Whenever we examine who our audience is (something every theatre should ask itself often), we remind ourselves that the work we create is for children and the people who bring children to the theatre. Or, as is most often the case with Carousel Players, bring theatre to children. Teachers, principals and support staff champion our work in the schools, so we dedicated the month of September to celebrate the contributions of educators over our 40 year history.
Did I say champion? Meet Mac Dodge.
Mac Dodge
I joined Carousel as an actor for the 1974/75 season. I had been teaching Dramatic Arts at Governor Simcoe S.S. That second year we developed our own plays and toured everywhere… well we had schools shows for elementary and secondary, and we even had a library show we performed on weekends. It was a great year and I returned to the classroom inspired to give my students TYA experience. My drama classes in the following years included a school tour of a show we developed in class. It was always a great creative collaborative theatre experience that engaged the student audiences. Eventually I became a board member and enjoyed many years engaging in the development of what theatre for young audiences can be. Carousel Players’ connection to the schools of Niagara, Ontario and beyond is exceptional. It’s topical, theatrically challenging and engaging.
Mac approached me on my first year as Artistic Director to adjudicate the local Sears Drama Festival. He offered me a fantastic opportunity to get to know the Niagara high school drama community while giving the teachers a chance to get to know me. Officially, Mac was my liaison to the festival, and I cannot think of a better way to describe what Mac did. Google “liaison” and you will see this definition: A person who acts as a link to assist communication or cooperation between groups of people. Mac and I spent many hours talking about what we had seen at the festival, but we also talked about the schools, the teachers, the students; his memories of Carousel Players, the work his son Jay is doing with Boca del Lupo theatre in Vancouver, the opportunities for arts education enrichment in Niagara… In other words, Mac opened many doors for me while I prepared the next assessment. The relationships Mac enabled on that first year have continued to bear fruit in projects like our Commotion Youth Theatre, or our presentation of Offensive Fouls last year.
See? A champion.
Now that Mac is in Vancouver, we want to take the opportunity to say thanks. We miss you, Mac, and we’ll hold you to your promise: See you at 50!
Pablo Felices-Luna
(Seeker of Champions)
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One of the unique things about Carousel and Niagara drama teachers– a thing that I notice because I ran two theatre companies in Alberta that programmed various forms of school, touring and outreach– is the up-close-involved camaraderie between the professional theatre artists and the teachers. The passionate, engaged drama teachers I’ve met in the Niagara region make schools interesting places not just to visit but to stay and create. The most amazing work fizzes out of their classrooms. I noticed this starting with Mac and also Garry Blain and Marg Newby who are on Carousel’s Board, and then out in the field I met Tracy Garrett, Tracy Thorpe, Javier Soyka and Christina, Brenna MacAllister, Jen Ben, Jack, Betsy, Alison and Karen and Rassika and the list of extraordinary educator-artists goes on and on and on, and I haven’t even met everyone! It emanates into organizations like CODE and Theatre Ontario…which is all a roundabout way of saying HOWDY MAC! MISS YA! HERE’S STILL A HOME FOR YA!