Sonja Mills on Canadian Theatre
Playwright's view on the fate of smaller theatre companies.
Sonja Mills, known for her wry and potent point of view, says it's vital that society continues to support Canadian independent theatre.
Sonja Mills is known for speaking her mind- blunt and witty.
She was once a columnist for Canada's first significant gay publication - The (now defunct) Body Politic, and a former president of TO's ground breaking theatre collective Buddies in Bad Times - once home to Mills soap opera Dyke City - an indee theatre favorite.
Mills premiered The Danish Play, for Nightwood Theatre in its 2002/03 season, to rave reviews and audience kudos. Mills has also written and workshopped Postmortem - about those precious human dramas we create, and Oilman about the end of the world. She is also doing research for another work Hans Island - a play about global warming. Her latest piece called Margaret Gross, a fractured Cinderella fairy tale of imperialism is "in the drawer for now."
Mills current playwright-in-residence for Nightwood, plans to stay with this successful women's theatre company, now in its 27th year. Mills likes smaller intimate theatre companies. BUT ... she has no faith in the current Canadian government and its 'cultural' attitude towards theatre in general.
"Canadian theatre is horrifically under-funded and I am scared that the Harper government is going to do more damage because frankly when you put a bunch of money into art – you don’t get that money back right away. It comes back years and centuries later in the form of tradition and culture. I do understand the conservative reasoning of fiscal responsibility and all that crap. But if you keep cutting the arts, the arts are going to be so paralyzed that they are not going to be able to give anything back and it’s something we can’t lose. It’s ridiculous to think that it is something we can lose, so my feeling on the state of theatre in Canada right now frankly and the state of art in general, is that it’s floundering and that’s because of this ridiculous attitude that we don’t have need to support it as a society."
Do you think smaller venues and smaller shows are now the trend?
"This is the type of theatre that is the first thing to get cut. Governments are still pouring money into Lord of the Rings and pouring money into getting Phantom of the Opera back in town. Nightwood has lasted 27 years and they are doing better than ever. Kelly Thornton (who directed The Danish Play) is an amazing artistic director and I‘m sticking with them. The play that I am writing currently, is for Nightwood and I am hoping that Kelly will direct it. They are an awesome company."
