Magnetic North Theatre Festival
| Magnetic North Theatre Festival | |
|---|---|
| Location(s) |
Ottawa, Canada (Every two years) Various Canadian cities (Alternating years) |
| Artistic director | Brendan Healy |
| Foundation | 2002 |
| Type of play(s) | Multidisciplinary |
| Website | |
The Magnetic North Theatre Festival was an annual festival celebrating theatre and related performing arts in Canada operated by the Canadian Theatre Festival Society in partnership with the National Arts Centre. The festival was held Ottawa every two years, with it being held in other Canadian cities in the alternating years. Other cities that have hosted the festival include Edmonton, St. John's and Vancouver. The festival offered not only productions and performances for the theatre-going public, but offered workshops and seminars aimed at theatre students and theatre professionals.
The impetus that resulted in the creation of Magnetic North Theatre Festival grew out of experiences Marti Maraden had travelling across Canada in her role as artistic director of the National Arts Centre ("NAC"). Through relationships Maraden built early in her tenure, the NAC contemplated the creation of a national theatre festival. During a theatre conference in 2002, NAC staff discovered that other theatre professionals were considering the same idea, resulting in a movement to organize such an annual festival. As the national theatre community had little desire for such a festival to be "owned" by the NAC or entrenched in Ottawa, organizers settled on having the location of the festival alternating with Ottawa.
In 2002, the Canadian Theatre Festival Society was incorporated for the purpose of operating the festival in partnership with the NAC.Mary Vingoe was appointed as the festival's first artistic director. The society's mandate was to produce and promote contemporary English language theatre in Canada of high artistic standards of a national scope. Promoted as "Canada's National Festival of Contemporary Canadian Theatre in English", the first Magnetic North Theatre Festival was held in Ottawa in 2003.
In addition to a presenting a slate of theatrical performances, the festival holds lectures, workshops, symposia, discussion panels, and opportunities to meet the performers of the various productions as well as prominent members of the Canadian theatrical community. In addition to targeting the general public, the festival's offerings include events catering to working professionals in the theatre, which include networking and community-building activities.
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