Executive Director's Update
By Craig Wrotniak
Happy November to everybody! I’m delighted to report that our National Drama Teachers’ Conference, held on the weekend of October 25-27, was a huge success, with a record turnout of 266 Canadian drama teachers. They included 99 teachers from British Columbia, 32 from Alberta, 22 from Saskatchewan, 66 from Ontario, and 18 from Quebec. In fact, all of Canada’s provinces and territories were represented except Prince Edward Island and Nunavut.
As you know, the Conference featured several workshops conducted on Zoom, so that we could reach as many participants across the country as possible. We recorded most of those Zoom workshops, and in response to popular demand, we have published some of those recordings on a secure members’ page on our Vimeo account. If you registered for the conference and did not receive the access code, please email me at craig@educationaltheatre.ca and I will get this over to you directly. Also if you want access to these resources you can always register for a TAEA Annual Professional Membership for $50 HERE and message our Membership Manager Kyle Collins to get the access codes for the video library and our other resources at: membership@educationaltheatre.ca
COLONIALISM AND OTHER “MYTHS”: THE REBELLION AGAINST REALITY
By Colin Thomas, theatre critic and arts writer, Vancouver, B.C.
(This piece was taken, with the author’s permission, from the October 24, 2024 edition of his excellent weekly newsletter Fresh Sheet, which we recommend. You can subscribe here, free. Of course, this was written before either the U.S. or B.C. election. – Ed.)
Linda Jeffers Coombs is an Elder of the Wampanoag Tribe
and the author of a book that is being suppressed in a Texas county.
(Photo: Emily Clark for Wicked Local)
Stories about book banning in its various forms are coming so fast and furious that I could write about a slew of them every week.
Here’s one that strikes me as particularly revealing. American writer Linda Coombs’s Colonization and the Wampanoag Story is a non-fiction book for middle-grade schoolkids. It’s about European colonization of Indigenous land and, as The Guardian reports, in Montgomery County, Texas, that book has been reclassified as fiction and relocated to the fiction shelves of the local school’s library.
This follows pressure from right-wing activists and a ruling by a citizens’ review panel. (No librarians were involved in the decision-making process.)
There’s been pushback, of course. I just signed a petition created by the National Campaign for Justice that demands school commissioners reinstate the book “to its rightful home” on the nonfiction side.
Increasingly, MAGA-style politics, with its taste for banning books – and, more broadly, denying reality – are infecting the Canadian scene.
As reported by The Globe and Mail, BC Conservative leader John Rustad, who may well become our next premier, said that his government would strike a committee to review all school textbooks and literature to ensure they are “neutral.”
Defining what books would be banned by his Conservative government, Rustad clarified that schoolbooks “shouldn’t be about indoctrination of anything, whether that’s environmental or whether that’s political or whether that’s sexual.” But, as Harrison Mooney points out in The Tyee, “Those are big adjectives, especially in light of Rustad’s history of climate denial and insistence that sexual orientation and gender identity policies in schools violate ‘parents’ rights’ and indoctrinate children.”
AN ANTHOLOGY THAT CENTRES QUEERNESS
A book review by
Brendon Allen,
Drama and Theatre Coordinator,
Upper Canada College, Toronto, Ont.
Work reviewed:
This is Beyond: A Time Capsule of Queer Experience
Edited by Evan Tsitsias and Bilal Baig,
Playwrights Canada Press, Toronto, 2023
The brightly-coloured cover sleeve of this collection reads: “In this rapid moment of expansion in queer theatre, when everything is exposed, interrogated, and investigated, [This is Beyond] is a time capsule of where we are now and a map for where we might go next.” It is my intention to explore this collection of monologues, essays and opinion pieces as a resource for drama instructors in high schools.
I will start off by suggesting this collection as an essential order for whomever manages your school library or resource centre. An anthology that centres queerness within Canada is a rarity, and will serve as a strong alternative to hundreds of compendia of theatre that do not acknowledge the existence of queer artists, playwrights, directors, designers and performers. I might also suggest you check the public library records where you are, and suggest its addition, if it is not there. As a patron of the Toronto Public Library, I was disappointed by the low number of copies they had in circulation.
It is this rapid moment that we are teaching within that needs lightning rods like This is Beyond to offer up compass points to queer students, soon-to-be queer artists, and curious minds, in the face of significant erasure within the Canadian archive. The last publication by Playwrights Canada Press that centered queerness came out in 2007. That gap in time does not account for the seismic shift that has occurred on Canadian and international stages since then, which makes the value of this resource increase. So, if anything, push for these updated coordinates to be added for those who are seeking guidance. Being lost can be a scary experience, especially with some of the narratives on social media that actively popularize homophobia, transphobia and the suppression of queer authors and activists.
A WORD FROM OUR FABULOUS SPONSORS
DISCOVER PIONEER DRAMA’S EXCEPTIONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE
Choose from over 1,100 plays and 230 musicals, all available digitally to avoid shipping, customs, and brokerage fees
One-of-a-kind Teen Theatre Experience
A world premiere for teens about finding your voice, told by an actor and a drummer on a full drum kit – drumming workshops available!
Post-Secondary Theatre Training in Rosebud
Attention aspiring theatre professionals! Attend an immersive RSA Weekend or book a tour to learn how Rosebud Theatre & School of the Arts will jump start your career! recruitment@rosebudschoolofthearts.com
ShowTech AVL Sells Everything: Theatrical Audio, Video & Lighting
Including: ETC Stage Lights, PA Speakers Projectors, Stage Intercom & Microphones Cables, Tape. Bulbs and much more. We can also help with “value engineering” equipment lists for grant applications. Send us your wish list!
Get Creative at Arts Umbrella!
Explore a variety of programs at Arts Umbrella’s School of Theatre, Music & Film. There’s something for everyone – whether it’s a music class for toddlers, an acting class for teens, or an Advanced Theatre Troupe class for inspiring actors.
Ontario Staging Limited - Let Us Stage Your Event
Ontario Staging Limited sells and manufactures drapery, rigging hardware, and accessories. Distributor for Rosco, Lee, Alvin Clamps, and H&H Specialties. Rental stock includes drapes, track, platforms, and lighting.
Bring Your Theatrical Vision To Life
Affordable, script accurate scenic projections and projector rentals designed to make your next production shine.
Two Ways About It: The Inside and Outside of Playwriting
A playwriting master class with John Lazarus
Study technical theatre and acting in beautiful western Newfoundland
Unlock Your Theatrical Dreams!
Newfoundland’s only Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre is now open for applications!
• Stream into acting or technical theatre
• Study abroad at Memorial’s UK campus in Harlow
• Combine practical & academic training with industry pros
• Get a broad liberal arts education, plus dramatic literature expertise
Pursue your theatrical dreams or leverage your degree for another career! Apply by Feb 1!
JOIN, SUBSCRIBE, AND CONTRIBUTE!
Want to see your thoughts printed in “Theatrics Canada”? So do we! We need your expertise, so send us stuff! We welcome news of your school’s theatre work, advice on teaching and theatre, reviews and criticism of current work that might be of interest (like Colin Thomas’ and Brendon Allen’s pieces in this issue), essays, photos – we love photos – short plays, cartoons, Letters to the Editor – anything related to theatre and teaching. Send it to John Lazarus at theatricscanada@educationaltheatre.ca. Please make it up to 1,000 words long, and include name and position of author(s), the section of “Theatrics” you’re submitting to, and the name and location of your school. The copyright to all material remains with the author(s).
