By Victoria Carnaghan
Although Ottawa’s theatre community is vibrant and healthy, each company has its own specific mandate and limited room for experimenting with different genres of plays.
That’s why three Centretown residents have launched Still Standing Theatre Company – a new theatre that provides a venue for plays that just don’t quite fit anywhere else.
“There’s a lot of plays we really like that may not appeal to a wide audience,” says Caryl McKay, one of the co-founders of Still Standing Theatre.
But because all the existing theatre companies in Ottawa have specific types of plays they like to present – and because shows are planned months in advance – there is no venue for plays and performances that don’t fit in with the companies’ lineups, McKay says.
So McKay and her long-time colleagues Don Laflamme and Teri Loretto pooled their financial resources and launched Still Standing Theatre – an avant-garde theatre group committed to providing a safe environment for performers and directors to stage pieces that are unorthodox or controversial.
“It’s derived from us – folks who’ve been kicking around for years and continue to create theatre,” says Don Laflamme, one of the partners and director of the company’s first play, ‘night, Mother, which was performed last weekend at SAW Gallery.
But the three founders agree their aspirations are modest.
“We just want to put our toes in the water, see what we can do,” Loretto says.
And while they hope money from ticket sales will cover expenses, they’re not concerned with profits.
“We’re hoping to break even at the box office,” she says, adding that any remaining profits will likely go towards throwing a great cast party or financing their next show.
So far, says McKay, the project has received a lot of support from the local community.
“We’ve been amazed at the positive response,” she says, adding the passion, dedication and experience the organizers and supporters bring to the stage will attract audiences.
The three partners have decades of combined theatre experience.
Loretto teaches theatre at Algonquin College, and is active with Ottawa Little Theatre, the New Ottawa Repertory Theatre and Third Wall Theatre. Laflamme, who also teaches at Algonquin, is involved with Third Wall Theater productions. And McKay, who studied acting and voice in New York, Toronto and Ottawa, performed with Tara Payers and New Ottawa Repertory Theatre.
But while the three know the inner workings of stage production, Loretto says getting the company up and running was somewhat of a challenge.
“There was a lot of talk,” she says. “We’re actors, we like to sit around in a circle and do that.”
She admits it was only after much goading from mutual friends that the trio launched their plan into action.
And, as promised, the company’s first production last weekend tackled a controversial issue, where the play’s main character, who has epilepsy, deals with a temptation to commit suicide.
“It gives a pretty persuasive argument for (suicide),” says Laflamme about the play, adding theatre should be a forum for exploring controversial issues without repercussions.
Indeed, offering challenging messages to an audience is part of what the organizers describe as a pioneering spirit of the theatre collective.
“Art is the one last, great place where you have no politics … you can be free to explore those messages,” Laflamme says.