| "I think this will be a great adventure," says Mark Lawes, artistic director of Theatre Junction. "We are jumping into the unknown. It’s best to jump without knowing what’s coming."
Lawes is excited about TJ’s new home at the rebuilt Grand and its new Resident Company of Artists.
Theatre Junction is one of Calgary’s most successful theatrical companies, having received 63 Betty Mitchell Award nominations since 1997 and having won Outstanding Production of the year twice in a row.
Now opening its first full season at the beautifully renovated Grand Theatre, TJ’s Resident Company of Artists is looking eagerly forward to the next great leap.
"The residing company is made of 12 artists, forming a multi-disciplinary, collaborative team," says Lawes. "We have video artists, a novelist/poet, pop musicians and dancers. We are interested in a group coming together in their own way, with their own voice."
Lawes chose 12 artists from more than 86 audition finalists, out of a group of 350 hopeful applicants, to the company. "There are a few established artists that people will recognize," he says. "As well as some new fresh faces."
Lawes is very excited about the possibilities that are available to Theatre Junction at the Grand. After $12 million of redevelopment and renovation, the Grand Culturehouse, owned and operated by Theatre Junction, will redefine theatre in Calgary.
"It’s a great opportunity to work for a whole season with the same group of artists and to spend time together to create new and fresh works," says Lawes. "We want to share our voice, our Western Canadian voice, with audiences across Canada and internationally. We are examining what is theatre, and what is performance, both inside and outside the theatre."
Theatre Junction’s Resident Company of Artists will be performing seven shows this season, with two new works created by the company. Opening the season with a suitably elaborate party, Theatre Junction will be opening the new season with Die Wilde Nacht, (The Untamed Night), a cabaret that will bring 1920s Weimar Republic decadence to life on September 30th. The Resident Company of Artists’ first production, titled Show No.1 (beginning October 31st), will be a piece displaying the variety of talent in the company.
With the purchase and rebuilding of one of Canada’s most historic theatre spaces and Theatre Junction’s newly created company of talent, theatrical culture in Calgary will never be the same. Theatre Junction’s "Great Leap Forward" will be an exhilarating rush for this year’s season, and we will be there to watch. |
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