Nightwood Theatre is Canada's oldest professional women's theatre and is based in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

. It was founded in 1979 by Cynthia Grant,

Kim Renders Kim Renders (January 14, 1955 – July 17, 2018) was a Canadian writer, director, actor and designer and a founding member of Nightwood Theatre, the oldest professional feminist theatre company in Canada. Early life Renders was born in Toronto ...

, Mary Vingoe, and

Maureen White Patricia Maureen White, more commonly known as Maureen White, is a specialist in international humanitarian affairs and a fundraiser for the American Democratic Party. She is a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute at Johns Hopkins School ...

and was originally a collective. Though it was not the founders' original intention, Nightwood Theatre has become known for producing feminist works. Some of Nightwood's most famous productions include '' This is For You, Anna'' (1983) and '' Good Night Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)'' (1988). Nightwood hosts several annual events including FemCab, the Hysteria Festival, and Groundswell Festival which features readings from participants of Nightwood's Write from the Hip playwright development program.

Company history

Nightwood Theatre was launched in 1979 by co-founders Cynthia Grant, Kim Renders, Mary Vingoe and Maureen White. The name Nightwood was inspired by

Djuna Barnes Djuna Barnes (, June 12, 1892 – June 18, 1982) was an American artist, illustrator, journalist, and writer who is perhaps best known for her novel ''Nightwood'' (1936), a cult classic of lesbian fiction and an important work of modernist liter ...

’ novel ''

Nightwood ''Nightwood'' is a 1936 novel by American author Djuna Barnes that was first published by publishing house Faber and Faber. It is one of the early prominent novels to portray explicit homosexuality between women, and as such can be considered ...

.'' Nightwood was originally intended to be a collective. The company was not originally intended to be a feminist theatre company, but became so by reputation. Nightwood Theatre is part of what Denis Johnston refers to as the "third-wave" of small theatres in Toronto, encapsulating companies which emerged from the late 1970s to the early 1980s during the end of

second-wave feminism Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in the early 1960s and lasted roughly two decades. It took place throughout the Western world, and aimed to increase equality for women by building on previous feminist gains. ...

. In the beginning, Nightwood focussed largely on collective creations. Their first production in 1979, ''The True Story of Ida Johnson'', was adapted from the novel by

Sharon Riis Sharon Riis (1947 - May 20, 2016) was a Canadian novelist, short story writer and screenwriter.

, and is described as "an innovative mixed-media performance". Grant, who had worked in an editing group at the Women's Press to publish the novel, organized a dramatic reading of ''The True Story of Ida Johnson'' in 1977 and there was a workshop production in 1978 featuring Renders, Vingoe and White in addition to Grant herself. The official Nightwood production opened in September 1979. In 1979, Nightwood, along with Buddies in Bad Times, launched the

Rhubarb! Festival Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is a Canadian professional theatre company. Based in Toronto, Ontario and founded in 1978 by Matt Walsh, Jerry Ciccoritti, and Sky Gilbert, ''Buddies in Bad Times'' is dedicated to "the promotion of queer theatrical ex ...

, originally intended to be a festival of new Canadian works. Nightwood co-presented the 1980, 1981, and 1982 Rhubarb! Festivals until Rhubarb! became a strictly Buddies in Bad Times production in 1983. The founding artistic director of Buddies in Bad Times,

Sky Gilbert Schuyler Lee (Sky) Gilbert Jr. (born December 20, 1952) is a Canadian writer, actor, academic and drag performer. Born in Norwich, Connecticut, he studied theatre at York University in Toronto, Ontario, and at the University of Toronto Th ...

, found that Nightwood's involvement in Rhubarb! shifted the emphasis of the festival towards conceptual pieces and away from scripts. Nightwood did not develop a formal administrative structure until the 1982, when a small board of directors was formed. It was around this time that the company began consistently referring to, if albeit informally, Cynthia Grant as Nightwood's artistic director. Until this point, Nightwood's founding four members, Grant, Renders, Vingoe, and White, shared leadership roles and frequently interchanged titles and responsibilities. As part of their 1982–83 season, Nightwood produced the inaugural FemCab, or "Five Minute Feminist Cabaret" on March 8, 1983 at the Horseshoe Tavern. Early FemCab participants included Ann-Marie MacDonald,

The Clichettes The Clichettes were an all-women feminist performance art group formed in Toronto, Canada in 1977. Their practice is notable for injecting humour and theatricality into the sphere of performance art. The three performers initially worked using lip s ...

, Holly Cole, and Meryn Caddell. FemCab was originally produced with Women's Cultural Building, a Toronto-based women's collective who looked to establish a building for women's groups, but, in 1990, it became an annual fundraising event solely for Nightwood. FemCab was briefly suspended for two years from 1995 to 1996. Initially, Grant, Renders, Vingoe, and White tried to avoid Nightwood being labelled "women's theatre" but were labelled as such by the press. In a 1984

grant Grant or Grants may refer to: Places *Grant County (disambiguation) Australia * Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia United Kingdom * Castle Grant United States * Grant, Alabama * Grant, Inyo County, ...

application, Mary Vingoe implicitly identified Nightwood Theatre with the

feminist movement The feminist movement (also known as the women's movement, or feminism) refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for radical and liberal reforms on women's issues created by the inequality between men and women. Such ...

by stating that Nightwood's 1984–85 season was designed around and to address the issues raised in Rina Fraticelli's report on the status of women in Canadian theatre. In the same funding application, Vingoe noted that Nightwood's work dealt with "the concerns of the women's community" among other issues. Nightwood did not, however, explicitly define themselves as feminist theatre or use the words 'feminist' or 'feminism' in official self-description until much later. Work on the collective creation, '' This is for You, Anna,'' began in 1983. The play was created by a group of artists, many of whom had worked with Nightwood before, who called themselves the Anna Collective. The collective consisted of Suzanne Khuri, Ann-Marie MacDonald,

Baņuta Rubess Baņuta Rubess (born 1956) is a Canadian theatre director, playwright, and professor. She co-wrote ''This is For You, Anna'' as a member of the Anna Project. Rubess was a co-recipient of the 1988 Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award for childr ...

, Aida Jordão, Patricia Nichol, and Nightwood co-founder Maureen White. ''This is for You, Anna'' was inspired by the story of

Marianne Bachmeier Marianne Bachmeier (3 June 1950 – 17 September 1996) became famous in Germany after she shot and killed the murderer of her daughter in an act of vigilantism in the hall of the District Court of Lübeck in 1981. Youth and family Bachmeier grew ...

, a woman who shot the man accused of killing her daughter, and premiered as part of Nightwood's 1985–86 season. In 1985, Grant and several other founding members left Nightwood. The same year, Vingoe was appointed Nightwood's 'artistic coordinator', fulfilling the same responsibilities of an artistic director. Vingoe said the change in title was to "allow[] more 'collective' input on major decisions". White took over this position in 1987. In 1988, Kate Lushington became artistic coordinator and Lynda Hill became associate artistic coordinator. In 1990, Lushington reverted the title of Artistic Coordinator to artistic director. Nightwood Theatre's breakthrough play was Ann-Marie MacDonald's '' Good Night Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)''. The play premiered with Nightwood in 1988 as directed by Baņuta Rubess and was remounted in 1990. The play was the winner of Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award and

Governor General's Award The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual List of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. Th ...

, and the production as a whole was nominated for several Dora Mavor Moore awards. In 1991, Diane Roberts was appointed associate artistic director. Then in 1993,

Alisa Palmer Alisa Palmer is a Canadian theatre director and playwright. She was the artistic director of Nightwood Theatre from 1993 to 2001. Palmer is currently the artistic director of the English section of the National Theatre School of Canada. Early l ...

and Diane Roberts were appointed co-artistic directors. Palmer was appointed the sole incoming artistic director in 1995. Kelly Thornton was appointed artistic director of Nightwood Theatre in 2001, the same year Nightwood launched their play development program, Write from the Hip. In 2002, Nightwood moved their offices from the Theatre Centre to the Toronto's Distilleries district, where they still are today. The next year, Nightwood launched Hysteria: A Festival of Women with Buddies in Bad Times. The Hysteria Festival was intended to be a semi-annual and

multi-disciplinary Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several other fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology, ec ...

showcase of North American female artists. The 2003 Hysteria Festival was ten days long and featured classes and workshops in addition to performances and staged readings. Nightwood Theatre held the Consent Event in 2017, coinciding with widespread conversations around the #MeToo movement following allegations of sexual abuse against Harvey Weinstein. The event featured the premieres of two plays and the Consent Event Symposium, a community conversation and workshop about consent. The plays premiered as part of the Consent Event were Rose Napoli's ''Lo (or Dear Mr. Wells)'', which Napoli developed when she was a participant in Write from the Hip, and Ellie Moon's documentary-play, ''Asking for It''. In early 2019, it was announced that Andrea Donaldson would be taking over Thornton's role of artistic director. Donaldson's first programmed season will be 2020–21, though she officially began transitioning into the new role in March 2019. Nightwood Theatre cancelled their performances of Karen Hines' ''All the Little Animals I Have Eaten'' in keeping with Canada's guidelines surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak.

Groundswell Festival

Nightwood Theatre's Groundswell Festival of new works began in the spring of 1986 and was originally timed to coincide with International Women's Day. In 2011, Nightwood Theatre held two Groundswell Festivals, the latter of which was called The New Groundswell Festival. In a brochure published by Nightwood for the 2011 New Groundswell Festival, they wrote that "Nightwood has re-envisioned and expanded Groundswell to be A National Festival of Contemporary Women's Theatre." Since the second Groundswell of 2011, the festival has operated under the new name. The Groundswell Festival takes up approximately one third of Nightwood Theatre's budget. Many plays which have premiered or been workshopped at Groundswell have gone on to be performed as part of Nightwood Theatre's main season.

Write from the Hip

Write from the Hip or WFTH, as it is sometimes called, is Nightwood's script development program for emerging playwrights and began in 2001. Originally, Write from the Hip culminated with playwrights writing 15-minute plays, but former artistic director Kelly Thornton felt that this format did not encourage the participation of playwrights who were committed to theatre. During these early years, Write from the Hip plays were performed by actors from Nightwood's Emerging Actors Program. In the beginning, Write from the Hip was aimed at playwrights aged 19 to 29, but it is now open to participants of any age who fit Nightwood's description of "emerging playwright". Write from the Hip pieces are now featured as readings as part of the Groundswell Festival. Andrea Donaldson was Write from the Hip program director from 2014 to 2019. Donna-Michell St. Bernard replaced Donaldson as the Write from the Hip program director for the 2019–20 season. The position has previously been held by Lisa Codrington and Anna Chatterton.

Artistic directors

* Cynthia Grant (founding artistic director, until 1985) * Mary Vingoe (1985–1987), as artistic coordinator *Maureen White (1987–1988), as artistic coordinator * Kate Lushington (1988–1993), as artistic coordinator (1988–1990) *

and Diane Roberts (1993–1995) * Alisa Palmer (1995–2001) * Kelly Thornton (2001–2019) * Andrea Donaldson (2019''–''pres.)

Select performance history

*''The True Story of Ida Johnson—'' a collaborative adaptation of the novel by

Sharon Riis Sharon Riis (1947 - May 20, 2016) was a Canadian novelist, short story writer and screenwriter.

(1979) *''The Yellow Wallpaper'' ''—'' adapted from Charlotte Perkins Gilman's story '' The Yellow Wallpaper'' (1980-81 season) * ''Antigone'' ''—'' adapted from

Sophocles Sophocles (; grc, Σοφοκλῆς, , Sophoklễs; 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. is one of three ancient Greek tragedians, at least one of whose plays has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or c ...

Greek tragedy Greek tragedy is a form of theatre from Ancient Greece and Greek inhabited Anatolia. It reached its most significant form in Athens in the 5th century BC, the works of which are sometimes called Attic tragedy. Greek tragedy is widely believed t ...

Antigone In Greek mythology, Antigone ( ; Ancient Greek: Ἀντιγόνη) is the daughter of Oedipus and either his mother Jocasta or, in another variation of the myth, Euryganeia. She is a sister of Polynices, Eteocles, and Ismene.Roman, L., & R ...

'' by Patricia Keeney-Smith (1982-83 season) * ''Pope Joan —'' written by

, directed by Cynthia Grant, finalist for the Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award (1983-84 season) * ''Love and Work Enough – "A Celebration of Ontario's Pioneer Women" —'' won Dora Mavor Moore Award for Best Production in children's category (1983-84 season) * ''La Musica – "an interlude in divorce"'' ''—'' written by

Marguerite Duras Marguerite Germaine Marie Donnadieu (, 4 April 1914 – 3 March 1996), known as Marguerite Duras (), was a French novelist, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, and experimental filmmaker. Her script for the film '' Hiroshima mon amour'' (1959) e ...

(1983-84 season) * ''Re-production'' ''—'' written by Amanda Hale (1984-85 season) * ''The Edge of the Earth is Too Near, Violette Leduc'' ''—'' written by Jovette Marchessault (1984-85 season) * '' This is For You, Anna —'' created by Suzanne Khuri, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Baņuta Rubess, Maureen White, Aida Jordao and Patricia Nichol (1985-86 season) *''My Boyfriend's Back and There's Gonna Be Laundry'' ''—'' written and performed by Sandra Shamas (1986-87 season) *''Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) —'' written by Ann-Marie MacDonald, winner of Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award and

, nominated for Dora Mavor Moore awards (1987-88 season, later toured as part of 1989–90 season)MacArthur, Laura Michelle (2014)
"Re-viewing Reception: Criticism of Feminist Theatre in Montreal and Toronto, 1976 to Present" (PDF)
''library.utoronto.ca''.

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

. p. 187. *''Princess Pocahontas and the Blue Spots'' ''—'' written by Monique Mojica (1989-90 season) *''A Fertile Imagination'' ''—'' written by Susan G. Cole, directed by Kate Lushington (1990-91 season) *''dark diaspora . . . in DUB'' ''—'' written by

Ahdri Zhina Mandiela Ahdri Zhina Mandiela (born May 10, 1953) is a Toronto-based dub poet, theatre producer, and artistic director. She has gained worldwide acclaim for her books, music recordings, film, theatre and dance productions.

, directed by Mandiela and Djanet Sears (1990-91 season) *''The Wonder Quartet —'' written by

Diana Braithwaite Diana Braithwaite is a Canadian electric blues singer, songwriter and screenwriter. She is a multiple Maple Blues Awards, Maple Blues Award winner. More recently she has teamed up with Chris Whiteley and they have been acclaimed as "blues icons" ...

(1991-92 season) *''Love and Other Strange Things'' ''—'' written by Lilian Allen (1992-93 season) *''Oedipus'' ''—'' written by Ned Dickens (1993-94 season) *''Wearing the Bone'' ''—'' written by Alisa Palmer (1993-94 season) *'' Harlem Duet'' ''—'' written and directed by Djanet Sears (1996-97 season) *''The Striker'' ''—'' written by Caryl Churchill, workshop production (1997-98 season) *''Random Acts'' ''—'' written by

Diane Flacks Diane Flacks is a Canadian comedic actress, screenwriter and playwright. Early life and education Flacks was raised in the Jewish faith. Her early education took place in Jewish parochial schools. Flacks studied drama at Leah Posluns Instit ...

(1997-98 season, followed by tour) *''

One Flea Spare ''One Flea Spare'', by Naomi Wallace, is a play set in plague-ravaged 17th Century London. Synopsis A wealthy couple is preparing to flee their home when a mysterious sailor and a young girl appear sneaking into their boarded up house. Now, qu ...

—'' written by

Naomi Wallace Naomi Wallace (born 1960) is an American playwright, screenwriter and poet from Kentucky. She is widely known for her plays, and has received several distinguished awards for her work. Biography Naomi Wallace was born in Prospect, Kentucky, to ...

(1998-99 season) *''Smudge'' ''—'' written by Alex Bulmer (1999-2000 season, followed by tour) *''Anything That Moves —'' written by Ann-Marie MacDonald (lyrics and book), Alisa Palmer (book), and Allen Cole (music) (1999-2000 and 2000–01 seasons) *''

The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God ''The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God'' is a drama written and produced by Canadian playwright Djanet Sears. The production ran from October 2003-March 2004, co-produced by Obsidian Theatre and Nightwood Theatre, and was reprised in 20 ...

'' ''—'' written and directed by Djanet Sears (2001-02 season) *''The Danish Play'' ''—'' written by Sonja Mills (2002-03 season, 2004-05 tours as far as Denmark, remounted at Nightwood for 2006–07 season) *''Cast Iron —'' written by

Lisa Codrington Lisa Codrington is a Canadian character actress and playwright. She is most noted for her role as Gail on the comedy series ''Letterkenny'' and her theatrical plays ''Cast Iron'', which was a nominee for the Governor General's Award for English-la ...

(2004-05 season) *''Mathilde'' ''—'' written by Véronique Olmi and translated by Morwyn Brebner (2005-06 season) *''Bear With Me'' ''—'' written by and starring Diane Flack (2005-06 season, remounted for 2008–09 season) *'' Crave —'' written by Sarah Kane (2006-07 season) *''Age of Arousal —'' written by

Linda Griffiths Linda Pauline Griffiths (7 October 1953 – 21 September 2014) was a Canadian actress and playwright best known for writing and starring in the one woman play ''Maggie and Pierre'', in which she portrayed both Pierre Trudeau and his then-estran ...

(2007-08 season) *''Wild Dogs'' ''—'' written for the stage by Anne Hardcastle, adapted from the novel by

Helen Humphreys Helen Humphreys (born March 29, 1961) is a Canadian poet and novelist. Personal life Humphreys was born in Kingston-on-Thames, England. Her brother Martin and sister Cathy were born after the family moved to Canada. She now lives in Kingsto ...

(2008-09 season) *''

Yellowman Winston Foster , better known by the stage name Yellowman, is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall deejay, also known as King Yellowman. He first became popular in Jamaica in the 1980s, rising to prominence with a series of singles that established ...

'' ''—'' written by

Dael Orlandersmith Dael Orlandersmith (born Donna Brown, 1960–) is an American actress, poet and playwright. She is known for her Obie Award-winning ''Beauty's Daughter'' and the 2002 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Drama, ''Yellowman (play), Yellowman''. Early life Or ...

(2009-10 season) *''That Face'' ''—'' written by Polly Stenham (2009-10 season) * ''Ruined'' ''—'' written by Lynn Nottage and directed by Philip Akin (2010-11 season) *''The List'' ''—'' written by Jennifer Tremblay and translated by Shelley Tepperman (2010-11 season) *''Stockholm'' ''—'' written by

Bryony Lavery Bryony Lavery (born 1947) is a British dramatist, known for her successful and award-winning 1998 play '' Frozen''. In addition to her work in theatre, she has also written for television and radio. She has written books including the biography ...

(2011-12 season) *''

The Penelopiad ''The Penelopiad'' is a novella by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. It was published in 2005 as part of the first set of books in the ''Canongate Myth Series'' where contemporary authors rewrite ancient myths. In ''The Penelopiad'', Penelope remi ...

'' ''—'' written by Margaret Atwood (2011–12 and 2012–13 seasons) *''The Carousel —'' written by Jennifer Tremblay and translated by Shelley Tepperman (2013-14 season) *''Free Outgoing'' ''—'' written by Anupama Chandrasekhar (2013-14 season) *''Nirbhaya'' ''—'' written and directed by

Yaël Farber Yaël Farber is a South African director and playwright. Early life Farber was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1971. Books ''Molora'' was published by Oberon Books in 2008 . Genre drama. Farber wrote the book as an Ancient Greek type ...

(2015-16 season) *''The Public Servant'' ''—'' written by

Jennifer Brewin Jennifer Brewin is a Canadian writer, director, and artistic director. She is known for co-creating ''The Attic, the Pearls and Three Fine Girls'' and her other work with Common Boots Theatre, formerly known as Theatre Columbus and the Caravan F ...

, Haley McGee, Sarah McVie and Amy Rutherford (2015-16 season) *''Refuge'' ''—'' written by Mary Vingoe (2015-16 season) * ''Quiver —'' written and performed by

Anna Chatterton Anna Chatterton is a Canadian playwright,"Chatterton, Anna"
''Canadian Theatre Encyclo ...

(2016-17 season) * '' Mouthpiece —'' created and performed by Amy Nostbakken and Norah Sadava (2016-17 season, re-mounted for 2017/18 season) * ''Unholy'' ''—'' written and performed by Diane Flacks (2016-17 season, re-staged for 2018–19 season) * ''Asking For It'' ''—'' written by Ellie Moon (2017-18 season) *''Lo (or Dear Mr. Wells'') ''—'' written by Rose Napoli (2017-18 season) * ''7th Cousins —'' written and performed by Christine Brubaker and Erin Brubacher (2017-18 season) * ''Inner Elder'' ''—'' written by

Michelle Thrush Michelle Thrush (born February 6, 1967) is a Canadian actress and First Nations activist for Aboriginal Canadians and the other Indigenous peoples of the Americas. She is best known for her leading role as Gail Stoney in '' Blackstone'', for which ...

(2018-19 season) * ''School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play'' ''—'' written by Jocelyn Bioh (2018-19 season) *''All the Little Animals I Have Eaten'' ''—'' written and directed by Karen Hines (2019-20 season, cancelled due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

)

Notable performers

* Megan Follows *

- nominated for Dora Mavor Moore Award for Featured Male Performance for performance in ''The Edge of the Earth is Too Near, Violette Leduc'' * Kate Hennig - won a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female in a Principal Role – Play (Large Theatre) in ''The Danish Play'' (2003) * Christine Horne

References

External links

Nightwood Theatre website
{{Authority control Theatre companies in Toronto Women in theatre 1979 establishments in Ontario Feminist theatre Second-wave feminism