Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Over the past year, our artists and Board of Directors have gathered, plotted and imagined the Company's future. Over the next few years, we will launch exciting projects that will provide a new direction to the way we see and experience theatre.
Theatre Columbus will continue to create original works that explore the connections between the individual and society with plays that examine the ties that bind us — our ideas, fables and morals, and our environment. We emphasize the performing artist, inventive staging, and scripted stories. A spirit of collaboration is central to all that we do, with senior and emerging artists, in how we govern ourselves, in our work with community partners.
In December we presented Martha Ross' The Story at the Evergreen Brick Works. "An outdoor production — in the winter? In Toronto?" — attracted an audience of 1500. More than 125 people worked on the production, which included eight volunteer choirs. Reviews were excellent and the excellent reception has continued. The Story was nominated for six Dora Mavor Moore Awards in the Independent Theatre Category — Outstanding Ensemble Performance, Outstanding Direction, Outstanding Sound Design, Outstanding Costume Design, Outstanding Set Design and Outstanding Production.
And best of all, the Evergreen Brick Works' staff were so encouraged by The Story that they invited us to present a winter play for the next five years. In December 2012, we will remount The Story; meanwhile, Theatre Columbus associate Haley McGee ("Mary" in The Story) will lead a team of artists in the creation of a new work for presentation the following year.
There's more.
We've started work on a new play. Sarah McVee, Amy Rutherford, Haley McGee and I are working on a collective creation. The Making of a Public Servant is a comic-tragedy about the women who administer this country — who turn the values and aspirations of a nation into practical outcomes. Three of the creators have family roots in the public service.
The Making of a Public Servant is based on a series of interviews conducted with twenty civil servants, young and old. We heard skepticism about our endeavor — "About the public service? Why?" — but we also heard stories of dedication and professional betrayal, of heroic accomplishments and gross incompetence. The collection of tales creates a biography of Canada, from Expo 67 to the recent cutbacks. In February 2013 you'll be able to see our work in progress in public presentations in Ottawa and Toronto.
Then, in April 2013, we launch another new project: Physical Theatre for Radio Theatre
"Physical Theatre on the radio? What is that? How do you hear someone slip on a banana peel?"
In April 2013, five actor/writers will gather to answer these and other exciting questions by creating five short audio plays. The plays will be recorded live, in front of an audience, and made available as podcasts. We're grateful to our artistic partner, the Diaspora Dialogues, a literary organization dedicated to creating and distributing stories about Toronto through Fiction, Poetry and Theatre.
So we have ambitious plans for the year ahead. And every December, for the next five years, you will know where to find us.
We're grateful to our government and organizational funders, and to our many individual donors for their moral and financial support. It is directly linked to the accomplishments and ambitions we present to you today.
Photo: The Story. ©2011.
2012-06-21
Toronto: Theatre Columbus looks ahead