SUPPORTING THE GROWTH OF NEW WORK, NEW VOICES, AND NEW IDEAS FOR ALL AGES
This development stream is dedicated to providing a platform for growth and experimentation. By offering compensated writing time, educational resources, and dramaturgical support, this program empowers creators to expand their new ideas, complete their next draft, and create strategies for further development.
To date, New Bad Ideas has supported 20 emerging Canadian creators to develop 11 new works.
“The New Bad Ideas Program was a dream incubator for our new work. It’s so rare to have space to create that embraces you and asks you to come as the artist that you are. New Bad Ideas did this exceptionally. So much of the program was built in conversation with us as creators - from masterclasses, to scheduling, to allocation of the budget.” - Germaine Konji (2021 Cohort)
PROGRAM HISTORY
This program began in partnership with the City of Mississauga, and was originally structured to culminate in a “workshop performance” in Mississauga’s Celebration Square, giving our artists a chance to test their new material on a live audience. Our first New Bad Idea, Princess Frownsalot, went on to be programmed by Roseneath Theatre.
The program continued to grow in 2019, with additional support from Theatre Direct, and we commissioned BLOOM, by Eliza Martin. Eliza shares about her experience, ”New Bad Ideas offered me an invaluable opportunity: it gave me artistic and financial support that, as an emerging creator, I hadn’t yet experienced. It afforded me the time to value my own growth and build my confidence in writing for children. Shortly after the program concluded, I secured a children’s book deal!”
In 2020, we switched New Bad Ideas to an online platform, reframing our inability to gather in-person as an opportunity to work with artists from across the country. Our 2020 New Bad Idea, Tune to A, was written by Edmonton-based artists Carly Neis, Cynthia Jimenez- Hicks, and Cameron Kneteman. Tune to A will receive its world premiere with Edmonton’s Azumith Theatre in Spring 2022.
In 2021, the program expanded to support three new pieces: Dakota Ray-Hebert’s Dreamer & The Turtle, Germaine Konji and Ben Page’s The Lobster Who Cried Person, and Jewelle Blackman and Chantal Forde’s Boy Boy & The Magic Drum.
In 2022, we supported the development of The Djinn of The Lamp by Nicci Pryce and Kareem Vaude, and Amelia by Nicholas Eddie and Catherine Teichman.
In 2023/24 we supported Beeautiful by Brett Dahl and Qasim Kahn, and A Racoon Solstice by Morgan Brie-Johnson and Alexandra Simpson. This cycle also saw us commission our first piece; PIPER by Kat Sandler and Adam Skiyama.
“We believe curiosity has the power to change the world. In each of the artists we’ve selected for this program we recognized a deep curiosity, an interest in asking challenging, important questions about the fabric of our society and ourselves. The same is true of their work. These new pieces share a common fervour to explore what’s possible when we turn the world we know upside down and let new ideas and new ways of being take centre stage. We’re thrilled to be offering support to such a diverse collection of new writers and making space for emerging voices in the Theatre for Young Audiences sector.”
- Program Co-Curators Matt Pilipiak & Fiona Sauder
NEW BAD IDEAS 2023
BEEAUTIFUL
By Brett Dahl and Qasim Kahn
A RACOON SOLSTICE
By Morgan Brie-Johnson and Alexandra Simpson
PIPER
By Kat Sandler and Adam Sakiyama
NEW BAD IDEAS 2022
AMELIA
By Nicholas Eddie and Catherine Teichman
THE DJINN OF THE LAMP
By Nicci Pryce and Kareem Vaude
NEW BAD IDEAS 2021
BOY BOY AND THE MAGIC DRUM
By Jewelle Blackman and Chantal Forde
THE LOBSTER WHO CRIED PERSON
By Germaine Konji and Ben Page
DREAMER AND THE MAGIC TURTLE
By Dakota Ray-Hebert
Previous bad ideas
