Theatre Passe Muraille
Encyclopedia
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
Brief history
One of Canada's most influential alternative theatres, Theatre Passe Muraille (theatre "goes through walls") was founded in 1968 by director and playwright Jim Garrard, who started the company out of Rochdale CollegeRochdale College
Opened in 1968, Rochdale College was an experiment in student-run alternative education and co-operative living in Toronto, Canada. It provided space for 840 residents in a co-operative living space. It was also a free university where students and teachers would live together and share knowledge...
.
Its radical intention was create a distinctly Canadian voice in theatre. It was conceived in the notion that theatre should transcend real estate; that plays can be made and staged anywhere—in barns, in auction rings, in churches, bars, basements, lofts, even in streetcars; and it was interested in the idea that theatre need not be a vehicle of social change, but rather it should endeavour always to be a mirror to social change.
The company gained local notoriety when it was bafflingly charged with obscenity for the only mildly provocative play by American playwright Rochelle Owens
Rochelle Owens
Rochelle Bass Owens is an American poet and playwright.-Life:She is the daughter of Maxwell and Molly Bass. A native New Yorker, Owens studied at the New School for Social Research and University of Montreal...
, Futz (about a farmer who falls in love with his pig, but suffers the persecution of his intolerant neighbours).
Jim Garrard was succeeded by Martin Kinch who had the job of Artistic Director for a year with Paul Thompson as technical director before he went on to found Toronto Free Theatre with John Palmer and Tom Hendry.
It was under the Artistic Directorship of Paul Thompson in the 1970s that the theatre gained its national reputation. Thompson guided the company towards a distinctive style of collective creation with plays such as The Farm Show, 1837: The Farmer's Revolt and I Love You, Baby Blue.
Other notable productions produced at Passe Muraille include O.D. on Paradise and Maggie and Pierre by Linda Griffiths
Linda Griffiths
Linda Griffiths is a Canadian actor and playwright.Born in Montreal, Quebec, Griffiths studied at Dawson College, the National Theatre School for one year, and McGill University....
; Fire by David Young
David Young (Canadian playwright)
David Samuel D'Arcy Young is a Canadian playwright, novelist, and screenwriter.Born in Oakville, Ontario, Young studied at the University of Western Ontario...
and Paul Ledoux; The Stone Angel, James Nichol's adaptation of the novel by Margaret Laurence
Margaret Laurence
Jean Margaret Laurence, CC was a Canadian novelist and short story writer, one of the major figures in Canadian literature.- Early years :...
; Judith Thompson's The Cralkwalker; and Lilies by Quebec playwright Michel Marc Bouchard
Michel Marc Bouchard
Michel Marc Bouchard is a gay Canadian playwright.Born in Saint-Cœur-de-Marie, Quebec, he studied theatre at the University of Ottawa. Bouchard made his professional playwriting debut in 1983 and since then has written some 25 plays...
. The company also had a major hit in 2001 with Michael Healey
Michael Healey
Michael Healey is a Canadian playwright and actor. He graduated from the acting programme at Toronto's Ryerson Theatre School in 1985. His acting credits include the plays of Jason Sherman and George F...
's play The Drawer Boy, which was based on actor Miles Potter's experiences years before while living on a farm to research and develop Theatre Passe Muraille's collective creation The Farm Show.
Collective Creation at TPM
Thompson’s taking over the helm at Passe Muraille marked not only a turning point for the theatre but also a significant, even vital, step in the development of Canadian theatre as a whole. He brought with him the art of “collective creation,” a technique whereby plays were made by the actors themselves from their own experiences.The use of collective creation at Passe Muraille began when Paul Thompson, John Palmer and Martin Kinch found themselves with lots of ideas for shows but no scripts.
It was a form that had no roots in English-speaking North America. “The collective-creation idea was inspired obviously by the Living Theatre,” said Paul Thompson, “but more closely by a company called Theatre d’Aujord’hui…There were a group of actors who had come out of the French section of the National Theatre School and were doing some very good improvisationally written shows and that sort of got me excited.”
“As far as going into a locale, the idea came from stuff I had been reading about China,” continued Paul Thompson, “They went into areas and made stories about local heroes, they were traveling companies.”
The Farm Show is arguably the most significant collective creation in TPM’s history. In 1972, Thompson and a group of actors went out into farming country around Clinton in southwestern Ontario. They lived with the farmers, worked with them, watched them and learned their stories. Then Thompson, who had been raised in farm country, literally forced his actors to create a play, each being responsible for his or her own part.
It was part of an idea that became a theme for later work to help Canadians find new terms for heroes; to move away from the Davy Crockett types. The impact of The Farm Show was guaranteed by the fact that the community the show was built around saw it first and went crazy about it. The show premiered in the very barn the actors used for rehearsals. It was a terrific success and was taken on the road.
Developing Canadian Theatre
Since its inception, Passe Muraille has demonstrated its commitment to cultivating Canadian voices by mentoring and providing space and support to emerging theatre artists and fledgling theatre companies, in order that they may create on their own artistic terms. In 1973, Thompson started a production-oriented "seed-show" programme. During his term, Clarke Rogers started a script-oriented New Works programme and most recently, current Artistic Director Andy McKim opened the theatre's doors to anyone with new ideas for Passe Muraille's new Five-minute Pitch programme.Many successful alternative theatre companies developed within Passe Muraille's walls. Buddies in Bad Times
Buddies in Bad Times
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is a Canadian professional theatre company.Based in Toronto, Ontario and founded in 1978 by Matt Walsh, Jerry Ciccoritti, and Sky Gilbert, Buddies in Bad Times is dedicated to "the promotion of queer theatrical expression"....
, which is committed to supporting LBGT voices, the feminist Nightwood Theatre
Nightwood theatre
Nightwood Theatre is Canada's oldest professional women’s theatre company. Based in Toronto, it was founded in 1979 by Cynthia Grant, Kim Renders, Mary Vingoe and Maureen White....
, Newfoundland's CODCO
CODCO
CODCO was a Canadian comedy troupe from Newfoundland, best known for a sketch comedy series which aired on CBC Television from 1987 to 1992....
, Necessary Angel Company and the Blyth Summer Festival, amongst many others, all had their beginnings with TPM.
Many of the country's most respected performers, writers and theatre artists, including Eric Peterson, David Fox, Mary Walsh, Rick Salutin and Linda Griffiths, consider Passe Muraille their starting point. Artists such as Ann Marie MacDonald, Michael Ondaatje, Maria Campbell and Timothy Findley have all gone on to create original works that are considered Canadian classics.
Theatre Space
Theatre Passe Muraille's 1975 production of "I Love You, Baby Blue" was seen by over 26 000 people before it was closed by the police. Charges brought against the theatre for "immorality" were thrown out of court for lack of evidence. However, the success of this celebrated production was profitable enough for the theatre to put a down payment on a permanent home. This was an important event, as to this day, still only a handful of non-for-profit theatres in Toronto own the spaces in which they perform.Theatre Passe Muraille is located on Ryerson Avenue in the Alexandra Park neighbourhood of Toronto at 43°38′55"N 79°24′09"W.
The building was originally a bakery built in 1902 and has served several purposes over the decades. When TPM took the building over it had fallen under disrepair and large renovations were undertaken to bring the building up to the required standards.
A second round of renovations began in 1983, the most important additions of which were the building of a large cruciform opening in the floor of the second storey and the installation of a lighting grid. The theatre houses two stages: the "Mainspace" which seats 220 and the "Backspace" which seats 70.
The space was designated a historic building in 1977 by the Toronto Historical Board under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act, noting that, "the skillful use of brick and classical architectural design elements in the facade gives prominence in the neighbourhood"
Artistic Directors
- Jim Garrard (1968-1969)
- Martin Kinch, John PalmerJohn Palmer (director)John Palmer is a Canadian theatre and film director and playwright.Cofounder of several Toronto theatre companies in the 1970s, Palmer is primarily a theatre director, whose credits include the original production of Brad Fraser's Wolfboy which marked the first acting role for Keanu Reeves.He has...
, Paul Thompson (1969-1972) - Paul Thompson (1972-1981)
- Clarke Rogers (1982-1987)
- Brian Richmond (1988-1990)
- Layne Coleman (1991)
- Susan Serran (1992-1996)
- Layne Coleman (1997-2007)
- Andy McKim (2007- )
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Chalmers Canadian Play Awards
2000The Drawer Boy by Michael Healey and Alien Creature: A Visitation from Gwendolyn MacEwen by Linda Griffiths
1997
Stuck by David Rubinoff
1995
The Alistair Trilogy by Nadia Ross and Diane Cave
1993
A Play About the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo by Alisa Palmer and Hillar Liitoja and Stillborn Lover by Timothy Findley
1990
Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing by Tomson Highway
1989
Fire by Paul Ledoux, David Young and Otis Black Well
1986
Jessica by Linda Griffiths with Maria Campbell