History
Nightwood Theatre was founded in 1979 by Cynthia Grant, Kim Renders, Mary Vingoe and Maureen White. For twenty-eight years it has produced, developed and toured landmark, award-winning plays by and about outspoken Canadian women. Nightwood’s risk-taking approach has lead to the creation of plays as diverse as Good Night Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) by the acclaimed playwright and novelist Ann-Marie MacDonald (Canadian tour and Chalmers, Governor General’s and Trillium Awards), Harlem Duet by Djanet Sears (Dora, Chalmers and Governor General’s Awards) and Princess Pocahontas and the Blue Spots by Monique Mojica (currently in curricula for Aboriginal Studies across North America).
In addition Nightwood initiated The Groundswell Festival, (now in its 24th year) which is Canada’s national play development program for new works by women, and FemCab, Nightwood’s notorious annual celebration of International Women’s Day. In November 2003, Nightwood founded Hysteria, an annual multi-disciplinary festival of women’s work (co-produced with Buddies in Bad Times Theatre). It also initiated Write from the Hip, a youth training program for novice playwrights (now in its 7th year) and introduced in 2004, Busting Out! a theatre program for teen girls ages 12-16.
Each year thousands of people attend Nightwood’s performances. In 2000/01, Nightwood produced Smudge, a semi-autobiographical journey into darkness by visually impaired playwright, Alex Bulmer (Chalmers nomination, Dora nomination, Outstanding New Play ) as well as the musical Anything That Moves by Ann-Marie MacDonald (music by Allen Cole) in co-production with Tarragon Theatre (4 Dora Mavor Moore Awards). In 2001/02, Nightwood co-produced, with Obsidian Theatre, the world premiere of The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God, by Djanet Sears (6 Dora nominations, award for Outstanding Choreography) which returned to Toronto in 2003/04 presented by Mirvish Productions. In the 2002/03 season Nightwood produced Finding Regina (with Globe Theatre and Theatre Passe Muraille) and the critically acclaimed The Danish Play by Sonja Mills. The Danish Play received two Dora Award nominations (Outstanding New Play, Outstanding Female Performance) and in 2004 was invited to Aveny-Teatret in Copenhagen, Denmark, Magnetic North Theatre Festival, Edmonton and National Arts Centre, Ottawa. In 2004, Nightwood produced Marjorie Chan’s China Doll (3 Dora nominations, Outstanding New Play, Production and Costume Design). In February 2005 Nightwood premiered Lisa Codrington’s Cast Iron produced in association with Obsidian Theatre (Nominated for a Govenor General’s Literary Award. In 2005-2006, Nightwood premiered the workshop production of Diane Flacks’ hilarious Bear With Me and Morwyn Brebner’s translation of Veronique Olmi’s Mathilde (2 Dora nominations). 2006-2007 saw the return of The Danish Play by Sonja Mills and the Toronto Premiere of Sarah Kane’s Crave (2 Dora Mavor Moore nominations).
