Young People's Theatre

Young People's Theatre (YPT) is a professional theatre for youth located in Toronto, Ontario. The company produces and presents a full season of theatre and arts education programming, performing to approximately 150,000 patrons annually.[1] Founded in 1966 by Susan Douglas Rubeš,[2] YPT originally operated out of the now-demolished Colonnade Theatre on Bloor Street. Since its 1977–78 season, the company has resided in a renovated heritage building in downtown Toronto.

Young People's Theatre
Address165 Front Street East
LocationToronto, Ontario, Canada
Coordinates43°39′00″N 79°22′08″W
TypeTheatre
Construction
Built1888 (stables)
Renovated1977 (theatre)
Website
Official website

YPT operates two performance spaces at 165 Front Street East: the Ada Slaight Stage and the Nathan Cohen Studio. It stages an average of eight productions each year. The current artistic director is Herbie Barnes, and the current executive director is Nancy J. Webster.[3]

History

Rubeš created the Museum Children's Theatre in her Toronto kitchen and opened Alice in Wonderland at the Royal Ontario Museum in 1963. Rubeš staged her first YPT show, The Looking Glass Revue, at the Colonnade Theatre in 1966.[3][4]

Before being located at its current site, YPT staged shows at the St. Lawrence Centre, the Ontario Science Centre and Toronto's Firehall Theatre. The company also toured to schools throughout Ontario, and toured the play Inook and the Sun in the United Kingdom. In 1977, YPT staged its first show in its current location with an adaptation of The Lost Fairy Tale.[3] YPT added a drama school in 1969. As of 2022, the drama school operates at four different locations in Toronto.[5]

Several stage and screen actors have appeared on the YPT mainstage since the 1970s, including Martin Short, Megan Follows, Brent Carver, Cynthia Dale, Fiona Reid, Gordon Pinsent, R.H Thomson, Sheila McCarthy and Eric Peterson.[6] Celebrities such as Drake and Kiefer Sutherland also attended YPT's Drama School.[7]

In the spring of 2001, the theatre was renamed Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People after a donation of $1.5 million from Kevin Kimsa in honour of his mother, Lorraine. In March 2011, the theatre announced a change back to its original name.

The Slaight family's 2015 donation of $3 million resulted in the creation of the Ada Slaight Education Centre at YPT. At the time it was the largest non-capital gift received by a Toronto theatre company.[8] In 2022 a gift from the Slaight Family resulted in the renaming of the company's Mainstage to the Ada Slaight Stage.

In 2016 YPT was one of a number of theatres offering free tickets to newly arrived Syrian refugees.[4]

The building
Historic plaque on the building

Young People Theatre's current home is a renovated 1887 heritage building in Toronto, Ontario. This site was a three-story stable for the horses that pulled Toronto Street Railways horse cars in the late 19th century, as well as an electrical plant and a Toronto Transit Commission warehouse. The warehouse sat empty for much of the 20th century before it became the site for YPT. The building was renovated in 1977 by Zeidler Partnership Architects to contain a large main stage (the current day Susan Douglas Rubes Theatre) and a smaller studio (the Nathan Cohen Studio). YPT was given an Award of Merit by the Toronto Historical Board in 1979, "for its imaginative and sympathetic treatment of a landmark that might otherwise have been destroyed".[9] A $13.5 million campaign to expand YPT's complex is currently underway.

Artistic Directors
  • Susan Douglas Rubes (1966-1979)
  • Richard Ouzounian (1979-1980)
  • Peter Moss (1980-1991)
  • Maja Ardal (1991-1998)
  • Pierre Tetrault (1998-2002)
  • Allen MacInnis (2002-2021)
  • Herbie Barnes (2021–present)

Awards

References
  1. "About YPT - Young People's Theatre". Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  2. Csillag, Ron (February 2, 2013). "Creator of Toronto's Young People's Theatre credited luck for her success". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved September 30, 2015.
  3. Elpa, Ann Marie (March 2, 2021). "Anishinaabe theatre artist Herbie Barnes named artistic director of Young People's Theatre". thestar.com. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  4. Maga, Carly. "Toronto theatres welcome refugees". Toronto Star, September 26, 2016. page E4.
  5. "Young People's Theatre opens new Drama School in east Toronto". www.insidetoronto.com. Retrieved September 30, 2015.
  6. Ouzounian, Richard (December 31, 2013). "The actress defined the Toronto theatre scene in the '60s and '70s, founding the Young People's Theatre, which still stands today". The Toronto Star. ISSN 0319-0781. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  7. "Young People's Theatre opens new Drama School in east Toronto". www.insidetoronto.com. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  8. " Young People’s Theatre opens new Drama School in east Toronto". North York Mirror, Sep 03, 2015. By Fannie Sunshine
  9. "Torontoist". October 3, 2014. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  10. "Awards - Young People's Theatre". Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  11. "Ontario Arts Council Foundation Announces 1998 Winners Of The Lieutenant Governor's Awards For The Arts". www.arts.on.ca. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  12. Torontoist (October 3, 2014). "Ten of Toronto's Unique Heritage Achievements | cityscape | Torontoist". torontoist.com. Retrieved September 29, 2015.

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