Well hello, there!
It’s been a bloody while, hasn’t it?! Yes it has.
Well, a bloody lot has happened since closing the 2018 season at Stratford. I spent November in Brazil visiting family, then December in Winnipeg for Christmas AND a big job interview (more on that anon), and then between January and April, I split my time between Stratford and Winnipeg quite manically, flying back-and-forth some 4 or 5 times…
The short of it all is: I have been offered the position of Artistic Director at Winnipeg’s leading Classical theatre, SHAKESPEARE IN THE RUINS (SIR) - and I’m bloody excited about it. Terrified, yes. Nervous, you bet. But, mostly, excited as heck.
This may sound nuts, or somewhat grand, but I have been flirting with the idea of becoming an AD of a theatre company for a long, long time, and I truly think it is something I was…ok, here it goes: born to do. The idea has always turned me on: the vast possibilities of the job, of developing a noble project and of organizing a community - it’s all intensely romantic and beautifully challenging. And I feel incredibly grateful that SIR and the Board have invested their trust in me as their new leader.
SO, what this means is that I am moving to Winnipeg this year, permanently, and leaving Stratford - the hometown of my 3-year-old lad, and where I have been for the last 4 years as a member of the Stratford Festival…
It sucks to leave such a great community behind, but the possibilities of making new connections, and to lead the changes, are indeed seductive.
I spent two weeks in February in Winnipeg teaching Theatre and Shakespeare at the Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) - which was a total pleasure - and then back to Winnipeg in April and May full-time, rehearsing my first show with SIR: HAMLET…that piece of cake. It is now up and running, until June 22, and I’m largely pleased with my first directing job for the company. Sure, I wanted to make a ‘declaration of intent’ with it, but mostly I just wanted to not screw up. :)
The cast and crew were a complete delight, and I learned a lot - a lot - particularly how to stage a show in that challenging, gorgeous space that is the St Norbert Monastery Ruins. Outdoors Shakespeare: bonkers!
In any case, I am back in Stratford now, rehearsing my final project with the company: The Front Page, the classic 1920s American newspaper satire. I am Assistant Director to Graham Abbey, whom I am a huge fan of. We are both actors by trade, and are both newly minted ADs and both going through a transition from acting into directing. It’s a fun room to be in…
Once the Front Page is up and running, I’m off to Winnipeg to begin my full-time life as Artistic Director…
We’ll see where that leads me…
Cheers,
RB.