Ontario Off Stage

This is our first edition since the holidays and there is a lot to share (I’m still working through a backlog of emails and blog posts!)

Behind The Scenes at Ontario’s Theatres

• It was sad to hear of the passing of Jean Roberts, a pioneer in Canadian theatre with Crest Theatre, Red Barn Theatre, and the theatre section at the National Arts Centre.  She was one of the first recipients of Theatre Ontario’s Maggie Bassett Award in 1984.  Kate Taylor wrote an obituary in the Globe And Mail.
• Daryl Cloran will be directing Boeing Boeing this summer at Thousand Islands Playhouse, and in this interview, he mentions how he previously mentored Thousand Islands Playhouse Artistic Director Ashlie Corcoran, a mentorship funded by Theatre Ontario’s Professional Theatre Training Program—it’s wonderful to see the lasting professional partnerships that have evolved from this program.
• Crow’s Theatre in Toronto announced plans to open a 200-seat theatre in Leslieville.

Conversations

• Holger Syme on Dispositio is interested on hearing from actors, directors, and playwrights about what rehearsal means to you.
• Praxis Theatre unveiled their now-annual Top 10 of The Top 10 for 2012—capturing many of the highlights from the past year.
• Micheline McKay on The Arts Advocate summarized the top cultural policy headlines of 2012 and proposed some stories to watch in 2013.
• Scott Walters, one of my favourite American theatre blogging provocateurs (and fellow #2amt fantasy football league competitor) has wrapped-up his Theatre Ideas blog, and unveiled a new blog: Creative Insubordination—Strategies for Becoming an Independent Creator.  I love the tone of the new blog, and look forward to more conversations.
• Finally, a pre-Christmas heart-warmer via Ken Davenport—a letter from an audience member that helps answer the question: why do we do what we do?

From The Wire

• The City of Toronto approved $22.5 million from the Billboard Tax be directed towards arts and culture funding—outstanding advocacy from the Toronto cultural community under the leadership of BeautifulCity.ca
• I serve on the Ontario Ministry of Labour Advisory Committee for Health & Safety in Live Performance, developing guidelines to help interpret acts and regulations for performance.  I am thrilled to announce that the committee’s Guidelines are now available online, and particularly noteworthy is the new guideline for Sound Levels that was introduced last year.
• Wanda Nanibush will be leading our upcoming workshop on Proposal Writing on February 19.  She was featured in the Toronto Star, talking about her activism and inspiration.
• Kitchener-Waterloo Little Theatre was the beneficiary of a Christmas wish contest—and they’ll be getting a new sign for their venue.

You can receive news from Theatre Ontario every month by email.  Our archives are online and the January issue is now available.

Assembled by Brandon Moore, Communications Coordinator