Fw: Magnetic North Theatre Festival Press Release

[Denis Salter]

Subject: Magnetic North Theatre Festival Press Release


>
> May 29, 2002 For immediate release
> Announcing the
> Magnetic North Theatre Festival
> A new national Canadian theatre festival
> Ottawa, Ontario - The Magnetic North Theatre Festival, a new national
> touring festival showcasing the finest in Canadian theatre performed in
> English, was unveiled today at a media conference held at the National
Arts
> Centre (NAC) in Ottawa. The announcement coincided with the opening day of
> the Canadian Theatre Conference, a national gathering of over 300 Canadian
> English-language theatre professionals, also being held at the NAC (May
> 29-June 1).
> The Magnetic North Theatre Festival is dedicated to work on tour, with a
> focus on Canadian plays performed in English (whether originally written
in
> English or translated from other languages within Canada). Presented
> annually and programmed with a commitment to artistic excellence, the
> festival will celebrate the diversity of artistic work from across the
> country, introduce Canadian audiences to touring productions from every
> region, and act as an international showcase of the finest in Canadian
> theatre.
> As its name suggests, Magnetic North will not be a stationary festival but
> will travel from place to place. Based in Ottawa-Gatineau, it will
premiere
> there June 12-22, 2003 - hosted in part by the NAC (the festival's
> co-producer) and the Great Canadian Theatre Company - and will return to
the
> National Capital Region every second year thereafter. In alternate
> (even-numbered) years the festival will travel to other Canadian cities.
The
> theatre community in Edmonton, Alberta has offered to host the 2004
> festival.
> The festival will also include a Symposium on Canadian Theatre and Touring
> and a contact room for artists and presenters.
> The Magnetic North Theatre Festival is administered by the
> newly-incorporated, non-profit Canadian Theatre Festival Society, whose
> directors represent all regions of Canada.
> ... more ...
>
> - 2 -
> Board Chair Heather Redfern, Artistic Producer of Edmonton's Catalyst
> Theatre, introduced the festival's Artistic Director: Mary Vingoe, former
> Artistic Director of Eastern Front Theatre (Dartmouth, NS). "The idea for
a
> national theatre festival has been percolating in the Canadian cultural
> community for some time," says Ms. Vingoe, "and I feel very privileged to
> have been asked to be the inaugural Artistic Director of this exciting new
> project. My goal is to make the Magnetic North Theatre Festival a
gathering
> place where the heartbeat of contemporary professional theatre in Canada
can
> be measured, discussed, promoted and celebrated."
> To select the programming for the festival, Mary Vingoe will travel across
> Canada, attending performances in every region and of every genre, from
> Fringe productions to large-scale mainstage productions to young audience
> programs, staged by established companies as well as companies with a less
> public profile.
> The Board of Directors of the Canadian Theatre Festival Society gratefully
> acknowledges the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the
> Department of Canadian Heritage and the National Arts Centre: the Canada
> Council for the Arts and the Department of Canadian Heritage through
> financial support, and the NAC English Theatre in its role as a
co-producer
> providing both financial and in-kind resources.
> Shirley L. Thomson, Director of the Canada Council; Hubert Lussier,
Director
> General, Arts Policy, Department of Canadian Heritage; Marti Maraden,
> Artistic Director, NAC English Theatre; and Peter Herrndorf, NAC President
> and CEO, were on hand at the media conference to applaud the launch of the
> new festival.
> Programming for the 2003 Magnetic North Theatre Festival will be announced
> in early 2003. Companies and artists wishing to have their work considered
> for presentation at the Magnetic North Theatre Festival should contact
Mary
> Vingoe, Artistic Director, at the coordinates below.
> To underline support for this new venture, the Board is inviting a limited
> number of 200 individuals from the community to become Founding Friends of
> the Festival with a minimum contribution of $25.
> For more information, visit the Magnetic North Theatre Festival Website:
> <http://www.magneticnorthfestival.ca/> (up and running after June 15,
2002).
> - 30 -
> Media contact:
> Diana Tyndale, Publicist
> Piranha Communications, Ottawa
> Tel. (613) 233-0666, ext. 1
> Fax (613) 233-5153
> E-mail dtyndale at piranha.net <mailto:dtyndale at piranha.net>
> Proposals and submissions:
> Mary Vingoe, Artistic Director
> Magnetic North Theatre Festival
> Tel. (613) 947-7000, ext. 719
> E-mail mary at magneticnorthfestival.ca
<mailto:mary at magneticnorthfestival.ca>
>
> Magnetic North Theatre Festival
> Mary Vingoe, Artistic Director
>
> Mary Vingoe is the Artistic Director of the new Magnetic North Theatre
> Festival, an annual national festival of Canadian theatre performed in
> English. She is the co-founder and past Artistic Director of The Eastern
> Front Theatre (EFT) in Dartmouth, NS, where most recently she directed
> Fables by Jackie Torrens, Sisters by Wendy Lill, and The Drawer Boy by
> Michael Healey. Under Ms. Vingoe's direction EFT has become a leader in
the
> presentation of work by new Atlantic Canadian playwrights, including
George
> Boyd's Consecrated Ground and George Elliot Clarke's Whylah Falls and the
> opera Beatrice Chancy. While at EFT Mary Vingoe created the On The
> Waterfront and (with co-founder Gay Hauser) the Kids On The Waterfront
> festivals of new Canadian theatre. She is also co-founder and past
Artistic
> Director of Toronto's Nightwood Theatre and The Ship's Company Theatre in
> Parrsboro, NS. For Neptune Theatre (Halifax) she has directed Wendy Lill's
> All Fall Down, Ann-Marie MacDonald's Good Night Desdemona, Good Morning
> Juliet, and Elliott Hayes' Homeward Bound. Mary Vingoe has directed for
> theatres across the country, including Mulgrave Road Theatre (Nova
Scotia),
> Centaur Theatre (Montreal), Manitoba Theatre Centre (Winnipeg), Alberta
> Theatre Projects (Calgary) and Prairie Theatre Exchange (Saskatoon). Mary
> Vingoe was recently awarded a Robert E. Merritt Award for outstanding
> contribution to theatre in Nova Scotia.
>
>
> Canadian Theatre Festival Society
> Board of Directors
>
> Executive
> Chair Heather Redfern, Artistic Producer, Catalyst Theatre, Edmonton
> Vice-Chair Allen MacInnis, Artistic Director, Prairie Theatre Exchange,
> Winnipeg
> Treasurer Jamie Grant, General Manager, Centre in the Square,
> Kitchener
> Secretary Victoria Steele, Managing Director,
> National Arts Centre English Theatre, Ottawa
>
> Directors
> Ray Chandler, Freelance Producer, Toronto
> Jennifer Faulkner, Director, Finance and Operations, Fringe Theatre
> Adventures, Edmonton
> Ken Gass, Artistic Director, Factory Theatre, Toronto
> Katherine Kaszas, Freelance Director, Toronto
> Jillian Keiley, Artistic Director, Artistic Fraud, Newfoundland and
Labrador
> Catherine O'Grady, Executive Producer, Ottawa International Jazz Festival
> Margeret Specht, General Manager, Axis Theatre Company, Vancouver
>
> (plus 3 positions in the process of being filled by the Nominating
> Committee)
>