Stephenville, Nfld Keeping Up with the Joneses

• Published in: Canadian Theatre Review
• Main Author: Downton, Dawn Rae
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) 1988
• Subjects: Visual Arts and Performing Arts; Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/ctr.55.011; https://ctr.utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/ctr.55.011

To be or not to be indigenous – that is the question much on the minds of two underfunded Newfoundland theatre companies these days. According to their administrators, both the Stephenville Festival and Theatre Newfoundland in Corner Brook rely far too much on corporate sponsorship for their survival. Stephenville offers a summer festival of six productions, and TNL operates every year from September to May, producing five inhouse shows along with a community-involved and community-funded sixth. After Stephenville’s ninth season last summer, Cheryl Stagg gave up her job as the Festival’s producer and administrative director while remaining as fundraiser, for she has unfinished business. Stagg, for one, feels cut out by arts funding bodies, particularly the Canada Council. And she’s tired of keeping up with the Joneses.