Fostering Home Grown Talent
Superior Theatre Festival Returns
By Lindsay Campbell
As the Superior Theatre Festival enters its fourth year, attendees can expect the annual event’s focus to shift in ways that differ from past years. Donna Marie Baratta, Superior Theatre Festival’s artistic director, says there was extra attention devoted to the 2019 program when it came to thinking about how this year’s festival can grow and invest in Thunder Bay artists.“
We’re not so much focused on putting up shows throughout the summer, we’re more focused on incubating a show,” she says. “We want the work that we’re championing to go outside of Thunder Bay. We want artists to be able to apply it to YPT [Young People’s Theatre] or any other theatre.”
The 2019 festival will kick off with hosting five different types of master class workshops in Thunder Bay at the Fay Gleeson Dance Centre, and one in Red Rock at the Nipigon Community Centre. Class themes will consist of musical composition, design for theatre, acting, musical theatre choreography, and puppetry. Individuals leading the sessions include local names such as Stephanie DePiero, Danny Johnson, Nancy Anne Perrin, as well as Baratta herself. Mike Petersen, a Toronto-based puppeteer who has worked with Jim Henson, will be running the class on puppetry. All classes have a three-hour duration with the exception of the puppetry class, which will last a full day.
The classes are geared towards people aged 12–21, an aspect that Baratta said was important feature for encouraging development in the local community for young, up-and-coming artists. “As an arts educator […] I know how important the arts are, not just for finding their voice and finding confidence and healing,” she says. “I have only seen the most incredible scenarios working with youth in the arts for the last few years.” The classes are also free, to ensure the festival is accessible, Baratta says.
Following the master class portion, there will be a workshop production focusing on Alex the Artist, the work of local artist Alycia Novak. The production will be showcased twice at the Urban Abbey on July 27, where individuals chosen for the workshop’s creative team will get to present it to an audience and share it for feedback. There will be a $10 fee to participate in this event. “We want to get an audience involved [who will] be a part of it with us,” Baratta explains.
The festival will then close off with a community meal. The dinner at the Urban Abbey, on July 28 from 4 to 7 pm, will be a time where artists can meet each other and network within the artistic community. “We’re still growing within the community so there’s a lot of excitement around that—sharing a meal, sharing a conversation, opportunities around people sharing their work,” Baratta says. “We really want to encourage cross-collaboration around different artists because I’m really interested in the sort of interdisciplinary sort of work that can happen.”
More information on the festival can be found on the Superior Theatre Festival at superiortheatrefestival.com.