Hart House Theatre festivals provide powerful opportunity to learn, grow and shine

The annual Drama Festival is one of three Hart House Theatre festivals that give students a chance to learn new skills, build self-confidence, express themselves and have fun.

When Lindsey Middleton (BA 2013 UTM) was a first-year student in the Theatre and Drama Studies program at University of Toronto Mississauga, she decided to take part in the Hart House Drama Festival. That experience was incredibly fun, she says – and more valuable than she could have imagined.

“There are lessons I learned from that experience that I still take with me in my career today," she says. “I learned a lot about discipline and scheduling; we often did rehearsals at 10 p.m. because that's when everyone was free and not in class. And I'll never forget our first tech day – coming into the theatre with a very short amount of time to program our cues, working with the stage manager to be a good team player, and just seeing how the sausage gets made in the theatre world.”

Today, the alum has a burgeoning career in film, TV and stage – in fact, she co-created, co-wrote and stars in a comedy series premiering this spring on Bell Fibe TV1 called Cows Come Home. She also works at U of T as Hart House Theatre’s marketing assistant, where she's part of a team that oversees the annual Drama Festival along with Hart House Theatre’s other two student-run, tri-campus festivals: the Festival of Music and the Festival of Dance.

All three events provide students with a chance to learn new, transferable skills and be part of something they can take pride in. “There are a ton of experiential opportunities, on stage as well as backstage,” says Middleton.

The festivals receive support from University of Toronto alumni as well: when alumni use insurance services from U of T’s affinity program partners, Manulife or TD Insurance, part of the proceeds go towards a variety of student and alumni programs, including the Hart House Theatre festivals.

Festival of Music

The Hart House Festival of Music, which took place on January 17 and 18 this year, is the newest of the Hart House Theatre festivals. Only in its second year, this festival is not juried, which means students who want to perform don’t have to compete with others to earn a spot in this unique performance showcase.

Each night of the festival features a different combination of performers, so audiences can attend both nights and have a different experience each time. "We've had everything from singers presenting new and original work to performers doing covers of musical theatre songs; we've had classical quartets, bands, soloists on string instruments, and everything in between,” says Middleton.

Leah Manz, a fourth-year arts management student at University of Toronto Scarborough, was on the executive for this year’s Festival of Music – a role that involved everything from scheduling deadlines to organizing tech rehearsals and more. She’s planning to pursue a career in arts administration, so this hands-on experience has been invaluable for her.

But while Manz's role with the festival has direct relevance to her studies and future career path, she says the beauty of this festival is that there doesn’t have to be an end goal – you can just take part in it for the love of music.

“To me, that's what’s really important about the arts – providing opportunities for everyone to express themselves,” she says. “There's so much talent hiding everywhere at U of T, and if you give it a chance to shine, it's really cool to see."

Drama Festival

The longest-running Hart House Theatre festival is the Drama Festival, which is in its 33^rd year. This festival, which took place February 26 to March 1 this year, differs slightly from the other two in how it’s organized.  

“Drama societies from across all three campuses internally decide what piece they want to put forward for the festival. Then directors and casts are chosen, and these teams work together to stage the original works for the first time,” explains Middleton.

It also differs in that it’s adjudicated, which means it’s competitively judged and there are awards given out at the end. This year, the adjudicator was Marjorie Chan, the artistic director of Theatre Passe Muraille.

“My favourite part of the Drama Festival is that they invite a theatre professional to adjudicate all the productions,” says Gaby Bondoc, a third-year arts management student at UTSC who was one of the Drama Festival coordinators this year. "Every student who works on the shows gets constructive feedback from someone who's working in the industry, which is incredibly valuable.”

Bondoc first got involved with the Drama Festival as a participant during her first year at UTSC and instantly fell in love with its “adrenaline-boosting energy.” She also loves how this festival encourages “rookies” and first-year students to just dive in and get involved, offering a supportive environment for everyone.

“At the end of the day, students learn about what it's like to put on a show and what it's like to develop their own works, and there's really nothing else like that on campus,” she says.

Festival of Dance

The Hart House Festival of Dance took place on March 21 and 22 this year, celebrating a milestone: its 30^th anniversary. For the past three decades, this festival has been giving dancers in the U of T community a chance to perform on stage in whatever style they choose – anything from jazz, ballet, ballroom or modern to Hip Hop, musical theatre, Irish, Latin, Bollywood or Egyptian belly dancing.

Mackenzie Snell (BA 2020 VIC) first became involved with the Festival of Dance in 2019 as a communications and social media volunteer when she was a history/art history student at the St. George campus. Today, the alumna works in corporate communications at a tool company, but still comes back to volunteer with the festival every year. What makes her keep coming back?

“I'd say one of the biggest reasons is that we are really geared toward giving all students an avenue to perform on a stage like Hart House. I love that,” she says. With 428 seats and more than 100 years of history, Hart House Theatre is one of Toronto’s largest and most historic theatres, making the opportunity even more special.

“I love getting to come back and see these phenomenal dancers, many of whom have previously just been dancing in a dance class or even in their living rooms,” she says. “We get to put them on stage and light them with professional theatre lights; just seeing them believe in themselves at that level is amazing. I absolutely adore it.”

Alumni support helps make events like the Hart House Theatre festivals happen.

When alumni use insurance services from Manulife or TD Insurance, these affinity partners will be giving a portion of the proceeds to Hart House Theatre festivals and other initiatives that celebrate and empower our students and alumni. Plus, alumni receive great preferred rates negotiated by U of T.