ABOUT US
OUR ORGANIZATIONAL HISTORY
Timeline History
- 2013 – company founded by Joan Etienne and Carey Nicholson
- 2013 – First Production: Vern Thiessen’s Vimy, Port Perry
- 2014 – Incorporated as a not for profit organization
- 2015 – Ontario Trillium Foundation Seed Grant for 1st Durham Minifest in 2016
- 2016 – Ontario Trillium Foundation Seed Grants for Summer Stages Youth Camps, 3×60 Youth Collective, Port Perry Heritage Cemetery Walks
- 2018 – Ontario Trillium Foundation Seed Grant for First Nations Youth Program in for Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation
- 2019 – received Charitable Status
- 2020 – created Something From Nothing new play workshops in response to the Covid 19 pandemic
- 2020 & 2021 – Moved our summer season outdoors in response to the Covid 19 pandemic
- 2021 – Funding from Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council and Ontario Trillium Foundation to support adaptation and recovery from the Covid 19 pandemic
- 2022 – Funding from Economic and Social Development Canada New Horizons for Seniors Program to support theatre based programs for community seniors.
- 2022 – Funding from Ontario Trillium Foundation to create a summer season venue in partnership with Scugog Shores Museum Village, including semi-permanent performance tent, stage and technical equipment.
- 2022 – Ontario Culture Days Creatives in Residence partner to create a new play based on the first Black resident of Port Perry in 1856.
Our Impact in the Community in 2020 and 2021
- We kept theatre live, performing in parking lots in the summer months, and were able to provide employment to theatre artists through the Covid 19 pandemic
- We created the Port Perry Snapshots Short Play Festival in celebration of the colonial sesquicentennial of Port Perry in 2021.
Our Impact in the Community In 2019
- We have brought live theatre to more than 3,500 elementary and high school students through our community touring program.
- We have introduced the work of local and national Canadian playwrights to audiences.
- We have provided mentorship to area high schools and community theatres.
- We have developed unique youth theatre training programs in Durham with the support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
- We have been able to increase financial accessibility to local theatre to students and those of limited financial means.
- We created Durham Minifest, an educational one-act play festival with the support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
- We have worked with local heritage partners to create a dramatic cemetery walk program in Port Perry with the support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation and digitized these programs with the support of the Ontario Arts Council.
- We have created programming for the Ontario Black History Society
Our Impact in the Community Since 2013
- We continued our repertory summer theatre festival in Port Perry, providing an “incubator” for emerging artists and an economic driver for local tourism and business partners in the community.
- Through generous donors, we made theatre training available to 2 area youth who were able to work and perform with our professional company as apprentices.
- Through sponsorship support, we made live theatre experiences available to over 200 youth who may not have other access to live performing arts.
- We workshopped and premiered a new Canadian musical, Willow Quartet at our summer festival.
- We continued our partnership with Scugog Lake Stewards and presented our original theatre for young audiences production, Monsters and Milfoil: A Tale of Lake Scugog at West Shore Retirement Village, to residents and the public.
- We continued to provide roleplaying services to Durham Regional Police Services and Elder Abuse Ontario training programs.
- We continued to provide employment and financial compensation for local theatre artists and practitioners through our programs and productions.
