Filed under: halifax, toronto | Tags: artists, beginnings, femfest, halifax, luna/sea, magnetic north, mauralealee, mirv, vulnerability, win, winnipeg, work
This afternoon I had a very unique and interesting experience. I sat in on a forum discussion/focus group between what I believe to be many prominent Winnipeg theatre artists and Ken Cameron of the Magnetic North Theatre Festival. It opened up my eyes to how similar Winnipeggers and Haligonian writers, directors, creators, feel. We’re from small cities that DO produce great work, yet are clearly underrepresented when our country’s theatre world is being defined. The sense I gathered was, artists feel isolated and unappreciated by larger cities. Example: If something amazing happens in Toronto, everyone knows about it. But what about exciting things like FemFest (did you know women can write plays, too??) which is all Female, Canadian work (not just Peggers) or Luna/Sea’s BRILLIANT “To Capture Light” in May 2008? Ask someone in Toronto about THOSE!
I’m not meaning to point fingers at the Tdot because I live there now and I thoroughly enjoy heading out to shows and festivals there. It is an inspiring and exciting city. I am pointing all of my fingers at all of us, I guess? I had no idea the theatre community in the Prairies so closely resembled the one by the ocean’s shore…because I have never been here obviously and have never met anyone from here in Halifax, or Toronto. (Save Hope, AD of Sarasvati Productions, who pretty much rocks my world for giving me the yes my show needed and bringing me here and putting on a kick-ass festival…OH and Lee and Mauralea who taught me in Halifax, but by the time they taught me they had been away from Winnipeg for many years and living in NS.)
Blather, I am rambling. YES we all need to embrace our individual cities, cultures, provinces, etcetera. But my GOD it is just THEATRE can’t we all get along, and be friends?? Our challenge now is finding a way to perhaps tour more shows, or generate audiences from across the country, bringing people to where they would love to be, …or maybe more time can be spent workshopping and delving into pieces, brightening them up, polishing them off and getting scripts mounted across the country…
‘Hey Ottawa, check out this cool show out of Sackville, NB! Hey Calgary, check out this amazing Toronto improv group! Whaddup Winnipeg, here’s a pretty rad show from Halifax. Oh hey, St. John’s, have this new-age technical experiment piece from Vancouver.” ETCETERA ETCETERA.
How, how, how can we stop pitting cities against each other, and instead transfuse theatre from one place to the next? To CONNECT our whole COUNTRY, to stop feeling immobile, or like we all have to be in Toronto, or shunning out other cities or isolating ourselves to one spot like an angsty teenager who locks themselves in their room? IT’S ART, IT’S THERE TO MAKE LIFE LESS BLAND AND DULL AND HORRIFYING. Do we not create theatre to connect, to escape, to reflect, to FEEL LESS ALONE? I felt today that the artists in Manitoba want to share their work with other people (not just other artists) the same way the people of Nova Scotia do, the way many small-but-mighty groups probably feel. And shouldn’t we be open and welcoming to the things that come from far away?
Dear everyone in Canadian Theatre,
treat others the way you would like to be treated.
Dear Winnipeg,
you guys rock my world.
Dear anyone who read this,
I realize it’s just a lot of questions and pretty non-sensical. I’m running on tofu and peanut butter m&ms and so not enough sleep.
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You are truly an inspiration. Hearing about your success, passion, and dedication really makes me believe in a future for theatre. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll be fortunate enough to be there someday too
Comment by Elle October 4, 2009 @ 1:20 amI understand what you’re saying, Meghan, but I think that the idea that “if something fabulous happens in Toronto everyone knows about it” is a myth. Think about the shows that you know are going on in Toronto and now think about how many times you found out a show was going on in Toronto after it closed? I don’t think that many people in Winnipeg knew that two young musical theatre artists produced the sold out Canadian Premiere of Pasek and Paul’s Edges in 2007. I don’t think that many people in Victoria know about Impromptu Splendor. I don’t think many people in Halifax know what’s playing at Soulpepper tonight.
Comment by Amanda Campbell October 7, 2009 @ 8:24 amThe truth is, I know there are A LOT of people in Toronto who think there are two shows playing here- The Jersey Boys and The Sound of Music.
I don’t think Torontonians seek to not listen to or understand or validate or embrace theatre from beyond its borders, just like I wouldn’t fault someone in Halifax if they didn’t know that Nancy Palk and Diego Matamoros were doing Virginia Woolf right now, or that Paul Sportelli just workshopped his new musical at Shaw or that Jonathan Monro (Newfoundland) had a reading of his new musical tonight at the Berkeley. It’s a huge country and we’re all doing important work- but we’re all working. It’s impossible to be immersed in everything when hundreds of Canadian productions are happening every single day and we’re all working on our own projects.
I’m not saying that Canadian Theatre can’t be more inclusive, or that we shouldn’t look for ways to connect, I just think that it has to be said that we do and we are. Look at the Magnetic North Festival- artists coming together from the whole country to do their avant-garde work. Look at the Citadel/Canstage partnership and the Tarragon/Neptune partnership. Scripts like Ubuntu, Bigger than Jesus, Frankenstein (to name just three) ARE being produced across the country.
I was talking to critically acclaimed playwright Chris Craddock tonight and he said, refering to Toronto, “Edmonton is here.” And he’s right. Belinda Cornish is at Canstage. Catalyst Theatre will be there in the Spring. He and Nathan are doing their show at Passe Muraille directed by Ron Jenkins. Ron and Matt are doing The National Theatre of the World Stuff, Daniela and Beth ARE the next Tarragon Show. Edmonton is here. And with Ron Jenkins and Pederson and Extinction Song, it’s going to Halifax and then to Ottawa for Magnetic North, and Halifax is in Toronto with Allen Cole and Mimi. Winnipeg is in Toronto with Thom Allison (who just did a show at the Citadel and before that was at the Arts Club) and Justin Stadnyk (who is in Boys in the Photograph which played MTC before transfering to Toronto.) And MTC and Canstage do partnerships too, like when they did Rocky Horror in 2007. Everything is Everywhere. I don’t think that the cities are pitted against one another at all. I think there’s a myth that Toronto is a vortex that sucks everything up, but the truth is, like in Halifax where everything is Neptune, in Toronto everything is Mirvish and the Independents are working their asses off just as hard and paying their dues just as much to be noticed as anyone else. Everything looks greener on the other side, but we are ALL in the same boat, and as far as I have seen in the Canadian Theatre Community I know, people appreciate that art isn’t easy, regardless of where you live.
I don’t know a lot about Winnipeg, but I know that MTC is a gem in our nation’s theatrical crown, but I can speak to Halifax. Halifax is wonderful and it’s theatre community is made up of fantastic artists, but its problems are not Toronto, its problems are all internal. Look at the Fringe Festival. That Festival has the potential to be one of the best in the country. It’s up to Halifax to fix it. There are problems internally at Neptune, you know what those are, and it’s up to the people who love and care about theatre in Nova Scotia to figure out how to deal with that issue. Why did ATF fold when it was producing some of the best theatre in the province? It wasn’t because everyone was going to Toronto or Stratford instead. It’s not Halifax’s lack of talent that is the problem (obviously), it’s the lack of support that they get from Nova Scotia (the public and the government). Many people blame Toronto, and I think that’s a huge mistake, not because Toronto will know or care, but because by blaming Toronto, it insures that Nova Scotia’s theatre problems will persist. When people start looking at the real issues (which I think people have, as with the development of PTAH, which is awesome) then theatre in Nova Scotia can grow into the confident, vibrant community that it so wants to be. A community that will foster people like Daniel MacIvor and Anthony Black, but more importantly, will create a community of artists who are proud of the work their city produces– so proud and confident in fact that it does not matter what Toronto says, or does, or doesn’t do, because it knows that it is creating at the very best of its potential.
Toronto was just an example. I know it’s not the TRUTH – I know in my heart that lots of amazing stuff happens everywhere and I agree, the important part is that we’re working. But a lot of people FEEL like Toronto is the be-all, end-all. It may not be logical but hey, that’s how feelings work.
Okay so Mag. North sounds dreamy (though I’ve never been) and touring high-budget shows is spectacular (I was so grateful when Leo came to Neptune, and tickled pink when Poor Boy showed up at U of T.) But I think this blog post was more of a stream-of-consience entry that made me wonder and wish, wish that it could be easier for smaller, lesser known work to be seen. It’s exciting to have work produced by and for strangers like I was fortunate enough to have and damnit, I’m hungry for more chances! At times I, personally, feel small and helpless in making it happen. You shared really great examples of people working across the Nation that give me hope…but I didn’t mean to start an academic argument, I was just expressing how I felt/feel; I want it ALL and I want it NOW. I just got all worked up and caught up in said worked-up-ness and blogged about it.
You’re right when you say “It’s impossible to be immersed in everything when hundreds of Canadian productions are happening every single day and we’re all working on our own projects.” I just wish it wasn’t!!!
Again I don’t mean to hate on Toronto, or devalue the artists who work here. Theatre here rocks my world!
I really appreciate your comment here – you always have loads of facts to share and that interest me.
Comment by dothefrug October 8, 2009 @ 2:23 am