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I performed at Theatre Aquarius twice.
The first was in a hilarious & ingenious 5 person production of Comedy of Errors adapted & directed by the wonderful Daryl Cloran when he was AD at Western Canada Theatre in Kamloops. Aquarius was our second stop on a three city tour.
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The first was in a hilarious & ingenious 5 person production of Comedy of Errors adapted & directed by the wonderful Daryl Cloran when he was AD at Western Canada Theatre in Kamloops. Aquarius was our second stop on a three city tour.
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At opening night reception, I asked if there was student pricing, since tickets were expensive. A prominent board member said they tried varying ticket prices for seniors once and it resulted in people cheating. I said couldn't they ask for student ID when picking up tickets?
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They said they offer a pay what you can show instead. I asked when that would be. Turns out it was tech dress. I thought that was an invited audience, the theatre was 5% full. Hamilton artist pals had told me they weren't keen to support Aquarius cos it was so inaccessible.
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I suggested to the board member if they had student pricing, they could make more revenue for the theatre, have fuller houses & build future audiences, not to mention, some might bring friends/family paying full price. Or they could make the balcony cheaper. Not interested.
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Instead they told me their plans for Aquarius.
They're planning to build another theatre across the street, one that would also house a school & more rehearsal space. Their only challenge was, "we need to clear out the riff raff first", meaning marginalized communities.
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They're planning to build another theatre across the street, one that would also house a school & more rehearsal space. Their only challenge was, "we need to clear out the riff raff first", meaning marginalized communities.
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Now I got it. They didn't have lower prices cos they wanted to be exclusive. This was abundantly clear in programming, pricing & policies. Over the run, the balcony was never even a quarter full. This is a publicly funded institution.
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The next time I worked at Aquarius, I was offered a lead in a play with 3 characters of Pakistani origin & 1 American. I was the first person cast. I asked if I could play the American, but was told it wouldn't work for the vision, that needed to be someone White.
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I suggested the American be played by a woman. I was told it made more sense it was 4 men. The Pakistani characters are Muslim. I said there are Muslims from all over the world, any race can play them, but was assured it was essential this be 3 brown men & 1 white man.
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I was wary about playing a Muslim since that is not my lived identity, but was assured since this was a play about capitalism and not religion, and since my character was from the UK, it wouldn't be a culture-specific issue.
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At least 7 months before starting, I spoke with the director, a POC man & said since none of the actors are Muslim, it's especially vital we outreach to Muslim communities to keep us honest in our portrayals & hold us accountable. He agreed & suggested I write the AD.
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The AD agreed & directed me to marketing.
The marketing person said, this is great but "I'm not sure what we're supposed to do, stand on the street & say, excuse me you look Muslim would you like to come see a show?" then laughed.
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The marketing person said, this is great but "I'm not sure what we're supposed to do, stand on the street & say, excuse me you look Muslim would you like to come see a show?" then laughed.
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I reminded them there's a Muslim students association at MacMaster university as well as a South Asian students group, theatre students, economic & foreign policy students, all of whom would benefit from seeing this show, an exploration of Western vulture capitalism.
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I volunteered my time finding & meeting with them & doing talkbacks. I was told they'd look into it & be in touch.
Months later, we started rehearsal, still no word. The director said they fully supported me & I should take it up by myself with the AD with no help from them.
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Months later, we started rehearsal, still no word. The director said they fully supported me & I should take it up by myself with the AD with no help from them.
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I sent an email. No reply.
We ran the show, the balcony was mostly empty, the audience almost entirely White. Instead of this show being a way to invite in community that had for so long not felt they belonged there, this continued the status quo and made me feel alienated.
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We ran the show, the balcony was mostly empty, the audience almost entirely White. Instead of this show being a way to invite in community that had for so long not felt they belonged there, this continued the status quo and made me feel alienated.
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Backstage, I met a caretaker of the building while they were sweeping. He was Caribbean & had worked at Aquarius for years. I asked if he'd ever seen a show here. He said no. I offered him my comps so he could bring his family.
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He thanked me but said, "It's not really my thing. I just work here, I don't belong here."
I knew exactly what he meant.
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/theatre-aquarius-1.5622782.
I knew exactly what he meant.
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/theatre-aquarius-1.5622782.
