Brant Performing Arts Featured Member: Brant Theatre Workshops

Brant Theatre Workshops is a Brantford-based community theatre group producing original works. Since its establishment as a not-for-profit organization in 2005, Brant Theatre Workshops has run the Bell Summer Theatre Festival at the Bell Homestead National Historic Site, performed at the Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts and toured shows both provincially and nationally. Over the past 13 years, Brant Theatre Workshops has become known in the community for producing works that are locally written and acted.

Peter Muir, Brant Theatre Workshops’ Artistic Director, says that the company was founded as a response to “the challenge in bringing cultural works to a city focused on sports, with no theatre larger than 1,200 seats”. With like-minded theatre artists including professional playwright Sharyl Hudson and professional actor Paul Amato, Muir began Brant Theatre Workshops as a company which produced adaptations of classical works in unique heritage spaces.

In 2016, Muir began steering the company towards producing works in the spirit of Truth and Reconciliation by involving residents from the Six Nations of the Grand River in theatrical creations. Muir saw a need to bring Six Nations’ stories to a wider audience base, which the company did and continues to do through a combination of performances in Brantford and touring shows to other communities. Brant Theatre Workshops has now evolved to work mainly with amateur community members, but still occasionally brings in professional artists for workshops and select productions.

Recently, Brant Theatre Workshops performed Sisters in Solace at the Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts on November 5 and 6. Sisters in Solace was written by local Expositor journalist Vincent Ball, and focused on WWI’s impact on two women: one from Brantford, the other from Six Nations. Next up, Brant Theatre Workshops continues its focus on telling indigenous stories through performances of Creation Story at the Dajoh Youth and Elder Centre, Generation on a school tour, and Colonial Diet at Hagersville Secondary School, all of which are written by Brant Theatre Workshops’ Native Collective.

For more information on Brant Theatre Workshops, visit www.branttheatre.com. You can also like the company on Facebook @branttheatreworkshops.

Brant Theater Workshops is a proud member of the Brant Performing Arts (BPA). Formed in 2010, the BPA is a collective for the mutual benefit of Brantford and the County of Brant’s local non-profit performing arts organizations to share resources, network, and pursue shared marketing opportunities.  The group includes choirs, bands, presenters, theatre groups, storytellers, teachers, and even a symphony orchestra! For more information about the BPA or how to join the group, contact culture@brantford.ca.