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The
history of Black Theatre Canada, while its ten years may seem young
to most, has been fraught with obstacles that would contribute to
the quick death of most community organizations. Canada's first
and oldest professional Black theatre company was born in Toronto
in 1973. Its survival has hinged upon the dedication and commitment
of its founder and administrative/artistic director, Vera Cudjoe,
notwithstanding the support of both Toronto's Black and white communities.
Vera
Cudjoe
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Born
in Trinidad, Cudjoe emigrated to England in 1955 where she was trained
as a nurse and midwife. At the same time she studied acting, music
and dance as a hobby and performed in amateur productions. On December
13, 1960 she came to Canada to pursue her nursing career and was
employed at Toronto General Hospital for one and a half years, until
disillusionment with Canada's nursing system forced her to leave
the profession.
Determined
to use her voice professionally, Cudjoe enrolled in radio and television
arts at Ryerson Polytechnic Institute in Toronto, where she studied
for two years, working towards her new career as a radio announcer.
Lack of funds caused her to drop her studies before completion of
the program whereupon she took up private nursing, selling mutual
funds and part-time acting to support herself.
Employment
opportunities for Black actors in Toronto during the late 1960s,
although discouraging, did provide the occasional bit parts, walk-ons
and radio spots for those struggling to practise their craft. Very
few plays written by Blacks were being produced, and fewer still
had major roles requiring the casting of Black actors.
Cudjoe,
like many other Black actors working in Toronto at the time, had
a career checkered with occasional small roles, non-acting jobs
and unemployment. By 1970 the situation had worsened. Up until that
time actors were free to conduct their job searches by dealing with
numerous casting agencies and potential employers of their own choice.
After the franchising of agencies, actors were restricted to being
represented by only one agency, thereby limiting their chances of
employment to only those advertisers with whom their agency dealt.
Moreover,
the situation was compounded by the agents who would not recommend
or promote Black actors for parts during casting searches by advertisers
unless visible minorities were specifically requested, even though
all specified physical and talent requirements could be met.
It
was an unwritten agreement - whites were preferred. As a result
of investigations by the Ontario Human Rights Commission, these
practices were dealt with at length in the Elgin Report of 1971.
Cudjoe
continued to attend acting and other related workshops at theatre
schools in Toronto. During 1972 she was unemployed - opportunities
seemed to have dried up.
Following
a summer workshop with George Liscomb of Toronto Workshop Productions,
when she failed to be cast for a future production, Cudjoe jokingly
commented that she should start her own theatre company. It was
not long afterwards that colleagues encouraged her to pursue this
as a serious endeavour; and so, with no funds, but much enthusiasm,
Black Theatre Canada was launched.
Cudjoe's
advisor and mentor over the next few years was founder and director
of the Buffalo Black Drama Workshop, Ed Smith. Smith's familiarity
with Toronto's theatre scene and valuable experience in the running
of a professional company led to numerous meetings in Toronto and
Buffalo between November 1972 and June 1973, during which the groundwork
was laid for Toronto's own Black theatre troupe.
At
a meeting with some of the city's well-respected, professional,
Black performers in January 1973, an invitation was extended to
them to become involved with the new company.
However,
commitment to the project was not forthcoming from those who attended,
and arguments were raised concerning the necessity of owning a theatre
house. Cudjoe, citing the example of the many other fledgling theatre
companies who worked out of garages, churches and warehouses, did
not consider it a major obstacle.
Nevertheless,
the complacent reaction on the part of these Black professionals
was disappointing and thrust the onus of developing a Black company
on Cudjoe's shoulders alone.
Her
original intention was to establish some type of workshop where
she and other Black actors could practise their profession, expand
their skills and exchange their professional expertise. Little time
passed, however, before Black Theatre Canada was hosting its first
production, Who's Got His Own, by Ron Milner, which was performed
by the Buffalo Black Drama Workshop for one night only to an audience
of 300 people at the Unitarian Church on St. Clair Avenue West,
March 24, 1973. The encouraging response further convinced Cudjoe
of the necessity of pursuing the project.
The
next three months were spent doing the necessary bookwork to incorporate
the new company. As the new artistic director described it: "I had
no knowledge of how to start, I had not done theatre administration
or been to a formal theatre school as such. Very naively, I went
about asking questions from whomever I could about what had to be
done." The skills of keeping accounts, applying for grants and learning
how to write proposals were acquired on the job.
June
Faulkner of Toronto Workshop Productions assisted with the technicalities
of incorporating the company and setting up a board of directors.
The first board was composed of, among others, novelist Austin Clark,
choreographer Len Gibson and Alderman Ying Hope.
On
October 9, 1973 the company was officially incorporated as Black
Youth Folk Theatre after the provincial Department of Consumer and
Corporate Affairs refused permission for the use of the more commonly
recognized title. Objections were raised by the department at the
time concerning the use of a similar name by some other theatre
group (although none existed), so the company to this day uses its
official title for legal and business matters, while promotion is
carried on under the name of Black Theatre Canada (BTC).
As
a cultural pioneer, Black Theatre Canada's primary aim is to share
the culture of Black people with the larger community. Working out
of offices rented from the City of Toronto at 13 Madison Avenue,
the organization ran its first series of youth workshops in the
summer of 1973, drawing on the talents of a team of professional
instructors which included: Jeff Henry, actor and professor with
York University's Theatre Arts Program and former instructor at
the National Theatre School; Daniel Caudeiron, writer, director
and associate producer of MTV'S "Black World" television program;
Len Gibson, dancer, choreographer and founder-director of his own
school and D'Arcy McHayle, actor and choreographer.
The
workshops employed Black youth in a theatre training environment
where they learned acting, dancing, drumming, voice and studied
the work of Black writers, poets and playwrights. Some of those
attending these early workshops later acted in BTC productions and
pursued careers as professional actors.
From
February 7-24, 1974 Black Theatre Canada staged its very first production,
Malfinis, at the Old Church Theatre in Bathurst Street United
Church (now known as Bathurst Street Theatre).
Written
by Roderick Walcott, the play, about three men who are being tried
in purgatory for the murder of a young boy, won drama awards in
both Jamaica and St. Lucia in 1960 and 1962. With the assistance
of $12,000 in grants from Canada Council, Local Initiative Projects,
Ontario Arts Council, Atkinson Charitable Foundation and Imperial
Oil, a staff of seventeen was employed receiving salaries ranging
from $50 to $100 per week.
Limited
grants necessitated the trimming of the project to accommodate only
two Equity actors, Arden Best and Abbott Anderson, while amateurs
from the community were relied upon for the supporting cast. Tickets
to the performance were sold for $2 to adults and $1 to children.
Malfinis
generated a tremendous amount of public interest, and BTC'S offices
were flooded with calls from the Black community offering support.
Many individuals from the West Indian community expressed an interest
in joining the theatre as amateur actors. This is commonly done
in some West Indian countries, where the community becomes involved
with local amateur theatre companies as a hobby and on a very casual
basis. However, Black Theatre Canada was building itself as a professional
organization and Cudjoe did not want the headaches of trying to
develop an organization with volunteer, non committed actors.
Nevertheless,
BTC remained committed to the community, as expressed by Cudjoe:
"It's very important for a Black theatre to function with a serious
relationship taking place out of the community. They should draw
from the community; the shows that they do should reflect what is
happening in the community and use the community in a very positive
way, through interaction."
This
special relationship with the community, as well as the professional
nature of the organization, has been called into question by various
arts councils and remains unresolved to this day:
The
bureaucracy has used the term professional in a very convenient
manner. We have been called professional when certain of the agencies
wanted to turn us down and they didn't fund professional companies,
and we have been called non-professional because we have used
community members, encouraged and taught youth and had workshop
productions that used youth .... The [art] councils cannot resolve
this situation at all - they either have to say that you are professional
or amateur, which is a very ridiculous situation. I have watched
Caravan, and the Ukrainian dancers are exceptionally professional
in their work. The fact that they don't take money for their work
is neither here nor there. When I use the word professional, I'm
talking about the quality of the work. It's of exceptional and
high standards.
In
March 1974 the company was joined by Amah Harris, who brought with
her two Bachelors of Art and Education, one from the University
of Windsor, as a theatre major, and the other from the University
of Toronto, as a drama major, as well as professional certificates
from the Banff School of Fine Arts and Studio Lab Theatre in Toronto.
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Dominican-born,
Harris, who immigrated to Canada in June 1970, is founder and past
director of two theatre groups - Little Theatre and Secondary School
Drama - in her homeland.
Her
career in Canada has been multifaceted - as a producer, teacher,
actor, director, playwright, composer and choreographer. Assuming
the position of assistant publicity manager and co-director of Black
Theatre Canada, Harris concentrated on writing materials for children
and producing children's workshops:
Children
are an essential ingredient of a developing people, community,
or nation. They can be taught values that will build strong characters
as they become adults, and in turn make a nation what it is. At
our Black Theatre Canada junior workshops, children are taught
creative processes, self-confidence, development of individual
personalities and other moulding elements that make worthy citizens.
We teach the basic elements of concentration and rhythm. Within
six or ten weeks of workshop training, the kids get a chance to
know themselves as people who can begin to think of what they
would like to do in later years. The Black Theatre Canada workshop
has been successful. It teaches the kids to use wisdom to solve
problems, instead of violence, which is so common in our society.
In
1977 Harris began writing a series of plays, based on the Anansi
African folktales, which were performed for over seventy-five Metropolitan
Toronto elementary schools and the Afro-American Ethnic Festival
in Detroit, Michigan (May 1980).
From
the spring of 1977 to December 1980, over 35,000 people viewed the
popular plays, which used song and dance to demonstrate human cooperation
and universal understanding.
On
December 9, 1980 G.E. Claus, principal of Sheppard Public School,
said of the plays, "Costuming, script, choreography and background
setting were outstanding. Of the various presentations done in the
school this fall none captured the audience to the extent that the
Anansi plays did. I would highly recommend this presentation to
any junior kindergarten to grade six group and would suggest that
the meaning and value, as presented by Amah Harris' group from the
Anansi Stories, are most appropriate for elementary age children."
Stagolee,
written by Julius Lester, was Black Theatre Canada's second production,
staged August 21-25, 1974 at Harbourfront. It was followed by the
1975 season, which featured Layers, written and directed
by Vilbert Cambridge, and Changes, written especially for
the company by Peter Robinson.
Changes
dealt with a Black militant of the 1960s - displaced and devoid
of his rhetoric - who must deal with the realities of a personal
relationship with his girlfriend when out on parole. It was an overwhelming
box-office success, performing before a full house every night at
the Tarragon Theatre, November 12-26, 1975.
Changes
features two actors, Delroy Lindo and Gloria Sauve, who today work
in off-Broadway productions. During the life of BTC, many Black
actors have worked with the company who have achieved a measure
of success in the larger theatre community including: Dennis Simpson,
Phil Aiken, Henry Gomez, Abbott Anderson, Arden Best, Arlene Duncan
and, most recently, Ruddy Hall.
Two
productions were mounted in 1976 under an alliance with a newly
established Black company, Theatre Fountainhead, formed by Jeff
Henry. The alliance was formed as a result of then existing funding
policies, which prevented theatre companies from being eligible
for monies from Canada Council until they had been established for
two years and produced three productions in one year without Canada
Council's assistance.
BTC
and Fountainhead fulfilled the criteria, thereby qualifying both
companies for future financial assistance from the council. Cudjoe,
bitterly reflected on the situation: "It was a totally absurd and
contradictory kind of policy. You need help to do a professional
production . . . you have to hire professional people and pay them.
You had to do it without their [Canada Council] help, as well as
three productions a year. It was an oppressive and prohibitive policy
which didn't include us at all."
School's
Out, by Trevor Rhone, and Bathurst Street, by Bobby Ghishays,
were the result of this theatre liaison and the former was held
over at the University Playhouse for one week due to public demand.
Financial
difficulties have plagued Black Theatre Canada from season to season
and repeatedly hampered the company's ability to undertake its programs
and productions without drastically cutting corners to work within,
the minimal funds available.
It
would appear that the major cultural agencies did not expect Black
Theatre Canada to survive, to have the tenacity to continue and,
therefore, their work has often not been taken seriously. A number
of other theatre companies, to which Black Theatre Canada is directly
comparable, have repeatedly received production budgets that have
far exceeded that of BTC for the same amount of work.
The
company has consistently produced one to four productions per year,
conducted professional workshops, as well as a touring educational
program. Reception by the public has been overwhelmingly positive.
Reception by cultural agencies has seen little more than "seed money"
made available for their efforts.
The
dedicated Cudjoe, who worked steadily without a break for six years,
took a one-year sabbatical in 1979, following the production of
Story Oh, by Trevor Rhone, in June 1977 and Holes, by Peter Robinson,
in May 1978. Amah Harris took the helm as artistic and executive
director of the company, and 1979 was heralded as a "Calabash Season,"
(Calabash is a tropical fruit, which when ripened on the tree, rattles
to signal warning of a hurricane, earthquake or volcano.) featuring
four productions and a series of four workshops:
More
About Me, a multiethnic musical foray into the "new" Toronto,
was written and directed by Daniel Caudeiron; Anansi Double Play,
written and directed by Harris, spotlighted the popular Anansi plays
performed before Toronto students, and four acclaimed performers
were invited from the Caribbean to perform: Trinidadians Paul Keen
Douglas and Louise Bennet in Miss Lou Meets Tim Tim and Guyanese
Ken Corsbie and Marc Mathews in Dem Two in Canada.
In
November 1979 Harris resigned from her position and has continued
to work on a freelance basis with the company.
The
work of the company has continued to the present-day. Their most
recent production, A Caribbean Midsummer Night's Dream, played
at the Joseph Workman Theatre, July 13-31, 1983.
The
idea for the production was the result of yet another monetary battle,
this time with the Metropolitan Toronto Cultural Affairs Department,
which had threatened to cut BTC funding. Black Theatre Canada's
appeal, two days after the announcement, sought to develop a project
with which both parties would be happy.
Thus,
Shakespeare was decided upon. As Robin Breon, the current public
relations officer and assistant administrator, who joined the company
in March 1981, stated, the classics can stand to be liberated, to
broaden the experience of actors who are not being given a chance
in mainstream theatre:
Quite
frankly, we have not seen that many Black actors at Stratford
or at the Shaw Festival. Yet we know quite conclusively, not only
by the reviews we received of the last production but just because
of the talent that's out there, that there are many Black actors
who are very capable of dealing with the classics, as they are
with contemporary plays, as they are with Caribbean plays, as
they are with plays that deal with the Black experience. We're
trying to broaden the establishment's orientation of the classics,
so that we can begin to see these major institutions, which are
our most highly funded cultural institutions in Canada, become
more integrated and begin to project the multiracial profile which
is the reality of our society, and which should be projected in
the theatre and on the stage as well.
A conference
entitled "Shakespeare and Other Cultures," which will deal with
the role of visible minorities in classical theatre, has been organized
by BTC for November 4-5, 1983 at the Toronto Board of Education.
Black
Theatre Canada has also suffered from the lack of permanent theatre
space. Ten years after this problem was but a minor concern, the
public has yet to develop a sense of identity and location for the
organization. With a history of more than fifteen productions, just
as many facilities have been rented to stage them. The
organization through its fundraising efforts hopes to rectify the
situation in the future.
Today,
Black Theatre Canada, operating out of its offices at 109 Vaughan
Road (since spring 1977), has two full-time staff, Cudjoe and Breon.
Its paid-up membership numbers 200, with a mailing list of 2,500.
Membership dues are $35 annually. Ongoing activities aside from
productions include: workshops, school tours, a yearly open house
and distribution of a membership newsletter.
Volunteers
often assist with mailing campaigns, flyer distribution and set
building, while services in kind are offered by businesses in the
community.
For
the future, both Cudjoe and Breon stress the necessity to develop
and encourage Black playwrights to pursue writing as a full-time
career. Unfortunately, this will probably require an enormous sacrifice
by potential writers - working for little or no money - as it does
for those Black actors who are currently dedicated to building Black
theatre in Canada.
The
reality has been that very few actors are willing to make this sacrifice.
They are more concerned with "making it." This attitude has been
detrimental not only to the growth of Black Theatre Canada, but
to cultural development in general because needed resources have
often been withheld.
"There
are a lot of young, talented people who are eager to do work," says
Cudjoe. "But what must happen is there has to be more committed
people, who would commit and dedicate themselves to producing theatre,
sacrificing themselves for the good of the larger community, not
just themselves. There has to be less selfishness, more collectivism
and, in that way, you will probably have a very healthy theatrical
and cultural community."
Looking
ahead, Cudjoe and the company are concerned with documenting the
past ten years of Black Theatre Canada on film, tape, or print,
and it will most likely serve as a kind of survival manual on the
development of theatre organizations. Certainly, in the case of
Black Theatre Canada, survival has meant the ability to bring together
many driving forces which have struggled to persevere in bringing
culture to the public through the medium of theatre.
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