Theatre Terrific

Last updated
Theatre Terrific
Formation1985 (1985)
TypeTheatre group
Purpose Disability theatre
Location
Website www.theatreterrific.ca

Theatre Terrific, also known as the Theatre Terrific Society, is a Canadian disability theatre company based in Vancouver, British Columbia. It is western Canada's oldest disability theatre company. [1]

Contents

History

In 1984, Connie Hargrave began to conceive of a theatre company focussed on disabled performers. [2] :68 Theatre Terrific was officially founded in 1985 and was one of Canada's first mixed-ability theatre companies. [3] At this time, Sue Lister was hired as an instructor and soon became Artistic Director. Their first show, a musical revue by Leonard Angel titled Dancing on the Head of a Pin with a Mouse in my Pocket, was performed at the 1986 Vancouver Fringe Festival. [2] :68

Theatre Terrific launched its outreach program, Direct Access, in 1987. The program was a student-focussed performance group whose ensemble members attended any of Theatre Terrific's drama classes. In 1988, Lister started the process of auditioning and hiring for school tours composed of both abled and disabled actors. They toured across the province of British Columbia, performing commissioned plays at both primary and secondary schools. [2] :70–72

In the early 1990s, Theatre Terrific began to receive international attention. [2] :87 They officially gained membership with the Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance in 1992. [2] :73

In 1995, the company appointed its second artistic director, Jamie Norris, [2]:74 and Sue Lister returned home to the UK in 1996. Norris left in 1998 and was replaced by co-artistic directors Elaine Avila and Trevor Found. Avila and Found focussed on artistic education before resigning in 2000. [2] :74 In 2001, Liesl Lafferty became Theatre Terrific's artistic director. The company had not been active for over one year preceding Lafferty's appointment. She resigned in November 2004. [4]

Susanna Uchatius became artistic director in 2005, at which point the company shifted away from explicitly disability-centred themes. [5] As artistic director, Uchatius has produced some of her own plays, including Hello in 2019, which focussed on the untold story of Arthur Miller's son, Daniel. [6]

Artistic directors

Production history

Awards

YearAwardCategoryWorkResultNotesRef.
1994 Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards Special Award for "Distinctive Mandate"n/aWon [2] :66
Outstanding Script for Young AudiencesGood-Looking FriendsNominatedfor John Lazarus
1995Outstanding ScriptBreeding DoubtsNominated [2] :73
Outstanding Ensemble PerformanceNominated
1996Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Lead RoleScraping the SurfaceNominatedfor Lyle Victor Albert
Outstanding Play or MusicalNominated
2020Outstanding Sound Design or Original Composition - Small TheatreHelloNominatedfor Angelo Moroni [14]

Notable performers

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hogan's Alley, Vancouver</span>

Hogan's Alley was the local, unofficial name for Park Lane, an alley that ran through the southwestern corner of Strathcona in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The alley was located between Union and Prior (north–south) and ran from approximately Main Street to Jackson Avenue (west–east). The area was ethnically diverse, populated by Black, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Jewish, and Indigenous residents during the first six decades of the twentieth century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jed Brophy</span> New Zealand actor

Jed Brophy is an actor from New Zealand. He has appeared in several of Peter Jackson's films, including Braindead, Heavenly Creatures, The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, and King Kong. Brophy also appears as the dwarf Nori in The Hobbit films.

Barbara Walsh is an American musical theatre actress who has appeared in several prominent Broadway productions. Walsh is known for her Drama Desk Award and Tony Award nominated role as Trina in the original Broadway production of Falsettos, as well as her turn as Joanne in the 2006 Broadway Revival of Stephen Sondheim's musical Company.

November Theatre is a Canadian theatre company that started in Edmonton, Alberta but is now based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company's Artistic Producer is Michael Scholar, Jr.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maggie Keenan-Bolger</span> American dramatist

Margaret Keenan-Bolger is an American actress, playwright, self-described sex educator and founder of Honest Accomplice Theatre. She is the sister of Celia Keenan-Bolger and Andrew Keenan-Bolger.

Frank Theatre Company, formerly known as Screaming Weenie, is a professional theatre company in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada committed to the production, promotion and development of queer and sex positive arts and artists. The company defines 'queer' as individuals and groups outside of sexual and gender norms.

Genevieve Barr is an English actor and writer of stage and screen. She played the lead role in the BBC award-winning series The Silence. Having grown up speaking orally, Barr learned sign language for this role.

Katrina Dunn is an actor, director, and producer. She has been the Artistic Director of Touchstone Theatre in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from 1997 to 2016.

Liz Magor is a Canadian visual artist based in Vancouver. She is well known for her sculptures that address themes of history, shelter and survival through objects that reference still life, domesticity and wildlife. She often re-purposes domestic objects such as blankets and is known for using mold making techniques.

Judy Chartrand is a Cree artist from Manitoba, Canada. She is an artist who grew up in the Downtown Eastside neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia. Her works frequently confronts issues of postcolonialism, Indigenous feminism, socio-economic inequity and Indigenous knowledge expressed through the mediums of ceramics, found objects, archival photography and traditional Indigenous techniques of beadwork, moose hair tufting and quillwork.

Justine A. Chambers is a dancer, choreographer and artist currently living and working in Vancouver, British Columbia. Interested in social choreographies of the everyday, she engages dance in site-specific, experimental and collaborative creation.

Weyni Mengesha is a Canadian film and theatre director, based in Toronto, Ontario. She is known as the director of the plays da kink in my hair, and Kim's Convenience.

Jordan Connor Yuen is a Canadian actor. He plays Sweet Pea in the television series Riverdale. He has also appeared in Looking for Alaska, Hospital Show and Nurses.

No Equal Entertainment is a Canadian television and film production company owned and operated by producer/director J.B. Sugar based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. No Equal develops and produces both scripted and documentary projects. In addition to producing their original projects, No Equal provides production services for studios, networks and broadcasters around the world. To date, No Equal has produced over 300 episodes of television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Realwheels Theatre</span> Canadian theatre company

Realwheels Theatre is a Canadian disability theatre company based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Realwheels was founded in 2003 by James Sanders and has since received multiple Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards and nominations.

Jennifer Brewin is a Canadian writer, director, and artistic director. She is known for co-creating The Attic, the Pearls and Three Fine Girls and her other work with Common Boots Theatre, formerly known as Theatre Columbus and the Caravan Farm Theatre. In 2020, she was appointed the artistic director of the Globe Theatre in Regina.

Shirley Barrie (1945-2018) was a Canadian writer. She was the co-founder of the Wakefield Tricycle Company and Tricycle Theatre. Her plays include Straight Stitching, Carrying the Calf, and Tripping Through Time.

Lib Spry is a Canadian director, playwright, and academic. She is a co-founder of Company of Sirens and Straight Stitching Productions and served as the artistic director of Passionate Balance.

Sarah-Maude Lachance is a Canadian rugby union player. She plays at Fly-half for Canada and for Section Paloise.

Sabrina Poulin is a Canadian rugby union player. She has represented Canada in sevens and fifteens at an international level.

References

  1. Johnston, Kirsty (2014). "Out of the Box: Comedy in Disability Theatre by Canadian Women". In Dickson, Peter; Higgins, Anne; St. Pierre, Paul Matthew; Solomon, Diana; Zwagerman, Sean (eds.). Women and Comedy: History, Theory, Practice. p. 150. ISBN   9781611476446 via Google Books.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Johnston, Kirsty (2012). "Theatre Terrific". Stage Turns : Canadian Disability Theatre. McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN   9780773539945.
  3. Kuppers, Petra (2017). Theatre and Disability. MacMillan Education. p. 35. ISBN   9781137605726 via Google Books.
  4. Lafferty, Liesl (2005). "Stage Ability: A Terrific Theatre Experience". Canadian Theatre Review (122): 65–66. ISSN   0315-0836.
  5. McAskill, Ashley (September 2016). ""Come and see Our Art of Being Real": Disabling Inspirational Porn and Rearticulating Affective Productivities". Theatre Research in Canada. 37 (2): 201–216. doi:10.3138/tric.37.2.201. ISSN   1196-1198.
  6. 1 2 Derdeyn, Stuart (2019-03-22). "Theatre Terrific says Hello to a hidden history of Arthur Miller's family". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 2021-03-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. Oliver, Kathleen (2004-11-25). "Jumpin' Jack". The Georgia Straight. Retrieved 2021-03-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. 1 2 Oliver, Kathleen (2007-05-09). "doGs". The Georgia Straight. Retrieved 2021-03-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. Hui, Stephen (2010-04-21). "Theatre Terrific's dirty white at the Cultch's Vancity Culture Lab". The Georgia Straight. Retrieved 2021-03-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. "17 things to do in Metro Vancouver on Thursday, April 16". The Georgia Straight. 2015-04-15. Retrieved 2021-03-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. Oliver, Kathleen (2017-09-13). "Fall arts preview 2017 theatre critics' picks: The fun in dysfunction takes to the stage". The Georgia Straight. Retrieved 2021-03-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. "Vancouver Fringe announces programming for third mini-festival". The Georgia Straight. 2020-10-15. Retrieved 2021-03-18.
  13. Wild, Stephi (2021-08-27). "Theatre Terrific Will Present WINDOWS Beginning Next Month". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2021-11-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. "Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards nominations unveiled amid stage closures, with shows like Kuroko, Noises Off, and Coriolanus leading the way". The Georgia Straight. 2020-06-08. Retrieved 2021-03-18.