2011 re-mount of the Rolfe/Alexis Orpheus and Eurydice. Harbourfront Centre Theatre (then the du Maurier Theatre). Photo by Tara McMullen.
Toronto Masque Theatre made its debut on 13 May 2004 with the double bill of La Déscente d’Orphée aux enfers by Marc-Antoine Charpentier and the world premiere of Orpheus and Eurydice by James Rolfe and André Alexis. Monica Whicher, Colin Ainsworth, Teri Dunn, Michele Deboer, Paul Grindlay, and Brian McMillan headed the cast, and the orchestra included Suzie Napper and Margaret Little of Les Voix Humaines, recorder players Francis Colpron and Avery MacLean, and violinist Rona Goldensher. The production was reviewed favourably by the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, and Opera Canada, was broadcast nationally on CBC Radio’s “Saturday Afternoon at the Opera,” and the company was born.
For the ensuing 14 years, Toronto Masque Theatre mounted a wide-ranging annual series of productions, concerts and salons based in Toronto, appeared frequently as guests at Ontario summer music festivals, and built an extended family of creative artists, donors, and patrons who came to “expect the unexpected” from this adventurous company.
2014. Stravinsky’s A Soldier’s Tale. Young Centre for the Performing Arts, as part of Soulpepper’s International Cabaret. Photo by Tammy Beveridge.
After several warm and successful collaborations in TMT’s 2004–2005 season, Artistic Director Larry Beckwith extended an invitation to actor Derek Boyes and dancer/choreographer Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière to become artistic associates of the company, and these three artists worked closely and collaboratively to celebrate and animate the fascinating interdisciplinary art form of the masque. Early highlights included a cycle of the major music theatre works of Henry Purcell, an acclaimed double bill of Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda (Monteverdi), A Soldier’s Tale (Stravinsky), Commedia!, and Masques of Love.
2013, William Webster in Patrick Garland’s Brief Lives. Young Centre for the Performing Arts as part of Soulpepper’s International Cabaret. Photo by Marcia Forsyth.
From 2010 to 2014, TMT made forays deeper into the relationship between music and theatre, with acclaimed productions of Molière, Margaret Cavendish, Patrick Garland’s Brief Lives, and John Beckwith’s Crazy to Kill (featuring the brilliant libretto of James Reaney).
Since 2010, the company has given annual multi-night cabaret performances at the historical Enoch Tuner Schoolhouse with memorable programs, including Masque of Irony (the Randy Newman Songbook), Arlecchino Allegro, Acis and Galatea, Les Roses de la Vie, Enoch Arden/Apollo e Dafne, and this season’s Peasant Cantata/All the Diamonds.
In addition to Orpheus and Eurydice, Toronto Masque Theatre has commissioned major new works from composers Abigail Richardson, James Rolfe, Omar Daniel, Dean Burry, Alice Ping Yee Ho, Juliet Palmer, and Andrew Downing in collaboration with librettists André Alexis, Marjorie Chan, Steven Heighton, and Anna Chatterton.
In its final five seasons, Toronto Masque Theatre hosted entertaining and informative salons at the Shaftesbury Atrium, delving into the history of the masque and showcasing students and professional performers in an intimate setting.
2013. Derek Kwan and Marion Newman in Ho/Chan’s The Lesson of Da Ji. Miles Nadal Theatre. Photo by Tammy Beveridge.
Since the inception of the company, Vivian Moens showed strong encouragement, initially as advisor and donor, then as board member and chair, and finally as Managing Director, a position in which she flourished, excelled, and contributed immeasurably to the company’s success.
Toronto Masque Theatre benefited greatly from the original and inventive programming ideas of Artistic Director Larry Beckwith, the sincere and powerful directorial guidance of Derek Boyes, and the exuberance, grace, and talent of Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière. Together, they have provided the city with consistently intelligent, entertaining, and deeply moving performances of exceedingly high quality.
2018, the TMT team, left to right: Gabriel Cropley, Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière, Larry Beckwith, Derek Boyes, Vivian Moens.