Get your tickets
Festival pricing:
Single show:
- $10 for single show ticket
Festival passes
- $25 for 3 show pass
- $60 for 10 show pass
IGNITE! Festival of Emerging Artists
JUNE 7 - 10, 2023 | Pumphouse Theatres
Presented in the Joyce Doolittle and Victor Mitchell Theatre at the Pumphouse Theatres.
IGNITE! is a multi-disciplinary, 4-day festival of emerging art and artists. It’s big, it’s bold, it’s beautiful! With 100 artists programmed each year, IGNITE! is a fantastic development, networking, and presentation opportunity for Calgary’s artists.
IGNITE! is a festival dedicated to supporting, mentoring, and presenting early-career artists of all disciplines. IGNITE! allows artists to embrace risks in a supportive environment while providing resources, a bridge to the professional arts community, and meaningful opportunities for collaboration and community building with their peers.
Don’t miss out on this incredible celebration of emerging talent and artistic growth.
Festival Schedule
7:00 PM
- forever anyway | Joyce Theatre
- High School Showcase: The Rabbit, the Water, and the Worms & The Unkindness of Ghosts | Victor Theatre
8:15 PM
- Silver Islands: Silver Spoon & Islands Within Ourselves | Joyce Theatre
- Glass Recollections: pointless purSUIT & Poor recollections & Verre Brisé (Broken Glass) | Victor Theatre
9:30 PM
- Green Key | Joyce Theatre
- Tales from the Gym | Victor Theatre
7:00 PM
- Green Key | Joyce Theatre
- Dance: Be Vardų, Be Kojų & La Vieja Astronauta | Victor Theatre
8:15 PM
- forever anyway | Joyce Theatre
- Tales from the Gym | Victor Theatre
9:30 PM
- Silver Islands: Silver Spoon & Islands Within Ourselves | Joyce Theatre
- Glass Recollections: pointless purSUIT & Poor recollections & Verre Brisé (Broken Glass) | Victor Theatre
7:00 PM
- Innocence Astray | Joyce Theatre
- Tales from the Gym | Victor Theatre
8:15 PM
- Green Key | Joyce Theatre
- High School Showcase: The Rabbit, the Water, and the Worms & The Unkindness of Ghosts | Victor Theatre
9:30 PM
- forever anyway | Joyce Theatre
- Dance: Be Vardų, Be Kojų & La Vieja Astronauta | Victor Theatre
7:00 PM
- Innocence Astray | Joyce Theatre
- High School Showcase: The Rabbit, the Water, and the Worms & The Unkindness of Ghosts | Victor Theatre
8:15 PM
- Silver Islands: Silver Spoon & Islands Within Ourselves | Joyce Theatre
- Glass Recollections: pointless purSUIT & Poor recollections & Verre Brisé (Broken Glass) | Victor Theatre
Learn more about the shows!
forever anyway
forever anyway is an exploration into the concepts of
forever and loss as told through the same couple over the many years following
their break up.
Playwright: Amy Sawka
Director: Kacie Hall
Cast:
- Steph Bessala
- Shannon Steele
- Corey Ariss
- Giselle Morison
- Erin Burns
- Alejandro Ron
- Austin Halarewich
- Alex Dodd
Tales from the Gym
“Tales from the Gym” is a musical comedy that aims to deconstruct common character archetypes found in your local gym. Each song focuses on a different character – everyone from “main characters” to gym creeps to “the Boysplainer”. Who are they? See the show to find out!
Solo performance, written and directed by Marc Rivest
Innocence Astray
What is it to lose your innocence, and who do you become when it’s gone? Innocence Astray is a devised storytelling structure that explores the concept of losing innocence following the characters of Alice, Peter, and Red Riding Hood.
- Playwright: Nikayla Goddard
- Creator / Director: Danelle White
- Producer / Projection Designer: Nickolas H Bishop
- Production Manager: Cassie Smith
- Costume Designer: Alexa Parker
- Stage Manager / Lighting Designer: Michael Luong
- Puppet Designer / Alice: Quinn Smith
- Peter: Daniel J Perryman
- Red: Charlotte Hurdman
- Narrator: Ali Grams
Green Key
Green Key is a participatory theatre about refugees. This show is like a journey; you will experience the meaning of being a refugee as an audience.
Playwright and Director: Saeid Asgarian
Cast:
- Jason Cabuenos
- Nyssa Orr
- Sophia Garcia
- Keith Boniol
- Macie Lockhart
- Iván Guevara García
Series containing multiple performances:
High School Showcase
The Rabbit, the Water, and the Worms
An abusive father seeks forgiveness from the innermost epithets of his child, wife and mistress as he travels through the process of death.
Playwright: Alexandra Miller
Director: Marin MacKenzie
Cast:
- Rachel Benson
- Marshall Gazaille
- Cristiana Ursu
- Kylie Klob
Crew:
- Sophia Longinotti (stage manager)
The Unkindness of Ghosts
Should we feel responsible in the wake of tragedy? In the hands of director Sylviane Allard, The Unkindness of Ghosts, is a brutal social commentary on the role of bystanders in regards to mental health.
Playwright: Emily Haley
Director: Sylviane Allard
Dances choreography: Brianna Newman
Cast:
- Rachel Benson, Zephyr
- Will Nichols, Ghost
- Elyanna Bouma, Asa
- Sharmitha Balamurugan, Seren
Crew:
- Alicia Avila Marañon, Stage Manager
- Mo Fekete, Lights Technician
Glass Recollections
pointless purSUIT
What does the stagnant and predictable routine of the corporate day job mean for the everyday artist who wishes to break free and truly express their humanity in these working conditions?
Choreographed and Directed by Sarah Vander Ploeg and Maddy Faunt
Live Performers and Choreographers:
- Maddy Faunt
- Sarah Vander Ploeg
- Claire Winther
Film Credits:
Dancers:
- Kadin Aumentado,
- Claire Winther,
- Emily Ireland,
- Eva Reynolds,
- Cabri Boechler
Videographer and Editor: Maddy Faunt
Directors: Maddy Faunt and Sarah Vander Ploeg
Choreographer: Sarah Vander Ploeg
poor recollections
A mixture of found text and a collection of self reflections. This play explores power dynamics, trauma, and healing.
Playwright and Director: Cali Sproule
Cast:
- Matthew Wilson
- Kat Armstrong
Verre Brisé
A movement piece that exposes what it is like to feel isolated because of mental illness. This show specifically looks at Body Dysmorphia, and how those suffering must heal by looking inward.
Playwright and Director:
Amanda Iandolo
Cast:
- Amanda Iandolo
- Nancy Nygo
Silver Islands
Silver Spoon
Silver Spoon is a coming-of-age story that navigates childhood worries, poverty and family dynamics. This small scale theatre show follows a young woman and her realizations about her place in the world through everyday encounters.
A solo performance written and performed by Sage Cannon
Islands Within Ourselves
One of the most earnest things one can do is reconcile with the past versions of themselves. This performance brings forth all those different ‘islands’ – the parts of ourselves that we exile and shows them a loving embrace.
A solo performance written and performed by Rhiannon Fäst
Dance Series
Be Vardų, Be Kojų
“Be Vardų, Be Kojų”, meaning ‘without names, without legs’, is an entirely new folk dance work using the amalgamous forms of the 3D models to question the rigidity of gender roles and assignments within Lithuanian language and dance.
Playwright: Brigita Gedgaudas
Director: Brigita Gedgaudas
Cast:
- Petra Schovankova
- Ezgi Turker
La Vieja Astronauta
If a woman could have it her way, where would she choose to die, when she finds her roots and origin in different geographical places?
Playwright and Director: Alexandra Contreras
Music by Guafa Trio
The 2023 Wildfire National Playwriting Competition
What is it?
We want to read awesome plays by young Canadian playwrights and we are willing to offer cash money!
We are looking for playwrights 30 years of age or under to submit fresh, young scripts that embrace risk, grit and innovation.
Submitting a play to the competition is free and the two winning scripts selected by our jury receive a cash prize, a development workshop, and a staged reading at MMMC’s Wildfire Showcase in association with Sage Theatre’s IGNITE! Festival.
This year we will be awarding the first-place playwright $750 and the runner-up a prize of $250.