Words to know
contribution
Something that helps or adds value to a community.
social contribution
How theatre helps people connect, think about problems, build empathy or heal.
cultural contribution
How theatre shares and keeps alive a community's stories, languages, values and identity.
economic contribution
How theatre creates jobs and brings money into a community.
City Dionysia
A yearly festival in ancient Athens where tragedies and comedies were performed in competitions.
mystery plays
Medieval plays telling Bible stories, often performed by town craft guilds on wagons in the streets.
guild
In medieval times, an organization of people working in the same trade, such as bakers or carpenters.
drama therapy
Using drama and role play, guided by a trained therapist, to support people's mental health and well-being.
Remember from Grade 7
In Grade 7 you described how theatre and festivals contribute to social, economic and cultural life today: forum theatre, the Stratford and Shaw Festivals, film festivals like TIFF and imagineNATIVE, and street festivals.
In Grade 8 you'll look at contributions drama and theatre make or have made, across different times and places, so you can see what has stayed the same for more than 2,000 years, and what has changed.
Why do towns build theatres?
Theatres cost a lot to build and run. Plays don't grow food or fix roads. So why have people in so many places and times, from ancient Greece to small-town Ontario, gathered to watch stories acted out?
Because theatre does important work for a community. Let's investigate what kind.
Contributions across time and place
Ancient Athens (400s BCE). At a yearly festival called the City Dionysia, playwrights competed with tragedies and comedies. Thousands of citizens gathered in an outdoor theatre. Socially, plays let the community think together about justice, power and war. Economically, wealthy citizens were required to pay the costs of training and costuming a chorus, as a public duty.
Medieval York, England (late 1300s to 1500s). Town guilds (trade groups such as bakers, carpenters and shipwrights) each staged one Bible story in a cycle of mystery plays, performed on pageant wagons that rolled through the streets. Socially and culturally, the whole town took part. Economically, guilds showed off their skills and the event drew visitors. Some versions of the York plays are still performed today.
Stratford, Ontario (1953). Tom Patterson, a local journalist, proposed a Shakespeare festival to bring new life to his town. The first season was performed in a large tent. The Stratford Festival grew into a major employer and brings visitors to the town every year.
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (1965). Anne of Green Gables – The Musical, based on the novel by L. M. Montgomery, premiered at the Charlottetown Festival and has been performed there in many summers since. It contributes to the Island's tourism and its cultural identity.
Indigenous theatre in Canada (today). Native Earth Performing Arts, founded in Toronto in 1982, develops and produces work by Indigenous artists. Cree playwright Tomson Highway's play The Rez Sisters (1986), which you met in Grade 6, was first produced by Native Earth. Indigenous theatre artists today tell stories in their own voices, often with Indigenous languages, and their work contributes to cultural life across Canada and beyond.
Theatre in health and community care (today). Drama therapists are trained professionals who use role play and storytelling to help people express feelings and practise new choices. Community theatre groups give people of all ages a place to belong.