The Future of Theatre
To be successful, we have to embrace evangelism. We have to be willing to expose our passion and try – however we can – to make it attractive and relevant to others. We have to be curious and humble as we learn more about the people on the outside. We have to be willing to build doors and renovate rooms despite our prior attachments. We have to accept failures and keep pushing and dreaming forward. When we are open to what our communities of interest seek, and honest about changing our work to meet them, we can build relevance.
We are missionaries. We are apostles. We do this work because it is big and important. It may not be hot. It may not be trending. But it can be relevant to the people we care about. It’s our job – our glorious opportunity – to make it so.
– The Art of Relevance by Nina Simon (p. 181)
Activity: Based on what you now know, what do you like or dislike about the industry? What is working? What works about it? What would your ideal theatre be? What would you do to adapt the current model for a more ideal process.
Allow yourself to dream.
For example, director Eda Holmes has been cited saying that theatre should look like the bus, with the make-up of people just as wide-ranging.
Many have spoken and written about needing to move towards a new theatre, one where we create theatre that people need. The reality though is that over a third of Canadians have never seen a play. Funding-wise, the Canada Council for the Arts has a budget for the whole country just slightly larger than the provincial arts and culture budget in Quebec. This demonstrates the priority of culture for the nation versus Quebec. Over the years, tax breaks for artists and a living wage for artists have been discussed, these exist in some European countries. Then there are the ongoing challenges engaging future audiences, currently few under the age of 35 are regularly attending live performance. This could mean fewer future productions, budget restrictions affecting the future of playwriting, and continued precariousness unless change occurs as outlined in the last chapter. Digital technology will also continue to be implemented and affect theatre design. It is definitely uncertain times, but also times rife with possibility.
It is impossible to predict but important to have a constant dialogue between those currently working in the industry and the next generation. We can then look at the future together as an exciting time of innovation rather than a time of uncertainty. For example, there is great collaboration already happening – joint initiatives sprung up in the pandemic and a sense of all theatres being in this together led to mutual support.
Ongoing challenge is fighting for relevancy. And, you know, we are, we live and die with public support. And when the public views what we do as unnecessary or unimportant, the funding dries up. So, how do you get people to care about our art form that we love? But, you know, let’s face it, it isn’t as popular as it used to be 50 years ago. So, I think the challenges are, there are many that are so huge, because I’ve seen more change in the last five years than I had in the previous 25 years of my career. So it seems like a really amazing time for people who are young and energetic and invested to redefine the landscape entirely. Because I think the number one challenge is, I don’t know what’s going to happen in the next ten years. I think it’s going to change even more. –
Jovanni Sy,
Actor/Director/ Playwright, Montreal, QC
Here are the interviewees thoughts on the future, both challenges and aspirations, addressed specifically to theatre students and emerging theatre artists/workers:
Human resources funding is stagnant. And that’s a real challenge because as you know, all of our costs are going up and the revenue that we make from actual tickets is a very small chunk of what a theatre needs to operate. And our audiences are down. So we rethought our budget as much as we could. But the audiences are that unknown factor. They’re definitely slow to return. They’re being extremely cautious. So, I think those are the biggest aspects. –
Haanita Seval,
Director of Marketing, PTE, Winnipeg, MB
Totally, I think it’s ridiculous that we look at the world, we look at this picture and you know, for so many of us who are already coming from trauma and now we’re in a global pandemic where we have this shared trauma, and life is hard and surviving in and out of itself is difficult and then… And art and creation is meant to be an escape. But then you put people back in the same position that we’re trying to get away from. Why did I leave my job at a call centre to come here to be harmed, in the same ways. Like, it just, it doesn’t make any sense. And so, I just want storytelling to be removed from the hands of capitalism and put back into the hands of storytellers. –
Yolanda Bonnell,
Actor/Director/Playwright, Toronto, ON
I think that the future of theatre is, it’s diverse, it’s multifaceted. It’s integrated with other art forms. It’s probably a very different future than we’ve had, than you and I have grown up in. And that’s exciting, right? But I think that if we overly focus on trying to make the future of theatre digital, we give up the thing that is our unique value proposition. And so, I kind of refute and refuse the idea that we have to compete with video games. I think video games have their place and will always have their place. And you know, I think we can still be audacious enough to say, come to us. And maybe we could be doing that in different ways. Maybe we could be making it a lot more convenient for people to come, but ultimately, I think that there is going to be value in live and value in gathering and value in everybody in the audience experiencing something at the same time. And so, I look to future theatre artists to rail against the call of the digital and to be really frickin’ analog about it. –
Camilla Holland,
Executive Director, RMTC, Winnipeg, MB
I think that COVID proved that we can’t really tell what’s going to happen because we all thought these big changes were coming down the pipeline and then they didn’t. So I think like, be prepared for it to be this way for a long time. I think theatre is not a very accessible career path, which is really unfortunate. But I think that maybe accessibility is coming around. There’ll be more work for people who… and then more theatre for people who aren’t just like regular able bodied, everything in the norm kind of people. Hopefully that is happening – everywhere. But, in terms of like how theatre is set up currently, I don’t see there being a change any time soon. –
Nikki Vigneault,
Former Production Manager at Theatre New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB
I would say there’s a lot of opportunity right now for difference that there wasn’t before. And I think the thing I would encourage people to do is, like get to know the history of how uniquely important this moment is and how it emerged. And that’s everything, from civil rights to people who had to fight to have their voices heard onstage and to have their beings and identities seen – as human. And we’re in a shift now that is interesting, but also potentially dangerous, and looking at the history will help us figure out which path we take. –
Ravi Jain,
Artistic Director, Why Not Theatre, Toronto, ON
You
[theatre grads] know, so much more than, than my generation or current practitioners about things like digital theatre. Yeah, about new possibilities. So, I’d say, you know, don’t be shy about leaning into those strengths. Like, don’t, I guess don’t be content with the status quo. If you actually think that theatre is stagnant and moribund, then don’t complain about it, just do something about it. Like reinvigorate it with your own expertise because you know they know so much more. And I’m excited to see where this next generation takes theatre because it’s, it is changing a lot. I’d say the pandemic is really, really changing our sense of digital delivery and what the possibilities are there. –
Jovanni Sy,
Actor/Director/ Playwright, Montreal, QC
I think we should be offering more paid internships upon graduation and diversifying those needs. I also think it’s a, slightly skewed, slightly different tangent, but that we should be doing everything possible to encourage, to find and to support Indigenous production students. We’ve been incredibly, incredibly lax as institutes across the country in actually doing anything about this, and we’re really paying the price now because we don’t have any. It’s marginal, we have such a small number of people. It’s hard to find them. Where do we go? What programs do we offer that take away the barriers for them to apply? If we all think the future of Canadian theatre is Indigenous, we better step up to this very fast. –
Andrea Lundy, Program Director – Production Design and Technical Arts Program – National Theatre School of Canada, Montreal, QC
Well, I think the biggest question, frankly, right now in front of us is about care and kindness. As I mentioned, you know, opening night, how do we make opening night a less daunting prospect, less rigid? I don’t, honestly, I don’t know the answer to that. You know, so the shifting models of rehearsal, looking for creation processes outside of the CTA that enable, the work. Right? You know, the CTA can be really great for supporting work of a certain kind. Interestingly, you know, I’ve always known about the UDA in Quebec, but being here in Ottawa now and seeing it… hearing from those artists more directly has been really interesting. And I know there are artists on both sides of that argument who, you know, one is really like, oh my gosh, I don’t even know how you do something over a period of time and not have that dedicated, focused rehearsal period. And, you know, on the other side, the artists are going, oh my gosh, I’m not sure how I could ever carve out, you know, like four weeks or six weeks and just do this show. I’ve got all of this other stuff going on. How do I accommodate it? I think that’s a huge movement, to consider things like alternative rehearsal processes, and five day weeks. Is there a way to get away from multi show days, like you know how do we make sure that we’re centering care of the artist with care of the work? And finding the best balance to share the amazing work that we create with audiences. In a good way. –
Lori Marchand,
Managing Director, NAC’s Indigenous Theatre, Ottawa, ON
…where I sit in a theatre company like
Rising Tide in Newfoundland and Labrador. I think it’s challenging. How do we transition now? What’s it going to look like? And is it going to be possible to operate it as it was operated when somebody was, it was their life? I do think that we need supports for succession planning and all that. There’s a lot of people moving around, just the number of ads from PACT alone, people are moving around, right? So, I don’t know that the way companies are going to be run will be the same as many of them were. But we need to define that and allow companies to make those transitions and support it and not necessarily, you know the old saying, don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater, and don’t let somebody come in with a feeling that they got the world by the tail, because sometimes, I think people don’t realize how complex it’s going to be and that no matter how you do things, somebody is going to be unhappy. Somebody is going to want it a different way. –
Donna Butt,
Artistic Director, Rising Tide Theatre, Trinity, NL
There is hope for the future and what all of you as future theatre workers can bring to the table.
I mean, the ones who stay are invested and interested and have energy, and they don’t put up with crap. So I think that is a good, we’ll see change. We’ll just see how…we’ll all watch how it plays out. We just, I just really hope that they stay in the industry. That, for me is the biggest worry that they’re not going to stay long enough for it to really matter. –
Andrea Lundy, Program Director – Production Design and Technical Arts Program – National Theatre School of Canada, Montreal, QC
I’m very excited about the changes in theatre. I, you know, I think that we’ve heard the same, you know, there’s a period of time when we’re hearing the same stories over and over and over again, hear this from the same, you know, cohort or whatever. And now we’re, you know, it’s just been open, opening up. And it’s amazing. It’s really different. It challenges us, but it’s… theatre so needed it. It so, so needed it. It’s like the seventies was a very exciting time. And then it just went into a period of being very staid and, and now it’s opening up again. And, you know, even though I kind of feel like sometimes it’s going to leave me behind, it’s still, it’s just it’s doing what it needs to do. It should have done it years ago. And I and I’m very excited by the changes. Truly. –Catherine Banks, Playwright, Sambro, NS
I’m just so excited about the young folks that I’m meeting through this leadership exchange and across the country at conferences and gatherings. I’m just thrilled to know and as I said, eight in my graduating class and 800 at my children’s. You know it’s now, they’re sort of in their late twenties, early thirties and you can see even behind them another group of young leaders coming up and just the confidence and faith in themselves, embracing their cultural background, whatever it may be, valuing their language, valuing where they come from, and not seeing that as a detriment to success. That is night and day, night and day from the world that I grew up in. And it is unbelievable. –
Lori Marchand,
Managing Director, NAC’s Indigenous Theatre, Ottawa, ON
I think that young people are really changing the way that the theatre operates. And things in the last couple of years have really shaken up. And there’s a much more relaxed feeling to it. And all the work gets done. But it doesn’t have to be so serious all the time. And so, I think that remembering that you are a person and all of these people have so many great qualities that may not be on their resume. And so being able to come in and have a real conversation and not stress too much about everything being perfect, I think has really been a good opportunity for the theatre to really grow and to embrace diversity in a really like honest way as opposed to forcing it to happen. And so, I think for new people, you come in and you’re just trying to find all the walls that you need to put on your box. But I just find – like break the box down and just bring your energy.
I love seeing the way that young people communicate in a rehearsal room, as opposed to the older people who’ve been doing it forever. It’s just such a natural way of calling things out and not in a bad way, but just, just this is how it is. I’m seeing something, I’m going to say something and we’re going to talk about it and we’re going to move on and everything’s fine. So, I really respect that. And I think that they should be confident in bringing their voice to the room because they have something to say. – Ricardo Alvarado, Stage Manager, Persephone Theatre, Saskatoon, SK
Activity: Write your response to these quotes addressed to those currently working in theatre. Do you feel optimistic about the future of the performing arts? Are you encouraged or feeling like there is a lot of pressure to deal with all that needs to be fixed?
Realistically, change takes a long time and it has begun. Those of you who are just entering the field won’t necessarily be in a position, or have the power, to make immediate change. However, you may be the future leaders.
A just future for theatre needs to consider all the important conversations happening, many of these are reflected in the next chapter around Just and Equitable Practices.
For more insights check out:
Art After This with Ravi Jain | Metcalf Foundation | Metcalf Foundation
What Might the Future Hold – CAEA
Decomposition Instead of Collapse
To the People Who Have the Power to Make Change
Manifesto for Now
Boards Are Broken, So Let’s Break and Remake Them
For some great articles and interviews – https://www.artsunite.ca/people-and-places/