Note from the NAC on new theatre in Ottawa and throughout Canada!
As the performing arts sector continues to face unprecedented challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Arts Centre has responded with Grand Acts of Theatre, an initiative to bring Canadian artists and audiences together.
Eleven of Canada’s most innovative theatre companies have been engaged to create and perform large-scale, new works in response to these times, which will be performed outdoors in front of live audiences in various Canadian locations, filmed, and later shared online.
Through Grand Acts of Theatre, the NAC will invest in the creation of ambitious new work by some of the country’s most ingenious artists, reach out to theatre audiences who have been missing the live experience, and deepen engagement with a wider audience by sharing the performances online.
For this new initiative, Jillian Keiley teamed up with Vancouver theatre maker Sherry Yoon, Artistic Director of Boca del Lupo, as the co-curator of Grand Acts of Theatre. Keiley and Yoon have selected companies that will create highly theatrical, large-scale outdoor work that will have great artistic impact and broad community reach.
“Grand Acts of Theatre will offer new, large-scale works by fantastically inventive artists to capture the public’s imagination with artistic statements on a grand scale, inspired by these current times. The artists are excited to engage with live audiences again, are ready to practice their craft with safety in mind, and looking forward to going even further, connecting with online audiences through digital technology. We cannot wait to see what these incredible companies will create.”
– Jillian Keiley, NAC English Theatre Artistic Director
The live performances will take place in various regions of the country and will respect health and safety guidelines in each location. After the live performances have taken place, the NAC will share videos from each performance on its website and social media channels.
Dates and times subject to change.
GRAND ACTS OF THEATRE PERFORMING COMPANIES
Representing 11 regions in Canada, the celebrated companies commissioned to create and perform original works are:
Black Theatre Workshop (Montreal, QC) – Black and Blue Matters – Track 1: No One Gives a F*ck About a Cop October 9
Canadian Academy of Mask and Puppetry (Calgary, AB) – Inisikim October 3
Catalyst Theatre (Edmonton, AB) – until the next breath October 4
Curtain Razors (Regina, SK) – Trespassers Waltz September 20
Electric Company Theatre (Vancouver, BC) – Reframed October 7
Kaha:wi Dance Theatre (Six Nations, ON) – Continuance: Yonkwa’nikonhrakontáhkwen – our consciousness continues unchanged October 3
L’orchestre d’hommes-orchestres (Quebec City, QC) – Entre-temps October 3
Neighbourhood Dance Works (St. John’s, NL) – The Fire Kedgys’ Howl October 8
Prismatic Arts Festival (Halifax, NS) – Shifting Verse September 19
Talk Is Free Theatre (Barrie, Ont.) in association with Outside the March (Toronto, ON) – Something Bubbled, Something Blue September 12
Théâtre Cercle Molière / Synonym Art Consultation (Winnipeg, MB) – Intramural.e September 13
Dates are subject to change.
The live performances will take place in various regions of the country and will respect health and safety guidelines in each location. After the live performances have taken place, the NAC will share videos from each performance on its website and social media channels. Schedule to be confirmed.