Treading Theatre Festival

Local. Independent. Professional.

THE TREADING THEATRE FESTIVAL is independant contemporary professional theatre in Waterloo Region! 

White Rabbit Red Rabbit is a wildly creative script from Iranian playwright, Nassim Soleimanpour, meant to be performed cold by a different actor every night. This blind jump into an unknown text makes for more than a bonkers fun evening of theatre where the audience and performer share a mutual sense of unpredictability, but also a brilliant vehicle to platform tremendous performers. White Rabbit Red Rabbit has been gathering critical acclaim all over the world for over a decade. Now, in Kitchener, it will be performed by the celebrated and emerging talents of Nada Abusaleh, Ben Gorodetsky, Emily Radcliffe, Cassandra Watsham, and Jenn Weatherall. No two performances will be the same! 

Believe In It Alive! is as much a musical concert as it is a theatrical story of powerful consequence and infectious silliness. Conceived and created by songwriter, comedian, multi-instrumentalist, and perhaps pagan priest, Braeden Etienne: “the first step to create more light is to believe it is possible.” Audiences can sit and listen or audiences can get up and dance! All of us will learn to “believe in it” and take control of the present moment. Directed by Bex and with musical support from DAPH. 

Trading Post is the continuation of a piece first seen at Kitchener’s last Night/Shift Festival in 2017. Conceived and performed by Nathaniel Voll, who has been creating art, poetry, and theatre in Waterloo Region for more than a decade, with script development from Ciarán Myers and directed by Green Light Arts’ Matt White. Nathaniel plays a character who is attempting to live beyond the structures of capitalism by dealing in a more unique system of trade. Audience members are invited to bring their own items to trade .. and who knows what they may be bringing back with them! 

Night Just Before the Forest is a rich script from legendary French writer Bernard-Marie Koltés, in translation by Timothy Johns and directed by Bill Bowers. Performer Lazaros Theodorakopoulos has been touring this production and perfecting his relationship with this sweeping play for years. Treading Theatre is bringing this production in from New York to represent an incredible scope of theatricality that is strung together with a few simple props and uniquely understated performance. 

Gary Kirkham is a local gem of an artist who has toured all over the world with the MTSpace Theatre and who’s plays, Falling: A Wake and Queen Milli of Galt are almost always being performed somewhere at any given time. He will be directed by Maria Colonescu in Samuel Beckett’s first masterpiece, Krapp’s Last Tape. This will be a milestone solo performance from Gary, fittingly performed in the haunting attic of the old house. 

On the Saturday of the festival, May 31st, there will also be a curated market where artists and artisans will share their unique work with the public. Original art and prints from the delightfully playful Wooded Woods, functional art by local potter Katie Redekopp, hand-made nature-based art from Craft Witching, and sustainably sourced jewellery by Northern Antlers and more! 

Tickets are limited, vary by performance, and are available on a sliding scale from $0. to $25. 

Every venue the festival creates at the National Historic Site is intimate. Every seat is close to the action and every show is responsive to this unique and historic environment. 

Festival schedule, artist bios, and other information are available at www.treadingtheatreproject.weebly.com.

Come see what your community has in store! 

Schneider Haus, National Historic Site
466 Queen Street South, Kitchener
N2G 1W7

www.treadingtheatreproject.weebly.com

Please note, unfortunately, not all performances spaces are mobility accessible. 
Parking is available, across the road, at 489 Queen Street South.

THANK YOU, Canada Council for the Arts, Waterloo Region Community Foundation, Schnieder Haus National Historic Site, The Region of Waterloo, Registry Theatre, Inter Arts Matrix, Cameron Slipp, and others!