Cottage industry
Jodi Essery
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Township Stage's Sunil Mahtani: Paying parts
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A new company gets down to business at North Hatley's Piggery Theatre
"Montreal actors will starve to death if we don't support the theatres that hire them." Those be fightin' words. But Sunil Mahtani, director of Township Stage, newest residents of North Hatley's Piggery Theatre, sounds more like a proud father than a scrappy cousin. With the Piggery operating as venue, Township Stage has put together an inaugural season of gentle summer stock for the mostly tourist crowd. It's weightless fare that's meant to appeal to a broad range of folk, and Mahtani believes the recipe for success lies in light comedy with a peppering of poignancy. This is summer theatre, after all, and like summer movies, the audience isn't really clamouring for plays that make them think too hard.Starting a spanking new Canadian theatre company in the townships is more about building community than it is about pushing the dramatic envelope. "We wanted to prove that theatre can be viable," says Mahtani, "that you can present a season and balance the budget." Which isn't to say that the company doesn't have their eye on expansion. While his main objective is to provide a new opportunity for Montreal artists and technicians who can have trouble patching together a year of English work in Montreal, Mahtani would like to see Township Stage engage in co-productions with other Montreal and Ontario theatres. He sees his company as a good place for recent design and performance grads to get experience in a professional environment, and a perfect fit for tourists and city dwellers eager to escape
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the urban grind for a night."I didn't necessarily want to make theatre right in Montreal," says Mahtani, who saw the Piggery's call for a resident company as a perfect fit for him as a resident of the Eastern Townships, and as a familiar director at the playhouse in Knowlton. His one big challenge? "Developing a good audience that keeps returning every year," says Mahtani. Summer theatre traditionally draws an older, tourist crowd, though with $5 student tickets, if you put in the hour-and-a-half drive to the theatre you can get in for a song. There's currently no way to get to the Piggery without a car, but Mahtani hopes to see a regular bus to the theatre from the tourist office downtown in summers to come.
The Township Stage season opens with Norm Foster's golf comedy The Foursome, starring young Montrealers Jesse Todd and Todd Haynes, with the Noel Coward musical Oh Coward! waiting in the wings. Things wrap up with the Quebec premiere of Kingfisher Days by Soulpepper Theatre's Susan Coyne.
As for those starving artists? Well, they're an important part of the community Mahtani wants to build. "I would like to build a strong stable of actors that I can draw from again and again." What's in it for them? After three weeks of intensive rehearsal, it's three weeks of what Mahtani refers to as "a working vacation with nothing but greenery all around them." It sounds like they'll do just fine.
For more info on Township Stage programs and schedules call (819) 842-2431 or go to www.piggery.com.
The Township Stage is an excellent idea to help get local actors get noticed because right now they are starving to death because they need work now and fast. Township will help build their self-esteem and to let those new actors and actresses know that they can make it in the industry. This summer stock that the Township has will help these young actors get their feet wet and help them break through to the other side. This will help build the community. There are many fantastic artists in Montreal who need to get notice and get on top of the game.
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Carmela Sicurella
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| Township Stage breaks a leg or two for us |
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The Township Stage IS an excellent idea and one certainly wishes it several broken legs (trust me, theatre folk will get that one) but it's got a long hard road ahead of it.
Theatre has enough problems without being stuck in the Townships.
In an age with high-speed internet, festivals galore and contact dances you are looking at some mighty harsh water ahead of you if your intent is to grab people's attention for more that 10 seconds. Having read the article I believe that the Township Stage is ready for the challenge...now, it's just a question of seeing how long before all the efforts bear fruit.
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Pedro Eggers
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