Little Theatre Festival to premiere next month
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A new independent theatre festival will premiere in Winnipeg early this year. The Little Theatre Festival, an initiative of the An Seanchaí Theatre Company, will run on weekends throughout February.
The event will consist of a number of one-act plays over several weekends, and its intended to give audiences a taste of what community theatre is all about in the city.
“It’s a huge part of who I am, and I live for community theatre,” said Siobhán Keely, an Osborne Village resident and a board member and co-creator of the Little Theatre Festival.
Supplied photo
(From left) Rob Kwade, Siobhán Keely and Steph Blanchette are the co-founders of the Little Theatre Festival, which will run on weekends in February at the Irish Assocation of Manitoba.
Keely, who is involved with An Seanchaí, noted that one-act plays sometimes get “left by the wayside” and she wanted to help promote the community theatre scene in the city.
“We want to grow, and we want to get feedback,” Keely said, adding she hopes the festival will become an annual event.
She said the community theatre scene is thriving in Winnipeg, and she hopes the festival will capture the imagination of local theatre lovers.
“We have lots of theatre groups in Winnipeg, lots of fabulous groups. It’s a fabulous community, and there are lots of passionate writers, actors, stage managers, and creative people in the city. It’s a wonderful group of people that support each other.”
Steph Blanchette, who lives in Sage Creek and is involved with the Cactus Theatre Company, is also a board member and co-creator of the festival.
Noting that she misses Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre’s former Master Playwright Festival, Blanchette said a lot can be accomplished in a one-act play.
“You can tell a really good story … in a simplistic sort of way. It doesn’t need to be big sets and over-the-top backdrops.
“You can get to the heart of things with a one-act play,” Blanchette said.
“We have so many local groups with a passion for theatre and stories they’d like to tell, and this is an opportunity to build on this community and collaborate with different groups.”
Other local theatre companies involved with the festival are Dark Horse Theatre, Winnipeg Mennonite Theatre, Illustrium Creations, Aodhán Theatre Production, R-G Productions, and Tara Players.
The plays will be staged at the Irish Association of Manitoba (654 Erin St.).
Visit www.littletheatrefestival.com for more information.
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