ABOUT US
(From Left to Right ) Tawiah Ben-Eben M’Carthy, Beth Wong (Centre), Brad Cook
Photo by: Veronica Ho
“We begin with little more than a company of creators and a rich imagination.”
- Brad Cook, Co-Artistic Director
BLUE BIRD THEATRE COLLECTIVE has put their mark on the Canadian theatre map for creating bold and imaginative theatre.
Founded in 2013, this Dora Award-nominated company includes Co-Artistic Directors Tawiah M’Carthy and Brad Cook, Beth Wong who joined 2020 as the collective’s Producer and a diverse group of associate artists.
BBTC'S vision is to introduce narratives of varying cultures and histories through innovative and highly imaginative theatrical forms.
Culturally and socially active, our work is focused on making space for stories, languages and characters within the contemporary theatrical landscape that reflect the diversity of experience around us.
Integral to BBTC’s work is our unique devising process, where our collaborators are a central part of the creation process, not only shaping the work we create but also reconceptualizing a traditional approach to theatre making.
OUR WORK
“As artist/creators we are translators and interpreters of lived experiences, ours and others.”
- Tawiah Ben-Eben M’Carthy, Co-Artistic Director
BBTC’s first project Maanomaa, My Brother, a work of intercultural, multi-disciplinary theatre set in Ghana, is the story of two young men, childhood friends, who come together to reconcile the deaths of their fathers and the events that separated their families 20 years earlier. Maanomaa, My Brother mixes myth with reality, the past with the present and explores the stories we tell and how they propel us towards our possible futures.
Bush of Ghosts is BBTC’s biggest undertaking to date. This work in progress places the oral storytelling traditions from West Africa front and centre. It is the 30 year journey of a young West African boy and his trials and tribulations throughout the “Bush of Ghosts”. Interweaving the mythical and everyday, we are embarking upon a fantastical interpretation of the immigration experience, illuminating the "good and bad", “hope and despair” throughout a journey to find home.
Now more than ever, as humankind sits with its past and imagines possible futures, we ask what might we learn from zeroing in on the singular experiences of a young black boy as he encounters foreign worlds and cultures? What more might we glean about humanity and what it truly means to be alive by looking through the eyes of someone coming of age, seemingly against all odds?
Photo by: Veronica Ho
HOW WE WORK
“From the stage to the page and back again.”
Devising new works through a process we refer to as "from the stage to the page", allows our collaborators to become an integral part of the creation process.
Creating through a devising model has great benefits, both in expanding the artistic possibilities of cultural inclusivity and representation, as well as determining what stories are being told and how they are being creatively expressed. Our devising model serves as a potential creative hub to reconceptualize a conventional approach to theatre making.
BBTC's creative teams come from a vast range of experiences, knowledge, theatrical languages and approaches, creating a rich foundation for exploration; our group of performers come from a similarly diverse background of disciplines, skills, and experience. This is an active and intentional measure to create opportunities for cross-pollination of skills and knowledge, something we feel serves not only our projects but the community as a whole.
Photo by: Veronica Ho
Social Media Spotlight
MAANOMAA, MY BROTHER mentioned amongst Intermission Magazines favourite productions of 2023.
The Journey Home - behind the scenes of MAANOMAA, MY BROTHER