“I feel like I’m really looking to theatre for joy right now,” says artistic director Mel Hague. “I don’t mean works that are specifically funny or happy. I’m talking about something deeper where you can feel connected to the art on stage, the space that’s hosting it, the other people in the audience, and yourself.”
Toronto theatre can be a bit risk-averse. Artistic directors, constrained by limited funding, program obvious crowd-pleasers over boundary-pushing experiments. Playwrights, afraid to ruffle feathers, create spaces that validate the public’s...
“As far as our sector goes, there’s this idea that how busy you are is a reflection of your values,” says director-dramaturg Harri Thomas. “We also tend to emphasize a person’s career over the body of work they’ve produced. There are certain things that we can do at a community level, particularly when it comes to resource sharing. But we also need to consider the fact that we operate in a scarcity environment where we’re so focused on individual shows that we often neglect the larger ecology.”
It’s been one heck of a year at Intermission. After founding and leading the publication for seven years, including steering it through the pandemic, Philip Riccio decided it was time...
By Aisling Murphy, , Intermission Magazine /Dec 31, 2023