Last June, when Brendan Healy receive the Pauline McGibbon Award at the Dora Mavor Moore Awards, he talked about the importance of artistic solidarity, that independent theatre in Toronto is really about interdependent theatre.
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Yesterday Healy became the new artistic director of Buddies in Bad Times, Canada’s largest queer theatre company. A part of Toronto’s theatre world for 30 years, the company has always aimed to be on the cutting edge of the arts scene.
Not only is Healy an artist who will keep it there, he’s sure to continue that link between theatre companies that’s a necessary part of the community’s creativity.
A genial man who tackles challenging projects that have a strong emotional resonance for audiences, Healy’s directed some fine productions in the indie community, including the Independent Aunties’ production of Breakfast, Pleiades Theatre’s Dying To Be Sick (an adaptation of Molière) and several winning SummerWorks shows, among them Wallace Shawn’s A Thought In Three Parts and Martin Crimp’s Fewer Emergencies.
He’ll be part of the remount of Breakfast in this year’s Buddies season – that was announced before his appointment – and also directing Nina Arsenault’s The Silicone Diaries. Clearly Buddies thought highly of him before there was talk of a new artistic director.
There’s another reason that the fit of company and artistic director is a good one. Buddies is devoted to the training of young artists, and Healy is spending October working in Montreal with students of the National Theatre School, directing a production of Ferenc Molnár’s Liliom. A graduate of NTS, he’s taught and directed there and at Concordia University.
Come to think of it, there’s a further Buddies connection. Healy’s a recipient of the Ken McDougall Award for emerging director, and McDougall had a close association with Buddies in the 80s and 90s.
Healy won’t program the 2009-2010 season – that was already set by former artistic director David Oiye – but takes over his position for the season launch, Neon Nightz, which previews Wednesday (September 23) and opens Thursday (September 24).
