The Cavalcade Theatre Company in Grande Prairie has been working to make theatre more accessible in the community for the past five years.
Its shows are by donation and are often performed in public spaces.
“The impetus for Cavalcade was essentially a need to create theatre and art that was accessible for all persons,” said Tahnia Getson, Cavalcade treasurer and founding member.
“Something really important was that we didn’t want money to be a barrier for essentially consumption of arts, and we wanted to make sure that our shows were out of the box, things that you wouldn’t necessarily see in a traditional theatre.”
Performances by the group have been held at Muskoseepi Park, reception centres, the Farmers’ Market, and the Centre for Creative Arts.
“Think of a weird spot to put a show, we’ve probably considered it,” said Getson.
They said many of the shows have been made by locals with the actors in mind who were available.
“We work with who has come to our audition calls, and we work with that crew to build our scripts from the ground up and then we try to bring in whoever is available and wants to partake in the arts into those shows in whatever field they’re working in, whatever capacity they have at that time, and build them into the show,” said Getson.
“We’re always learning from each other, so I think that Cavalcade always acts as a bit of a learning space and a bit of a growing space by nature of what we do because we’re always working with storytelling and learning from each other.”
Different stories can be told by incorporating its volunteers, culture, and history.
“When we did Ghoulish Delights, our board member Yax [Posas] brought in a Mexican legend because that is a representation of who we are, and all of our volunteers,” said Davina Dawson, Cavalcade vice president.
Ghoulish Delights was performed next to a bonfire in Muskposeepi Park, and volunteers served Mexican drinks for the annual Halloween show.
Previous Ghoulish Delights included local ghost stories.
Two years ago, Cavalcade performed Under the Umbrella, where the audience was immersed in a backyard setting, and performers acted all around them.
“It was a very out-of-the-box format that we weren’t sure that our audience was going to receive, so we were taking a bit of a gamble,” said Getson.
The show was something new that the audience had not experienced before, and they didn’t want it to end.
“For about 45 minutes after the show, not a single audience member left,” said Getson, “They stayed, they talked to the actors, they talked to the creative crew, they had snacks and it was so familial feeling that everybody just wanted to stay and continue hanging out in the backyard that we had created, which was so cool and so warm.”
To learn more about the Cavalcade Theatre Company, visit cavalcadetheatre.com.
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