It’s not enough that Sum Theatre’s Theatre in the Park had to break the mold by performing outside. Now they’ve added puppets, live music, audience participation and more.
It’s a formula that has spelled success for the theatre company over the years. Sum Theatre’s newest show titled wâhkôhtowin opens on Friday, March 6th. It marks 10 years of Theatre in the Park gracing the grassy outdoor stages of Saskatoon and nearby communities.
Laura Negraeff, one of Sum Theatre’s artistic associates and the co-director of wâhkôhtowin, said the company’s extended success is at least in part thanks to the stories it tells.
“In the communities that are watching it, it’s stories that are real to their life,” she said. “I think that’s one of the biggest things — people can connect with it.”
According to Sum Theatre’s website, the company was started by Joel Bernbaum in 2012. The first Theatre in the Park came from the idea to create professional theatre for the community that wasn’t interested or used to going to a theatre.
The company has had numerous contributors from in and around the artistic community in Saskatchewan since its inception a decade ago.
Krystle Pederson, another Sum Theatre artistic associate and one of the performers in wâhkôhtowin, said Sum’s ability to get outside the confines of a professional theatre helps the company stand out.
“We’re not limited to having a black box to fit our shows,” Pederson said. “The sky’s the limit when you have all of outside, all of the whole city, to play with.”
Sum Theatre’s newest production, wâhkôhtowin, continues that tradition of thinking outside the box — both literally and metaphorically.
wâhkôhtowin was written as a collaboration among Sum Theatre’s artistic team. While brainstorming themes for the show, Negraeff said there was a core idea they kept returning to: connection.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced people to find new and creative ways to connect. As Pederson puts it, wâhkôhtowin is about exploring the best and hardest parts of connecting with each other.
“There’s been a bit of a separation. People have struggled to connect, struggled to be together,” she said. “What happens when connections break … and how do we start to fix or mend those broken connections?”
wâhkôhtowin will run in Saskatoon from May 6 to June 3, and in Regina from June 5 to 12. And this year, Theatre in the Park will be coming to communities including Prince Albert, La Ronge, Stanley Mission and Waskesiu from June 15 to 18.
Through Sum Theatre’s colourful costumes, exciting puppetry and original music, the company has another family-friendly show ready to bring to Saskatchewan.
At the end of every Theatre in the Park show, both Negraeff and Pederson said Sum Theatre has historically encouraged people to meet someone new and shake their hand.
The COVID-19 pandemic put a damper on that — among many other things — for the company, but Negraeff hopes wâhkôhtowin can be a new connection between Sum Theatre and the community after 10 years of success.
“The wâhkôhtowin word means (in Cree) ‘all my relations,’” Negraeff said. “Not just the humans, but connections to land, the air, the water … the show explores that in some creative ways.”
wâhkôhtowin, a production by Sum Theatre, opens in Saskatoon at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 6 at Chief Darcy Bear Park. You can find a full list of park venues and show times on Sum Theatre’s website.
