Fame or Famine

All is not well for indie theatre in the Great White North.

Chatting with my friend J.P. Robichaud, a stage manager in Toronto, the subject of trying to make a living in that town came up. I’ve always thought of Toronto as incredibly arts friendly, but that’s mainly based on the TV and movie scene.

“…our live theatre scene – especially on an independant level – is really struggling.
we lost two smaller spaces last year
opportunities are dwindling, for experimental companies like theatre passe muraille, factory theatre, tarragon theatre, buddies in bad times, Theatre Centre as well.”

It’s unfortunate that there isn’t more trickle-down from the money in the media arts that would help support this. I also have to wonder if there’s the same kind of talent drain that dance companies have from touring shows such as “Lion King” which pay the bills but keep dancers from being able to stay and support local companies. JPR, in fact, had to take a bit of a desk job to make ends meet, after years of working as an in-demand Stage Manager for the community.

There was a little bit of support, though. The National Theatre School in Montreal had hired him to teach a few classes just before he got his desk job. Conflict? No, “…my boss just said I could take the time away to do the short-term teaching gigs.” So the community may not support the arts as much as we’d like…but at least there’s a grass roots appreciation for the arts on a personal level.

At least, for JPR…

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