Pleiades Theatre

Established

1997

Executive Director: Ash Knight

Pleiades Theatre was founded in T’karonto in 1997 by veteran theatre artist John Van Burek whose earlier years working in French led to his realisation of just how seldom English Canadian audiences experienced non-English dramatic repertoire. In 2009 he was joined by Producer and Artistic Associate Andrey Tarasiuk, a 2nd generation Canadian, senior artist and accomplished theatre maker. In 2017/18 John retired and Andrey was named Artistic Producer. In 2021, actor and director Ash Knight, a 2nd generation Canadian, joined the company as Associate AP and when Andrey retired in June 2023, Ash became Artistic Executive Director of the company.

Over the last quarter century the company has evolved from presenting solely English translations of existing plays to now exploring a broader range of stories from the ever evolving diversity of the Canadian and T’karonto population. The first major shift happened in 2009, with Andrey pushing for more works from the international repertoire. Then in 2021, Ash began introducing plays to the company that were looking at Canadian stories by and about 1st and 2nd generation Canadians. In 2023, a stronger and more specific mandate was articulated that both honours the company’s history and gives it a stronger direction for the future.
An integral part of Pleiades’ work has always been an Educational stream. Pre-Covid, this meant a robust school’s program where artists from Pleiades worked in local schools on ESL proficiency and theatre education. Post-Covid, we have also added mentoring and training of emerging theatre makers to our portfolio. We provide practical experience by hiring emerging artists, theatre administrators and theatre designers for our public presentations, and pairing them with established mentors for guidance and training. In 2024 the company brought the use of AR Glasses for ASL Interpretation in productions to Canada.

(www.pleiadestheatre.org)

Website

http://www.pleiadestheatre.org

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Produced by Pleiades Theatre

Tyson’s Song	April 24th, 2024 – May 19th, 2024
Hagar	November 8th, 2023 – November 12th, 2023
Lesson in Forgetting	May 3rd, 2022 – May 22nd, 2022
Besbouss	November 7th, 2019 – November 20th, 2019
The (Post) Mistress	October 12th, 2016 – November 6th, 2016
The Sound of Cracking Bones / Le Bruit Des Os Qui Craquent	March 7th, 2015 – February 28th, 2015
Manon, Sandra and the Virgin Mary	January 11th, 2014 – February 2nd, 2014
Luba, Simply Luba	May 7th, 2012 – May 26th, 2012
The Post Office	May 7th, 2011 – June 4th, 2011
La Sagouine	May 14th, 2010 – June 5th, 2010
Shakuntala	February 4th, 2009 – February 15th, 2009

Current Staff

Ash Knight	Artistic Executive Director (2023-)
Rona Waddington	Associate Producer (2018-)
Annette Bakos	Financial Manager (2022-)
Suchiththa Wickremesooriya	New Initiatives Producer (2024-)
Eddie Kastrau	IT Coordinator (2011-)

Former staff

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