For the first time, this year’s version of the Magnetic North Theatre Festival will host two outdoor “pay-what-you-can” shows.
The performances will run from June 4-13 and will take place under the Plaza Bridge, which connects Wellington and Elgin streets, and at the headlocks of the Rideau Canal, just below the Bytown Museum.
Founded in 2002, Magnetic North is a national festival of Canadian theatre that showcases works from around the country. The festival has travelled to several different Canadian cities, including Halifax, Calgary and Vancouver. However, every second year the festival returns to Ottawa for a period of performances.
“The real purpose of the festival is to build bridges between diverse people, race, gender, religion, create a sense of communion and also a sense of Canadian identity,” says artistic executive director Brenda Leadlay.
The festival is also an economic generator for Canadian theatre and creates touring opportunities for artists in Canada and internationally.
“Many times audiences are attracted to shows that they recognize, that they’ve heard about,” says Leadley. “Often they’re Broadway musicals, they’re Shakespeare, they’re something that is not necessarily Canadian, and so part of the mandate of the festival is to promote Canadian theatre and the artists that we have in our own country.”
This year, the festival is doing something different by offering two pay-what-you-can performances in Ottawa.
The concept of pay-what-you-can is simple: there is no fixed ticket price and audience members are free to contribute as much as they please.
Leadlay hopes that this initiative will attract more people to the performances and inspire an appreciation for Canadian theatre.
From The Global Savages, Debajehmujig Storytellers from Manitoulin Island, Ont., will be performing at the Rideau Canal locks.
Translated from the Cree and Ojibway languages Debajehmujig means “storytellers.”
This theatre group seeks to educate audiences and share aspects of the Anishnaabeg culture through their performances. Anishnaabeg is the umbrella name used by the Odawa, Ojibwa and Algonquin First Nations tribes in Ontario.
For their performance in Ottawa they will tell an 18,000-year-old story of an Anishnaabeg family, a story has been passed down by generations of elders in the community.
Mercury Opera’s Fiamma! An Operascape will be at the Plaza Bridge accompanied by a live band and fire dancers. Some of the musical pieces – arranged for a quartet of musicians and a trio of singers – are adaptations of popular arias. For this performance some of those arias have been turned into ensemble pieces and duets.
Darcia Parada, the founder and artistic director of Mercury Opera, is excited about the potential prospects of the PWYC initiative.
“I feel that offering pay-what-you-can events means that people will take a chance on something they might not have been exposed to before,” she says, “and even something they may have thought they would dislike . . . It’s really an investment into the future.”
Amanda West Lewis, founder and artistic director of the Ottawa Children’s Theatre is also partnering with Magnetic North this year.
The Ottawa Children’s Theatre is a company that seeks to train and educate children and youth about the arts. This year, the company will be producing a play for the festival.
Up to Low, based on a book by Brian Doyle, features a journey of romance and healing that travels from Ottawa to Quebec.
“It’s been quite a dream of ours to be involved in any way, shape or form when the festival is in Ottawa,” says West Lewis.
She applauds this year’s pay-what-you-can options since it makes the festival accessible to all ages.
“I think pay-what-you-can is fantastic,” she says. “If we could offer all theatre shows pay-what-you-can, or offer a number of pay-what-you-can performances, it would be really important — particularly in getting young people into the theatre.”