The Newfoundland Collectives, The Wake or the Awakening?
Theatre in St John’s in the late 1980s owes its heterogeneous character to the mixed influences that have created it: the lingering excitement of its origins in the seventies, depressed economic conditions, and the nature of the present acting community. The collective creation, a dominant voice in...
| Published in: | Canadian Theatre Review |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
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University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress)
1988
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| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/ctr.55.008 https://ctr.utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/ctr.55.008 |
| Summary: | Theatre in St John’s in the late 1980s owes its heterogeneous character to the mixed influences that have created it: the lingering excitement of its origins in the seventies, depressed economic conditions, and the nature of the present acting community. The collective creation, a dominant voice in the 1970s, can still be heard today, but the form and purpose have altered just as the creators and the world they work in have been redefined. While the financial restraint of the 1980s sets new guidelines in the arts across Canada, in St John’s the government dollar continues to shrink at an alarming rate in a climate of over-extended private resources and shrinking audience support. Some artists who cut their teeth on collective creation in the 1970s have moved to the mainland to pursue their careers or have sought more stable forms of employment. Some make St John’s their home base and work elsewhere on demand. And some continue to work in St John’s, primarily at the Resource Centre for the Arts or the Arts and Culture Centre. Those who remain know the collective process intimately and defend the exhilaration of the process and the quality of the product. |
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