A theatre company that performs in schools across the province says it has commissioned two new plays for young audiences from emerging Canadian playwrights Adonis King and Sydney Marino.
Details of the Story Theatre Company’s productions will be announced in June.
It’s also launching Baby Jam, a new series of concerts, theatre performances and creative play spaces for infants and toddlers up to four years old.
“This mini-musical for toddlers evolved from a program we offered during the pandemic,” said Erica Petty, the theatre company’s artistic producer, who has been with the company for five years.
More programs await children when they return to school in the fall.
The mandate of the Victoria-based theatre company, which is also a registered non-profit society, is to create theatre productions for young audiences, from infants to teens.
Current travelling productions include 1002 Nights, a high-energy adventure play based on the Arabian Nights story collection aimed at children from kindergarten to Grade 7, and The Very First Circus, an outdoors presentation of the Aesop’s fable The Lion and The Mouse.
Aimed at preschoolers, the live theatre experience involves audience participation, music and interactive fun under a Big Top.
Petty says nearly 75 per cent of the group’s performances take place in towns and villages across the province.
“We produce original, new works in a format that makes it accessible for a wide range of children, with performances in daycares and schools. All our productions encourage audience participation, as we believe children learn best through movement and play.”
The theatre company’s plays use narrative storytelling and improvisation to encourage participation and the awakening of the children’s storytelling abilities. “We want to show how stories live in all of us.”
Creator Crew is the company’s free youth mentorship program, for youth 13 to 18 years old, which will start in October. The program encourages youth to gather, tell their stories and collaborate on various artistic endeavours.
For the upcoming season, the company, with three core staff and a roster of up to 30 theatre practitioners, will also produce an improv-style storytelling show and host Artists in the Classroom Residencies for elementary schools across the province.
The theatre company, which has been in existence for 42 years, reached up to 30,000 youth a season pre-pandemic, and expects to reach 15,000 this year. It operates through donations as well as funding from the Victoria Foundation.
Ticket sale and registration information is expected to be announced in June. For more information, go to storytheatre.ca.
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