Downstage is a theatre company based in Calgary, Alberta, dedicated to the production of "Provocative Canadian Performance": new and established Canadian works that explore socially or politically-charged themes. We bring these themes to the front of the stage, 'downstage', so that they can be seen, heard and explored by performers and audiences alike; creating high-quality, entertaining work that provokes thought, sparks dialogue and leaves a lasting impression on all who experience it.
Each year, Downstage programs a season consisting of three productions; two Canadian scripts and, in alternating years, a creation by the Downstage Creation Ensemble or our Uprising Festival of New Political Theatre. Downstage also presents the annual 10-Minute Play Festival as part of One Yellow Rabbit's High Performance Rodeo and operates two small-scale arts venues, Motel and birds and stone, which are home to a wide variety of performances, events and rehearsals every year.
Join us for our eighth season of work as we explore a myriad of topical issues through entertaining, enlightening and provocative performances.
 The Downstage Creation Ensemble is dedicated to the creation of original performance that engages with current political and social realities. Creation work has been a key part of Downstage's artistic activities since the company's inception in 2004. Following the success of 2007's Arm's-Length Embrace, in which nine simultaneous narratives interwound throughout various performance locations, the company established an ensemble of artists to continue this creation work on a long-term basis.
In the 2008-09 Season, the Downstage Creation Ensemble presented Bus(t), a site-specific mask performance that took place on a custom-converted bus and explored the role of debt in the economic collapse. The ensemble then created In the Wake as part of the 2009-10 Season, a show exploring questions of geo-engineering and eco-terrorism that takes place atop a 6 foot by 3 foot illuminated platform. In the Wake received the 2010 Betty Mitchell Award for Outstanding New Play, was part of One Yellow Rabbit's High Performance Rodeo in 2011 and is now touring to theatres across the country.
The Downstage Creation Ensemble is currently developing Good Fences, which will have its World Premiere as part of Downstage's 2011-12 Season.
2010-11
Goodness by Michael Redhill
Uprising 2010
In the Wake by the Downstage Creation Ensemble
And So It Goes by George F. Walker
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2009-10:
Enoch Arden in the Hope Shelter by Judith Thompson
Uprising 2009
Bone Cage by Catherine Banks
In the Wake by the Downstage Creation Ensemble
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2008-09:
Palace of the End by Judith Thompson
The Piper by Colleen Murphy
Bus(t) by the Downstage Creation Ensemble
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2007-08:
Arm's-Length Embrace by Downstage
The Dishwashers by Morris Panych
Habitat by Judith Thompson
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2006-07:
Heaven by George F. Walker
This is for You, Anna by The Anna Project
Man Out of Joint by Sharon Pollock
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2005-06:
A Line in the Sand by G. Verdecchia & M. Youssef
Prometheus Bound adapted by George Ryga
pppeeeaaaccceee by Darren O'Donnell
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2004-05:
Dog from the Machine by Downstage
(The Culture of Fear, Rights & Freedumbs,
Rogue Wheat & Smoking Broccoli)
Pulling the Wool by Simon Mallett
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Simon Mallett - Artistic Producer
 Simon is the Founder & Artistic Producer of Downstage, and has directed many of the company's previous productions including Habitat, Goodness, In the Wake and the World Premiere of Sharon Pollock's Man Out of Joint. He has also worked with a variety of other companies including Theatre Calgary, Vertigo Theatre, Alberta Theatre Projects, Lunchbox Theatre and New West Theatre. He holds a MFA in Directing from the University of Calgary and a BA in Drama from the University of Guelph.
Simon is the recipient of The Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Award, the Enbridge Emerging Artist Award, and was nominated for the Betty Mitchell Award for Outstanding Direction for In the Wake.
Ellen Close - Associate Artistic Producer
 Ellen is an actor, playwright and graduate of the Acting Program of the National Theatre School. Selected performance credits include Unity (1918) and Hearts of the New West - the Shackter Show (Alberta Theatre Projects), Blood: A Scientific Romance (Sage Theatre), The Way of All Fish (Lunchbox), Arm’s Length Embrace, Bus(t), Bone Cage and In the Wake (Downstage), Christmas Hamlet (Swallow-A-Bicycle), and The Stranger Series (TheatreBOOM).
Ellen was the Festival Director of Sage Theatre’s IGNITE!: Calgary’s Festival for Emerging Artists for its 2009 & 2010 incarnations and was nominated for the Enbridge Emerging Artist Award in 2010.
Tuled Giovanazzi - Production
& Venue Manager
Tuled is a Production Manager, Stage Manager, Lighting Designer and graduate of the Production Program of the National Theatre School. Selected PM credits include Canadian Badlands Passion Play, Night Light (Quest Theatre) and the CFL Experience at the 2010 Grey Cup. Stage Management credits include Goodness (Downstage), Season of Wonder (Young Canadians), When That I Was (Shakespeare Company) and The Vajayjay Monologues (Pot of Jam Productions).
Tuled's Lighting Design credits include The Vajayjay Monologues and whiteNOISE (Earpiece Collective). As an Assistant Stage Manager, Tuled has worked on Last Dog of War (Alberta Theatre Projects), The Highest Step in the World (ATP & Ghost River Theatre) and Speed-the-Plow (Ground Zero Theatre).
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