Digital Theatre Streamed Direct to Classrooms
Originally posted November 2022
This post is sponsored by Roseneath Theatre
Roseneath Theatre is offering three digital theatre pieces for middle school and high school audiences. Roseneath is a professional theatre company based in Toronto delivering artistically excellent original Canadian productions that engage and inspire young audiences since 1983. Our plays address provocative issues relevant to today’s youth encouraging them to reflect on themselves and their place within the community.
“We wanted to explore what artists wanted to say to young people right now, in the aftermath of the pandemic” says Roseneath’s Artistic Director Andrew Lamb, “so we commissioned artists who had toured into schools with us in the past to develop short digital plays called Roseneath Live Streams”. This initiative has been supported by the Ontario Trillium Foundation and the Canada Council for the Arts and specifically engaged artists who are Indigenous, Black and people of colour.
“The pandemic has been very hard on the mental wellness of young people,” says Lamb, “especially for teens with so much not being allowed to happen in person for these formative years. Roseneath Live Streams reflect elements of these challenges and opens conversations with our audiences.”
Roseneath Live Streams come with a virtual talkback with the artists via video conference and the plays include show specific study guides with activities to further educational conversations.
Never Get In Your Own Way
This piece by Indigenous creator Brendan Chandler follows an online influencer who is offering their advice through social media. Students will be able to reflect on their lives in person and online and consider how they are different online than in real life, and how this impacts their mental health.
Like We Used To
This play by Mina James is a Zoom call between two teenage friends who grew apart at the beginning of the pandemic. We begin to discover how things written online months earlier have actually shifted what used to be a best friend relationship. Students will be able to reflect on what they say online and how this can affect other’s mental health.
Mischief
This piece by Indigenous playwright and director Lisa Nasson looks at the statue of Sir Edward Cornwallis in downtown Halifax and what it represents to the Mi’kmaq in her home province of Nova Scotia. With news around residential schools over the last few years, students have been reflecting on truth and reconciliation, and have been able to reflect on what this means for settlers and the land moving forward. Mischief adds to this by having audiences consider the movement to take down settler statues in towns and cities across the country.
Roseneath Live Streams are available anywhere in Canada throughout the 2022-23 school year.
For more information about Roseneath Live Streams, including video trailers, please visit https://www.roseneath.ca/live-streams or email Rachel Marks at education@roseneath.ca. Roseneath is also able to offer ASL interpretation for these pieces and our talkbacks, so please indicate you would like this access point for your class at time of booking.