Shaw honours former artistic directors
From 1980 to 2016, the Shaw Festival only had two artistic directors — Christopher Newton and Jackie Maxwell.
This month, the company will honour them both.
A $1-million gift from longtime Shaw supporters Marilyn and Charlie Baillie will go towards the creation of the new Christopher Newton Interns Program. Each season it will welcome new members across the company, including the acting ensemble, production and creative management. It will also underwrite two artists each year in the Shaw’s programs in perpetuity. The program will start next season.
Shaw Festival executive director Tim Jennings says it will “ensure the sustainability of the Shaw in the development of artists and craftspeople — young people who are the future of theatre in Canada.”
“I couldn’t be more excited to see Christopher’s legacy honoured in this way.”
Newton retired after the 2002 season after 23 years as Shaw’s artistic director, the longest tenure in the company’s history.
Maxwell, who took over in 2003, is second in tenure at 14 seasons.
The Belfast-born director guided the company through some of its greatest creative seasons, tweaking the mandate and bringing in more modern plays. Many of those shows were performed in the intimate Studio Theatre, created during Maxwell’s run to showcase more risky, contemporary plays such as Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog / Underdog and Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia.
On Friday, the theatre will officially rename the space the Jackie Maxwell Studio Theatre with a ribbon cutting at 4:45 p.m. Maxwell is expected to attend.
The ceremony takes place just two days before the first show, Will Eno’s Middletown, has its Canadian premiere in the renamed theatre.