For any company, 50 years of operation is a monumental feat. For a theatre company, it’s even more so.
But Persephone Theatre has reached that milestone, and the 50th season is in full swing.
Persephone Theatre’s current artistic director Heather Cant spoke with PodSask about putting together a big anniversary season, and the future of the company.
PodSask: What kind of considerations go into programming a big anniversary season like this?
Heather Cant: We want it to have that celebratory feel to it. And there’s an expectation for what that looks like. So in choosing this season I really tried to select shows that honoured Persephone’s history and origins and honoured where it came from, but at the same time what it’s grown into during those five decades and projecting who we might grow into as time moves on. So, finding shows that maybe feel reminiscent of shows audiences have loved in the past without necessarily bringing anything back. I did think long and hard about programming something from our past … but I’m really pleased with where we’ve ended up.
PS: On both the main stage and in the Youth Series, you have plays by local playwrights. Why make that call?
HC: That part was really important to me. Persephone’s first season had new work in it by a Saskatchewan playwright, Cruel Tears by Ken Mitchell, and I really felt it was important for us to include new work as part of the anniversary season. New work goes on its own trajectory – it’s ready when it’s ready – but as it happens we had two local writers, Jenna Berenbaum and S.E. Grummett, who both had new works ready for this time period. That was really fantastic for me. I’m really excited to premiere two new works by Saskatoon artists this season.
PS: When you’re looking back on 50 years of history, how would you characterize this company over it’s history?
HC: Persephone Theatre was founded as a regional theatre, in a time when regional theatres were being founded across Canada. One of the reasons Brian (Richmond) and Susan (Wright) and Janet (Wright) chose Saskatoon was because it was one of the remaining large cities in Canada that did not yet have a regional theatre. So it was always intended, with that ambition, that it was a theatre that had a broad sense of programming that did classics — they did Ibsen in the first year — but also did a new play. So they always tried to have that breadth in mind in the early days, and artistic directors throughout the years have continued to honour that founding sentiment that Saskatoon and Saskatchewan needed a theatre that could attempt to serve the community in its breadth as a whole.
We do a little bit of everything, because artistic taste is subjective. You’re never going to find plays that are universally adored. There’s always someone out there who’s not going to like it. But regional theatre sentiment, and that’s definitely Persephone’s roots, is to attempt to provide an artistic experience that recognizes the diversity of the community by providing diverse programming.
PS: Was there a theme in the celebratory 50th season?
HC: Each of the plays in this season have been chosen because they reflect on that sense of belonging, of community, of family … and I’ve done that intentionally. We’re spending this whole season reflecting on this community that surrounds us, because Persephone didn’t get to this milestone by ourselves. A lot of people have been involved in this organization over the last 50 years, whether it’s staff, the board, volunteers, the artists, the patrons … so I wanted this program to reflect that, the people in our lives that make it possible for us to keep going and grow into the best version of ourselves.
PS: So what are your hopes for Persephone Theatre over the next three, five, 10, 50 years?
HC: What I hope will continue for Persephone is that the community will continue to support this organization and this theatre, to come to the shows here and value the contribution arts organizations make to the community and how they enrich our lives, and to show up and support those organizations — whether it’s Persephone or any of the other professional and community organizations in town. Doing this work is hard, and there are lots of companies that get started that never make this kind of milestone because it’s hard. And we can’t do it alone. We need the community to walk alongside us for that entire journey.
I hope over the next 50 years that the people who choose to cultivate relationships with us, to walk alongside us, to get their hands dirty and continue growing a big garden of arts. We’ve got room for everybody.
This interview has been edited for length and for clarity.
