It’s official. As of Nov. 1, 2023, Youth Entertaining Sudbury (YES) Theatre and Sudbury Theatre Centre (STC) are now legally one entity.
Artistic and managing director Alessandro Costantini made the announcement Nov. 9 during the newly merged theatre company’s 2024 season launch.
While the two theatre companies remained legally separate until this month, they’ve already functionally been operating as one for 18 months. A joint 2022-23 season was produced while the two companies underwent merger talks.
“So we had a meeting with the Sudbury Theatre Centre membership, which consisted of about 70 to 75 people, and also some people who joined us virtually,” Costantini said.
“At that membership meeting, we went over the successes of the year, and the amalgamation agreement that was created between both boards that we worked with a lawyer to draft. The membership unanimously accepted that agreement and then went into effect.”
Patrons won’t notice much in the way of changes.
The merger means there will now only be one board of directors and one website. The company itself will be called YES Theatre, although the Sudbury Theatre Centre building will continue to be known as just that.
“So YES Theatre is the company that operates two venues, the Sudbury Theatre Centre and the Refettorio,” said Costantini, referring to the outdoor theatre opened by YES Theatre on Durham Street this summer.
“Since our work here at Sudbury Theatre Centre began in July of 2022, we have welcomed over 50,000 patrons to our productions, we have sold over $1.7 million in ticket sales and we have engaged 316 artists, the majority of which are local to our community,” he said, during a Nov. 9 press conference.
“There has been over 250 youth in our education programs, and we produced 10 mainstage works. We opened a theatre, the Refettorio, downtown on Durham Street.”
As for the 2024 season, Costantini said YES Theatre has already sold 500 subscriptions through its “Believers Pass,” which were passes sold before the company even announced its offerings for the upcoming year.
“To get 500 people who purchased (passes), essentially no questions asked, we will come in no matter what you do, is quite remarkable,” he said.
“When we took over the leadership, I think Sudbury Theatre Centre was sitting at about 90 subscribers. So to have 500 before we've even told them what we're doing is, I think, a testament to the mountain of work that we've been able to accomplish over this last year.”
2024 season
Costantini said the 2024 season offers a variety of offerings, “but everything that we do, you know, we really value integrity pieces, and making sure that everything that we produce is thought-provoking.”
Topics explored include social classes, poverty, incarceration, the pursuit of fame, mental health and a celebration of “some of the most poetic and complex music of our generation,” he said.
YES Theatre’s 2024 main stage season starts off March 15-31 with the Canadian play “1939” by Jani Lauzon and Kaitlyn Riordan.
The piece is set in a fictional residential school in Northern Ontario which is preparing for a visit by King George VI. Students decide to stage a production of Shakespeare’s “All’s Well that Ends Well.”
“While the traditional and rigid approach to Shakespeare clashes with their perspectives, the Indigenous students begin to draw parallels between their own lives and the characters of the play,” Costantini said.
He said “1939” was originally commissioned and premiered at the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ont. “We’re one of the first companies in the country to be doing it outside of that original work,” Costantini said.
Following this, YES Theatre’s Young Company (formerly known as Students On Stage) will present the show “One Small Step” by Dora-nominated Canadian writers Anika Johnson and Barbara Johnston from May 10-15.
The show will feature 20 local youth.
“When their annual musical is canceled, a group of high school drama students decide to write one of their own, but in order to get the money they need from city hall, it has to be about something Canadian, and the result is the Hadfield Follies, an out of this world journey through the life and times of astronaut Chris Hadfield,” Costantini said.
Running at the Refettorio June 12 to July 5 is a concert brought to you by the team who orchestrated “Forever and For Always: The Music of Shania Twain.” This year’s concert is “Here Comes the Sun: The Music of the Beatles.”
“We’re going to have stunning vocals and a live band in the heart of downtown Sudbury at the Refettorio,” Costantini said.
Next will be “Chicago,” which will run at Sudbury Theatre Centre July 9 to Aug. 15. “One of the best-selling Broadway musicals of all time,” this Tony award winning show features the beloved hits “All That Jazz”, and “Cell Block Tango.”
“The musical explores themes of corruption, celebrity and the North American obsession with fame,” Costantini said. “Coming to the stage in the summer of 2024, Chicago offers a satirical and glamorous glimpse into the iconic Jazz Age and the pursuit of stardom.”
Bad Hats Theatre’s “Peter Pan” will then open at the Refettorio August 8 in Ontario’s first professional non-replica production.
Costantini explained that this Canadian reimagining of “Peter Pan” was actually first conceived here in Sudbury. Creators Fiona Sauder and Landon Doak were here working on a project.
“Fiona was dressed as Peter Pan, and he said he looked like Peter Pan, and then boom, they wrote this piece together,” he said.
Also at the Ref will be “Every Brilliant Thing,” starring Alessandro Costantini. The show opens Sept. 11 and runs until Sept. 22.
“‘Every Brilliant Thing’ is a play about what makes life worth living and the length we will go for those we love,” Costantini said.
The Charles Dickens’ classic and Tony Award winning musical “Oliver!” takes the stage as the holiday show and closes the season during its run beginning Nov. 21.
“Oliver is the piece that opened up Sudbury Theatre Centre 42 years ago,” Costantini. “So we're very excited to bring that back as the anchor of the season.”
Season passes for YES Theatre’s 2024 season are available this evening (Nov. 9) at 7 p.m., while single tickets are on sale starting Nov. 27. Visit YES Theatre’s website for more information.
Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s assistant editor. She also covers education and the arts scene.
