Touchstone Theatre

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Touchstone Theatre is a professional theatre company in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, led by Artistic Director Katrina Dunn. It was founded in 1976 by a group of University of British Columbia theatre graduates.

The company’s mandate is as follows: “Touchstone Theatre exists to develop and present professional Canadian theatrical productions. It encourages explorations in content and form, and introduces new works to the public. Touchstone stimulates and develops public interest in an evolving Canadian cultural perspective.”

Touchstone's all-Canadian mandate has helped launch and develop some of the country's most important playwrights and actors, and its substantial body of work has garnered over 50 local and national awards.

Over the years, most of Touchstone's activities have fallen into one of the following three categories: premiere productions of plays by local playwrights, second productions of important plays premiered in other regions of Canada, and innovative collective creations developed within the company. Within each category Touchstone has explored a wide variety of styles and always stayed true to the exploratory and celebratory spirit of the company. Former Artistic Directors have included Gordon McCall, John Cooper and Roy Surette.

Since Katrina Dunn succeeded Roy Surette as Artistic Director in 1997/1998, the level of activity at the company has increased and several new programs have been implemented. A Playwright in Residence program has stepped up the company's commitment to developing new work and given rise to plays such as Kevin Kerr's Governor General's Award-Winning Unity (1918). In 2003 she made Touchstone a co-founder, with Norman Armour and Rumble Productions, of the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, which has gone on to become one of the city's most important cultural events.

Now in its fourth decade of production Touchstone’s purely Canadian focus makes it unique in its region, and its reputation for excellence has earned the respect of audience, critics and colleagues.

[edit] Chronology of Plays

  • 1976/1977
    • The Exception & the Rule by Bertolt Brecht
    • The Farce of Pierre Patelin by Anonymous
    • King Stag by Carlo Gozzi
  • 1977/1978
    • Faces in the Fast Lane A collective creation
    • Broken Dolls A collective creation
    • Gullband by Susan Musgrave
  • 1978/1979
    • The Unseen Hand by Sam Shepard
    • Hot Rods & Heavy Water by Michael Puttonen
    • Angel City by Sam Shepard
  • 1979/1980
    • HIGHBALL! by Ronald Weihs
  • 1980/1981
    • Revenge by Howard Brenton
    • Games by Ivan Klima
  • 1981/1982
    • The Man Himself by Alan Drury
    • The Crackwalker by Judith Thompson


  • 1982/1983
    • The Wolf Boy by Brad Fraser
    • Clay by Lawrence Jeffery
  • 1983/1984
    • Children of the Night by Paul Ledoux
    • Checkin’ Out by Kelly Rebar
  • 1984/1985
    • Sex Tips for Modern Girls A collective creation
    • White Biting Dog by Judith Thompson
  • 1985/1986
    • Going Down for the Count by Peter Eliot Weiss
    • El Crocodor A collective creation
    • Nancy Prew: Clue in the Fast Lane
  • 1986/1987
    • Life Skills by David King
    • Farther West by Roy Surette
  • 1987/1988
    • Red Channels by Jennifer Martin & Leslie Mildiner
    • Zaydok by Dennis Foon
    • Three Penny Opera by Bertolt Brecht & Kurt Weill
  • 1988/1989
    • Bones by Peter Anderson
    • Toronto, Mississippi by Joan MacLeod
    • Jewel by Joan Macleod
    • Lost Souls & Missing Persons by Sally Clark
  • 1989/1990
    • Where is Kabuki? by Don Druik
    • Homework & Curtains by John Lazarus
    • Local Colour by David King
  • 1990/1991
    • The Invisible Detective by Peter Eliot Weiss with song by Ken MacDonald and Morris Panych
    • Unidentified Human Remains & The True Nature of Love by Brad Fraser


  • 1991/1992
    • Lion in the Streets by Judith Thompson
    • A Map of Senses by Gordon Amstrong
  • 1992/1993
    • The Number 14 A collective creation
    • The Hope Slide by Joan MacLeod
    • Iceberg Lettuce by Katherine Schlemmer
  • 1993/1994
    • Whale Riding Weather by Bryden MacDonald
    • Lilies by Michel Marc Bouchard
    • WAK! by Sheri-D Wilson and Savannah Walling
  • 1994/1995
    • The Visit by Friedrich Durrenmatt
    • The Erotic Art Show by Kathryn Allison
  • 1995/1996
    • When We Were Singing by Dorothy Dittrich
    • The Orphan Muses by Michel Marc Bouchard
  • 1996/1997
    • Sex in Heaven by Gordon Armstrong
    • Sled by Judith Thompson
    • Boy Wonder (In partnership with Ballet British Columbia and Vancouver New Music)
  • 1997/1998
    • The Weekend Healer by Bryden MacDonald
    • Grace by Michael Lewis MacLennan
  • 1998/1999
    • The Good Person of Setzuan by Bertolt Brecht, Marguerite Steffin and Ruth Berlau
    • Passion by Conrad Alexandrowicz
    • Cherry Docs by David Gow
  • 1999/2000
    • It’s All True by Jason Sherman
    • Je me souviens by Lorena Gale
    • 15 Seconds by François Archambault
  • 2000/2001
    • Kilt by Jonathan Wilson
    • Kicked by Michael Healey
    • Unity(1918) by Kevin Kerr
  • 2001/2002
    • Sucker Falls by Drew Hayden Taylor
    • Emphysema by Janet Munsil
    • Hosanna by Michel Tremblay
  • 2002/2003
    • Lisa Lisa by Rick Dobran
    • Apple by Vern Thiessen
    • The Family Way by Kathleen Oliver
  • 2003/2004
    • Unity(1918) by Kevin Kerr
    • The League of Nathans by Jason Sherman
  • 2004/2005
    • Strawberries in January by Evelyne de la Chenelière
    • The Trigger by Carmen Aguirre
  • 2005/2006
    • Little Mercy’s First Murder Book & Lyrics by Morwyn Brebner, Music by Jay Turvey and Paul Sportelli
    • Prodigal Son by Shawn Macdonald
  • 2006/2007
    • Life After God by Michael Lewis MacLennan
    • Hippies and Bolsheviks by Amiel Gladstone

Touchstone Theatre Archives

[edit] Touchstone Training

In order to support Touchstone’s theatre projects, the company also provides performance skills training to the legal profession. Advocacy Skills: The Power of Performance is a workshop designed to teach lawyers how to be more natural, believable and self-possessed and to implement simple, concrete techniques that will maximize their natural expressiveness. These skills will enhance the performance of all lawyers at trial, in mediation, in arbitration and in legal arguments in general. The training enables lawyers to take their cases beyond the traditional approach to trial advocacy and give them the critical persuasive edge. The emphasis is on individual participation and learning-through-doing in a safe and relaxed atmosphere.Touchstone Training

[edit] References