A Company of Fools Theatre Inc
Performing in parks across the region, our office is at 1247 Kilborn Place, Suite 112 K1H6K9 Ottawa, ON, Canada

A big congratulations to our set designer Brian Smith for winning outstanding set design at the Prix Rideau Awards last night for our 2019 production of R&J. Way to go Brian!!

A big congratulations to all of our artists who were nominated for Prix Rideau Awards for their work on our 2019 production of Romeo Juliet!! We received 4 nominations this year: Outstanding Female Performance - Kate McArthur (Mercutio/Nurse) Outstanding Costume Design - Vanessa Imeson... Outstanding Set Design - Brian Smith Outstanding Director - Nicholas Leno Prix Rideau Awards Gala 13 is an online event on Sunday night where the winners of each category will be announced. We'll see you there fools fans!!

It’s hard to believe that one year ago today we cancelled our annual World Theatre Day celebration: the Ottawa Theatre Challenge. Every year we gather artists from across the city who spend 48 hours creating a new piece of theatre. You may remember highlights from over the years such as: pasta noodle monsters, Jeopardy hosted by Satan, and a My Little Pony murder mystery. But all of our silliness has a purpose: supporting the artists who have dedicated their careers to makin...g us laugh and smile. All proceeds from the Theatre Challenge are donated to the AFC, which provides emergency assistance to artists and their families. If you have come out to cheer on our local artists in Ottawa Theatre Challenges past -- or would have liked to join us in the silliness this year -- we urge you to consider making a donation directly to the AFC by clicking on the button below. From all of us at the Fools, happy World Theatre Day. https://afchelps.ca/donatenow/

Happy Monday Fools Fans! We're hiring an audio technician to come fool around with us in April/May during a development workshop. Check it out!! https://fools.ca/work-with-us/

Well Fools Fans... parting is such sweet sorrow... Today's the last day to check out our comic of Love From Afar! Get on over to Ottawa Public Library / Bibliothèque publique d'Ottawa's YouTube channel and give it one more watch!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrW2lMLziJY&t=1s

Only 3 days left! That's right Fools fans, Love From Afar is only available until Oct. 29th. So get on over to Ottawa Public Library / Bibliothèque publique d'Ottawa's YouTube page and check it out before it's too late! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrW2lMLziJY

We're live, NOW Come stop in at this funky and fresh Q&A sesh about all things Love from Afar! Stay for a laugh, a smile, or even a spot of tea

Tune in TODAY at 2pm to watch our cast and illustrator of Love From Afar participate in at Q&A with our pals at Ottawa Public Library / Bibliothèque publique d'Ottawa! A Facebook live link will be shared to our page where you ask questions to our team.

TGIT, Fools Fans Are you sitting on burning questions about Love from Afar? Well, Ottawa Public Library / Bibliothèque publique d'Ottawa has got you covered! Join us for a live Q&A with the writers, actors, and creative team who brought Love from Afar to life this coming Wednesday! This free event will be available through Zoom, Youtube and Facebook Live! Register now to have all of your mind-clouds parted by the Fools https://biblioottawalibrary.ca//love-afar-company-fools-an

Extra extra - Fools in the news! Check out this feature on Love from Afar by our friends over at The Fulcrum We appreciate the support from this U of O media powerhouse https://thefulcrum.ca//a-company-of-fools-brings-shakespe/

TALENT ALERT Introducing our incredible new Graphic Designer, Sara Mizan! Sara is the brilliant artist behind our digitized edition of Love from Afar who draws her artistic inspiration from daily life and her family in Iran. We are incredibly lucky to have Sara on board - you can check out even more of her amazing work on her website: https://www.mizigner.com/ The Love from Afar comic is available until the end of the month! Revel in Sara's talent while you can, Fools Fan...s! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrW2lMLziJY&t=509s

That's a wrap on the in-person leg of our Love from Afar tour! We spent the past week bringing our production to long-term care facilities across the city, and we couldn't be more elated with the positive response and joy we were able to spread We want to send our sincere thanks and appreciation out to all our Fools Fans who supported our new initiative this month. We feel the love, and send it all back to you. Next up, Love from Afar will be gracing your screens as a digitized comic! Stay tuned to those Foolish Feeds

Friday ... I'm a Fool! We visited the fine, fine facility of the Royal Ottawa Place today for a double show day! That's a double dose of Fool - taken with extreme caution, of course. We are waiting on bated breath to release our digital Love from Afar comic, so keep your eyes peeled! Stay Foolish, my friends

Today, we toured Love from Afar to the incredible folks at Unitarian House We are having such an amazing week sharing our show with some of Ottawa's finest long term care and senior living facilities. Keep your eye out for our digital comic rendering of Love from Afar, available in early October

CKCU? Us too Our AD Nick Leno sat down with Jumpin' Joel Flash to sip some special blend and talk all things Love from Afar. It's delicious, we promise! Fill up your cup below: https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/43/49125.html

Tuesday and we're Foolin' Today we landed down at Carleton Lodge to put on a show for the ages - see how close we got to their sign? This is only stop 2 on our week long tour, so be sure to keep up! We're globetrotting with Love from Afar

A big thank-you goes out to our friends at Apt613 for spreading the word about our Love from Afar production! Our tour has just kicked off, and a fully digitized comic rendering of the show will be available through the Ottawa Public Library / Bibliothèque publique d'Ottawa in early October We 613 https://apt613.ca/theatre-preview-love-from-afar-tours-lon/

The Fools can't get enough FM! We're thrilled to be included in today's edition of All in a Day - be sure to tune in at 5:30 to hear Nick Leno and Maryse Fernandes chat about all things Love from Afar. We're obsessed with the waves https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-92-all-in-a-day

Today we launch Love from Afar - first stop, Camilla Gardens This one-week tour is bringing a little love to senior care facilities all across Ottawa. Wish these fine Fools some broken legs! We can't wait to share our Foolish mashup of iconic Shakespearian scenes with the world For more information about how you can help spread the love, check out: https://fools.ca/lfatour/

What's in your cup? Check us out on CKCU tomorrow chatting about Love from Afar! Hear all about the in-person and online action we're offering in the coming weeks. Fools on air - not to be missed

We’re just two days away from kicking off our Love from Afar tour! We’ve prepared a special Meet the Cast video to debut the fresh faces that are bringing Love from Afar to life! Behold and revere !!!

Happy Friday, Fools Fans Here's another sneak peek of just a few of the beautiful backdrops our animated actors will be playing on in our first-ever digital production! Colourful creations by our fabulous graphic artist allow our comic to transform your computer screen into a vibrant, eye-popping canvas. Available through the Ottawa Public Library website, this comic will allow you to experience our Foolishness in a brand new way! Coming your way in early October - socks-knocked-off guarantee For more information about Love from Afar, check out: https://fools.ca/lfatour/

We Kindness! Our sincere thanks and gratitude goes to Kind Canada for selecting us as a grant recipient for their new charity accelerator fund (which is awesome, by the way). Nothing makes us happier than spreading the joy of theatre as far and wide as we can. More than theatre alone, we are committed to spreading kindness! It is our privilege to serve our audiences and their communities, across Ottawa and beyond. Stay Kind, Fools Fans!

Greetings ... from afar! We can't wait to share our new production with you in a first-ever form for the Fools - a digital comic! Here’s a sneak peak of one of many scenic backdrops from the comic, created by our incredible new graphic designer Sara Mizannojehdehi! Love from Afar, a Shakespearian mashup of scenes that all explore the different ways we can express our love for one another, will be available on your screens in early October. And stay tuned, because we’ll be releasing plenty more previews as we count down the days ...

Just when you thought the party was over, we have another surprise in store a Company of Fools proudly presents Love from Afar! This is far from our usual Torchlight productions - Love from Afar is a one-week, fully mounted tour that will visit senior living facilities across Ottawa to perform our new Shakespearian mashup for the residents. Aptly dubbed the "Window Tour", this is the Fools' first foray into socially distant performance - while our show will take place ...outdoors as usual, most of our audience will watch the show through their windows while listening along using FM radio. While the live performances of Love from Afar will only be for staff and residents of the care facilities, we've dreamed up a brand new way to share our work with everyone. For the first time ever, a Company of Fools production will be completely digitized into an animated comic. Complemented by our cast-recorded audio and original score, this online comic will allow our audience to experience the Fools through an entirely new medium! Through our partnership with the Ottawa Public Library, this animated comic will be available for all via their website following the tour, completely free of charge. And, we'll be updating our socials all month long with as much Love from Afar content as we can to keep everyone looped in on the fun, so be sure to stay tuned! We have a lot more in store to share

We're on the air!! Our Artistic Director Nick sat down with Liz from Festivals 101 on CHUO 89.1 FM to talk about all things Shakespeare in the park! Dive deep into the mind of a Fool as Nick discusses creative inspirations, the importance of accessible theatre, and how Shakespeare manages to stay relevant after all these years. An electric listen - tune in below https://share.transistor.fm/s/e2233a17

Our friends at Driftwood Theatre are hosting some really amazing Community Conversations focused on exploring issues in Canadian Theatre. Their first episode invites Canadian theatre icons Jani Lauzon and ted witzel into a discussion about reimaging classical theatre across Canada. There’s a new Community Conversation to listen to every Wednesday until October, so stay tuned! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HK-v20yeD4Q&t=2s

Dear Patrons, We would like to take a moment to acknowledge the events that transpired in Ottawa’s arts community this past week. Brave individuals have (and continue to) come forward with stories of abuse perpetrated by men who hold positions of authority within our arts community. We at a Company of Fools stand with survivors, both those who have come forward and those who cannot. We denounce all forms of harassment, which can manifest itself in both overt and covert ways.... We understand that these are not isolated incidents that take place in a vacuum. We too have a responsibility to create a safe environment for our artists, our staff, our volunteers, and you, our audience. We have to hold ourselves accountable. Over the next two months we will be reviewing and updating our workplace harassment policies. We will be working with our Board of Directors to outline clear disclosure procedures and source training on sexual violence and harassment. We send love to those in our arts community who are hurting and have had to revisit traumatic experiences. And we call on all of us - arts and culture organizations as well as individuals - to commit to keeping each other safe. Sincerely, A Company of Fools Board and Staff

Hear ye hear ye! Our final online workshop for the summer is TOMORROW! We've had such amazing turnouts across all of our workshops and we've been beyond thrilled to spread virtually spread the joy and mirth of Shakespeare across the Ottawa region There are still a few spots left for our ages 14+ "Introduction to Shakespeare" workshop tomorrow! Last call for aspiring actors Sign up through Ottawa Public Library / Bibliothèque publique d'Ottawa here: https://biblioottawalibrary.ca//acting-workshop-company-fo

Do you hear that? The birds are singing, the bees are buzzing, there are just Sounds All Around! Learn all about celestial tones and echo vibrations with our resident sound master, Franco Pang! Can sounds have personality? Let's find out! Ideal for sonic explorers ages 7-9 Spots are limited - Sign up below ... https://biblioottawalibrary.ca//company-fools-sounds-all-a See more

The memory floodgates are open! We are so lucky to be able to spotlight a selection of the wonderful memories we've received these past weeks This week, we're happy to share a story from our friend Melita and her son's dog, Quat'pattes! Woof "Hello Fools,... Many years ago, my son Mathieu and I attended opening night at Strathcona Park to see one of the Henrys. We were accompanied by my son's large but very well-mannered dog who spent most of play lying at our feet with nary a sound. Then the naval battle arrived along with dozens of nerf balls distributed for the audience's participation. The dog (named Quat'pattes) knew something was ado, perked up his ears and tried to stand. We kept firm calming hands on his back to ward off any unseemly behaviour. And then... all hell broke loose, on cue everyone threw their nerf balls into the raging battle and Quat'pattes joined right in, with continued barking, standing, jumping, barking and trying to break away. Everyone roared with laughter, the battle was over, things calmed down and one of the Fools on stage made a very funny comment about the dog ruckus and more laughter ensued. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the improvised comment but Mathieu and I will always remember the play... except for which of the Henrys it was. I have never missed a Fools play and am looking forward to seeing you in the parks next year. Take care! Melita Link" Thanks, Melita! If you'd like to join in the fun, send a Foolish memory of your own to [email protected]! And, if you’d like to help us make more memories please consider making a donation by following the link below https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/25127

This week's Foolish memory comes to us from our friends at The Ottawa Mission We are so proud to partner with such an important local organization, and to be able to bring the joy of theatre to everybody! We're accepting memories of all shapes and sizes all summer long! If you recall a moment with the Fools that tickled you pink, please share it with us at [email protected] If you'd like to help us continue to spread the mirth, please consider making a donation by following ...the link below: https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/25127 See more