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WELCOME TO GANGWAY THEATRE CO.
ABOUT US
Gangway! Theatre Co. is a collective focused on creating theatre that explores memory, history and cognitive dysfunction through an intersectional feminist lens. We are drawn to stories about bodies and minds that are subjugated by society – who have extraordinary internal lives that there isn’t always a place for in our society.
Melissa (she/her) & Blythe (she/her)
TEAM
Who We Are
BLYTHE HAYNES (SHE/HER)
Co-Artistic Director
A graduate of the Bachelor of Fine Arts Acting Program at the University of Alberta, Blythe is an actor, award-winning voice artist and producer. She was also the co-founder of the History Actor Department at Black Creek Pioneer Village, where her interest in site-specific theatre was born. Blythe regularly lends her voice to podcasts such as the OAC funded and award winning Six Stories, Told At Night and Campfire Radio Theatre, and has received two PARSEC awards for her voice work. She was on the producing team of the Judith Thompson lead Watching Glory Die at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2019, where she created and hosted a podcast to accompany the production. Most recently she co-produced and performed, with impel Theatre, an online interactive production of An Acorn, which had both a North American and UK run, in partnership with the Oldham Coliseum Theatre in Manchester.
Blythe currently lives and works in Tkaronto, the traditional lands of
the Haudenosaunee, Wendat, Anishnaabeg, Metis and Missussaugas of the Credit.
MELISSA TAYLOR (SHE/HER)
Co-Artistic Director
Melissa was born and raised in Lekwungen Territory (Victoria, B.C). There, she has worked as a playwright, actor and director. Her work has been produced by the Student Alternative Theatre Company at UVic (Bereavement, 2011), at Theatre SKAM's SKAMpede (The Oldest Trick in the Book, 2015), and by Jarvolution Theatre (Macrame, 2016). Her original one-act play Treena, Age 21 was presented at Intrepid Theatre for a one-night run. The Oldest Trick in the Book went on to be produced by the Short Short Play Festival in Toronto (2016). She completed her MFA in Playwriting at the University of Victoria, with her thesis project being a one-woman show based off of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles, told through a subverted and empowered female narrative. In Toronto, she has worked as an actor and a playwright with various professional and independent theatres, such as Hart House Theatre, New Market National Play Festival, Driftwood Theatre, and the False Claims Collective. Melissa currently works and resides on Lekwungen Territory.
MISSION STATEMENT
Why We Do What We Do
We are eager to engage with the ways that the digital age shapes our relationships, and the effect that has on our behaviour, sense of self, and mental health at large. In this time of change, we strongly believe it is the duty of art and artists to find a way in and represent the state of society in a way that engages and educates. We strive to create art that is diverse, open-hearted, and unapologetically anti-racist and anti-colonial.
PROJECTS
Portfolio of Work
DIGITAL DIVERGENCE
In Development
What person do we become when we interact with another through text messaging? Through video? Is an “in-person” interaction indicative of our true selves? Is it the audacious voice emboldened behind our screens? Or are these disparate selves’ halves of a whole?
Set in the year 2020, two millennials meet. Digital Divergence focuses on a single relationship - a romantic one, an instant attraction between two people – that diverges into three mediums. Each divergence showcases the butterfly effect of the small choices we make and how the patterns of our lives are set by a single decision; in this case, a single decision that informs our behaviour towards someone we are building an intimate and vulnerable connection with.
FIVE DAYS OF DISASSOCIATION
Aired December 31, 2021
Artist in Residence & Singular Sensation's New Years' Eve Mask-Erade.
Made in isolation and over five days, split between Victoria and Toronto, the work was made in layers.
Layer one was call and response: writing monologues in direct response to the one before it. Layer two each creator made a video response for the other's monologue. Layer three was recording voice over for the video - each creator voicing their own work. Layer four was creating the piece for day five - each creator recorded words relating to the work. One creator edited the audio together, while the other edited together the video each had filmed.
LITERARY THEATRE PUB CRAWL
In Development
In development.
A multi-media, site-specific theatre project focusing on the members of the Canadian Women’s Press Club.
NEWS & UPDATES
TECHNICAL WORKSHOP - DIGITAL DIVERGENCE
November 1- 6, 2022
Theatre Passe Muraille Back Space
A five day workshop where ten pages of text were worked on with three designers - asking the questions:
What is possible?
What is technician operated vs. actor operated?
How does design change plot and character?
Back Row L-R: Sound Designer Tim Lindsay, Projection Designer Nicole Eun-Ju Bell, Stage Manager Cole Vincent, Actor Michael Wamara, Playwright/Co-Creator Melissa Taylor, Director Sadie Epstein-Fine.
Front Row: L-R Actor Keshia Palm, Producer/Co-Creator Blythe Haynes, Production Manager Laura Phillips.
Not Pictured: Production Consultants Harrison Bye, Trent Crosby; Media Content Creator Maziar Gahderi
WORKSHOP OF DIGITAL DIVERGENCE
June 21, 2021
Gangway! had it's first professional workshop of their work "Digital Divergence" with Nightwood Theatre. They are excited to continue onto their next draft!
FIVE DAYS OF DISASSOCIATION
December 31, 2020
Gangway! was pleased to take part in Artist in Residence and Singular Sensations New Years Eve Mask-Erade with their work Five Days of Disassociation.
