A Note From Artistic Producer, Heather Inglis

In March of this year, Workshop West moved into the well-known performance venue at 8529 Gateway Boulevard, now renamed the Gateway Theatre. We’re thrilled to be the new management of this well-loved Edmonton performance venue that has been operated by Catalyst Theatre before Theatre Network. The move marked the first time in Workshop West’s 43-year history that it has ever operated its own autonomous performance venue.

As we prepared for the move, I had a moment alone in the empty theatre that was about to become our new home. The only light came from a few faltering fluorescent fixtures which cast eerie shadows over a silent and empty space. A single chair sat in the middle of the large black room.

In that moment I could feel the history of the space. I could feel all those who had occupied the theatre before us. I could feel actors, audiences, administrators, and technicians. I could feel all stories told here and the ghosts those stories had conjured. I could feel all those swooping moments of connection when word and performance and audience become one - and for a few moments, everyone transcends themselves. I could feel the history of Workshop West — the beginnings back in Gerry Potter’s apartment and the many, many plays that followed. And I could glimpse Workshop West’s future, the new possibilities that will come with the company having its own venue to develop, promote, steward, and showcase local artists.

This year marked a series of accomplishments I’m immensely proud of.

We produced the World Premieres of two new Canadian works, Metronome by the prolific playwright/musician/performer and drag artist, Darrin Hagen in October and in May followed it with Tell Us What Happened by a young newcomer to Edmonton’s theatre scene, Michelle Robb. It marked her first professional production. These two playwrights, one established and one emerging, represent two kinds of relationships I value and want to continue to foster as Artistic Producer of Workshop West. In Edmonton writing, creating and self-starting is a way of life and we are blessed to have a wealth of creators to draw from. The work is here and has always been here, and it is my immense privilege to provide a platform for playwrights from a diversity of backgrounds to tell the stories of our city.

To that end, we brought back the Springboards new Play Festival. This festival of new plays celebrated more than twenty local playwrights with works that range from those just coming into being to those on their final laps of development before production. It’s an offering that will return next year because I believe Springboards is at the core of the work Workshop West does. It’s a sort of crystalline expression of the possibilities that transpire when audiences and artists acknowledge the power of the creation process together.

Finally, we closed the season with The Shoe Project, an initiative close to my heart that gives voice to the stories of immigrant and refugee women. What a privilege to share space with women from all over the world and allow audiences to see and hear their stories. As I walk through the performance space at the Gateway now, there are risers and lights, a sound system, chairs, curtains, and technical gear thanks to the generosity of so, so many of our sister theatres, partners, donors, and community members. I can’t help but think of the courage of The Shoe Project participants. The courage they had in telling their stories, taking their light and sharing their lived experiences, accomplishments, courage, and perseverance. It’s a courage I take with me as I look to the future – a courage at the heart of what I think makes theatre theatre.

After a pause between October and March, The Gateway Theatre is alive once more. There are desks, books and paintings, the walls have been repainted, and the lobby renovated. There are artists and technicians and administrators busily buzzing through the space making art happen. But all the while the whispers that has come from before dance on the periphery.

Workshop West Playwrights’ Theatre has opened a new chapter. We are ready. We can’t wait to share all that we have in store for next season and the future.

See you at the Gateway,

- Heather