Caravan Farm Theatre is a professional outdoor
theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
company operated by the Bill Miner Society for Cultural Advancement. The theatre is based on an farm,
11 kilometres northwest of
Armstrong, British Columbia
The City of Armstrong is located in the North Okanagan of the Canadian province of British Columbia, between Vernon and Enderby. It overlooks the Spallumcheen Valley, which forms a broad pass between the Okanagan Valley to the south and the Sh ...
.
Caravan Farm Theatre productions are always mounted outdoors in site-specific locations, with audiences of up to 500 at its farm location,
three seasons of the year. Annually, Caravan Farm Theatre productions attract between 13,000 and 16,000 theatre-goers each year.
History
The Caravan Farm Theatre had its genesis as a puppet troupe formed in 1970 by Paul Kirby and Adriana Kelder called The Little People's Caravan.
The Little People's Caravan toured
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are o ...
by means of a horse-drawn wagon.
In 1975, the troupe changed its name to The Caravan Stage Company. In 1978, the company began mounting more and larger tours, each pulled by a team of
Clydesdale Clydesdale is an archaic name for Lanarkshire, a traditional county in Scotland. The name may also refer to:
Sports
* Clydesdale F.C., a former football club in Glasgow
* Clydesdale RFC, Glasgow, a former rugby union club
* Clydesdale RFC, South ...
s.
In 1979, the Caravan Stage Company purchased a farm outside of Armstrong, as a base of operations and as a
stud farm for its horses.
In 1984, Kirby and Kelder embarked on a three-year tour of the western United States.
This resulted in a dispute arising in the Caravan Stage Company as to whether its focus was as a touring company or as a company based on the farm.
This resulted in the division of the Caravan Stage Company into two separate entitites: the Caravan Stage Company (which is now based out of
Kingston, Ontario
Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between Toro ...
,
and the Caravan Farm Theatre, which continues to be based on the farm near Armstrong.
Former Caravan Stage Company member Nick Hutchison (son of
Jeremy Hutchinson, an English
Baron
Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...
, and actress Dame
Peggy Ashcroft) became the founding Artistic Director of the Caravan Farm Theatre.
Caravan Farm Theatre soon began producing a mix of original and classic works for local audiences, often utilising the skills of actors, designers, musicians, and technicians who lived on or near the farm property. In 1989, the company began operating a one-act winter sleigh ride show.
Hutchison stepped down as Artistic Director in 1993. After a brief period of operations under an interim group, composer and writer Allen Cole took over as the new Artistic Director.
Cole served in that role until 1998, when he was replaced by Estelle Shook (whose first exposure to the company was in 1979 when her mother took a job there as a cook
) and
Jennifer Brewin as Co-artistic Directors.
In 2005, Brewin stepped down, leaving Shook to carry on in the position.
In 2008, through the assistance of a local charitable organization, Caravan Farm Theatre built a rain venue on the farm.
The rain venue allows the company to continue performances despite inclement weather, for audiences of up to 200 people.
Shook chose to leave the Artistic Director position in 2010.
To mark the occasion, six
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
theatre companies joined with Caravan Farm Theatre to mount a production of ''Everyone'', a modern morality play.
The play featured seven scenes with seven Clydesdale and Fjord-drawn wagons.
Shook was replaced as Artistic Director by actor, director and choreographer Courtenay Dobbie in September 2010.
Contributors
Many noted Canadian theatre artists have contributed to Caravan Farm Theatre productions over many years, including:
*Peter Anderson, star of the
CanStage production of ''The Overcoat''
*Peter Hinton, Artistic Director of the
National Arts Centre in
Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
.
*
Vincent de Tourdonnet
Vincent de Tourdonnet is a Canadian musical theatre writer. He is known for writing large-scale historical musicals, as well as intimate, cabaret-style musicals. He also serves as stage director.
Biography
De Tourdonnet’s epic musical ''Pél ...
, writer of musicals produced by
CanStage, The
National Arts Centre and La Place Des Arts.
* Martin Julien, Toronto stage and TV actor
*Amiel Gladstone, West Coast based playwright and director, who wrote Caravan Farm Theatre productions ''We Three Queens'', and ''East O' the Sun, West O' the Moon''.
Representative productions
Plays produced by the Caravan Farm Theatre include:
* ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''
* ''Everyone''
* ''The Story''
* ''The Secret Sorrow of Hatchet Jack MacPhee''
* ''Mother Courage and her Children''
* ''King Lear''
* ''The Blue Horse''
* ''East O' the Sun West O' the Moon''
* ''The Tell Tale Heart''
* ''Macbeth''
* ''We Three Queens''
* ''The I O U Land''
* ''A Night in the Woods''
* ''Cyrano of the Northwest''
* ''Horseplay''
* ''Cowboy King''
* ''The Dog and the Angel''
References
External links
*
{{authority control
Theatre companies in British Columbia
Theatres in British Columbia
Tourist attractions in the Okanagan