The Ontario Drama Festival widely known as the Sears Drama Festival, founded in 1946 by Ken Watts, is a drama festival in which thousands of high school students compete. Winners of the competition are awarded scholarships to theatre arts schools in Canada. Keanu Reeves,

Rachel McAdams Rachel Anne McAdams (born November 17, 1978) is a Canadian actress. After graduating from a theatre degree program at York University in 2001, she worked in Canadian television and film productions, such as the drama film ''Perfect Pie'' (200 ...

Margot Kidder Margaret Ruth Kidder (October 17, 1948 – May 13, 2018), known professionally as Margot Kidder, was a Canadian-American actress whose career spanned five decades. Her accolades include three Canadian Screen Awards and one Daytime Emmy A ...

, R.H. Thomson,

Judith Thompson Judith Clare Thompson, OC (born September 20, 1954) is a Canadian playwright who lives in Toronto, Ontario. She has twice been awarded the Governor General's Award for drama, and is the recipient of many other awards including the Order of Canad ...

and David Cronenberg are among the festival's alumni. The festival, and its sister festivals in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

(founded in 2005) and Atlantic Canada (founded on 2011), involve 400 high schools and 15,000 students each year in drama competitions. Funded for most of its existence by

Sears Canada Sears Canada Inc. was a publicly-traded Canadian company affiliated with the American-based Sears department store chain. In operation from 1952 until January 14, 2018, and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, the company began as Simpsons-Sears ...

(and previously, by retailer

Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, a ...

), a partnership was arranged in 2017 with the National Theatre School and

IATSE The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, Its Territories and Canada, known as simply the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE or ...

after Sears Canada withdrew its funding of $200,000 annually, due to the retailer's financial problems.

References

{{Reflist Theatre festivals in Ontario High schools in Canada