giant Rock, Prophecy Fog uses text, video, and music to weave a conscious remembering of ancient prophecies, rock teachings and star beings.
Matthew MacKenzie (playwright and director of the Dora Award-winning Bears) returns to The Theatre Centre with his new play After the Fire (Co-produced by Punctuate! Theatre, Alberta Aboriginal Performing Arts in association with Native Earth Performing Arts and The Theatre Centre).
• After last year’s presentation of Race Cards at Progress Festival, Selina Thompson will return to The Theatre Centre with her one-woman show, Salt. Thompson retraces one of the routes of the Transatlantic Slave Triangle in a show about grief, ancestry, home, forgetting, and colonialism
• Blood on the Dance Floor, created and produced by Ilbijerri Theatre Company will travel to The Theatre Centre as part of a National tour. A choreographer, dancer and writer from the Narangga and Kaurna nations of South Australia, Jacob Boehme was diagnosed with HIV in 1998. In search of answers, he reached out to his ancestors. Through a powerful blend of theatre, image, text and choreography, Boehme pays homage to their ceremonies whilst dissecting the politics of gay, Black, and poz identities.
• From Quebec City, L’orchestre d’hommes-orchestres will bring the company’s signature musical style and collaborative approach to The Theatre Centre. In The New Cackle Sisters, Gabrielle Bouthillier and Danya Ortmann play singing sisters from the American countryside of the ‘40s. Based on the yodelling style of the DeZurik Sisters, this bustling orchestra offers an event that is more of a carnival show or musical circus than just a concert.
• Déjà vu 50 years of photography by Shozo Ushiroguchi will be presented in The Theatre Centre Gallery in September 2018. Shozo Ushiroguchi began making black and white photographic prints over 50 years ago when he moved from Japan to Germany. Over the years, his black and white prints have continued to reflect an interest, as shared by many of the generation of the 1960s, in themes of political protest and social change.
Last year saw The Theatre Centre make a greater commitment to “moving the work”, helping artists and companies forge relationships with presenters early on, so the work can find touring audiences after their first production at The Theatre Centre.
• Daughter, the controversial, Dora-nominated production written and performed by Canada’s Bouffon King Adam Lazarus heads to Scotland for the Edinbugh Festival Fringe.
• Sea Sick, Alanna Mitchell’s Dora-Award winning look at the state of the global oceans has already toured extensively both nationally and internationally and will now visit 9 cities and towns throughout Ontario.
This is the Point, Co-produced by Ahuri Theatre and The Theatre Centre and the winner of three Dora Awards, heads out on the road for its inaugural tour. The team is thrilled to share this piece about love, sex and disability with a wider audience outside of Toronto.
A fundamental belief at The Theatre Centre is that resources go further when you share them. That philosophy informs many of their partnerships and initiatives, including:
• The Condo Project (with support from the Toronto Arts Council), an initiative to engage local residents from the nearby Bohemian Embassy in social and cultural activities. From a Concierge Appreciation Party, to a reading series, Yoga classes, café deals, and pop-up coffee events, the project is creating opportunities for residents and the theatre to forge new relationships.
• The monthly Community Meal is a chance for artists, staff, neighbours, and friends to gather in the Café for an affordable homecooked meal.
• The Objectorium (an artists multiple store) and two gallery spaces highlight and promote the work of visual artists year round.
• Eleven years ago The Theatre Centre teamed up with City of Craft and every December they host the city’s best crafters and artisans over a three-day event, which sees over 4000 attendees.
• A long-term relationship with Why Not Theatre, and the continued support of their RISER Project.
• A new long-term relationship with Nova Dance to provide space and a home-base for Nova Bhattacharya’s renowned dance company.
• For the fourth year, The Theatre Centre will host Volcano Theatre’s Conservatory.
2017/18 Programming
We are thrilled to announce The Theatre Centre’s Programming for the upcoming year! As we enter our third year in our new home, we are fully embracing what it means to be a community and cultural hub. With a full slate of new works in development, Residency artists continuing their projects, a number of co-productions and new partnerships, presentations of some of the best artists from Canada and around the globe, and many new and continuing community initiatives, we are truly excited for the year ahead. Please read on for all the info and stay-tuned as more details are announced.
The Theatre Centre’s Residency Program is at the core of our activity. A structured two-year program provides groups/artists with the necessary space, funding, and mentorship to craft ideas still in their infancy into finished products that are both provocative and innovative.
Currently in Residency at The Theatre Centre: Ian Kamau (Loss); Hannah Moscovitch, Maev Beaty, Ann-Marie Kerr (Secret Lives of a Mother); and neurologist-in-residence Suvendrini Lena (On Every Corner a Terrorist).
Also in development at The Theatre Centre: Prophecy Fog, created by Nightswimming’s Playwright in Residence Jani Lauzon (originally developed through The Theatre Centre’s Tracy Wright Global Archive); Malignant Metaphor, by The Theatre Centre’s Playwright in Residence (and creator/performer of Sea Sick) Alanna Mitchell; The Long Doorway, created by interdisciplinary artist Deanna Bowen (in development with Mercer Union); Waves, an immersive promenade piece about immigration, created by Daniele Bartolini (in partnership with Istituto Italiano di Cultura); and This is the Point (Ahuri Theatre), which The Theatre Centre is re-investing in and continuing to develop for a second production in the building before setting out on tour.
We are also excited to announce we are now accepting two new Residency artists. Click here for the call for submissions.
Theatre Centre productions this year will include Adam Lazarus’ controversial Daughter (Co-produced by Quiptake Theatre and The Theatre Centre with Pandemic Theatre); 40 Days and 40 Nights, a new work stemming from the Tracy Wright Global Archive by Daniel Brooks and Kim Collier (Co-produced by The Theatre Centre, Electric Company, and Necessary Angel); Liza Balkan’s Out the Window, which was first developed at The Theatre Centre in 2012 and is the first co-production of The Residents Project (The Theatre Centre’s new partnership with Luminato Festival); and of course, This is the Point, returning for a limited engagement in December. Stay tuned for ticketing information.
The Theatre Centre will also be presenting a number of works this year from Canadian and international artists. Embassy of Imagination (Facilitated by Patrick Thompson and Alexa Hatanaka of PA System) will feature works created by youths from Kinngait in Cape Dorset, focusing on printmaking practice.
Once again, The Theatre Centre will be partnering with SummerWorks Performance Festival to present Progress Festival, an international festival of performance and ideas, collectively curated by a number of Toronto based companies. As part of Progress, The Theatre Centre is thrilled to be bringing Motus’s international sensation MDLSX to Toronto following stops at PuSh International Performing Arts Festival and High Performance Rodeo. We are also partnering with British Council to bring some of England’s most exciting live art makers to Toronto, including Selina Thompson’s RaceCards, which will also be at Progress Festival.
Finally, we will once again be home to the Wee Festival, Theatre Direct’s international arts festival dedicated to early childhood, where we will also be presenting an international work to be named at a later date.
Sea Sick, which was developed at The Theatre Centre and opened the new building in 2014, has toured non-stop since then across Canada and the globe. This summer, the team will take the show on tour to the Darwin Festival in Australia followed by a full Ontario tour in the fall in collaboration with Ontario Presents.
Here at The Theatre Centre we are convinced that resources go further when you share them, a philosophy that informs our long-term relationship with Why Not Theatre, and the continued support of their RISER Project. We also partner with other arts and community organizations to offer space and support for their own programming and initiatives. For the third year, we are proud to host Volcano Theatre’s Conservatory and this year we will be launching a new partnership with Workman Arts to host a three-day conference. Eleven years ago we teamed up with City of Craft and every December we host the city’s best crafters and artisans over a three-day event, which sees over 4000 people visit our home.
We also highlight the work of visual artists year round through Side Streets (in partnership with City of Craft), two gallery spaces, and the Objectorium (all programmed by our Manger of Artist and Community Activation Myung-Sun Kim).
We believe in sharing our public space with our neighbours. This year, we are launching a new pilot Condo Project to engage local residents from one condominium in social and cultural activities (with support from the Toronto Arts Council). We have also launched a Newcomer Initiative where we welcome people to Toronto, provide them with a community connection, and help them gain employable skills as they build their new lives in Canada. We are currently working with a Syrian newcomer in the Café, and have hired an accountant from Aleppo, as a financial coordinator. Our famous Community Meals are the epitome of this sharing philosophy and it is a highlight for us every month to invite friends and neighbours into the cafe to share a delicious, homemade, low-cost meal. Looking forward, we are excited to keep our cafe/bar open even longer by offering more late-night events (programmed by our Cafe/Bar Manager & Curator liza paul), including comedy nights, roof-top music events, and of course, cocktail parties.
As you can see, we have lots in the works for the upcoming year. We are so excited to be working with all of these amazing artists, companies, and community members and to share this work with you. We hope to see you here!
Photo by: Dahlia Katz