Roseneath Theatre – 30 Years Young!

Roseneath Theatre has been a positive force in Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) in Canada and abroad for three decades, building an outstanding repertoire of original Canadian plays. Our company has always believed in bringing quality productions to schools while showing a commitment to developing excellent talent.

“I believe live theatre is a powerful catalyst for discussion around important issues and challenges facing today’s young people”, says Artistic Director Andrew Lamb, “and I feel Roseneath’s art has the power to result in a thoughtful generation who have open and honest conversations about their lives and an understanding of the impact of theatre performance.”

Roseneath is turning 30 and Lamb says, “This anniversary season celebrates the best of what has made Roseneath successful for three decades – premiering of a new work, remounting of productions from our repertoire and partnerships with other theatre companies in Canada.”

Opening our season is Vancouver’s Green Thumb Theatre with their award-winning production of Wired by Betty Quan, directed by Patrick MacDonald. This show addresses the very real issue of cyber-bullying that students are faced with in schools and beyond. Roseneath has enjoyed an ongoing relationship with Green Thumb over the years and we are thrilled to present this evocative show as an Ontario school tour.

The National Arts Centre, Burlington Performing Arts Centre, Living Arts Centre and Theatre Direct will be presenting the remount of our award-winning production of Dib and Dob and the Journey Home. This classic Roseneath production was created by our founders David S. Craig and Robert Morgan and has enjoyed the widest international tour in our company’s history.

Roseneath is proud to deliver the world premiere production of La Maleta (The Suitcase) by Beatriz Pizano, directed by Andrew Lamb, on tour to Ontario and GTA schools. This production will also be showcased at the International Performing Arts for Youth Conference in Pittsburgh in January 2014.

The season concludes with a remount of our successful high school production of In This World by Hannah Moscovitch, directed by Andrew Lamb, that first premiered as part of Tarragon Theatre’s 2012-13 season.

Building on Roseneath’s continued commitment to new play development we will hold three script workshops for: Outside by Paul Dunn that addresses the issue of homophobia and Gay Straight Alliances (GSAs) in high schools, The Money Tree by Robert Watson that explores the notion of value for elementary audiences, and Swings and Roundabouts by Andrea Scott for middle schools which follows the story of a young girl who immigrates to Canada from Afghanistan.

“Roseneath remains committed to extending our range of plays to address emergent issues facing today’s youth,” says Lamb, “and we aspire to be the premiere play development centre for TYA in Canada.”

This week we hear from Stage Manager Sandi Becker about TYA touring life in Northern Ontario:

Hello from chilly Thunder Bay! We’ve arrived back from our adventures in the north of the north. This past week, we’ve travelled to Red Lake, Balmertown, Ear Falls and Sioux Lookout. There have been many long drives on windy, somewhat nerve wracking highways, MANY animal sightings (including a HUGE moose just feet from the truck!), and a lot of great shows at wonderful schools.

Our first show in Sioux Lookout will always stand out in my mind. What an amazing privilege to bring a show to students who may have never seen theatre before at all. The school was welcoming and warm to us. But mostly I’ll remember that day because of one audience member. She was a grade 4 student, and she offered to help us set up. She wanted to know what everything was, how everything worked, and why we had chosen to do things the way we did. She was fascinated to learn about what a set designer does, and was a great help with the set up! Before the show, she even brought us some pussy willows to wish us a good show. Afterwards, I asked her how we did, and she declared that this was the BEST SHOW EVER!!!

Sometimes it’s a bit hard to be on the road. You get homesick and lonely, and you get tired and cranky sometimes. To walk into a school that is so welcoming and happy to see you, and to meet a young person like this child and know you’ve touched an imagination and made someone happy – it makes all the hard stuff worth it.

We are so lucky to do what we do.