IN THE NEWS

January 20, 2009

Join us for Improv Theatre on the following Tuesdays: Feb 17, Mar 17, Apr 21, May 19 and June 23, 2009 at The Brantford Arts Block, 80 Dalhousie St. 519.753.9400

No script. No curtain. No preservatives. We'll use audience suggestions to create spur of the moment characters and predicaments that will make you laugh. Come play with us... Who knows what will happen?

Presented by ICHTHYS Theatre Productions and Brantford Arts Block and sponsored by the King and Benton Community Foundation. No tickets required - admission is "pay what you can."

Improv Theatre runs on the third Tuesday of every month until June.

November 24, 2008

Community Living Brant, presented Flowers for Algernon

In November, ICHTHYS Theatre Productions, in a new partnership with Community Living Brant, presented Flowers for Algernon, a play that tells the fictional story of Charlie Gordon, a mentally challenged man who becomes a genius after experimental surgery. As Charlie's IQ rises and then unexpectedly regresses, he searches for his true self and for the capacity to love fully.

The play challenged audiences to see people living with developmental challenges in a different light and so was a novel way for ICHTHYS to share the stage with Community Living Brant and to help them promote the capabilities and achievements of their clients.

Fifty-five Community Living clients, along with their support workers and families, attended the performances. Connor McGrath, the actor who portrayed Charlie, spent some time chatting with several clients as part of his preparation for a challenging role. Both clients and actors enjoyed their experience of the play.

ICHTHYS is a Brantford–based theatre company that presents innovative and thought–provoking plays that focus on life issues.

June 17, 2008

Canada Day Booth

We will be doing face painting for kids (adults too) some performance busking and have some costumes for folks to try on.

We will also have our display board up and our brochures to hand out. We will also have our advertising for the summer show Twelve Angry Men.

The festivities are at Cockshutt Park in Brantford and start at 10am and go through to fireworks at 11pm or so. We would only be functioning from 11:30am to 4:30pm. (The park is in west Brant, behind the old Ryerson school and the Parks Bd greenhouses.

May 8, 2006

A CULTURAL and PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE PROPOSED for the CITY of BRANTFORD

ICHTHYS Theatre Productions is looking to obtain a permanent site for rehearsal, performance, storage and office space. Our search indicated that Ryerson School, on Sherwood Drive, adjacent to Cockshutt Park, is to be closed by September of this year and declared redundant by the Grand Erie District School Board. It will then be offered to other School Boards, Educational Organizations, the County of Brant, City of Brantford and Governmental Agencies. These organizations then have 90 days to indicate their interest in acquiring the school. If they decline, the school will be placed on the open real estate market for sale to the highest bidder.

The building can be converted to an intimate, flexible-use auditorium and performance hall facility with seating room for approximately 300 people. Space would be provided for dressing rooms, construction and storage of sets, wardrobe preparation and storage, a box office, as well as space for offices to accommodate future staff and storage needs for all participating organizations. In addition, the facility could provide space for the education and training of people in the areas of Theatre, Dance, Instrumental and Vocal Music. It can also be used as a meeting place and a speaker's forum for many community organizations needing space at reasonable cost for rental.

Our Board of Directors came to the conclusion that such a facility would make an IDEAL Community Cultural and Performing Arts Center that could become home for our theatre company, as well as for many of the Performing Arts groups in the City of Brantford, who like us, may be seeking a permanent home for their year long operations, rehearsals and performances. A facility of this type, with its location adjacent to Cockshutt Park would benefit the many Community Cultural and Performing Arts Organizations in the city, by providing a small intimate performance center, meeting place and speakers forum.

This undertaking would involve some form of partnership between a significant number of participating Community Cultural and Performing Arts organizations, the City of Brantford, Grand Erie District School Board, Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board, and Community Corporate Sponsors such as Ferrero Rocher, Wescast, Procter & Gamble or S. C. Johnson.

Participants at this meeting can recommend that the City of Brantford acquire Ryerson School from the Grand Erie District School Board to be used as a Community Cultural and Performing Arts facility that would benefit all of the citizens of Brantford.

The participating community Cultural and Performing Arts Organizations would form a NOT-FOR-PROFITcorporation to lease the property, under a long-term lease agreement from the City of Brantford, who would hold title to the property, possibly through the Board of Parks and Recreation.

A Board of Directors comprised of representatives from all stakeholders will oversee and direct the management and maintenance of the property.

The groups using this location would be not-for-profit organizations that currently have no permanent venue for rehearsal, performance or presentation of their cultural and artistic productions, and who find venues such as the Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts to be too large and too expensive for their needs.

A facility of this type should continue to reflect its heritage as a Community Educational Centre and be named:

“THE RYERSON CULTURAL and PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE”

Acting as a catalyst, ICHTHYS Theatre Productions, asked the Brantford Cultural Network to organize a meeting, inviting all of the Cultural and Performing Arts organizations and other interested citizens of the City of Brantford to attend in order they can establish a Steering Committeeto expand on this vision to explore the demographics and feasibility for a permanent Cultural and Performing Arts facility to be established in the City of Brantford.

A center of this size and purpose will be a significant advantage in the advancement and support for Cultural and Performing Arts groups in this community.

Respectfully submitted by:
Douglas K. Summerhayes, C.M., President,
ICHTHYS Theatre Productions
Email: D. Summerhayes

For more information on the Proposed Cultural and Performing Arts Centre, please Click here