Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON & Buffalo, NY (May 25, 2016) – 710 Main Theatre in Buffalo, NY, owned and operated by Shea’s Performing Arts Center, and the Shaw Festival of Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON announce a producing partnership that will launch as part of the 710 Main 2016-2017 Frey Electric Construction Co. Season.
“We are very excited to announce this collaboration with the Shaw Festival. This agreement will bring the high quality Shaw productions to the Buffalo Theatre District as part of the 710 Main Theatre season ticket package,” says Anthony C. Conte, President of Shea’s Performing Arts Center.
Founded in 1962 by Brian Doherty of Niagara-on-the-Lake and Calvin G. Rand of Buffalo, the Shaw Festival was founded to serve both US and Canadian audiences – welcoming approximately 40% of its audience from the United States each season.
“Our hope for this new venture with our partners at the 710 Main Theatre is to honour our bi-national legacy and engender an even deeper interest from Western New York in the Shaw Festival. Buffalo is as much home turf for us as Toronto – in fact, it’s physically closer,” says Tim Jennings, Executive Director/CEO of the Shaw Festival. “Whether patrons see a performance at Shea’s or make the short drive to join us in beautiful Niagara-on-the-Lake, we want The Shaw, and theatre in general, to be part of their lives. We are going to work to make that as easy as possible.”
The partnership begins with The Shaw’s 2016 production of George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs Warren’s Profession. Award-winning director Eda Holmes helms this contemporary spin on a relevant classic play that confronts society’s concepts of being a woman, a mother and a purveyor of the world’s oldest profession.
“This production of Mrs Warren's Profession shows the Shaw Festival at its best,” says Jackie Maxwell, Artistic Director of the Shaw Festival. “Director Eda Holmes and her brilliant cast reveal how this spirited exploration of the world's oldest ‘profession’ is a provocative, entertaining and still very relevant play today.”
About the Shaw Festival
The Shaw Festival is a theatre company inspired by the work of Bernard Shaw. The Festival produces plays from and about his era and contemporary plays that share Shaw’s provocative exploration of society and celebration of humanity. For more information, please visit www.shawfest.com.
About 710 Main Theatre
The 710 Main Theatre, formerly Studio Arena Theatre, is a 625-seat theatre presenting dramatic plays produced by several local theatre companies. It is operated by Shea’s Performing Arts Center and located in the Downtown Buffalo Theatre District.
Photo: Jennifer Dzialoszynski and Nicole Underhay. ©2016 David Cooper.
2016-05-25
Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON & Buffalo, NY: Shaw Festival and 710 Main Theatre join forces in bi-national partnership