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Theatre eager to welcome back audience

We are still here, we have been working hard, we have missed you, and we have been planning for your return.
Marnie Hamagami HeadshotWEB
Marnie Hamagami

It is important to note that I am not a writer. I am not an artist, and those of you who have been to the theatre and seen me on stage know that I am not greatly interested in being a performer – even for the three minutes it takes me to stand up there and remind you to turn your phones off and thank the sponsors. I have started this piece no less than three times and each time considered emailing Solomon and telling him he was back on to write the article this week. Honestly, I am more comfortable in Excel than Word.

Each time I think of asking somebody else to write this article, I hesitate. I do have something to say. I want to tell you about all the work we have done in the past 17 months at the theatre. I want to tell you that we have spent time asking ourselves why we do what we do and who we are trying to serve. I want to tell you about all the exciting new programs we are building aimed at growing our presence in this community. I want to tell you about the exciting couple of seasons we have been planning and about the raft of local artists we are welcoming to our stage, many for the first time ever. I want to tell you how hard we have worked and are continuing to work to re-invent ourselves while still honouring the work of the people that came before us. Alas, I am not a writer, and any attempt to show, rather than tell (which is what I am told great writers do), will likely result in confusion for all of us. None of that changes the fact that I have something rather simple to say: we are still here, we have been working hard, we have missed you, and we have been planning for your return.

Many of the programs and changes are not quite ready to be announced – or they are ready, but my announcing them would steal the thunder of people who have been working hard on them. One thing I can talk about is our stage reading program. We are going to continue those into the fall. We love having more local artists on stage. Those of you lucky enough to have caught one of our sold out (at the time there were only 50 tickets allowed) stage readings this past fall got to see something great. We have a bunch planned for the coming months and I hope you get to see one or two.

The other program that is near and dear to me, which I can talk about, is our continued Relaxed Theatre Program. This is work we have been doing for the past four seasons, taking our regular programming and making it adaptive (changing minor aspects of the performance to ensure the comfort of people with extra sensory sensitivities). We will be both continuing with and expanding this work out of our mainstage programs, and into the rest of our organization.

I am not an artist, not a writer, not a performer. I facilitate art. And I am here to tell you that what we have on deck (note the sports metaphor – again, not an artist). We can’t wait to see you again, whether you are talking a class (hint hint) or seeing a show, or, even want to get on the stage yourself.

Marnie Hamagami has been with Theatre NorthWest in one form or another for 6 years. She has led the organization for the past three years and looks forward to see you all at the theatre soon.