Community Update
June 30, 2021
June. So much has happened since our last community update in October, 2020. So much has changed.
The following is a report on some of the company’s activities in the last nine months.
Stay connected!
IBPOC COMPANY IN RESIDENCE AND DIRECTING MENTORSHIPS
PTE welcomed Out From Under the Rug as our company in residence this season. OFUR was able to engage in mentorships and also receive dramaturgy during their time with PTE. We are extending their residency into a second year for the 2021-2022 season, leading to their first fully staged production, Bastard. in the Colin Jackson Studio in June, 2022.
To support OFUR’s first production, in addition to performance/rehearsal space and mentorship/dramaturgy, PTE is also contributing significant financial support.
For the 2020-2021 season, we were able to welcome two artists into directing mentorships. Julie Lumsden collaborated on Post-Democracy by Hannah Moscovitch and Beverly Ndukwu on VOICE by Ismaila Alfa.
EDUCATION RESIDENCY
This season, PTE invited Joseph Sevillo’s RISE program into an education residency. PTE provided RISE with mentorship, administrative support, and also secured them a corporate sponsor to help support their work financially.
The residency will be continued into the 2021-2022 season with financial and mentorship support from PTE.
AFFIRMATION COMMITTEE
Since the fall, PTE has been meeting with a group of Winnipeg theatre artists. The meetings began as a policy committee, setting out to write an anti-racism, anti-discrimination and equity policy (as reported in our last community update). Through robust, engaged, and vulnerable conversation, we collectively agreed that a policy was not the way to affect the change we were all seeking. We wanted something we could give to artists, staff, and patrons that would frame their experience of being at PTE. Something that outlined our priorities, our values and our philosophies. As one committee member beautiful articulated it, “We should be sharing what we are FOR rather than what we are AGAINST.”
What began as a policy committee became the Affirmation Committee. What we created was a document of affirmations for artists, staff, and patrons.
MANAGING DIRECTOR ANNOUNCEMENT
On June 4th, our beloved Tracey Loewen completed her final day as General Manager with Prairie Theatre Exchange as General Manager. We are endlessly grateful for all that she has contributed to our company.
In April, we were overjoyed to welcome our new Managing Director, Lisa Li. She is already an inspiring and integral part of PTE and we know that the future of the company is in great hands with this extraordinary new leader.
ANTI-RACISM RESOURCES
We have created a lending library in our boardroom for all artists and staff working with the company. While we will continue to offer training opportunities for those who work with/at PTE, we also want to encourage self-learning. As the years go on, we will continue to add to this library.
BOARD RECRUITEMENT
We are honoured to welcome four new board members this season, each of them bringing a wealth of experience and a passion for theatre and the work of Prairie Theatre Exchange. Our new board members are:
Tripat Pachu
David Thomas
Stirling Walkes
Jenny Wright
PTE TRAINING HUB
In fall of 2020, we began the PTE Training Hub. It was four weeks of free professional development for our artistic community. Over 160 artists attended workshops over the four weeks with instructors from here in Winnipeg and across Canada.
This fall, 2021, we will offer another Training Hub with new opportunities for the artists of Winnipeg to practice their craft, learn, and exchange ideas.
DIGITAL PRODUCTIONS
Our first production of Yvette Nolan’s Katharsis opened in the fall. It was our first digital production (with Winnipeg-based Ice River Films) and we are very proud of the work and also of how much we learned and grew from the experience. It has since been presented by the Kay Meek Arts Centre (BC), Border Crossings’ ORIGINS Festival (London, UK) and FoLDA (ON).
We followed this with the world premiere of Post-Democracy by Hannah Moscovitch. This was the first full-length digital production of the year. We were in awe of the artists and, again, learned so much from the experience. Audiences can see this production through the Stratford Festival’s streaming service, Stratfest@Home, until November. How wonderful to see so many Winnipeg artists being celebrated at the largest theatre in the country.
Our final digital production of the season is the world premiere of Ismaila Alfa’s VOICE. This is Ismaila’s first play, and we are so very grateful for his trust and to be able to share it with audiences this summer.
In addition to our own productions, we also presented 1 Hour Photo by Tetsuro Shigematsu from vAct (Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre), Frequencies by HEIST (NS) and were a community partner on Obsidian Theatre’s (ON) 21 Black Futures, which can be seen on CBC Gem.
COMMISSIONS
We have continued to support the development of new work through new and ongoing commissions. Artists currently creating with PTE include:
Marie Beath Badian
Sharon Bajer and Liam Zarrillo
Keith Barker
Tara Beagan
Darla Contois (premiering in 2021)
Deanna Choi
Ins Choi (premiering in 2022)
Brian Drader
Alexa Joy
Frances Koncan
Andy Moro
Rayannah
Ian Ross
Andraea Sartison
Sophie Smith-Dostmohamed
Donna-Michelle St. Bernard (co-commission with Black Theatre Workshop, Montreal)
Guillermo Verdecchia
We Quit Theatre (Davis Plett and Gislina Patterson)
David Yee
Liam Zarrillo
EMERGING PLAYWRIGHTS UNIT
After three extraordinary years together, Prairie Theatre Exchange’s Emerging Playwrights’ Unit in partnership with the Manitoba Association of Playwrights (MAP) will transition from an active unit to a group of playwrights supported by PTE (as with our first Playwrights’ Unit). As a culmination of their three seasons of development, MAP provided each of the five playwrights a one-day workshop for their completed draft(s) of their new work(s).
We celebrate our time with these five brilliant playwrights: Wren Brian, Kristian Jordan, Jo MacDonald, Alissa Watson and Liam Zarrillo.
PTE and MAP will look to begin a new playwriting unit and will be planning over the summer of 2021. A call will go out to the Winnipeg arts community in fall of 2021.
ACCESSIBILITY
We remain committed to accessibility in our programming.
We are currently working with Winnipeg-based VIEW on audio description for Ismaila Alfa’s VOICE, and will work with the team at VIEW on our upcoming live and PTE-produced digital productions.
Looking ahead to the new 21/22 season, we will have ASL, audio description and relaxed performances for all of our live productions.
COVID-19 PROTOCOL
Our COVID-19 protocol for this season evolved with each project we undertook. We strictly followed all guidelines and also took into consideration the feedback we received from artists and staff.
As we welcome audiences in 2021-2022, we feel confident that our experiences and knowledge gained this season will extend to the next as we ensure a safe environment for artists and audiences alike.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
This season has been both challenging and inspiring. It has provided us an opportunity to change our imagination. To see new ways of working, new ways of creating, and new ways of engaging.
We are keenly aware of the continued struggle our industry faces, and the impact these struggles have had on artists who are the backbone and foundation of all that we do. We are buoyed and inspired by the resilience of our arts community.
We are also deeply grateful for government, foundation, and arts council support.
Finally, a thank you. To every artist, audience, donor: THANK YOU. To the CCA, MAC, WAC, thank you. To the federal government, the Province, the city, the Winnipeg Foundation, thank you. This season would have been impossible without you. That we are thriving, that we are even still standing, is a testament to all of you...and in turn your belief in us.