This year, Litmus has joined forces with two of the most exciting arts organizations in the city:

Litmus Theatre is a Resident Company with Theatre Passe Muraille and is also one of STAF’s Inaugural Annual Resident Companies. Both organizations are supporting Litmus as they develop and stage an immersive, site-specific theatre production based on Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

Litmus Theatre is one of three Resident Companies at Theatre Passe Muraille, along with the Paprika Festival and Outside the March. Litmus will receive artistic and administrative mentorship from Artistic Director Andy McKim and General Manager Régine Cadet. A workshop showing of Brave New World will be part of the Theatre Passe Muraille Buzz Series in fall of 2015.

Litmus is also one of STAF’s Inaugural Annual Resident Companies, along with Outside the March and Shakespeare in the Ruff. After undergoing a dramatic re-branding and the announcement of new programs, STAF will serve as a home-base and resource repository to Litmus during the next year. Working with Executive Director Michael Wheeler and the other resident companies, Litmus will also lead workshops and help teach selected sessions for STAF’s Artist/Producer Training Program.

At the 2015 Harold Awards on June 1, Matthew Thomas Walker (Co-Artistic Director of Litmus) won the Ken McDougall Award!

Awarded by Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille and Platform 9, the Ken McDougall award is given to a promising emerging director in the city. Ken McDougall was an innovative and insightful theatre director who died at the height of his career in 1994 – he was 44 years old. He inspired the many theatre practitioners that he worked with, and took a personal interest in their evolution as artists. In particular, he worked tirelessly to support emerging directors.

Congrats, Matt, on your Harold award.

Read a wrap-up of the 2015 awards here. And congratulations to all the winners!

Litmus and a multi-talented team of collaborators entered the studio in late October 2014 to dig into Aldous Huxley’s classic dystopian novel Brave New World.

Performers well-versed in creation techniques (Anusree Roy, Adam Paolozza, Viktor Lukawski, Zoe Sweet, Kaleb Alexander and Eli Ham) joined Litmus’ core company members Claire, Matt and Adriano to help animate this classic novel. Designers Lindsay Woods and Patrick Lavender joined the group, with an eye to low-fi strategies for creating this brave new world.

Thanks to the artists involved in the workshop!  And thank you to the Toronto Arts Council for their support of this phase of development.

A band of three theatre-makers. Matt, Adriano and Claire are producers, writers, administrators, actors, directors and friends. All three Co-Artistic Directors met at the York MFA Acting program, and founded the company in 2009. Some other exciting things that we do:

Claire is Communications Manager at the Fringe.
Adriano is a Grant Writer at STAF.
Matt is a Dora Award-winning director!

Congratulations to Litmus Co-Artistic Director Matthew Thomas Walker for winning the Outstanding Direction award in the Indie category for his direction of Birth of Frankenstein. 

Litmus was nominated in the following categories:

Outstanding Indie Production
Outstanding Indie Director, Matthew Thomas Walker
Outstanding New Indie Play
Outstanding Lighting Design, Patrick Lavender

Litmus is proud to have been nominated alongside such acclaimed artists, and sends a hearty congratulations to all the winners and nominees! Read about the winners here.

A free workshop hosted by Litmus Theatre

Litmus Theatre led a free two-hour workshop for emerging artists and theatre enthusiasts at the beautiful St. Luke’s United Church.

Litmus Theatre co-founders took the participants on a journey through the historic building, investigating the space with an eye to how architecture, space, found items and natural lighting can influence classic text. Through simple exercises participants were trained on how to see a space through new eyes and uncover its hidden creative potential.

Starting with the Space: how to devise work in site-specific venues
Tuesday October 29, 2013
4:00pm – 6:00pm // FREE!

If you would like to book Litmus Theatre to present a site specific workshop to your group, and this space or another space of your choosing, email claire@litmustheatre.com