We came to Toronto in 1982, having both lived in British Columbia for about seven years. Ron wrote plays and Judith exhibited paintings. We also produced our art magazine, Artword Artists Forum.

In Toronto, in 1999, we did a very ambitious thing. Without any institutional funding, we decided to build a theatre similar in scale and ambition to Theatre Passe Muraille or Tarragon Theatre. We built it with great assistance from our landlords, three brothers from Pakistan. One brother told us that they wanted to help us because he knew that we worked to benefit others, not just ourselves. These were Muslim principles. And “we worked as hard as they did.”

We built a 150-seat theatre and a 60-seat alternative space. The Main Space had soft comfortable seats, rescued from a cinema that was being torn down, and a sprung stage beloved of dancers. The 70′ x 15′ lobby had sixteen-foot ceilings, and we turned it into a magnificent gallery space.

Judith was on site during the renovation, functioning as the General Contractor, and supervising the construction. When it was all finished, she was the Managing Director. We had two wonderful Technical Directors, Leyla Tshongo and Jason Golinski. They were always able to get excellent technicians, because Judith insisted on paying them the going rate before they went home.

To pay our bills, we relied on renting our spaces to theatre companies, who had difficulty finding theatre space in Toronto. Independent contemporary dancers and dance companies loved our space. In particular, the vibrant Black Dance scene found a home at Artword.

Our programming was what is now called “diverse”, but which we considered “normal”. In addition to the dance companies, we hosted Jean and Dinah from Trinidad, the Indian drama Umrao, Mogwana from Botswana, M’bemba Bangoura from Guinea. Native Earth Theatre brought Tales of an Urban Indian and Paul Thompson directed The Artshow, a play about Daphne Odjig. There were seven plays by the AfriCan Theatre Ensemble at Artword Theatre. Ron was the resident director of that company for four years, directing four African plays, culminating in a collective creation, Market of Tales.

We always knew, however, that our landlords intended to sell the property. We had about seven good years, but in 2006 our building was sold.