About Us:
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Artword
is a theatre company currently in Hamilton and formerly in
Toronto.
Artword Theatre focusses on ensemble approaches that mix
music, text and the visual.
Artword is committed to fostering the development and
performance of theatre, music, dance and multi-media works.
From 1999 to 2006, in downtown
Toronto, Artword also operated a 150-seat performance space
(Artword Theatre), a 60-seat performance space (Artword
Alternative), and Artword Gallery, a 1500 square-foot
exhibition space.
In 2007, Artword Theatre relocated to Hamilton, Ontario,
where we continue to create and produce, and tour theatre.
Artistic Director is Ronald Weihs and Managing Director is
Judith Sandiford.
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Ronald Weihs, Artistic
Director of Artword Theatre, is a playwright and director.
He studied English Language and Literature at Victoria
College, University of Toronto, where he wrote his first
play, Moira, a musical. He spent a year (1972-73) as
a member of the Toronto Workshop Productions company,
directed by George Luscombe. In 1975 he moved to British
Columbia and toured with the Caravan Stage Company, writing
the script for Hands Up: The Bill Miner Story (1977).
In 1980, he wrote and directed Highball!, a musical
play about logging, for Touchstone Theatre. In 1981, he
co-founded Island Stage Theatrical Company in Duncan, BC,
restaged Highball!, and took it on tour to logging
communities.
In 1982,
he returned to Toronto to write The Wobbly with
George Luscombe (1982 and 1983). In 1983, he went back to BC
to work on the new version of Hands Up!, directed by
Richard Pochinko, which toured Washington, Oregon and
California. That same year, he went to Arctic Quebec where
he conducted a 10-week theatre workshop for Inuit actors and
directed an original collective play. In 1985, he directed
Ida Carnevale in Temptonga, presented at the Canada
Pavilion at Expo '86 in Vancouver, and remounted in Toronto
in 1987. In the late 80s, his musical comedy The
Resurrection of Henry Ford was selected by The Writers
Theater of New York City for workshop development. His clown
musical, The Beavers, was produced in 1987 by Theatre
Resource Centre, directed by Richard Pochinko, and in 1990
by Native Earth and Theatre Resource Centre, directed by
Tomson Highway.
In
1993, together with his partner Judith Sandiford, he founded
Artword Theatre. From 1993 to 1998, Artword operated a
60-seat studio theatre at 81 Portland Street, Toronto. In
1998, he and his partner Judith Sandiford renovated a former
factory next door at 75 Portland and created three arts
spaces: a
150-seat performance space, a 60-seat studio theatre and a
1500 sq.ft. art gallery. The new facility opened in April
1999. From 1999 to 2006 (when the landlord sold the building
to a condo developer), Artword was vital to the Toronto arts
scene. The facility was home to many theatre and dance
companies as well as providing a venue for music and an
exhibition space for visual artists. It was also the home
base for all Artwords productions.
Productions written and
directed for Artword since 1993:
In 1994, Weihs directed Mama Says You Are What You
Do, a play that he wrote based on interviews with
working people. He wrote and directed me2
(1994), an evening of two short plays adapted from stories
by Alberto Moravia, and a stage adaptation of
Chaucers Troilus and Criseyde (1995). In 1996,
he created a dance piece Echo and Narcissus (1996),
in collaboration with dancers Hedy Minten and Michael
DuMaresq. In 1997, he wrote and directed Whoever You
Are, based on a story by famed science fiction writer
Judith Merril. In 2002 he wrote and directed the musical
Toronto The Good (2002), based on life in Toronto in
1895. In 2003 he wrote and directed Sur, an
adaptation of a story by Ursula K. LeGuin.
Weihs
also directed Charly Chiarellis two Sicilian plays
CuFu (1999, 2001) and Mangiacake (2001,
2002), both of which were filmed for Bravo Television. He
dramaturged and directed Allan Merovitzs If Cows
Could Fly (2000, 2001, 2008).
From
2004 to 2006 he was AfriCan Theatre Ensembles Resident
Director, and directed their productions of Death and the
Kings Horseman by Nigerian Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka
(May 2004), Toronto writer/performer Donald Carrs
The Full Nelson (February 2005) and Egyptian author
Tawfik al-Hakims comedy Fate of a Cockroach
(April 2005). He also directed their November 2004
Soirée and conducted numerous training workshops in
ensemble performance. He dramaturged and directed a new work
Market of Tales (November 2005) with the AfriCan
Theatre Ensemble at Artword Theatre.
His new
play The Gambler, based on the Fyodor Dostoevsky
novel, was mounted by Beggarly Theatre and directed by Molly
Thom at Artword Theatre in January-February 2006. This was
the final production at Artwords 75 Portland
premises.
Artword
Theatre, from a technical point of view, is in storage (as
of spring 2006). Artistically speaking, we are currently
very active in seeking out new directions and new
opportunities, as we carry out the exciting process of
reimagining ourselves.
In 2007,
Artword developed a new theatrical work Ghost Ship,
directed and dramaturged by Weihs. In 2008 Weihs directed
and played fiddle in Artword's remount of Allan Merovitz's
If Cows Could Fly, in Hamilton and a three-week run
in Ottawa.
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Judith Sandiford is
managing director of Artword Theatre and curator of Artword
Gallery. She is also a visual artist and a theatre designer.
She has worked on all productions, concerts and events
produced by Artword Theatre from 1993 to the present. She
has functioned as producer, graphic artist, lighting
designer, technician, scenic painter and stage manager.
As
designer, she has done set and some lighting design for the
following Artword productions: Market of Tales (Nov
ember 2005), Fate of a Cockroach (April 2005) The
Full Nelson (February 2005), Death and the Kings
Horseman (2004), Sur (2003), the musical
Toronto The Good (2002), CuFu?
(1996-2002), Mangiacake! (2001-2002), Whoever You
Are (1998), Echo and Narcissus (1997),
Chaucers Troilus and Criseyde (1996), and
me2 (1995).
She has
also designed for dance: Fire, Air, Earth, Water
(2002 and 2004) and Onibaba (2002) two collaborations
with choreographer/ dancer Meiko Ando, and two works for
choreographer Michael DuMaresq, "and in this room"
(2002), and Dancing Barefoot with Patti, all
produced at Artword. She wrote the libretto for the opera
Heloise (based on the 12th C. text The Letters of
Abelard and Heloise), with music composed by William
Beauvais.More recently, she scripted Artword's 2007 project
Ghost Ship, based on the migrations of Senegalese to
Spain.
As a
visual artist, Judith Sandiford produced a body of
large-scale multi-panel paintings and drawings based on
energy, instability and transformation, ideas from physics
and cosmology (from 1984 to 1996). From 1988 to 1995, she
was actively involved in running Workscene Gallery, an
artist's collective on Queen Street West, and had a number
of solo shows there. She also exhibited at Open Studio and
at Blackwood Gallery (U of T Erindale College), and since
1995, had various exhibitions at Artword Gallery. She was
founding editor of Artword Magazine (formerly
WorkSeen), a magazine for and by artists, and edited
and wrote for the magazines 23 issues from 1989 to
1996.
She has
curated all exhibitions in Artword Gallery from 1993 to the
present. She and Ronald have also built up the Artword
Collection of artworks purchased from exhibitions at Artword
and from our artist friends.
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