| History |
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Suitcase In Point (SIP) was founded in January 2001 after a meeting in an eroding house downtown, St. Catharines. The ensemble, largely a group of theatre-loving friends who met through Brock University’s Theatre program and disparate local arts organizations, decided to produce their first play, ‘Call to Mind’ in the Vagabond Theatre. The production was fraught with all the traumas of a first-time discovery but the ensemble broke even, met supportive mentors and our local audience asked for more. Most importantly, we knew that we wanted to collaboratively create together again. Over the years SIP has continued to undergo training/workshops so that the ensemble’s skills can evolve. We celebrate the processes we have undertaken and take the risk of collaboratively beginning a new work by training together again. As such, our history is peppered with the shared experiences of having worked and learnt from talents such as Kerr Wells and NACL Theatre, Philippe Gaulier, SITI and Anne Bogart, fettFilm, Dave Clark from the Rheostatics, and Peter Balkwill from Old Trout Puppet Workshop. Training together is not only fun, it has expanded our vocabulary and directly influenced the productions we have made. To sum it up SIP has created and produced ten new Canadian plays, twelve Cabarets, run ten special events and three workshops in the past six years. We have participated in numerous Fringe Festivals, two SummerWorks Festivals, the first ever Hatch Festival at the Harbourfront Centre, Guelph’s Hillside Festival and numerous other festivals/tours. Our accomplishments include traditional awards from Local Pulse readers (‘Best Theatre Company’, ‘Best Comedy Troupe’ and ‘Best Musician’), compliments from great contemporary philosopher, Antonio Negri and an invite to write a SIP song for The Afghanistan Project CD. All of our projects have given us a strong presence in and beyond the St.Catharines' community. |