Profiles & Interviews

During this time of isolation, I’ve been in touch with some of the Artistic Directors in Toronto, Stratford and Montreal to profile their work from home and online since they are isolated from their theatres. One of these companies has a unique sounding name I’ve always liked every time I hear it – Cahoots Theatre. To be in cahoots is clever.

I had reviewed their production of ‘Good Morning, Viet Mom’ and wanted to learn more about this company. I was pleased when I got in touch with newly appointed Cahoots’ Artistic Director, Tanisha Taitt.

Tanisha was appointed October 1, 2019. Her biography on Cahoots’ website is highly impressive, and I heartily recommend you read it. From 2013-2019, Tanisha was a Dramatic Arts mentor with the Toronto District School Board. She has worked in many theatre companies including National Arts Centre, Obsidian, Soulpepper, Nightwood and Buddies in Bad Times. She is fiercely committed to inclusion and to racial and cultural representation in the performing arts.

I am looking forward to seeing what she has programmed for the next season and once it’s safe to return to the theatre.

We conducted our interview via email:

1. How have you been keeping during this nearly three-month isolation? How is your immediate family doing?

What a crazy time. It’s been a rollercoaster for sure. About three weeks after isolation began, I suddenly found myself feeling very ill, and ended up being quite sick for about ten days. I am much better now but that was scary. My family is doing well. Although I sadly have not been able to be with them in person since early March, we talk everyday.

2. What has been most challenging and difficult for you during this time? What have you been doing to keep yourself busy?

Difficult? Being ill, being away from my family and friends, the incredible uncertainty with regards to the future of the theatre industry and carrying the weight of the racist murders of unarmed Black men.
I’ve been writing a lot, reading a lot, listening to music that I love a lot. And I will very likely write a new album soon. There are SO many songs bouncing on the walls of my head. So very many. I was a singer-songwriter long before my life led me to theatre, for many years, and that is still my go-to place when life feels like it’s spinning off its axis.

I’m also pondering who I want to be on the other side of all of this. This incredible shaking that the earth is experiencing right now cannot be for naught. I feel that I must emerge having learned and grown in some way, while at the same time not trying to force anything that isn’t true. One thing I’m trying to do more of is face-to-face, one-on-one conversations online, rather than quick emails or texts or Facebook messages. And good old-fashioned phone calls. So underrated. I want more time with my friends, even if we can’t be in the same room, feeling connected on a more intimate level.

3. Tanisha, I can’t even begin to imagine the varied emotions and feelings you’ve been going through personally and professionally with other key players and individuals with regard to Cahoots’ future. In your estimation and opinion, do you foresee COVID 19 and its results leaving a lasting impact on the Canadian performing arts and theatre scene?

I sure hope it does. If it doesn’t, then a lot of people lost a lot of work and a lot of money for no reason other than a virus. I’m not saying that to be trite, or to downplay the impact of this disease and the enormous suffering and loss attached. I’m saying that if the only things to come out of all of that are negative, that will be a second tragedy. I hope that this time is causing all of us to look deeper at what it is we’re doing as a species, and on more of a micro level, as an industry. I no longer take theatre for granted, at all. We’ve all seen how quickly that which we were certain of can vanish. So, I hope that the lasting impact of this is not a financial one, but an ideological one.

4. Do you have any words of wisdom to console or to build hope and faith in those performing artists and employees at Cahoots who have been hit hard as a result of COVID 19? Any words of sage advice to the new graduates from Canada’s theatre schools regarding this fraught time of confusion?

All I can say is that this will eventually end. Things won’t be the same afterward, but I don’t believe that we are out of theatres forever. I think that the most important thing is to stay in touch with your creativity, because creativity is innately hopeful. That doesn’t mean that you need to be making something all of the time, or any of the time for that matter. But it means that the part of yourself that is the visionary — the designer or the director or playwright or actor or producer or teacher — cannot be allowed to fade away. Because we will need you more than ever when we return. We will need to reignite the theatre, and it will take all of us holding onto our matches in order to do that. We can’t restart the fire if we’ve all thrown out our matches.

5. Do you foresee anything positive stemming from COVID 19 and its influence on the Canadian performing arts scene?

I hope that we become more genuinely compassionate and less self-centered. There is a lot of genuine goodness in our industry, but there is a lot of machination and ego too. Like, ego that would be laughable if it wasn’t so damaging and obnoxious. I am hoping that the vulnerability we have all been made to feel during this pandemic, on multiple levels, makes us kinder.

6. You Tube presentations, online streaming seems to be part of a ‘new normal’ at this time for artists to showcase their work. What are your thoughts and comments about the advantages and/or values of online streaming? Do you foresee this as part of the ‘new normal’ for Canadian theatre as we move forward from COVID 19?

I think that each company needs to make that decision for themselves. I think there’s been some great stuff streamed, and some very-hard-to-sit-through stuff streamed. People are trying because this is all new to us. I do think that it’s been a bit reactive, like there’s a sense of sheer panic about getting stuff online right away or having things for people to watch all of the time. I don’t think that’s necessary at all. I think that it’s going to become extremely oversaturated and eventually people will just turn away from it altogether.

Some of what is being thrown at the wall will stick and some won’t. There will be magic and there will be mediocrity, just like on real stages. We’re all likely to stream something that is a bit of a hot mess, and something else that works beautifully. A lot of trial and error is to come, because yes, I think that there is going to be a lot of virtual theatre coming in the year ahead.

7. What is it that you still adore in your role as Artistic Director of Cahoots that Covid will never destroy?

Well I just began in the role last Fall, so it’s very new still. But I love what Cahoots stands for and I adore the enormous honour that I’ve been given — to try each and every day to convert those values into art and community bonding. My commitment to that can never be felled by a little pandemic!

With a respectful acknowledgment to ‘Inside the Actors’ Studio’ and the late James Lipton, here are ten questions he used to ask his guests:

1. What is your favourite word?

Truth

2. What is your least favourite word?

Retarded

3. What turns you on?

Tenderness

4. What turns you off?

False equivalencies

5. What sound or noise do you love?

A baby’s gurgle

6. What sound or noise bothers you?

Car alarms

7. What is your favourite curse word?

I don’t really swear, but I’ll admit that hearing a truly horrible human called an MF has a certain and very-
satisfying poetry to it.

8. Other than your current profession now, what other profession would you have liked to attempt?

A&R Director at a record label

9. What profession could you not see yourself doing?

Gravedigger

10. If Heaven exists, what do you hope God will say to you as you approach the Pearly Gates?

“Well done, my love.”

To learn more about Artistic Director Tanisha Taitt and Cahoots Theatre, visit www.cahoots.ca.

When I received an email from Ted Dykstra (Chief Engineer) today, I noticed at the bottom under his name he calls his Coal Mine Theatre, “Off-off Broadview theatre”.

Very classy and clever, indeed, as he and his wife, Diana Bentley (Co-Chief Engineer of Coal Mine) have modelled their 80 seat theatre after the intimate, exciting and often daring productions that can be found in New York City’s ‘off-off Broadway scene’. To this day, I have never, ever, been disappointed with any of the intriguing and enthralling productions I have reviewed at Coal Mine. I must attribute its success to Diana and Ted, their dynamite slate of plays, and the outstanding actors/production crew members who continue to grace the stage here on Danforth Avenue.

I have had the honour to have seen both Ms. Bentley and Mr. Dykstra perform at some of Canada’s finest theatres, and I must include Coal Mine here as well.

Ms. Bentley gave a daring and brave performance as Filigree at Coal Mine in ‘Category E’. I will always remember how moved I was the first time I saw Mr. Dykstra’s co-creation of, what I believe is, one of Canada’s most famous plays, ‘Two Pianos, Four Hands’.

I was pleased when they agreed to be interviewed via email:

1. How have you and the kids been doing during this tumultuous time of change and upheaval?

Ted: Pretty well. We have an 18-month-old named Henry who thinks he hit the jackpot, as he of course has us to himself 24/7.

Diana: I think, like most people, there are good days and then there are harder days. We are enjoying having this time at home together and with Henry, but of course we miss the other parts of our lives that we love like the Coal Mine.

2. What has been the most difficult or challenging for you during this isolation? What have you been doing to keep yourself busy during the time? (I know with children your attention will have to be on them first and foremost)

Ted.: My son and daughter Theo and Rosie are with their mom, and we miss them very much. They miss us too, but I think they and Henry miss each other most of all! The other thing would be speculating on the future, which is “a mug’s game” but I sometimes do it anyway.

Diana: We split the days so that one of us takes care of Henry while the other works. Right now I’m working on a television show that I’ve been wanting to pitch for a few years, and a one woman show that I have had sitting inside me for a year. Both are exciting and I’m happy for the time to draw my focus to them, but also trying to be gentle with myself. Right now we’re gearing up for a Coal Mine Zoom Board meeting so we’re still working too!

3. I believe ‘Cost of Living’ was in pre-production and intensive rehearsals when the pandemic was declared, and the quarantine imposed. How many weeks were you into rehearsals? Can you possibly see ‘Cost’ perhaps being part of this upcoming 2020-2021 season or a later season?

Ted: We were to start rehearsals March 17. Our New York based actor Christine Bruno arrived March 15, a Sunday. We had her set up in an air bnb close to the theatre, had rented her a mobility scooter, (the play involves two characters who are physically disabled) and stocked her place with groceries. Because she needed to isolate for two weeks on arriving from the states, we decided that we would delay the whole show by a week.

So she would isolate for a week, then we would begin rehearsals at the theatre, skyping her in for the first week. But two days after she arrived, we knew it was game over due to the acceleration of the virus’ spread. So we sent her back on the Tuesday. It was very sad of course.

Diana: We are very committed to making sure ‘Cost of Living’ happens. The big question is when, but that’s the question for everything right now. When we return to making live theatre, when audiences feel safe to come back and then of course what shows we will program. Lots of questions and bridges to cross

4. Any words of wisdom or sage advice to performers/artists/actors who have been hit hard during this time? I’m sure this pandemic has hit hard on the new graduates of theatre schools. Any words of wisdom for them?

Ted: Our jobs have never been assured, by anyone. This is a golden opportunity to learn this. I don’t think any of my neighbours in East York have thought once that they miss the theatre at this time. Rightly so. They have far more important things on their minds. So why are you wanting to do it? It’s an important thing to know for yourself. Good time to think about it!

And if you have to do something else other than your heart’s desire to live for however long, like the rest of the world does, show yourself and the world you can do it well and without complaining. We are so lucky to be living the lives we are. And you can still write, read, create, dream – all the things you love. Don’t stop.

Diana: Have faith. Go inward. Listen.

5. Do you see anything positive stemming from COVID 19? Will COVID 19 have some lasting impact and influence on the Canadian performing arts scene?

Ted: Well if I were the environment, I’d be wishing the virus would stay a good long time, so there’s that! A life doing theatre has taught me a lot about humankind. Unfortunately, one of the conclusions I have reached is that no society, country, nation, continent has ever learned the lessons necessary to stave off their end. And this is, I think, a truth about humanity. We survive. We change, but usually only because we have to.

As soon as we stop “having to”, we start to forget why we were doing it, and comfort and greed once again come to the foreground. Flip side of that? We keep inventing, writing, discovering, expanding in as many good ways as bad. But there isn’t anything we know now about being human on the inside then the Greeks knew 2500 years ago. Maybe we are waiting for a worldwide “aha!” moment. I sure hope it comes. But any time soon? I don’t think so… And would I love to be wrong? Of course! Theatre will continue, and some great plays will come of this time, as they have of every other time. But that’s nothing different. That’s what theatre does. So it will continue to do that.

Diana: Gratitude and not taking anything for granted.

6. Some performing artists have turned to streaming and/or online/You Tube presentations to showcase or perform their work. In your opinion and estimation, is there any value to this during this time? What about in the future when we return to a sense of a new normal. Will streaming and online productions be the media go to?

Ted: It’s not my cup of tea. Theatre to me is meant to be experienced in a room full of people. Theatrical performances are meant to take place in front of people. This raises the stakes, makes it so much more exciting. Watching a live play online, where actors are performing for no one, is what I would call television. And real television is an awful lot better. In fact it’s fantastic right now in terms of variety and excellence. No contest.

Diana: For some people/ artists I am sure that will be exciting and essential. For Ted and I the Coal Mine is very much about the live experience so I’m not sure we’ll follow suit- but anything is possible!

7. What is it about performing and the arts scene that you still always adore?

Ted: Great plays. The community. Great artists. My colleagues, friends. Memories. Moments. The anticipation excitement and hope on the first day of rehearsal. Working with designers, volunteers, stage managers, bartenders who are all infinitely better at their jobs than I could ever be. And the audience. The people who pay good money to see what we do because they love it and want it in their lives. Without them we are nothing. And after 45 years doing this, I can say without reservation that no matter what happens to The Coal Mine, we have been blessed with the finest patrons I have ever had the privilege of working for!

Diana: The artists. I miss them so much.

As a nod to ‘Inside the Actors’ Studio’ and the late James Lipton, here are ten questions he used to ask his guests at the conclusion of his interview:

1. What is your favourite word? Ted: Geselig. It’s a Dutch word that has no direct translation that describes the feeling of comfort, coziness, acceptance, serenity given by say a fireplace in the winter with your favourite drink in hand and a blanket and two or three of your most favourite people in the room who share the feeling and are enjoying it as much as you, with no worries present whatsoever. And it’s snowing outside. The big, slow, thick flakes.

Diana: Cantankerous

2. What is your least favourite word?

Ted: The N word.

Diana: Bitch

3. What turns you on?

Ted: My wife.

Diana: The Giggles

4. What turns you off?

Ted: People who can’t laugh at themselves

Diana: Narcissism

5. What sound or noise do you love?

Ted: My kids’ laughter.

Diana: The sound of our son talking to himself in his crib in the morning.

6. What sound or noise bothers you?

Ted: Anything whatsoever no matter how small that I can hear when trying to go to sleep.

Diana: Loud crunching.

7. What is your favourite curse word?

Ted: It’s a phrase I came up with when I was directing Shakespeare in Calgary. “Fuck my balls.”

Diana: F**k

8. What profession, other than your own, would you have like to do?

Ted: Astronaut.

Diana : Fiction writer.

9. What profession could you not see yourself doing?

Ted: Easy. Stage Management.

Diana: Dentist

10. If Heaven exists, what would you hope God will say to you as you approach the Pearly Gates?

Ted: “You were a good dad, so we’re gonna let the other stuff slide.”

Diana: “High Five!”

Photo of Ted Dykstra and Diana Bentley by Melissa Renwick/Toronto Star File Photo
To learn more about Coal Mine Theatre and its upcoming season, visit www.coalminetheatre.com.

I got the chance to travel to New York and Broadway figuratively when I interviewed Ted Sperling.

I’m always appreciative of the opportunity to speak with American artists. I learned a few things about Ted even before I begin to share what he has coming up and in store for audiences shortly.

From Ted’s personal website (which I will include at the conclusion of his profile) he is a multi-faceted artist, director, music director, conductor, orchestrator, singer, pianist, violinist and violist. He is the Artistic Director of MasterVoices and Music Director of the recent Broadway productions of My Fair Lady, Fiddler on the Roof and The King and I, all currently touring nationally and internationally.

A Tony Award winner for his orchestrations of The Light in the Piazza, (which was marvelous when I saw the OBC several years ago, Ted is known for his work across many genres, including opera, oratorio, musical theater, symphony, and pops. Mr. Sperling recently appeared as Steve Allen in the final episode of Season Two of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” When I was in New York several years ago to see the Original Broadway company of ‘Titanic’, Ted appeared in this production.

Starting May 7, this week marks the launch of a new online concert series Ted has created with Dreamstage Live: Broadway Stories and Songs. Each Friday night (with a repeat stream Saturday afternoon) Ted hosts a Broadway star for an intimate hour-long concert of songs from shows old and new, interspersed with anecdotes from their shared experiences on stage and off.

Before I began the interview below, I asked Ted how the ‘Broadway Stories and Songs’ came about. He said it was born out of ‘Music Never Sleeps NYC’. It was a 24-hour music program with everybody recording remotely when the pandemic hit. Ted said he contributed two Gershwin songs. There was a lovely response from the program according to him.

Since the response was positive, a new platform Dreamstage Live started, and Ted was asked to put together a Broadway series. And there are some talented artists who will participate: For Ted, the experience was “joyous being in a room with someone to be able to make music and not do it remotely and send recordings away and wait to get them back. To be spontaneous to make beautiful sounds in a beautiful room on a beautiful instrument has been nourishing and long needed.”

A big part of the ‘Broadway Stories and Songs’ are the stories that will be shared along with the songs in the one-hour concert. There are around 9-10 songs for this concert, generally speaking. In a way, this format for Sperling is harder than a full-length program because you have to be really picky and finds things that connect with each other and connect with you, and have a nice flow.

Along with some Broadway favourites, each of these concerts will allow the artists and Ted to explore some new repertoire.

Ted and I conducted our conversation via Zoom. Thanks again for adding your voice to the conversation:

It’s a harsh reality that the worldwide pandemic of Covid 19 has changed all of us. How has your understanding of the world you know changed on a personal level?

I’m even more grateful for the opportunities I’ve had, proud of what I’ve been able to achieve, and curious to see what will be next.

During this year, I have not taken this year off. In some ways, I’ve been working harder than ever because everything takes more planning and effort when you have to do it this way. And I branched out into making short films.

I’ve made one before as a director long time ago. Now, by the end of this pandemic season, who knows when the actual end of the pandemic will be, in this year from April – April, I will have produced 23 musical short films and directed close to half of those. It’s been a great new experience for me.

With live indoor theatres shut for one year plus, with it appearing now that Broadway theatres will slowly re-open in mid September 2021, how has your understanding and perception as a professional artist of the live theatre industry been altered and changed?

Well, so many things have happened during this year in addition that were in motion before the pandemic but have crested now.

I think there are a lot of question marks, certainly a big push in the desire for fairness and opportunity and good behaviour (reference to the recent Scott Rudin’s behaviour). So, I think that’s going to be very much at the top of people’s minds when we go back to work

And I think it will be an adjustment period for all of us.

Personally, I believe there will be a great hunger for live theatre and for any kind of live performance that’s actually the way we used to enjoy it in a crowded room. I think it’s still the reason people go to the movies as opposed to watching them at home alone. There’s something about a shared experience, cheek by jowl, with strangers that we crave. To have been deprived of it for over eighteen months really for Broadway, I think there will be a lot of pent-up energy and a lot of pent-up enthusiasm that I’m hoping will just come bursting forth.

As a professional artist, what have you missed the most about live theatre?

I think the camaraderie. It’s why I went into that area of music to begin with. Putting together a show or even performing a show on a nightly basis is such a large basis group effort, and you build a temporary family.

But it’s a family of friends, and I personally look forward to being with them on a daily basis whether it’s in rehearsal or performance. I really like the rehearsal process.

No matter what kind of show you’re working on, whether it’s an old one or a new one, it’s like solving a varying complex puzzle, but doing it with friends. It’s like sitting down with the New York Times Sunday crossword for an extended period of time when there might not be an exact right answer.

It’s all a bit of educated guess work. It’s a lot of collaborative thinking. It’s a lot of compromise and I just really enjoy that process. It’s why I love working in the theatre as opposed to say being a recitalist. At one point, I aspired to be a member of a string quartet, but after spending a summer doing that, I realized it was a little too confined for me to be with the same three people.

As a professional artist, what is the one thing you will never take for granted again in the live theatre industry when you return to it?

(Ted laughed) Well, so many things, I think. Giving somebody a hug. Being able to walk outside and just breathe fresh air.

And I guess an audience. These concerts we are doing for thr Broadway series which you mentioned in the introduction to my profile are done for a remote audience, so we don’t get that feedback in the moment. We have to pull on our experience of performing these songs before.

I love making recordings. I love the concentration and trying to get it absolutely perfect, but with these concerts we’re going for the opposite. Even though there is an essentially a beautiful room with microphones like a studio, we’re imagining the audience with us and forgiving ourselves for any little mistakes we might make for the sake of the spontaneity and the joy of being in the moment.

Explain what specifically you believe you must still accomplish within the industry.

I have a lot of ambitions still. I’ve always been sort of a restless artist trying to push myself into new territory. I’ve been directing as well as music directing now for around twenty years. But when I started that, that was a whole new adventure, but I think I still have a lot to learn and a lot to explore in that way. I’d like to do more of it.

Directing these films and producing these films has been a wonderful new avenue for me, and I’d love to keep expanding that way.

I’m also interested in trying my hand at writing. I have to carve out some calm space in which to do that which has been a real challenge, even in this time.

So, I think I have a lot still to explore, a lot to give, a lot to find out about myself and I hope I have a nice long time to find that out.

Some artists are saying that audiences must be prepared for a tsunami of Covid themed stories in the return to live theatre. Would you elaborate on this statement? Is it an important one OR are Covid themed stories possibly the last stories that both artists and audience members would like to see in the theatre?

I don’t have a crystal ball, no one does.

I think, though, that I have some good instincts. For example, the big project that I’ve been working on this whole year is this video production I mentioned to you called ‘Myths and Hymns’. When I conceived of it last March/ April, I knew it was going to take me a while to get something on the air, to actually have a finished product.

So, I tried to imagine, as an audience member, what would I be interested in seeing six months in the future because people were already creating art right away on the internet. But I knew that it was going to take me awhile. I don’t want to be doing what people are doing right now. I want to be doing what people are hungry for in six months, nine months from now, a year.

We didn’t know how long this was going to take, but I was pretty sure we weren’t going to be able to perform live for a year. So, I think I predicted well.

And the piece I produced has elements to it that feel fresh and worth tuning into. And certainly some of them have drawn inspiration from our live in Covid, but I personally will be relieved to be free of this pandemic.

And so, my gut is people will want to move on. They’re not going to want to look back. I may be wrong, but during the AIDS epidemic and after, there were many AIDS related plays.

The question with musicals is that it often takes years to get done from conception to performance. In the old days, Rodgers and Hammerstein could take a book about World War 2 and written during World War 2 and have it on Broadway just a couple of years after the war. ‘South Pacific’ was very timely.

Even ‘Showboat’ adapted very quickly and came out not that long after the book.

These days, it more often takes four years. So, if you can imagine us in four years still wanting to be discussing Covid musically, you may be a better man than I am. (And Ted and I laugh)

I don’t know. We’ll see. We’ll see. I imagine artists will find ways to talk about it so I guess that’s what will keep it fresh.

As an artist, what specifically is it about your work that you want future audiences to remember about you?

That’s a really good question, and I should have had a bit of time to formulate a beautiful answer.

I think that I would people to relish my joy, to experience my joy in making music and theatre. I pick my projects carefully because I know they’re going to require a full investment of my time and thought. So I want to be able to embrace them fully and love them.

So, when I’m picking material for my Group Master Voices or when I’m signing on to a new show, I want to give it that litmus test. Will I want to be fully devoting my interest and time months from now, years from now doing it eight times a week.

So, I pick things that I really like. And I hope that really comes across in my performances and my productions. I’ve been told that by people that when they see me conducting that I love it and that I’m having fun.

And I do think that should be an element of any good performance.

And along with that, I hope there’s a sense of warmth in my music making and directing. I feel like that’s an important quality for me. That’s what I want my art to hold is caring, warmth and deep emotion.

So that’s what I push myself towards every time.

To learn more about Ted, visit his website: http://www.tedsperling.net/

Toronto’s Buddies in Bad Times Artistic Director ted witzel is prepped and ready for the upcoming 25-26 season.

From his website: thisisnttaedon.com/bio, ted is a queer theatre-maker and artistic leader. He holds a Master of Arts in Management from SDA Bocconi and an MFA in Directing from York University and the Canadian Stage. Primarily, he is a director, but he has also served as a dramaturg, curator, teacher, writer, translator, designer, and performer. ted has worked with theatres and cultural organizations across Canada, the UK, Germany and Italy. ted’s artistic directing style is described on his website as:

“fusing high-octane performance, rigorous dramaturgy, digital aesthetics, and poetic text, ted’s directing is located at the intersection between the personal and the political, and the (visceral, emotional, intellectual) frictions between them.”

This description is something I will watch for when Buddies 25-26 starts up in September.

I wanted to schedule an email conversation with ted, who was more than happy to chat. His schedule didn’t allow for a call, but I was pleased when he was able to return answers to the questions I had asked.

He proudly mentions how his grandmother had a significant influence on his artistic career. ted does not come from an artistic family, but his grandmother was really the one who introduced him to art and took him to the theatre when he was seven. She didn’t take her grandson to children’s shows. What does he remember most about this time with his grandmother? He received one-on-one attention from her. She was so supportive of ted’s choice to enter the artistic life when very few people in his family thought ted was making the right choice.

He says about his grandmother:

“She created a lot of space, and I’m sure she worked on my parents to acclimatize to the idea that I wasn’t going to do something more ‘legitimate’ with my life.”

Like all artists whom I’ve profiled over the last five years, ted is keen to share those who have held a strong influence on him, his artistic career and work as an Artistic Director.

The late Daniel Brooks was someone who guided both how to navigate the performing arts sector and work with institutions in terms of real depth, thoughtfulness and care. Daniel brought these qualities out plus a sense of rigour into the theatre practice that ted has been searching for out of the various theatre schools.

Kim Collier ran the Masters program ted attended at Canadian Stage. He calls Kim a wizard in terms of how an [artist] gets the most out of limitations of the Canadian producing structures. Collier taught ted how to prepare as a director in that one must also think like a producer.

Brendan Healy from Canadian Stage continues to mentor ted: “[Brendan] was the one who created a space for me to really take the fullest advantage of what making work at Buddies can do.

Outgoing Stratford Festival Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino is another influence. ted mentored with Antoni in artistic direction and leadership and seeing how an AD can stand in the middle of a deeply complex and sprawling group of stakeholders, while making everyone feel heard. Ultimately, Antoni taught ted about holding the realities of leadership as well – in other words theatre magic has to happen on limited budgets.

With the proud assertion he’s in theatre because he hates working in isolation, ted finds the writing is probably his least favourite part of the theatrical form. It has to be done alone. He’s where he is because the theatre is the place where he found collectives of weirdos who wanted to work together, and ted thrives from that collaboration. ted proclaims one of his biggest skills as a director and leader is his ability to see his role as a synthesizer. He can bring a lot of ideas together and help steer a group in choosing which ones feel most aligned with the values of the theatre project or the space in which the piece is created.

ted hopes that budgets and value of the arts don’t continue a trend of underestimating the audience’s appetite for adventure. Artists and audiences are often more intelligent than the general society gives them credit for, and often smarter than they give themselves credit for. His goal and ambition for Buddies is to cultivate a sense of curiosity. The ingredients are there. It’s about re-gathering and re-building an audience excited about risk.

The theatrical art form continues to draw witzel back continually. What ted loves about the theatre is the fact it’s so bad at reality. Before the advent of cinema and photography, the theatrical form was deemed perhaps the most realistic medium. It’s why one sees the impulse towards naturalism emerge in the late 1800s with Émile Zola. But with the theatre today, it’s free to go back what ted thinks it’s actually best at: abstraction, metaphor, image and poetry. ted calls himself in reality a storyteller and that each of us is one as well, but storytelling is not unique to theatre.

For ted, what theatre does:

“is hold the contradiction between creating magic and revealing the mechanics of that magic and finding a new magic in pulling the curtain away. I find that really exciting. I love when the elements of the theatre are in contradiction with each other and create new truths by undermining both truths simultaneously.”

The best kind of theatre for ted? It operates like it hits an audience member (or performer) in the head, the heart and the guts. It’s intellectual, it’s emotional and visceral for him.

Our conversation then turned to the upcoming 25-26 season at Buddies.

For the 24-25 season, ted focused on interdisciplinarity with the thematic: ‘queerness is divine mystery.’ He was interested in collisions between high and low art forms such as the queer underground and the artistic mainstream. This is one of the interesting tensions in which Buddies exists.

The 25-26 season thematic is ‘these are the things we longed for.’ The longing in the 25-26 season is a longing for bodies, a longing for touch, a longing for intimacy, and a longing for intimacy. In building the season, ted started to perceive a kind of longing inside each of the pieces in different directions. The one thing in common between the four main stage pieces this year is that they’re all quite poetic with a little bit more emphasis on the literary. The texts are disarming, destabilizing that are bewitching and enchanting.

Text is a major player for the 25-26 season:

‘The Green Line’ written and directed by Makram Ayache, opens September 25, 2025. In Arms Theatre Company in association with Buddies in Bad Times Theatre and Factory Theatre.

‘The Herald’, written and directed by Jill Connell, opens March 5, 2026. An It Could Still Happen production in partnership with Buddies in Bad Times Theatre

‘Kainchee Lagaa + Jhooti: The Begging Brown Bitch Plays’ written by Bilal Baig and directed by Tawiah M’Carthy, opening April 2, 2026. A House of Beida and Buddies in Bad Times Theatre co-production

‘take rimbaud’ written by Susanna Fournier and directed by ted witzel, opening May 7, 2026. A Howland Company production in partnership with Buddies in Bad Times Theatre

‘Nuit Blanche’ Alphabet Soup October 4, 2025

Bijuriya’ Created and performed by Gabriel Dharmoo running November 26-29, 2025

‘Make Banana Cry’ Created by Andrew Tay and Stephen Thompson running January 14-17, 2026

Rhubarb! 47 Festival Director Ludmylla Reis running February 4-14, 2026

As we concluded our online conversation, I asked ted what else he is up to outside the theatre season.

He still thinks about the theatre and will do some travel. Part of the work he’s really excited to be doing at Buddies is leveraging its unique position as the largest and one of the oldest queer institutions in the world, particularly during this frightening political moment. witzel is keen to build networks around this theatre and connect with queer companies globally to ensure that queer Canadian artists are well-represented and adequately resourced on the global stage.

He also added an aside that made me smile: “So, you know, just a few plans for world domination in the mix.”

Visit Buddies in Bad Times website: buddiesinbadtimes.com.

Thom Allison is one helluva musical theatre performer in this country. I’ve seen his work in the original Canadian companies of ‘Miss Saigon’ and ‘The Who’s Tommy’. I also saw his extraordinary work in the ensemble ‘Take Me Out’ when it premiered at Canadian Stage’s Bluma Appel Theatre. It was the first trip I had made to the Shaw Festival where I saw an absolute knockout performance Thom gave as Coalhouse Walker in ‘Ragtime’. Solid memorable stuff in that performance that sent shivers down my spine. When musical theatre strives to be excellent, it is excellent. Thom and the cast delivered that excellent performance.

Just this past fall 2019, Thom was part of The Musical Stage’s mesmerizing ‘Uncovered: Stevie Wonder and Prince’ that featured some “really big names” (as Ed Sullivan used to say) including Jully Black, Jackie Richardson, Sarah Afful and Chy Ryan Spain.

Currently, Thom can be seen as Pree in Space Channel/SyFy’s hit KILLJOYS for which he won a Canadian Screen Award. He has also been nominated for most Canadian theatre awards.

1. It has been the almost three-month mark since we’ve all been in isolation? How have you been doing? How has your immediate family been doing during this time?

Actually, not bad. I needed some quiet and this is the break I kind of needed. Plus I believe in making choices that are positive out of a negative so I’ve been using the time to catch up with people/projects, read, rest. And most importantly to mourn.

I’ve lost my whole immediate family – my father, then my brother (my only sibling), then my mother – in the last 3 ½ years. My mother was the last and she died a year ago June 7. And it was 2 /2 years and 3 days from my dad dying (who was the first) to my mother dying (who was the last). And all from cancer. So, the blessing is they aren’t sick during this horrible period. But I didn’t have time to mourn any of them since as one passed, the next one was already ill. But after my mother passed away last June, I was so busy spreading all of their ashes around the country and dealing with my mother’s estate and then I was working through the fall and winter, I still didn’t have time to mourn. So this has also been a really healing time for me.

2. As a performer, what has been the most difficult and challenging for you professionally and personally?

I’m not sure I can say this has been a challenging time personally. I’m a person who is not afraid or unused to difficult self-reflection so I’ve enjoyed the time to re-evaluate where I’m going and what I want to be doing during and after the pandemic. Professionally, there is the issue of money but that hasn’t been too bad yet…talk to me in 4 months. But I am in the process of going from being a performer to a director and I’m realizing I may not have the chance to do a lot of that for many months. But in the meantime, I’m trying to learn more about the craft. I’m not wasting time.

3. Were you in preparation, rehearsals, or any planning stages of productions before everything was shut down? What has become of those projects? Will they see the light of day anytime soon?

I was ready to go to the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre to star in a hilarious play called ‘The Legend of Georgia McBride’ but the rest of their season, like all others, had to be cancelled. They still want to do the show at some point so it may happen. And there have been a couple more projects that may just be postponed. Nothing has been fully cancelled yet but I don’t know if they will all still happen this year.

4. What have you been doing to keep yourself busy during this time?

I have been doing a lot of benefits online research for my own projects. I’ve been planning some projects for future. Getting to some apartment fixes that have been desperately needing attention, cooking, baking. And most fun of all, connecting with friends I haven’t had the time or energy to chat with. I’m very much a ‘glass half-full’ kinda guy so I’ve really been trying to make the best of a bizarre situation.

5. Any words of wisdom or advice you might /could give to fellow performers and colleagues? What message would you deliver to recent theatre school graduates who have now been set free into this unknown and uncertainty?

I know a lot of fellow performers and colleagues are having a hard time for all kinds of reasons. Part of it is not knowing who to be without a job, some who don’t have partners and are not okay with the days of alone-ness, and on and on. I guess all I can say is remember you’re not alone. Reach out to friends, family, keep connected. And also find the peace in stillness.

We get the chance to be still so rarely – read that book you’ve been wanting to read, finally work on your voice without a need for an outcome ‘cause there is not a show at the moment, meditate…all those things we say we’ll get to eventually. Well, this is eventually. Use this time to be good to yourself and be the person you’ve been wanting to be. It’s hard to remember that we’re not just our jobs.

To theatre school graduates…God bless you. You have been dropped into the oddest of times. But I think my advice is the same in a way – keep working on your instrument. Theatre school is only the beginning. Hone your craft, have Zoom play-readings, create work gatherings to work on a script or monologues, keep your body limber and available. But also, cultivate other hobbies, read, knit, craft. It will fill your ‘well’ with other information.

6. Do you see anything positive stemming from Covid 19?

I think we are realizing how crazy our lives have become. I hope we see people (and allow ourselves to see) how slowing down and streamlining can create a healthier, more balanced life. Also, when we look at how fast the earth is trying to heal herself when we have freed her from the vast amounts of pollution and abuse. I’m hoping people in power see how we can get back some of what we thought was lost forever, in terms of the environment.

7. Do you think Covid 19 will have some lasting impact on the Canadian/North American performing arts scene?

I do but I don’t quite know what that will be. I don’t think we can come back and not be affected. Artists are reflectors of the world around them. And this will have an impact on the world.

8. Some artists have turned to You Tube and online streaming to showcase their work. What are your comments and thoughts about streaming? Is this something that the actor/theatre may have to utilize going forward into the unknown?

The streaming stuff has been fun and creative. It can also be a little overloading. I think we could all go quiet for a moment but I get that some people need to be creating all the time and many people are happy for something to watch so there is no right or wrong. In terms of going forward – the You Tube and online streaming is helpful in this moment but it’s not theatre.

Nothing will ever be able to replace the experience of real theatre. A room full of people sharing a real/imaginative experience in real time. It is not removed – it is immediate and felt viscerally between actors and audience. It is a glorious, unique experience hat cannot be duplicated. But in the meantime, the online experience is keeping us feeling connected and that is important.

9. Despite all this fraught tension and confusion, what is it about performing that Covid will never destroy for you?

The real-time magic of it. You create a world of light and sound and visuals and the audience goes on the ride and believes in your world for 90-150 minutes. Nothing like it.

As a respectful acknowledgment to ‘Inside the Actors’ Studio’ and the late James Lipton here are the ten questions he used to ask his guests:

1. What is your favourite word?

Yes

2. What is your least favourite word?

Next time (I know it’s two but grrr)

3. What turns you on?

Generosity

4. What turns you off?

Meanness

5. What sound or noise do you love?

Laughter

6. What sound or noise bothers you?

Bagpipes

7. What is your favourite curse word?

Shit

8. Other than your own, what other career profession could you see yourself doing?

Baker

9. What career choice could you not see yourself doing?

Accountant

10. If Heaven exists, what do you hope God will say to you as you approach the Pearly Gates?

“You were fabulous!”

To learn more about Thom visit his website: www.thomallison.com.
To book Thom for Video messages: https://starsona.com/thomallison.
Twitter: @thomallison Instagram: thom_allison
CD “A Whole Lotta Sunlight” available on ITunes and Spotify

Tim Campbell’s name is another one I’ve recognized over the years at the Ontario Stratford Festival. Some highlights of performances in which he appeared include ‘The Crucible’, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, ‘All My Sons’, ‘Macbeth’ and ‘The Cherry Orchard’. What I did not realize was his extensive work in some noteworthy productions across North America plus in some of my favourite television shows over the years: ‘Republic of Doyle’, ‘Coroner’, ‘Flashpoint’ and ‘Hollywoodland’.

Tim was born in Quebec and raised on Vancouver Island, before returning to Quebec to attend Bishop’s University, where he studied theatre. He was hired as an apprentice at the Stratford Festival in 1998 and has since performed in more than thirty productions there over the last two decades. Tim was the recipient of the 2003 ‘DORA MAVOR MOORE’ TYRONE GUTHRIE AWARD (for outstanding contribution at the Stratford Festival).

We conducted our conversation via email. Thank you for taking the time to chat, Tim:

It has been an exceptional and nearly seven long months since we’ve all been in isolation, and now it appears the numbers are edging upward again. How are you feeling about this? Will we ever emerge to some new way of living in your opinion?

I guess like most of us living in Ontario, I’m concerned about the recent uptick in the number of cases and the apparent onset of a second wave. Though I’m certain that as a society we will get through this, how scathed or unscathed we emerge on the other side is entirely up to us, and at this point, up in the air. My sincere wish is that public health policy will be shaped by the best available data in the uncertain years to come. That something as fundamental as mask-wearing has become political depresses the hell out of me.

How have you been faring? How has your immediate family been doing during these last six months?

I’ve been good. Good? Mostly good. Parts of the enforced isolation have been an unexpected boon. My wife (who’s also an actor – Irene Poole) and I are frequently so busy through the summer months that we don’t get as much time as we’d like with our two school-aged kids. Quarantine allowed the four of us to spend welcome time together and develop new family traditions – hard-fought daily 5PM euchre, camping trips, days at the beach on Lake Huron.

We had a large decision to make in late summer as to whether the kids would be studying at home or attending class in person. Because they’re both in the French immersion stream, there was no online distance learning option – we’d have to have homeschooled them. That seemed a bit daunting, so we decided that they would return to school in person. We are lucky to be living in Stratford, where the number of active COVID cases has remained low so it seemed a reasonable risk – even in larger than ideal class sizes, they are both really happy to be back.

As an artist within the performing arts community, what has been the most difficult and challenging for you professionally and personally?

I found the sudden and absolute interruption of our entire industry disorienting. Like getting punched in the face. One day I was in the middle of an eight-show week, the next I wasn’t. Months went by, and the strangely buoyant, high-alert sense of being in an emergency began to fade. These days, as a clearer (and professionally dire) picture emerges of what the next few years will likely entail, I have struggled with staying positive.

Like thousands of other actors who work predominately in the theatre, I have devoted the whole of my professional life to developing competence in a very specialized set of skills. To have the marketability of those skills (and as a result my ability to earn a living) disappear overnight is frightening. But I’m trying to keep my chin up, and mainly succeeding.

Were you in preparation, rehearsals, or any planning stages of productions before everything was shut down? What has become of those projects? Will they see the light of day anytime soon?

I was in the final week of a show that was cancelled in mid March and was supposed to do another in June. I’m assuming that there are no plans to revisit these projects – understandably so – but haven’t heard anything certain.

What have you been doing to keep yourself busy during this time?

Parenting, cooking, reading, watching tv, lifting weights in my basement, and honing the art of the self-taped film audition. I’m a bit of a homebody by nature, so that aspect of the pandemic has not been a hardship.

Any words of wisdom or advice you might /could give to fellow performers and colleagues? What message would you deliver to recent theatre school graduates who have now been set free into this unknown and uncertainty given the fact live theaters and studios might be closed for 1 ½ – 2 years?

I wouldn’t presume to offer advice to my colleagues, but for recent graduates? Hmm. I guess I’d suggest that they take advantage of this fallow season by expanding their understanding of what kind of art moves and excites them – read plays, listen to music, watch films. Develop an aesthetic. Look at this as a gift of time.

Do you see anything positive stemming from Covid 19?

Sure. I think the pause has given us an opportunity to examine those things that sometimes life moves too quickly for us to consider. Both big things (Is market economy capitalism providing the most good for the most people, and should we do something about that?) and little things (The colour of this living room is actually pretty dingy, time to paint?)

Do you think Covid 19 will have some lasting impact on the Toronto/Canadian/North American performing arts scene?

Absolutely. My fear is that many theatres may not survive. We work with such ridiculously thin fiscal margins and such anemic government support that it’s difficult for most theatre companies to weather a rainy day, let alone a rainy few years. Even larger companies. Maybe especially larger companies.

Size and scale of productions are bound to be affected for the foreseeable future. I just don’t see the possibility of any functional model of professional theatre (or live music concerts, or stand up, etc.) while an audience must be capped at 50 or 100 people.

Some artists have turned to You Tube and online streaming to showcase their work. What are your comments and thoughts about streaming? Is this something that the actor/theatre may have to utilize going forward into the unknown?

I’m not sure that I’ve seen enough of it to form a firm opinion… but… early in the pandemic, I watched the National Theatre Live production of One Man, Two Guvnors, and more recently, Hamilton.

When the Stratford Festival re-released the filmed productions they’ve shot over the last few years, I watched those too. All of them were very watchable and very good, and I felt like I was able to extrapolate the intended effect of the live productions, but my enjoyment of them was always at a slight remove. As an archival exercise, filming these productions is invaluable. If you aren’t able to see something in person, it’s the next best thing. But live theatre will always be more potent live.

Despite all this fraught tension and confusion, what is it about performing that Covid will never destroy for you?

Loads of great memories. I trust there will be many more to come.

After I had written a profile on Sergio Di Zio, he sent me an email speaking glowingly about his friend, Tracey Hoyt, who is one of the most respected and long time voice actors in Toronto who has deep roots in Improv and Second City. According to Sergio, Tracey’s recent play is personal and lovely. He thought she would be ideal to be profiled in this series of the self isolated artist.

I couldn’t agree more with him and was very pleased when Tracey got in touch with me. I perused her website and am in tremendous respect of her professional experience in all areas of the business from theatre to film and TV, improvisation and voice over work. Tracey also comes highly recommended by some of Canada’s finest talents when it comes to voice over work. You’ll see them on her website.

We conducted our interview via email:

1. How have you and your family been keeping during this two-month isolation?

We’re all healthy and well, thanks. My three step kids are young adults and they’re all isolating in their own bubbles. My husband and I share a small space. We’ve discovered that being in nature and walking our dog several times a day has energized and motivated us more than anything else.

2. What has been most challenging and difficult for you during this time personally? What have you been doing to keep yourself busy?

Other than being away from our loved ones, it’s been not being able to experience live theatre with family, friends and strangers. I miss that so much. This has freed up a lot of time to watch films and TV series I’ve been meaning to check out. That’s been a constant most evenings. I’ve also enjoyed Soulpepper Theatre’s weekly Fresh Ink writing series online, some of the NAC/Facebook #CanadaPerforms readings and the occasional Zoom or Face Time visit with close friends and family.

In the early days, I was commissioned by Convergence Theatre to write something based on an anonymous COVID Confession, which was very enjoyable. It was a character monologue that I recorded on my phone. I also shared a bunch of my own confessions, which inspired other artists to create songs, prose and even an animated short film. It was a fascinating and connecting experience. I also took Haley McGee’s wonderful 14-day Creative Quarantine Challenge, which was the perfect creative re-set between writing the last two drafts of my play.

3. From your website, I can see you are one very busy lady indeed with all of the coaching you give professional actors and all who might be interested in voice work. Plus, you will be in a CBC Gem series in July and you’ve just completed your play ‘The Shivers’. Professionally, how has COVID changed your life regarding all the work you have completed? Some actors whom I’ve interviewed have stated they can’t see anyone venturing back into a theatre or studio for a least 1 ½ to 2 years. Do you foresee this reality to be factual?

I actually spent the first few months of self-isolation working on my play, three or four times a week. I feel grateful to have had so much time with it, as well as time to let things marinate, as a dear writer friend of mine says. It’s very hard to imagine the play being produced any time soon, but one of my life mottos is: “There’s always a way.” I trust the process and the timing of things, always. It’s tough to predict when we’ll be able to go back. As an eternal optimist, I’m going to wish for the Spring of 2021.

The web series, which was shot in November 2019, now feels like two years ago. Although I can’t share the specifics at this point, I’ll be fascinated to see it. In one of my favourite scenes in the series, I was sitting with about one hundred background performers. That seems preposterous now, as it does whenever I see intimacy, crowd scenes, face-touching or food sharing as I watch anything created before the Pandemic.

4. In your estimation and opinion, do you foresee COVID 19 and its results leaving a lasting impact on the Canadian performing arts scene?

Hopefully not for too long. Seeing images of safely distant seats at a theatre in Berlin recently almost made me gasp. At this point, it’s hard to imagine how theatre will be sustainable in Canada with so little available space for the audience, let alone how things will be rehearsed and staged safely for the artists. That said, I’m a big believer in limitation being the perfect opportunity for more creative risks – sort of like having limited menu items in the fridge and coming up with something simple yet perfect. I sense there may be more solo and intimate performances with much smaller casts as a more realistic short-term possibility for live theatre, and that projects with larger numbers will have to get creative using digital tools. I’m curious to see how it all unfolds and hope to be part of making that happen.

5. Do you have any words of wisdom to build hope and faith in those performing artists and employees of The Festivals who have been hit hard as a result of COVID 19? Any words of sage advice to the new graduates from Canada’s theatre schools regarding this fraught time of confusion?

I’m hopeful that all levels of government, funding bodies and Canadians in isolation are starting to appreciate how much richer their lives are because of what performing artists do – as well as an awareness of just how many other creative and service jobs and businesses go hand in hand with that, behind the scenes and within the community. Historically, theatre has survived many challenges. It will survive this, too.

My advice for recent theatre grads is that this is the perfect time to implement the vocal and physical practises you learned in school. Let them become part of this strange new normal. You’ll need these skills at every stage of your career. Keep reading scripts and working on monologues that you wish you had been assigned at school – or the ones you have never dared to try. You know which ones. Research playwrights and actors that fascinate you. Read reviews or find their other work online. Dare to start writing down your own stories, characters and monologues. As my treasured mentor Terry O’Reilly once taught me, remember that no one can do what you do. Let that be your strength and be ready to shine when it’s safe for you to join us. We can’t wait to see what you’ve been cooking up.

6. Do you foresee anything positive stemming from COVID 19 and its influence on the Canadian performing arts scene?

I think it’s going to feel even more special to attend anything live – whether it’s dance, music, literary events or theatre. That we’ll be more selective about how we spend our energy and our time – as performers and as audience members. My hope is that we’ll all be more vocal about celebrating what we’ve seen and prouder than ever to share what we’re working on creatively.

7. I’ve spoken with some individuals who believe that online streaming and You Tube presentations destroy the theatrical impact of those who have gathered with anticipation to watch a performance. What are your thoughts and comments about the advantages and/or values of online streaming? Do you foresee this as part of the ‘new normal’ for Canadian theatre as we move forward from COVID 19?

From what I’ve watched live so far, I’ve appreciated that it’s been “appointment” driven – that you have to show up at a certain time, as we do when we attend a performance. The immediacy of the performance (and often the audience comments, in real time) is thrilling. When it’s pre-recorded, I have enjoyed going back and re-watching moments that stood out. For me, the biggest value is that more people can see it, across the borderless internet. For someone who has regularly done independent shows for 30, 55 or several hundred people, this excites me. I can only envision this as a new normal if all artists involved are properly compensated for it. I’m sure our theatre and media performance unions are scrambling to navigate that right now.

8. What is it about the performing arts that still energizes you even through this tumultuous and confusing time?

I suppose it’s that, within days of lockdown, so many artists found new ways to share their work. Others chose to gain inspiration by watching other people create, or to take a break from it, which is healthy and necessary. This is actually the longest I’ve been away from auditioning and performing in over 30 years. During these last few months, I’ve gained a whole new appreciation not only for the frontline workers holding everything together for us, but for other performing artists – especially singers, dancers and musicians. We’re all feeling very big feelings right now. Performing artists help us process them with everything they put out there.

With a respectful acknowledgement to ‘Inside the Actors’ Studio’ and the late James Lipton, here are the ten questions he used to ask his guests:

1. What is your favourite word?

Rustle, which is my dog’s name.

2. What is your least favourite word?

I dare not say his name.

3. What turns you on?

Synchronicity.

4. What turns you off?

Assumptions.

5. What sound or noise do you love?

My husband’s laugh.

6. What sound or noise bothers you?

Vocal fry.

7. What is your favourite curse word?

F–kyouyouf—-ngf—!

8. Other than your current profession now, what other profession would you have liked to attempt?

A hairdresser in film/TV/theatre.

9. What profession could you not see yourself doing?

Tax auditor.

10. If Heaven exists, what do you hope God will say to you as you approach the Pearly Gates?

“Your mother is inside. She says she’d love a coffee.”

Tracey Hoyt’s headshot was taken just before she won the Cayle Chernin Theatre Development Award in May, 2019, for her play The Shivers, formerly titled Hospital Hotel.

To learn more about Tracey, visit her website www.traceyhoyt.com. You may also access her Twitter handle: @traceyhoytactor.

A new Canadian musical premiere is busily in preparation.

Theatre Myth Collective, a collective of professional theatre artists led by Evan Tsitsias, is in rehearsal with his cast and crew for the world premiere production of ‘Inge(new) – In search of a musical’. The musical is written and directed by Tsitsias.

More about the plot shortly.

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak to Tracy Michailidis via Zoom. She appears in the show along with Cory O’Brien, Astrid Van Wieren, and Elora Joy Sarmiento.

(Addendum: I’ve just received word Tracy has had to depart the production for family reasons. Mairi Babb will now step into the role of Bridget. Plot and show information about ‘Inge(new) can be found in this profile).

When I asked Tracy where she completed her training as an artist, she smiled, laughed, and then said: “Is training ever really finished when you’re an artist?”

I couldn’t agree with her more.

Tracy attended a High School for the Performing Arts with a focus on theatre and acting. She loved it but she was also academically minded in Social Sciences and Humanities. Upon high school graduation, she attended Queen’s University but did not take theatre in her first year there but was an English major thinking she might go into law.

Within those four years, she realized by doing some extracurricular theatre at Queen’s and then joining the theatre department, she said: “Whom am I kidding? This is my passion!’

Her love of language and social science remains a positive training program for her as an actor. These specific subject disciplines help complement acting and figuring out a character’s behaviour. Tracy loves looking at new scripts and parsing through the language trying to understand why these characters use these words in what context.

How is she feeling about the gradual return to the theatre even though Covid still lingers?

Tracy paused momentarily and then was very honest.

In March 2020, she was feeling burned out. As a mid-career professional actor, Tracy is always grateful for the opportunity to work, but she needed a break to restore both her physical and mental body because theatre takes the full attention of everyone involved. Something bigger was happening to everyone in 2020. She felt she had the time to be with her family, read, listen, and just be still in the moment.

The time away allowed her to ask that question many of the actors I interviewed also asked themselves:

“Why am I doing what I’m doing in light of the bigger picture of society regarding essential and non-essential services?

She explained further:

“Theatre has been an integral part of my life and it is good. It is transformative and can change people’s minds.” but she is fine with the reality theatre is gradually and slowly returning.

From a contextual frame at that time in 2020, the quiet fed her body and soul even more. She felt it was equalizing and leveling that happened, so she started teaching on Zoom during Covid. Michailidis recalled how there was good work happening for her and the students while she was teaching singing. During her teaching, she felt she was receiving from her students as well and that’s what she needed.

When it appeared the theatre seemed to return albeit slowly, Tracy was involved in some outdoor productions. There were a few works she started rehearsing that were then cancelled if Covid went through the cast. Out of all this growth and struggle, she continued to be amazed at watching artists be creative with the restrictions placed on them.

In this gradual return in the last three years, Tracy has been seeing a lot of ‘pop-up’ shops including smaller companies like Storefront. From a producing standpoint, these smaller pop-up theatre shops have been cost-effective and easier to produce. She compared them to midsize theatres and believes Toronto needs more of them. She was reminded of this in attending a production at the Harold Green Theatre recently in North York in the space formerly known as the North York Performing Arts Centre. Now the space has been cut up into smaller theatres. (Who remembers ‘Showboat’ from the 1990s? I do.)

Tracy loves supporting the Toronto Blue Jays. When she attends ballgames, she looks around and sees so many people around her. Her statement to me which made me laugh:

“Why aren’t these same people out to the theatre? If we’re united together in community here in the ballpark for the love of the game and the sport, find or make theatre that does the same.”

And to the heart of our interview today.

What is ‘Inge(new) – In search of a musical’ all about?

Part of understanding the musical is in the title, according to Tracy. An ingenue is a young soprano often in musicals. Tracy plays the ingenue in a transitional period. Chronologically, she’s not an ingenue anymore but this is how the character identifies herself for the roles she has played and the opportunities she has had.

The character finds herself in midlife not knowing how to move forward or into what box she should place herself. She’s troubled. She thinks she has it all together, but she doesn’t. By seeing herself as she is, the character can begin to accept who she is.

Tracy did a workshop/reading of ‘Inge(new)’ at least five years ago. Without giving too much away about the plot, all she will say is it deals with an understanding of authenticity. Even now post-Covid, the social movements that have stemmed from the pandemic led to how many boxes we are to check off in our lives. Some of these boxes don’t deal necessarily with age, but with how we look, how we are inside, how others see us, and how we see ourselves.

One of the things Tracy loves about musical theatre is the inherent collaboration by its very nature. Evan (Tsitsias) has assembled many wonderful artists from actors to creative individuals behind the scenes. Everyone is building ‘Inge(new) together and, for Tracy, that’s exciting.

How would she describe Evan as director:

“He’s rigorous in the way he approaches the work. He listens to the actors, and he trusts all of us which means a great deal to me. As an actor, I’m a big fan of rigor and that makes me feel really safe, especially with a new piece. I feel braver for it. As we’re going through the rehearsal, we know the story isn’t really finished at this time. As actors, we keep digging away and asking questions all the time so while this new script is fun untested, each of us in the production is also vulnerable.”

With Tracy’s comment, I was also reminded of ‘The Drowsy Chaperone’ and ‘Come from Away’ both homegrown but were always in constant revision from the various audience and critical reaction to both works. All good works of art take time to grow.

Why should audiences come to see ‘Inge(new)’?

For Tracy, first and foremost, come to see the play because it is a new Canadian work. She also stresses she finds the play really funny. Audiences and artists need to support each other in new work. Yes, there’s a lot of theatre going on right now, but there is good stuff going on out there and she adds:

“If people go and see good stuff, they’ll want to keep going back to the theatre.”

‘Inge(new) – in search of a musical’ is about the theatre. What about those who are not involved in the industry? What can these audience members learn?

‘Inge(new)’ is a story about getting older. It’s also about intelligence versus wisdom.

Tracy concluded our conversation with this statement:

“We all have blind spots. When we attend the theatre, there’s that wonderful mirror that allows us to see ourselves when we can’t see ourselves clearly. I’m hoping audiences will come away from ‘(Inge)new’ seeing parts of themselves in the four characters.”

‘Ingenew-in search of a musical’ premieres May 25 and runs to June 4 at the Red Sandcastle Theatre, 922 Queen Street East, Toronto. Showtimes are 8 pm and 2:30 pm on some weekend performances. Tickets are available: https://www.ticketscene.ca/events/43966/

To learn more about the upcoming production of ‘Ingenew-in search of a musical’ visit the Facebook page.

I had the opportunity to meet Trudee just this past fall in Port Perry at a reading of one of her plays staged by Port Perry’s Theatre on the Ridge.

She is an emerging playwright and award-winning author. In June, her WWII drama Bright Daybreak was presented at Stage One Lunchbox Theatre’s virtual festival of New Canadian Works in Calgary, and she is a co-creator of this summer’s Ghost Watchers: An Augmented Reality Theatrical Adventure for Theatre by the Bay in Barrie. Her one-act youth musical The Tales of Andergrimm was just produced for a third time by the Kempenfelt Players, now as an outdoor, filmed production and, in July, she worked with young actors at Theatre on the Ridge to create the one-act comedy Half Baked.

Another comedy, “I” on the Prize, was selected for Theatre on the Ridge (TOTR)’s Snapshots Festival in October, where it received special recognition. Trudee also co-hosts ‘Stage Whispers’, a podcast about theatre in Central Ontario.

We conducted our interview via email. Thank you so much for your time, Trudee. I do hope to see more of your work in the future:

Since we’ve just celebrated Thanksgiving, tell me about some of the teachers and mentors in your life for whom you are thankful and who brought you to this point in your life as a performing artist.

The first person who comes to mind is a high school teacher, Nancy Walsh, in my hometown of Barrie, Ontario. She taught English (before our school had a course for drama), but I didn’t actually have her as a teacher. She was the supervisor or faculty advisor or whatever of the drama club, and she pulled a group of us together every year to prepare something for the Sears Drama Festival. She introduced me to what theatre performance was. She also made performing fun but still focused, and she was the first person to believe in my abilities and encourage me. Nancy is a friend now and I’m so lucky that she is interested in my writing and has attended performances and readings of my work. I’m very thankful for her!

I’m also very blessed that, for a community of its size, Barrie has a large number of high-caliber theatre workers. Arkady Spivak at Talk is Free Theatre is a constant inspiration, and I’ve learned so much from actor/director Scott Hurst, as well as Iain Moggach at Theatre by the Bay and, before him, Alex Dault. Carey Nicholson, artistic director at Theatre on the Ridge, is a more recent addition. And then there are others such as Leah Holder, Candy Pryce, Renée Cingolani, Edwina Douglas, Christina Luck — it’s a list that grows larger with each passing day, it seems. Every one of them has contributed to who I am at this moment.

I’m trying to think positively that we have, fingers crossed, moved forward in our dealing with Covid. How have you been able to move forward from these last 18 eighteen months on a personal level? How have you been changed or transformed on a personal level?

First, I’ve been very fortunate throughout this pandemic and I’m so grateful for that. I’ve continued to work, as has the rest of my family, and no one in my inner circle became ill from COVID. There have been challenges, but so many others have been much more severely impacted.

Back in about 2018, before the pandemic began, I realized how ignorant I was and still am to a large degree of Indigenous history in this country. So, during the “great pause” at the beginning of the pandemic, I made a more concerted effort to learn the things I should have been asking questions about for many years.

I took some online courses, listened to lots of podcasts, started reading more works by Indigenous writers, joined our local Friendship Centre and started attending or supporting their activities and others in our area. I joined Theatre Passe Muraille’s collective action to read the executive summary of the Truth and Reconciliation report (we’re about halfway through so far). As a non-Indigenous person whose family has been on this land for 200 years, I still have lots to learn, especially about my own ancestors’ roles in the oppression of First Nations people, but I’m trying, and I’ve made a commitment to keep learning.

How have these last eighteen months of the pandemic changed or transformed you as an artist professionally?

It’s been a wild time, but an incredible one for me, professionally.

COVID offered a couple of important things: time and geographic opportunity. Via Zoom, I had access to instructors, experts, and other theatre professionals across the country and even beyond it that I hadn’t had beforehand. I sat in on play readings happening in other time zones, and I attended workshops and lectures given by theatre professionals I’ve never connected with before. I was able to work with a cultural consultant in B.C. (Thank you, Abraham Asto!) Would I have thought of connecting with him on Zoom before the pandemic made it such a ubiquitous tool? I’m not sure.

I discovered that getting my butt in the chair and writing actually took my mind off the world’s uncertainty and eased my anxiety, so I wrote a lot. In these 18 months I think I’ve written, maybe, six short plays? And rewritten a young adult novel. So, all that writing meant I made a lot of progress toward my goal of being an emerging playwright.

For example, I had my first, second, and third workshops and play readings by professional companies. Hand in hand with that was the fact that two local theatre friends and I created a podcast called Stage Whispers. Originally, it was conceived as a way to help people share news of upcoming performances, which back in May and June of 2020, we naively thought might start up again in the fall. Then as we planned and as the pandemic stretched on, we realized that we could instead share with theatre companies exactly what was happening with other companies, how they were coping, and what the future looked like.

Since we launched in August of 2020, we’ve released more than 20 episodes and, in the process, I sort of serendipitously networked with many theatre professionals, some of whom, like Carey Nicholson, have ended up helping me further my writing career.

Yeah, the pandemic has been very good to me, and I know I’m extremely privileged to be able to say that.

In your opinion, do you see the global landscape of the professional Canadian live theatre scene changing at all as a result of these last 18 months?

I do see it changing. I feel very optimistic about the shifts that have happened in awareness of marginalized voices and under-represented artists. In many ways I see this as a reckoning that cannot be swept aside. Our industry needs to start taking better care of who gets to share what. We’re already seeing people make space for others and I sincerely hope that that continues. There is so much for us all to learn! Why should we be stuck looking at everything through the same lens we’ve always used? What’s interesting about that?

I also think there has been just a ton of creative thinking on the part of companies and artists to find some way, ANY way, to present art in the midst of this, and I don’t think that’s all going to go away once we’re fully back in the traditional theatre buildings. Love it or hate it, Zoom meant that people who felt under the weather could still see a show, audience members who lived a province or two away, or on the other side of the world, could watch the virtual performance.

Personally, I held my own private online reading of one of my plays that called for a middle eastern male cast member. So, a young Lebanese actor I know actually took part in the virtual reading — from Lebanon! (Thank you, Maher Sinno!)

What excites/intrigues/fascinates/interests you post Covid?

I am SO looking forward to hearing and watching more Black stories, more Indigenous stories, more stories from those who are gender fluid or differently abled — like Sandra Caldwell’s Stealth, and Ziigwen Mixemong’s Mno Bmaadiziwin. I’m excited about the many amazing stories that are out there just waiting to be shared with the world.

I’m also excited by all of the hybrid forms of art that we’re seeing! In August I got to see (and hear) Blindness in Toronto and I’ve got December tickets to Soulpepper’s virtual reality show Draw Me Close. In the new year I’m off to see Talk is Free Theatre’s immersive dance show A Grimm Night.

Of course, I’m thrilled at all of the traditional stagings that are opening up, as well, but these others make the playwright in me think outside the box more than I might otherwise do.

What disappoints/unnerves/upsets you post Covid?

I find myself very distressed about the enormous chasms that have opened up or grown wider between people over issues like race, mask-wearing, vaccination, politics, the economy. So many people right now seem to be struggling to talk to anyone who has a different viewpoint.

I guess I’ve always hoped that the human race was getting wiser and more compassionate. As nerdy, or maybe Pollyanna, as it sounds, I think of Star Trek society as a sort of a fictional ideal goal for real-life humankind. Sure, some of them fight and they’ve got certain problems, but there’s generally a fair bit of mutual respect and a will to provide for those who can’t provide for themselves. And I feel as though this trial we’ve faced has, over the long term, forced us apart instead of drawing us together.

That’s a very disheartening thing, and it eats away at me.

Where does Trudee, the artist, see herself going next?

Hmm…

Well, my challenge in this current world is to find a way to be creative while amplifying voices other than my own. As a female, I do have a somewhat marginalized viewpoint to share, because we’re still struggling to achieve gender parity in the theatre industry, but I’m extremely aware that there are voices far more marginalized than my own. So, is there a way for me to support those voices being heard, in my role as an emerging playwright? That’s what I’m exploring now.

Where does Trudee, the person, see herself going next?

Oh, that’s always a good question! I have elderly parents and also kids still at home, so weeks ago I decided I wouldn’t be doing any more community theatre until some of those responsibilities shifted, that I’d stick to writing for now. But then last week auditions for an exciting straight play were announced, with a director I know and like to work with, and I threw my hat in the ring for a part! So, I’m a bit all over the map.

What I do know is that I will keep expanding my horizons and learning about cultural groups other than my own, because I just don’t see any of us moving forward without doing so together, and that requires us to have better understanding of the other folks who share this planet with us.

RAPID ROUND

Try to answer these in a single sentence. If you need more than one sentence, that’s not a problem. I give credit to the late James Lipton and ‘Inside the Actors’ Studio’ for this questioning format:

If you could say one thing to one of your mentors or favourite teachers who encouraged you to get to this point as an artist, what would it be?

Thank you for making me accountable, for making certain I fully committed to what I began.

If you could say something to any of the naysayers in your career who didn’t think you would make it as an artist, what would that be?

Never dissuade a person from trying something, because they will learn from every experience.

What’s your favourite swear word?

There’s something about an F-bomb — maybe the fricative “f” and the finality of the “k” — that somehow completely expresses the frustration of the moment.

What is a word you love to hear yourself say?

“Serendipity” because, for me, the lilt of it perfectly matches its meaning. (See how I snuck it into my one of my earlier responses, ha ha!)

What is a word you don’t like to hear yourself say?

To be honest, I don’t like to say my own first name! I always seem to turn the “Tr” combination into something more like a “Ch” sound. Other people say it better than I do.

What would you tell your younger personal self with the knowledge and wisdom life experience has now given you?

Believe in yourself. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and put yourself forward.

With the professional life experience you’ve gained over the years, what would you now tell the upcoming Trudee from years ago who was just in the throes of beginning a career as a performing artist?

View your many unsuccessful attempts as progress, or steps in the journey, rather than failures.

What is one thing you still wish to accomplish both personally and professionally?

I told myself I’ll bring two of my three passion projects to fruition by my sixtieth birthday, which means I have about 18 months to get one play professionally staged and my second young adult novel published.

Name one moment in your professional career as an artist that you wish you could re-visit again for a short while.

The moment I wrote the final scene of my first young adult novel, and realized it was the final scene, I was filled with such an incredible excitement and sense of accomplishment I was literally trembling. It felt fantastic.

Would Trudee do it all again if given the same opportunities?

I often think that if I could do it all again I’d do it faster, on a more direct route, but I am who I am, and I’m not sure I’d be willing to give up any parts of the fun ride I’ve had so far.

To connect with Trudee online, visit her website: trudeeromanek.com. You can also follow her on her professional Facebook page: @trudee.romanek.author AND on Twitter: @RomanekTrudee