The Curtain Club was proud to host the 2011 Theatre Ontario Festival right here in Richmond Hill from May 18 to 22, 2011. The performances and the awards brunch were held at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts, but all other Festival activities were held at The Curtain Club.
The Curtain Club was particularly proud to to have Joan Burrows’, long-time member of The Curtain Club, resident playwright and former President, play “Staff Room” included in “Grassroots,” an anthology of plays being published by Theatre Ontario and released by Canada Playwright Press during the 2011 Festival.
Joan says “I’m thrilled to have Staff Room included in “Grassroots!” And especially excited that the anthology is being launched in the very space that gave Staff Room its first premier production. I think it speaks volumes about the entire Curtain Club whose members gave it such encouragement, support and effort to make it all possible.”
The Festival was a great success with Festival adjudicator Jane Carnwath awarding 15 awards during the Award Brunch on May 22. Five of these, including best production, were deservedly won by “Trying,” presented by Domino Theatre from Kingston, Ontario.
The productions that participated in the Festival were:
• “Suds,” a musical comedy by Melinda Gibb, and presented by Whitby Courthouse Theatre for ACT-CO.
• “Balconville,” a bilingual comedy by David Fennario, and presented by Espanola Little Theatre for QUONTA.
• “Trying,” a drama by Joanna McClelland Glass, and presented by Domino Theatre (Kingston), for EODL.
• “Who’s Afraid of Virgina Woolf?” a drama by Edward Albee, and presented by Theatre Windsor, for WODL.