Speaking in Draft
iPhoto caption: Headshot courtesy of Marcia Johnson.
Speaking in Draft: Marcia Johnson
"The whole reason I started writing was to give myself work, because I just wasn't getting lead roles, I wasn't getting interesting roles, and I knew that I could carry them off," says Johnson. "My goal when I wrote You Look Great Too was for people to say, ‘Oh my gosh, yes, she can play a lead’ — and then I would never have to write again. Then it turned out that writers were more in demand. I thought ‘OK, maybe I’ll write a few more plays.’"
iPhoto caption: Headshot courtesy of Emily Jung.
"I want theatre to be so ingrained in everyone's day-to-day life, that it becomes natural to go see a show that's happening locally,” says Jung. “It should be an integral part of society for people to be able to access a cultural space, go there, and experience something that energizes them."
iPhoto caption: Headshot courtesy of Byron Laviolette.
Speaking in Draft: Byron Laviolette
“Right now, the creation-to-production process for a lot of people is from the Toronto Fringe to — hopefully — some theatre recommender grants, to a workshop production, to maybe an actual production,” says What The Festival co-founder Byron Laviolette. “But the realities of mounting a show at the Fringe don’t translate to a two-week run at the Extraspace at Tarragon. Peoples’ appetites are different. Yet we don’t train or support people to translate their shows into those different contexts."
iPhoto caption: Headshot courtesy of Justin Miller.
Speaking in Draft: Justin Miller
“I love to laugh,” says Miller, an actor, bouffon drag clown, performance artist, and teacher extraordinaire. “Some of the most impactful and meaningful experiences I've had have been shared through a comedic lens. I think you have a far better chance of actually changing people with comedy, because it's in moments of surprise and subversion of expectation that you have a chance to knock them off their balance, and maybe show them something new.”