Touchstone Theatre

Touchstone Theatre is a professional theatre company in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, led by Artistic Director Katrina Dunn. It was founded in 1976 by a group of University of British Columbia theatre graduates.

The company’s mandate is as follows: “Touchstone Theatre exists to develop and present professional Canadian theatrical productions. It encourages explorations in content and form, and introduces new works to the public. Touchstone stimulates and develops public interest in an evolving Canadian cultural perspective.”

Touchstone's all-Canadian mandate has helped launch and develop some of the country's most important playwrights and actors, and its substantial body of work has garnered over 50 awards locally and nationally including several Jessie Awards in 2007.

Over the years, most of Touchstone's activities have fallen into one of the following three categories: premiere productions of plays by local playwrights, second productions of important plays premiered in other regions of Canada, and innovative collective creations developed within the company. Within each category Touchstone has explored a wide variety of styles and always stayed true to the exploratory and celebratory spirit of the company. Former Artistic Directors have included Gordon McCall, John Cooper and Roy Surette.

Since Katrina Dunn succeeded Roy Surette as Artistic Director in 1997/1998, the level of activity at the company has increased and several new programs have been implemented. A Playwright in Residence program has stepped up the company's commitment to developing new work and given rise to plays such as Kevin Kerr's Governor General's Award-Winning Unity (1918). In 2003 she made Touchstone a co-founder, with Norman Armour and Rumble Productions, of the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, which has gone on to become one of the city's most important cultural events.

Now in its fourth decade of production Touchstone’s purely Canadian focus makes it unique in its region, and its reputation for excellence has earned the respect of audience, critics and colleagues.

Chronology of Plays

*1976/1977
**"The Exception & the Rule" by Bertolt Brecht
**"The Farce of Pierre Patelin" by Anonymous
**"King Stag" by Carlo Gozzi

*1977/1978
**"Faces in the Fast Lane" A collective creation
**"Broken Dolls" A collective creation
**"Gullband" by Susan Musgrave

*1978/1979
**"The Unseen Hand" by Sam Shepard
**"Hot Rods & Heavy Water" by Michael Puttonen
**"Angel City" by Sam Shepard

*1979/1980
**"HIGHBALL!" by Ronald Weihs

*1980/1981
**"Revenge" by Howard Brenton
**"Games" by Ivan Klima

*1981/1982
**"The Man Himself" by Alan Drury
**"The Crackwalker" by Judith Thompson

*1982/1983
**"The Wolf Boy" by Brad Fraser
**"Clay" by Lawrence Jeffery

*1983/1984
**"Children of the Night" by Paul Ledoux
**"Checkin’ Out" by Kelly Rebar

*1984/1985
**"Sex Tips for Modern Girls" A collective creation
**"White Biting Dog" by Judith Thompson

*1985/1986
**"Going Down for the Count" by Peter Eliot Weiss
**"El Crocodor" A collective creation
**"Nancy Prew: Clue in the Fast Lane"

*1986/1987
**"Life Skills" by David King
**"Farther West" by Roy Surette

*1987/1988
**"Red Channels" by Jennifer Martin & Leslie Mildiner
**"Zaydok" by Dennis Foon
**"Three Penny Opera" by Bertolt Brecht & Kurt Weill

*1988/1989
**"Bones" by Peter Anderson
**"Toronto, Mississippi" by Joan MacLeod
**"Jewel" by Joan Macleod
**"Lost Souls & Missing Persons" by Sally Clark

*1989/1990
**"Where is Kabuki?" by Don Druik
**"Homework & Curtains" by John Lazarus
**"Local Colour" by David King

*1990/1991
**"The Invisible Detective" by Peter Eliot Weiss with song by Ken MacDonald and Morris Panych
**"Unidentified Human Remains & The True Nature of Love" by Brad Fraser

*1991/1992
**"Lion in the Streets" by Judith Thompson
**"A Map of Senses" by Gordon Amstrong

*1992/1993
**"The Number 14" A collective creation
**"The Hope Slide" by Joan MacLeod
**"Iceberg Lettuce" by Katherine Schlemmer

*1993/1994
**"Whale Riding Weather" by Bryden MacDonald
**"Lilies" by Michel Marc Bouchard
**"WAK!" by Sheri-D Wilson and Savannah Walling

*1994/1995
**"The Visit" by Friedrich Durrenmatt
**"The Erotic Art Show" by Kathryn Allison

*1995/1996
**"When We Were Singing" by Dorothy Dittrich
**"The Orphan Muses" by Michel Marc Bouchard

*1996/1997
**"Sex in Heaven" by Gordon Armstrong
**"Sled" by Judith Thompson
**"Boy Wonder" (In partnership with Ballet British Columbia and Vancouver New Music)

*1997/1998
**"The Weekend Healer" by Bryden MacDonald
**"Grace" by Michael Lewis MacLennan

*1998/1999
**"The Good Person of Setzuan" by Bertolt Brecht, Marguerite Steffin and Ruth Berlau
**"Passion" by Conrad Alexandrowicz
**"Cherry Docs" by David Gow

*1999/2000
**"It’s All True" by Jason Sherman
**"Je me souviens" by Lorena Gale
**"15 Seconds" by François Archambault

*2000/2001
**"Kilt" by Jonathan Wilson
**"Kicked" by Michael Healey
**"Unity(1918)" by Kevin Kerr

*2001/2002
**"Sucker Falls" by Drew Hayden Taylor
**"Emphysema" by Janet Munsil
**"Hosanna" by Michel Tremblay

*2002/2003
**"Lisa Lisa" by Rick Dobran
**"Apple" by Vern Thiessen
**"The Family Way" by Kathleen Oliver

*2003/2004
**"Unity(1918)" by Kevin Kerr
**"The League of Nathans" by Jason Sherman

*2004/2005
**"Strawberries in January" by Evelyne de la Chenelière
**"The Trigger" by Carmen Aguirre

*2005/2006
**"Little Mercy’s First Murder" Book & Lyrics by Morwyn Brebner, Music by Jay Turvey and Paul Sportelli
**"Prodigal Son" by Shawn Macdonald

*2006/2007
**"Life After God" by Michael Lewis MacLennan
**"Hippies and Bolsheviks" by Amiel Gladstone

[http://www.touchstonetheatre.com/aboutus/archives.htm Touchstone Theatre Archives]

Touchstone Training

In order to support Touchstone’s theatre projects, the company also provides performance skills training to the legal profession. Advocacy Skills: The Power of Performance is a workshop designed to teach lawyers how to be more natural, believable and self-possessed and to implement simple, concrete techniques that will maximize their natural expressiveness. These skills will enhance the performance of all lawyers at trial, in mediation, in arbitration and in legal arguments in general. The training enables lawyers to take their cases beyond the traditional approach to trial advocacy and give them the critical persuasive edge. The emphasis is on individual participation and learning-through-doing in a safe and relaxed atmosphere. [http://www.touchstonetheatre.com/training.htm Touchstone Training]

References

* [http://www.touchstonetheatre.com Touchstone Theatre Website]