PRESS RELEASE: The Rear Window

Hart House Theatre presents the Bygone Theatre production of “The Rear Window”, written and directed by Emily Dix.

THE REAR WINDOW

Hart House Theatre Presents the Award Winning Bygone Theatre Production

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: TORONTO, ON (Tuesday, April 2, 2024), nominated for eleven and winner of four Broadway World Toronto Awards after its original 2019 run, Bygone Theatre’s The Rear Window is returning to the stage as our biggest production yet. Based on the short story It Had To Be Murder by Cornell Woolrich, the same tale that inspired the 1954 Hitchcock film, Rear Window (James Stewart, Grace Kelly), The Rear Window takes a new look at this classic tale of a “peeping Tom” who saw more than he wanted to see. A gripping, psychological thriller that will leave you guessing until the final moments whether or not what we’re seeing can truly be believed. 

“(an) engaging and unexpected take on a story many of us thought we knew“

– Glenn Sumi, NOW Magazine

“a tense look into solitude and desperation…a strong thriller that takes cues from the best of the genre – and still finds ways to implant little 
twists and turns to keep it fresh“

– Isabella Perrone, Broadway World, Toronto

Written and directed by Emily Dix (BWT Award Best Director: The Birds, The Rear Window). Starring Oliver Georgiou (The Birds, SODA Impro) as L.B. “Jeff” Jefferies; Kate McArthur (The Yellow Wallpaper, Macbeth) in her award-winning role as Lena Hall; Cayne Kitagawa (Alice in Wonderland, The Oresteia) as Charlie Thomas; with Antonino Pruiti (Beloved, Obliteration) reprising his role as the menacing Lars Thorwald. Featuring Simone Matheson, Rachel Frederick, Sean Jacklin, Trinity Lloyd, and Jacob Dowdall. Set and lighting design by Wesley Babcock; projection design by Bria Cole; assistant directed by Ayesha Maria Khan; stage managed by Julia Edda Pape. Assistant set designer Aria Kowal; assistant lighting designer Arianna Skirzynska; assistant scenic designer Athen Chloe Go; wardrobe assistant Olia Kashevarova. Produced by Conor Fitzgerald and Emily Dix; assistant producer Cass Iacovelli; producer-in-training Isabella Cesari. Made possible through a partnership with Hart House Theatre as venue sponsor and projection technology provided by Panasonic. 

SHOW INFO:

VENUE Hart House Theatre, 7 Hart House Circle, Toronto
SHOW DATES May 15-31| Wed – Sat at 8 pm, Saturday matinees at 2 pm
PREVIEW Wednesday, May 15 & Thursday, May 16
OPENING NIGHT Friday, May 17
TICKETS | www.bygonetheatre.com/tickets 
RECOMMENDED FOR Ages 13+ | Mature themes, simulated violence

MEDIA CONTACT:
Selin Cinemre, Marketing & Outreach Coordinator, marketing@bygonetheatre.com 
Emily Dix, Artistic Executive Director, emily@bygonetheatre.com 

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Toronto needs affordable artist space – NOW.

March 27 was World Theatre Day and our Artistic Executive Director Emily Dix took the opportunity to address an issue facing all Toronto artists – a lack of affordable space.

Please take a moment to watch the video above. Emily outlines the issues facing the community and discusses how The Bridge can help to fill some of those gaps. We are in a unique position to offer truly affordable access to artists, but we need the communities help. Please watch, like, share, and if you can, donate to The Bridge fund via our Canada Helps page. Every little bit helps.

Charitable FAQs

Since we’ve taken possession of The Bridge, we’ve had a lot of people reach out to ask about rentals, free access to the space, and overall support. As a registered charity, there are rules we have to follow – those dictated by the CRA, the Not-For-Profit Corporations Act, and our own Bylaws, plus ones for specific things like SOPs governed by the AGCO. So I thought I’d put together a little breakdown of some of the most frequently asked questions, to give you an idea of why we do (or don’t do) what we do.

  1. We’re a small arts group/charity/collective with no budget – can you let us use your space for free?

    The short answer is, no. The Bridge is leased by Bygone Theatre, which is a registered charity. Legally, we have to do what is in the best interests of the charity, which includes prioritizing putting money into the charity, not into other groups, even if they seem like something worthy of getting support. We have certain purposes, which includes community support, which is how we operate our $10/hr community rates, but when it comes to something that is meant to make money for another group, that’s not something we can reasonably justify. We do have community rates that are about 50-70% lower than what we offer commercial/private renters, and those that fit into our purposes may be eligible for those.

    As well, we have a lot of expenses. Rent is about $14,000/m. We have no operating funding. We are volunteer run. We do our best to provide things as cheap as possible, but it is not sustainable to offer free space to people, as much as we may want to. We are actively trying to get funding to subsidize things further, and if we’re successful, that benefit will definitely be passed along to our artist community.
  2. I want to rent your space for an event but your rates are too high – can I get a discount so I have a chance to earn some money?

    No. As with above, we can’t exist to make money for other people. Charities exist to provide a “social benefit”, which is why they don’t pay taxes. We are prohibited from passing along that benefit to anything that is not a part of our purposes and/or not a grantee organization. This is not a definition that we just get to make up either, our purposes, mandate, values – all of that is on file with the government. Our purposes are:

    1. The advancement of the public’s appreciation of the arts by developing, producing and/or presenting live or recorded theatre productions for the public;

    2. The advancement of education by providing to the public: blogs, workshops, webinars, and information sessions about or related to theatre practice and sustainability; hands-on training programs; knowledge-building exercises; and by fostering community building and engagement.

    We want artists to be able to earn money, which is why we provide affordable rental rates so that they can budget to make money off their work. We also prioritize paying artists in our own projects, as can be seen in last year’s Annual Report. But we don’t and can’t exist to help outside organizations make money, especially ones that aren’t theatre companies.
  3. I want to host an event at your space. We won’t pay you, but we’ll advertise your space and get you lots of exposure. Can we do that?

    No. Without getting into a rant about the value of “exposure” I’ll just stick to the simple answer with this one. The Bridge is a “related business”. By law, it must operate to support Bygone Theatre and it must be subordinate. We cannot advertise it as though it were a for-profit company. We cannot put more resources/time/money into it than we do our theatre company. We also have to balance how we spend things for Bygone. So even if the offer were to advertise for Bygone specifically, we need to do a couple things: first, we can’t suddenly spend more on advertising than we’re spending on say, our artists. And “spend” here is referring to in-kind spending – it doesn’t matter that no cash is leaving our hands, if we are offering our space for free, we are either providing a benefit (which we legally can’t do), or are trying to claim it is a marketing expense, in which case it needs to be reasonable when compared to our other expenses. Also, for it to be a marketing expense, it would have to be an event ONLY for marketing us. Someone else can’t be making money off it, otherwise they are receiving a “benefit” that we legally can’t give.
  4. I want to use your space as a fundraiser but don’t qualify for an SOP. Can you get one and we split the bar profits?

    No. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario regulates alcohol sales in Ontario, and they are very clear about who can sell alcohol when, and under what circumstances. The average person is not allowed to just get a permit to sell alcohol for profit. Special Occassion Permits (SOPs) exist for both private and public events: if you’re selling alcohol, you likely need a public event SOP, and those are only permitted for industry events, tailgate events, or charity events. As a charity, we can get SOPs for our events. Legally, we need to be fully “in control” of those SOPs, which means we need to source the alcohol, oversee the sales and keep the profits. We do allow other non-profits and charities to run bars here if they can qualify for an SOP, but if you don’t fall into that category, the only way to sell alcohol is through us, and to our benefit.
  5. Isn’t all of this just “your opinion”? What’s the worst that could happen if you break the rules?

    It’s not, actually. The rules are very clear, no matter what rules you’re looking at, and the two main people who run Bygone Theatre include a lawyer with an MBA (Conor Fitzgerald), and a trained paralegal with a decade of non-profit experience (Emily Dix). There’s no pretending we don’t know what we can and can’t do. If we break the rules, there’s a lot of negative consequences we could face, ranging from no longer being eligible for SOPs, to fines, to losing our charitable license or even fraud charges. Those consequences could ruin our company, and could even risk disbarment for Conor. I’m explaining all this here as I’ve been surprised by how little knowledge of charitable law some people in our community have, despite frequently interacting with charities. But taking a look at some theatre’s sites, I realize they never really break any of this down to explain their reasoning. Hopefully this will be a bit of a simple overview to help you understand both why we do what we do, but also why any charity has restrictions to the way they can operate.

    -E.

Indie Theatre Producing: A PWYC Workshop

WHAT: Indie Theatre Producing Workshop
WHEN: Monday February 26, 6:30-8:30 EST
WHERE: The Bridge, 379 Adelaide St. W., 4th Floor
HOW: Register via link
HOW MUCH: PWYC after workshop
WHO: Open to all, aimed at new and emerging producers or those working with tight budgets and other indie restraints

Bygone Theatre presents Indie Theatre Producing!

You asked for it, so here it is! The next in Bygone’s monthly workshop series: Indie Theatre Producing.

This overview of low-budget producing is aimed at those who are new to producing, or who are trying to work within tight budgets and other restraints. We’ll discuss things such as;

– The roles of a producer and the other members of a team
– How to make a budget
– How to stay organized
– How to build a pre-production and production schedule
– How to sell a show
– What questions to ask venues, crew members, etc.
– Contracts
and more.

Event is free but registration is required – please fill out the form and let us know if there’s anything specific you want to learn. Attendees are welcome to come with specific questions about their own projects. The workshop will be delivered in English in a casual lecture format, where everyone is invited to ask questions throughout. Slideshow print-outs available upon request. After the workshop attendees are welcome to make a PWYC donation via our Canada Helps page, which provides a tax receipt.

Unfortunately The Bridge is not an accessible venue and requires the ability to climb a set of stairs prior to accessing our elevator. If you have accessibility requirements please email emily@bygonetheatre.com to discuss and we will do all we can to accommodate.

Bygone Theatre’s Indie Artist Rehearsal Rates: $10/hr Space for Artists

What are the Indie Artist Rehearsal Rates?

As part of our mission to provide affordable, accessible space to local indie artists, Bygone has prioritized offering the lowest rental rates in the city: $10/hr plus HST. While we don’t currently have a strict definition of what “indie” is, they are meant to provide space to artists who have low/no funding for projects at a rate lower than what that artist is earning for their craft: we don’t believe anything can be called “affordable” when it has a higher rate than minimum wage, since so many artists rely on minimum wage jobs to supplement their income, or find themselves essentially living off that amount due to the nature of the gig economy. 

we don’t believe anything can be called “affordable” when it has a higher rate than minimum wage

Who can access this rate and for what?

Artists of any discipline can access our IAR rates for things where they are not collecting money while being there. For example, auditions, rehearsals, or set painting are allowed – paid performances or workshops that are charging people to be there do not qualify for these rates.

Are these rates available all the time?

At the moment, no. Essentially, we can’t afford that. Right now, these rates are available when other people will already be in and using the space, but are ok with having something going on in the flex space. This way no one has to be paid to be on site as staff, and we aren’t being charged extra for use of the HVAC (something that we have in our lease). Our goal is to raise $250,000 to cover ALL expenses over the course of our lease – rent, maintenance, staffing, programming – if we succeed in doing so, then we will be able to properly subsidize the rent, and all indie artists will have access to $10/hr space for everything, all the time space is available.

Our goal is to raise $250,000 to cover ALL expenses…if we succeed…all indie artists will have access to $10/hr space for everything, all the time space is available.

I can’t even afford $10/hr, can’t you give it to us for free?

Unfortunately, no. As a charity, we can’t provide a benefit to someone/something that is outside of our purposes or isn’t a grantee. Plus, there are costs associated with just having the space, and Bygone Theatre has no operational funding. Our Executive Director, Emily Dix, is currently volunteering on a full-time basis to get things up and running, and scores of other volunteers have dedicated their time, skills and resources to help build up The Bridge. There are occasionally opportunities for energy share exchanges, where artists can volunteer their time to work on a Bygone project in exchange for free or discounted use of the space – contact us if you want to learn more.

How do I book the space at these rates?

For now, we will post specific times when these rates are available, and emails sent to rentals@379thebridge.com will be granted time on a first come, first serve basis. If we are successful with our funding a more stream-lined online system will be put in place, but for now you’ll be booking through Emily.

  • E.

Directing 101 – A Crash Course by Bygone Theatre

You asked for it, so here it is! A crash-course in directing open to anyone who has ever wanted to try their hand at directing a stage play.

WHEN: Monday January 29, 6-8pm

WHERE: The Bridge, 379 Adelaide St. W., 4th Floor

HOW: PWYC, please register via link, you will have an opportunity to note specific topics you hope to learn about

WHAT: Have you always wanted to try directing a show but don’t know where to start? Maybe you directed once but had trouble getting cast and crew to understand your vision, or found the process to be frustrating and confusing? Directing 101 will focus less on theory and more on practical directing techniques, like;

* How do you choose a show?
* How do you cast a show?
* How do you plan out a rehearsal?
* How do you create a positive environment for cast and crew?
* How do you create something interesting onstage when dealing with restraints like mirco budgets?
* What do you do when an actor won’t take direction?
* How do you ensure your vision is being realized onstage?
* How to be flexible when you can’t get what you want
* How to keep egos in check (including yours)
* How to deal with criticism from artists and reviewers
and more.

WHO: Taught by Bygone Theatre’s Artistic Executive Director, Emily Dix, she will share her personal experiences and beliefs in what it takes to direct a show, and will invite others to share their own experiences. This short workshop will be a bit of a tester to see if there is interest in a longer intensive.

ACCESSIBILITY: Please note, The Bridge is unfortunately not accessible as it requires the ability to climb a flight of stairs before accessing the elevator. If you require accessibility assistance please email emily@bygonetheatre.com and we will do what we can to accommodate. The course will be delivered in English, both spoken and written.

CALLING ALL COUPLES!

We are looking for couples to compete at our Valentine’s Day edition of The Couples’ Game! Join us at The Bridge and compete against other couples for the chance to win some fantastic prizes. It’s easy to apply, simply email info@bygonetheatre.com with the subject line “Couples’ Game” and:

1. Confirm you are available from 8pm-11pm on Wednesday February 14, Valentines Day

2. Confirm you are able to come to The Bridge at that time, located at 379 Adelaide St. W., 4th floor, Toronto

3. Tell us the name of you and your S/O, and send a photo of you together we can share online

4. Tell us briefly why you think you’d make a good team

Open to couples of all ages and orientations, from those in the newlywed stage to those married 50 years – we want a real mix for the battle of the couples!

Looking for 8 sets of couples, so reach out now to secure your slot. And tell your friends!

-E.

We’ve Got A Winner! (or 3)

Congratulations to Emily Dix, Anna Douglas and Chad Allen for their Broadway World Toronto Award wins for their work on our 2023 production of The Birds.

Thanks to all who voted!

Enigma: A NYE Night of Magic and Mysticism

Join us New Years Eve and step back into the past while looking to the future, in a vintage inspired night of burlesque, fortune telling and all things mystical.

DATE:
Sunday December 31, 10:00pm – January 1, 2024, 3:00am
Performance starts at 11:00pm

PERFORMANCE BY:
*Augusta Monet

TAROT READINGS BY:
*Laura Hokstad

PLUS:
Free fortune telling games throughout the space; free fortune cookies and fortune fish; and fortune-telling themed cocktails and treats for sale at the Vodkow bar.

TICKETS:
-General admission $25
-Admission with Tarot Reading $30 (limited quantities)
-Early Bird $20 (with code EARLYBIRD before Dec. 22, not valid for Tarot reading)

PLUS, The first 30 people to purchase tickets get a free magpie fortune bag full of little charms that will tell you what 2024 has in store!

Buy your ticket now via Plainstage.

Please note The Bridge is unfortunately not accessible. Ability to climb a set of stairs before being able to access the elevator is required. If you have accessibility concerns please contact emily@bygonetheatre.com.