Studio 180 Blog

It seems like only yesterday we detailed a ridiculously busy week for Studio 180 in a blog entitled The Week That Was. It was the first week of rehearsal for The Normal Heart and a whirlwind of activity accompanied the beginning of that creative process. Cut to almost two months later and another week of heightened activity demands to be documented as the first half of Studio 180′s 2011/2012 season comes to a close.

THE NORMAL HEART CLOSES

On Sunday, November 6th, after three and a half weeks on the Buddies in Bad Times stage, our production of Larry Kramer’s landmark drama The Normal Heart took its final bow. We want to salute everyone on stage and behind the scenes who helped make this show our most provocative, moving and engaging work to date. The critical acclaim the production received was welcome of course, but the most satisfying aspect of the run was the overwhelming audience response. The play functioned  as both an important history lesson for younger audiences unfamiliar with the early days of the AIDS epidemic, and as a moving, sometimes healing reminder of the turbulent times so many of our audience members lived through. Indeed, it was the diversity of our audiences that served to reinforce the play’s power and contemporary resonance and we’re grateful to all who came out. Thanks to everyone who shared their thoughts on the power of the experience with us either in person, at talkbacks, via e-mail, on Twitter or on Facebook. We’re humbled by the response and by the privilege and responsibility of sharing such an important story every night.

EDUCATION AND OUTREACH

Despite closing the show on the weekend – our work with The Normal Heart was in no way complete. Following the final performance, Core Artistic Team members Jessica Greenberg, Mark McGrinder and Kimwun Perehinec spent several more days in classrooms discussing the play and the issues it addresses with a handful of the many high school students who attended the production throughout the run. In addition to spirited post show talk backs, we continued to implement our multi-session in class workshops around the GTA, working with students before and after performances, examining both the specifics of the play and the broader implications of Kramer’s themes and arguments in a contemporary context. Thanks to staff and students at Judith Nyman Secondary, Marc Garneau Collegiate, Pickering High School and Streetsville Secondary for being part of the exploration and for helping discredit cynicism about theatre’s ability to provoke and engage young audiences.

STANDING ON CEREMONY: THE GAY MARRIAGE PLAYS

Since closing a show and working with students wasn’t enough for the week we decided to add one more activity to the pile. On Monday November 7th, Studio 180 took part in a special, one night only event in support of marriage equality. Concurrent with the first preview of the New York production of Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays, fifty theatres around the world presented live readings of this hilarious and heartfelt collection of short plays addressing the issue of marriage equality. Audiences were united through a live feed from New York for a pre show introduction and a post performance Q and A.

The event was brought to Studio 180’s attention by Tectonic Theater Project, the company that created The Laramie Project (our very first production in 2003). Their goal of taking the event global combined with our own desire to both speak out on the issue and continue exploring ways we can connect with audiences made the decision to take part an easy one. While we’re fortunate as Canadians to have legal freedoms withheld from others throughout the world, working on The Normal Heart has reinforced the notion that we’re all implicated in injustice if we stand by while others suffer.

It was an inspiring final week which spoke directly to our mandate “to produce socially relevant theatre that provokes public discourse and promotes community engagement.” As we shift gears and turn our focus toward our spring production of Bruce Norris’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Clybourne Park, we hope the dialogue continues and we thank our audiences for taking part in the myriad ways we aspire to expand the experience of our productions.