On the Road

We have just finished our first week of the 6-month tour of Canada and the U.S. Our tour started in Burnaby, B.C at the Michael J. Fox Theatre where we performed 14 shows for over 7000 local children. The Children’s Concert Series presented us as part of their yearlong programming geared to elementary schools. One of our audiences included students from a local school for the deaf. They had translators onstage interpreting the show and I got a chance to speak to a couple of students after the show about what they thought.

After five successful weeks on tour, the Raven cast has landed back in Toronto and dispersed until the new year. We flew as far afield as Rainy River, Ontario, which marks the far end of Yonge Street, 1,896 kilometres from its origin at Queens Quay in our home base of Toronto. This community, with a population of 1000, was a fantastic audience for Raven – so many of these communities have limited access to live performance, and we felt the mutual excitement of bringing the magic of the theatre directly into each small town.

It’s that season again – we’re hitting the road all over Ontario with performances in the GTA, Meaford, Ottawa, Chapeau, Atikokan, Rainy River, Fort Frances, Devlin, and Mine Centre. This season, Raven features two returning cast favourites, Jonathan Fisher and Carlos Rivera, and a new member to our crew, Andrea Moseanu, in the role of Seik. We have had one week of rehearsal and one week of shows together so far, leaving us in great shape for the upcoming weeks (and months!) on the road. Our first performance on Bear Island, Lake Temagami was a magical way to begin this tour.

It has been just over two months on the road, and it doesn't seem like any time at all. We've been back and forth over the country, jetting out to BC twice. This is a province with which we've all fallen a little in love. The laid back attitude, especially on Salt Spring Island, has helped to slow down our pace a little. It's easy enough to get caught up in the rush of things, especially with two shows a day, often in different venues. Of course this keeps us busy, but the time we've had here has provided even more opportunity to connect, to really see the communities we're touching.