02/23/2022
388 Quebec Avenue, Toronto, ON M6P 2V4 email: [email protected]
For Immediate Release
February 22, 2022
SOLAR STAGE set to re-launch with $50,000 Trillium Foundation Funding
In the fall of 2020, Solar Stage—a company with a 45-year history of producing theatre in Toronto—was preparing to permanently close its doors due to the challenges of maintaining its programming and performance space, all of which were greatly exacerbated by the CoVid19 pandemic.
However, a small group of volunteers have since stepped forward to prevent the closure, and are pleased to announce that with recent support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation as well as other funding, SOLAR STAGE will re-emerge in 2022 with programming that reflects both its children’s theatre outreach as well as its historic mandate to produce professional lunch-time theatre in the downtown business core.
The steering committee and board of directors for this new initiative includes Roseann Wilshere (former Solar Stage artistic director & producer); Ken Gass (Factory Theatre founder and current artistic director of Canadian Rep Theatre); and Adriana Dimitri (theatre production artist & previous Solar Stage Board Director).
As Roseann Wilshere states, “We are grateful to the previous Solar Stage board for the orderly way in which they managed the transition, leaving the company with a small surplus and all past obligations taken care of. This has allowed the company to renew itself from solid ground.”
Ken Gass adds, “My memory of Solar Stage over the decades is that it played an important role in the ecology of Toronto’s cultural scene, bringing theatre to new audiences in the office towers and additional employment to a lot of artists. The company’s more recent role in creating children’s theatre for under-served communities should also be extended.”
Adriana Dimitri: “We’re particularly thankful to the Trillium Foundation and the Government of Ontario’s ‘Community Building Program’ for awarding Solar Stage a $50,000 grant at this critical time. With additional support from the Ontario Arts Foundation endowment program, this will not only keep the company alive, but also fund modest-scaled pilot projects that embody a vision for going forward.”
Initial programming will include a spring workshop festival of classic Canadian one-act plays, a pilot lunchtime theatre showcase, and the presentation of an acclaimed international children’s theatre production. Details to be announced in the near future.
Donations to extend the work of Solar Stage will be gratefully received via www.canadahelps.ca
WWW.SOLARSTAGE.ON.CA
