I have always wanted to go New York and see a Broadway play or a musical and I'm finding
out that in the Windsor-Essex County area we have so many production companies and so
many very talented artists, musicians, singers, that you don't have to go out of town.
We have it here.
And today I have the president and the vice president of the Arts Collective Theatre or
ACT as we know it.
We have Chris Rabideau and Moya McAlister.
Hi.
Thanks so much for having us, Tracy.
Oh, thank you.
And if this is your first time tuning in, my name is Tracy Martens and this is YQG In Bloom
Podcast.
I was so excited to see Rent.
I mean, that was just, it was a dream and I actually sat with somebody that had seen
it from New York on TV and I'm like, well, how did it compare?
Because I had no idea going into it what it was like.
I just knew I wanted to see it.
And I couldn't tell the difference.
Wow.
So they said it was amazing.
It was great.
Yay.
We're just proud because we've been able to elevate the show in other ways and other directions.
Most of the time the show is the script and it's in New York setting and it's dark and
dingy and it's part an alley, part inside of Mark's apartment.
But what we wanted to do is we wanted to really bring it out of that.
We wanted to, my focus was taking Mark's camera.
He says, how do you document real life?
And I felt that gave me the license to say, how do we explore through the camera and show
everyone that point of view through all the lenses of the show?
And so one of the things I tried to do was really celebrate that through new technology
and through LED screens and such.
And I thought there was a way that we could really take this show and really kind of capture
the street names, capture elevations.
We call them elevations.
Every time there would be a song and it would explode in color or explode in content, we
wanted the elevations to really kind of explode the feeling and thematics of each song.
And I wanted to take it further.
So when we saw Tango Marine, we saw red smoke all over the screens and this kind of fantasy,
if you will.
And I thought, why not use Mark, who is the narrator of the show, and use his lens, what
he sees, and just bring it to life?
And I think we were able to achieve that.
We've had people who've seen the show, who saw another area, saw it before and said,
wow, I love what you did here.
And of course, not to give too much away, but the ending was something new and powerful
as well.
And we think that we're able to capture the credits of his film truly on stage.
So I'm really proud of where we came, especially on a local level.
We want to bring big ideas.
We don't want to be status quo.
We'd rather be bold and fail than to do something that's, okay, this has been done before, same
old, same old.
That's never been the vision of ACT.
I think what we love about ACT, and what I love about ACT is vision has always come first.
So when you think of ACT, you think of arts collective theater.
But I think of A is the artistry, that vision that runs through our veins.
I think of the collective as also being culture.
And I think of the T as training opportunities.
I agree with you.
So that's why I always have to look at his arts collective theater, because to me, it
should say something about actors.
But I do agree with you on the fact that it would be okay to fail because people learn
from the failing.
But you guys are nailing it right out.
I mean, seeing it on opening night, if there was any mistakes, you couldn't tell because
they were spot on.
Thank you.
There were so many mistakes that happened that night.
He was losing his mind on stage on opening night.
I carry with me the weight.
And as an artistic person, I want the best of everything we can achieve.
And why not, right?
Unfortunately, New York gets weeks in a theater.
We got four or five days.
Yeah, we didn't have a lot of time.
Four or five days for this kind of technology.
Sound, lighting.
And I'm also doing the lighting because it's a fully packaged vision, if you will.
When it comes to ACT, it's about concept.
We celebrate concept.
I've been told that I'm a concept director.
That means from the way the stage looks to the way the lighting looks to the way the
actors are.
It's a fully realized concept.
What people don't know is four months before the show, we have our first production meeting.
I have a full two hours of it's almost like an essay, if you will.
I do a big thesis of why we're doing the show, what we're looking for in this show.
So four months ago, I said balloons.
Everyone's like, what the hell is this guy going to do with balloons?
What does balloons have to do with rent?
Because now we finally see at the end, we walk out into a sea of balloons that is just
letting go of all the hurt and the fear or taking one with you and celebrating life.
There's so much to that, right?
So we really, really look at the artistry of a show.
And that's what I say ACT does differently.
It's about, I mean, it's about obviously paying the bills too.
And we hope we can do those things as well.
But I'm really proud, Tracy, that we can take a vision here and say, this can be something
more, just because we're on widget doesn't mean we can't produce the best we can produce.
Well, and the thing is, is you guys are not for profit.
So you are really doing it out of love.
All of us.
Yeah.
Our whole board, like our whole board is, we're all volunteering our time because we love
theater and we love the performers that come through our door so much.
We want to give them the best we can possibly give them.
Do you act at all?
Do you do anything in the, because I know you're vice president.
Yeah.
Do you do anything in the productions as well?
Oh yeah.
So I do all the marketing.
I do fundraising, sponsorships.
I'm also the costume manager.
So all the costumes on stage, that was me.
I work closely with our costume designer.
So all the original clothing that Angel wore, all of Angel's outfits were designed by Valentin
Yaguzabe.
So she is phenomenal.
She's one of our board members.
She's a local seamstress and she used to make wedding dresses.
So she came on board and has been working with us for the last couple of years.
So I told her, I was like, so red is like real like grunge, it's street wear.
So I got that, but I'm like, I want you to design for Angel, whoever Angel is, I want
you to design outfits that are going to make this character feel fabulous, look amazing
and just really bring them into the character.
So yeah.
And don't get it twisted, Moya attended an art school growing up.
So that's where she comes from.
I shouldn't say I'll say it later.
She comes from an arts background and that's where we kind of met together.
I was in theater all my life.
I'm a musician.
I started playing piano when I was five.
I was on stage, I think the first time when I was in grade six or seven.
But I was always in choirs and different things like that.
And then I went to a performing arts school.
I went to Wexford Clegate in Toronto, which is a performing arts school and I was on stage
all through high school.
And then I came here for music.
I was at the university as a music major.
But I just, I didn't want to go into teaching.
So I wasn't sure what I was going to do in the field.
It wasn't until I met Chris that I, and I found out about ACT just a year after he started
the organization.
And I was like, huh, that's something I wouldn't mind dabbling in.
Yeah.
I was like, what would we do without him?
And this is ACT's 10th anniversary.
Yeah.
10 years.
Wow.
I look back.
I was like, I'm looking at like all the things we've done.
I was like, oh my God, we've done a lot in 10 years.
We've done a lot.
We've done a lot in 10 years.
And we're not stopping, you know.
No.
Somehow we're just driven by this new, the new ideas that come forth.
But I look back at 10 years and I just, you know, like, but I'm most proud of is when
I see people who've gone to Broadway, people who are doing this on, they're doing what
they love and their passion.
And they started through ACT.
You know, I think about all these people and like, wow, their first, their first introduction
to theater was ACT.
And now they're going off, whether they're singing in bands or whether they're on a cruise
ship or wherever they may be, or even in education, it's because of ACT.
Yeah.
I've always liked the arts.
And it's something, you know, you grow up, you know, I want to be famous and I want to
be an actor and actress.
So I want to sing, which forget that, it's Katz Howell.
Meow.
And music, it didn't work for me.
So I was never really introduced to the arts until this last, I'd say year with the podcast.
Having you guys reach out, ACT reach out to me, Cortizon Theater reach out to me.
And I've got to see some wonderful performances and improvs.
And even I have some comedians that have reached out to me as well.
And I love it.
I did see your guys, the newsies, Disney, Newsies, Jr.
Oh, my goodness.
Yeah.
Our youth program is amazing.
I love our youth program.
I couldn't believe that they were not professional.
They were amazing.
And it was just, I think it was again, the first day is them doing it for the various
schools and it was mind blowing.
It's very important to us at ACT that we have a youth program.
We have to be able to invest in our youth.
We can't expect people to be 19 years old and just say, I'm ready to be on stage.
And I was a kid who was in school and because the teacher said, hey, do you want to be in
this play?
It changed my life.
So we need to offer those opportunities for young people to be on stage.
And not only do we offer opportunities for young people, we give them a great platform.
ACT is just because you're young doesn't mean we can't produce the best show we can be.
And so that's our philosophy here.
Just because it's their first time on stage, we give our best selves and we stand up to
do the best thing we can do.
And that's what we're seeing.
That philosophy is working for us and we're putting on really great shows for youth and
we're proud of that.
Oh my God.
How many programs do you have for different age groups?
Yes.
So actually now that we're going into our next season, so in 2025, we're going to have
four programs now.
Five.
Five programs.
So we start off the year with ACT Collab, which is a new program.
And this is a program where we're going to work with a community partner.
So this going into 2025, it's the Amherstburg Freedom Museum's 50th anniversary.
So we're celebrating that by writing a play with a local black playwright.
And so we're really excited to do that.
It's going to be an original play and it's about John Anderson, who was a slave, who
came to Canada and really was impactful on our legal system, not only Canada's, but the
UK's as well, because his slave owner was trying to extradite him back for running away.
So it's a very impactful, educational, historical, locally historical play that we're doing with
that.
And that's called The Price of Freedom.
So that's our first program.
And when is that?
That's at the end of February, beginning of March.
So that first weekend of March, it's going to be at the Capitol Theatre for three weeks.
It'll be in the Pentastar, so we're using the huge stage.
We believe, and we're putting our full might behind it with Carlos, that we believe that
this is going to be a really educational experience and we believe it's going to be a very impactful
show.
And so we believe that we're hoping people will come out and see it because we're putting
our best selves behind it.
And Carlos Anthony is the writer of this play and he's written scripts for screen, for television,
for film.
So this is his first time writing for the stage.
He's our first artist in residency.
He's coming to act to learn from us, which is what a circular moment.
And then our next program is our youth program.
It's going to be Annie Jr.
And that's for ages eight to 18.
And we've already had some preliminary workshops.
And so we're excited what we've seen already.
And on the 19th, they'll be having the auditions for that.
Yeah, how long have you guys had the youth program?
Oh, I think that started 20, was it 2019?
I think I think it was 2019.
We did our first show, which was once on this island.
So we've grown that program too.
So we, we, and we brought it to the capital theater.
Kids have stuck with it because it's from eight to 18.
Yeah.
How they stayed.
People have graduated into the bigger shows from it, which is lovely.
Yeah.
A lot of people who came over younger, the talent takes time to nurture.
And then you see them come in, you're like, whoa, where'd that come from?
And then our third program is a new program that we've announced for next year, which
is called act new works act new work.
So there's a double play here on words here.
It's called blood ties.
And it's a, it's a new show written by two lovely women.
One is on tour with comfort away right now.
And another one is on tour in Germany.
She's a phenomenal composer.
So she travels around playing and writing for people.
And yeah, so the two of them wrote this, this play called blood ties and we want to workshop
it here for them.
Right.
Why is this play important?
Because act new works is, it's a working job for the people in it.
We're going to do our best to pay them to do it.
We hire a director, Brian Hindle, who helped correct this number of rent, a lovely women
contact with the ropes.
He's going to come back and direct it, which is lovely for our city too.
So we're, we're, we want, and there's a couple of small casts, but we're hoping to give everyone
some money to celebrate working act new works working.
Right.
You can work with doing acting is basically what we're trying to say, which is a lovely
new program that I'll be out in the spring summer.
Yeah.
And then we end the air with a Vita.
So that's our community program.
So community just means all ages.
We've had, you know, anyone from age 16 all the way up to seventies on stage in, in our
community.
And that's the program that just did rent.
Right.
Yeah.
Let me have our north of 50 program, which we'll be doing improv and our improv series.
You should do it.
I want to do it.
It is explode.
This is the improv room.
Yes.
And it is exploded.
They have so much fun.
So much fun.
And they are learning so much about themselves and about what improv means and letting loose
and not taking life too seriously.
You know, many people after the age of 50 and beyond, or maybe they've they're retired.
They're trying to get back into something new and exciting and meet new people.
And it's really great engagement for them.
And then north of 50, we've also been doing nights of cooking.
Yeah, we did a cooking class.
So we've partnered with the cookup where we've got senior chefs that come and teach and work
with with our seniors.
And they have a great time and they make something together and they meet new people and they
have a good time.
So we've done dance workshops with them.
So we we always like to keep our seniors entertained, not just on stage, but in any any other ways
as well with arts and culture.
Yeah, me and food and it's great.
I'm 54.
So I'm a senior.
I can make it.
I think it's great what you guys are doing.
And I do have to say that with the Disney newsies, with the junior groups that you guys
have, I can't believe the confidence that they got learning from you guys, because you'd
swear that they were performers in New York or L.A. because there was I didn't see an
ounce of any kind of nervousness, especially because they were in front of their own schools
and classes.
It's been very challenging after the pandemic.
A lot of people went inward and we're seeing that now we're seeing it all the way up to
Broadway.
So what happened is there's this gap of two or three years.
They could have been eight years old wearing a mask the whole year, whatever that might
mean to something that happened.
Everyone inside of themselves.
And so the idea of just embracing, loving and all those kinds of things, we have to
reteach these things.
Right.
So it's they're very introverted.
The younger people are introverted.
They're very cautious where before it was like, yeah, let's just do it.
It takes a moment now to warm up.
So it takes us a moment to get there.
It's a it's the tides have changed.
Something is it's going to take us a couple of years to get them back because they're
growing up at a time when where they would have been expressive.
They're two years behind.
Like we have 18 year olds who could still be 16 year olds.
And mentally.
Right.
So they missed that time.
They missed some time in grade nine and grade 10 or grade eight and grade nine.
And those are the most formative years when you get your confidence.
Correct.
So we're trying to really work through that.
And what's been really nice is so we've had people that have been with ACT for years that
have done show after show at show who we are now having them lead our junior production.
So you know, Roger, who played Kyle, who played Roger.
He is directing our youth program.
So he's going to be directing any junior and Avon Lee Smith.
She was part of the ensemble in rent as well.
She's going to be the the music director.
And Joanne is going to be the coordinator of the program.
So what we love so much is and what we want to give back was after being through act for
a couple of years, understanding the flavor and the the ideas of ACT is to now have them
take on their own show.
If I would have been 20 something years old and someone would have given me that opportunity.
How amazing to direct at the Capitol Theatre.
Usually you're someone's assistant and then you're this and that.
Then you hope to get that breakthrough.
We're hoping they have the breakthrough now.
It's only going to help them, right?
It's only going to create new artists in our city.
Exactly.
Oh, I agree 100 percent.
And like it's nice that they're staying.
Now is there a fee for them to be part of these programs?
So yes.
And yes.
So basically when with the youth project, because what happens, we've learned over the
years is by them giving a small fee, they'll stay sometimes, you know, parents and when
you pay for something, they'll be there every day.
Right.
And we want to teach that dedication is important.
Now for the kid who cannot, we do have angel donors and those kinds of things to help make
sure every kid can be in the program.
We strongly believe in that.
But we also believe, hey, everyone, just like school, you would you have to respect the
space.
You have to respect the teachers that are teaching you.
When you come here on a Saturday morning or a Thursday evening, we're here to create a
show, have fun, but also create the show that's needed.
And we take this very seriously.
And when there is a small fee to it, it helps with that.
Exactly.
But even just having a small fee for that program alone for them to stay for, say, 10
years and they may not be able to afford college or university, they have a good base to move
into your other programs and still get the same, if not more learning because it's like
they're learning as they're doing it, which is completely amazing.
And I think that's why they're as wonderful as what they are.
And I love the fact that where you lies in the Capitol Theater again between you guys
and Windsor Symphony.
It's just a master.
I love that theater.
It's so busy.
I am so in love with that place right now.
It has only been last year.
It has culture.
It's over 100 years old.
There's something special walking into the Capitol Theater and just feeling the years
of passion that has gone through there.
Right?
I always tell Moja, like, acts new tagline should be something like elevate your passion
or something because that's who we are.
And when I go to the Capitol Theater, I think of all the passion that's gone into over 100
years of people on that stage, directors, musicians, actors, whatever it might be, the
passion that's so much behind there.
Oh, for sure.
It's true, like you even go into the bathroom and when you walk in the bathroom, it's like
a powder room for the fifties.
Now I did also before I forget, you are doing workshops.
Yeah, we're doing improv workshops.
So with Christina Orlando, who's phenomenal, she has been with ACT for two years now.
And yeah, she's been doing improv workshops.
It started just with our North of 50 program, but we've opened it up to anyone can join
and those start back up in November.
So we're really looking forward to those.
It's cheaper if you're over 50.
And it's only it's only twenty dollars a session if you're under 50.
So yeah, that's wonderful.
It's such a great time.
Oh, yeah.
So much fun.
Every single person that has taken the improv workshop has sent me emails saying how much
they've enjoyed it, how much they loved it, how more confident they feel just in presentations
at work or just, you know, any any type of public speaking, but also just because they're
happy that they got to meet some pretty cool new people and make some new friends.
Yeah.
And as old people, we don't get out that often.
So we'll pay to go out.
We don't care.
But you also have guest artists that are coming in that are coming in.
I saw a list of them.
Because next year, even a bullet start right now, we have in the middle of rent here, we
have E. Clay Cornelius, who's coming, who's a Broadway actor, producer, been in every
show.
I can't even count them.
He was talking about it on the car ride.
I was like, oh, he's not one, too.
Yeah, he was just like rolling off.
We picked him up at the airport today and he's just like rolling off all these shows.
He's so experienced.
He's gotten the robe, the legacy robe.
I don't know if you know this about Broadway, but the person who's been in the most shows
for each production reduction gets the legacy robe and they get to have it.
So he's gotten the legacy robe.
He's got 26 years.
It's amazing, right?
So people are looking up to him now.
So now his passion is finding all these new shows and bringing them to Broadway or working
with investors to make sure the next show, what's coming up, you know, or an old show
and bringing it back to Broadway.
And I have so much knowledge and I can't wait for him to be able to give that knowledge
to youth because we have to bring people here to help them grow themselves.
We should be able to happen in Windsor, right?
We shouldn't have to leave to create great things.
So why not educate ourselves and bring people here?
So that's what we're doing.
So E. Clay is going to be here.
And even next year, like I said, we had Brian come back.
Brian Hindle, our guest choreographer on Rent, he's coming back to direct.
And Brian is currently, he's the associate choreographer for Jersey Boys.
That's on, I think the Norwegian cruise line right now.
So he's actually in Florida right now and he trains all the cast before they get on
the ship.
So he's so sad because he was like, I want to be back there.
But because of the hurricane, everything like that, he's stuck at the moment.
But yeah, he's going to be working next year with us.
And then Johnson and Johnson, we're bringing them in next year too to work on their, to
help workshop their show.
And I'm sure more.
I'm sure I, we want to continue.
Why not?
Why not continue to build and make acts something that is just great for Windsor.
You know, let's elevate the passion.
The last time, so we did Rent with our, as a student production in 2014.
And at that time we had brought Adam Pascal, who was the original Roger in the original
Broadway production, who knew Jonathan Larson.
We brought him to Windsor to work with the cast.
And then we opened it up to university students as well to do a special workshop.
I bet they were.
Yeah, it was pretty awesome.
Even the university excited, like even with rent here, we have a special night tomorrow,
which is our act gives back a traditional night where we say to people who are doing
great things in the community.
We honor you by coming at a really, really small fraction of the price of a ticket so
that we can say thank you.
But we also opened it up to some of the university students.
We have some professors who've canceled their class so their class can come and see it.
That's the impact and what we're doing.
And what I'm really proud of, I'm really proud of that.
We're inspiring schools.
The work that ACT is doing, other people are taking it and going, whoa, you know, how do
we continue with this idea of going into the new work that's happening in schools?
So ACT is doing something right.
And we're really, really proud of that.
You should be very proud of ACT.
And what I think is why can't you guys get all the grants and that, that they're starting
to give the people to film movies in Canada and they're using Toronto and they're using
Vancouver, why not use Windsor?
Essex County, we have a huge, wonderful area.
We're right across the street from Detroit, so street, river, but it's, you know, like
a big street.
That's where we're going to next.
So our goal for the future of ACT is to start applying for bigger funding so that we can
expand our programming and ideally, hopefully start to pace artists on a regular, on a more
regular basis.
That's the ultimate goal, isn't it?
That's our goal, right?
Well, I really, selling my way, I want to make this so it's, there's the community aspect
that'll always live.
And then there's the professional aspect that I think we can start to build here in Windsor
through grants and through resources that are given to us that we can start to elevate
the really strong talent and give them a reason to stay.
They do deserve it.
They're wonderful performers, whether they're making money or they're doing it just out
of the love of their hearts for the craft.
And you guys, that's a testament to you as ACT for giving them this platform to develop
their creativity, their confidence, and allow them to do what they love.
And you're giving it also to the community so that we can enjoy it without traveling
to Chicago or to New York or wherever you have to go to see it.
And I appreciate you guys, and I'm addicted to the theater.
And I'm definitely going to be coming to all the shows and probably the old lady shows
that we have brought.
I love it.
Come to everything.
Thank you guys so much for being here.
Thank you.
Thank you for having us.
We really appreciate it.
Now how can people find you guys to learn more about not only your programs, but your
productions?
So you can always go to our website at actwindsor.com or you can find us on Instagram at actwindsor
or on Facebook at arts collective theater.
We're also on YouTube and on TikTok.
Love it.
Thank you both for being here today.
I do appreciate it.
My name is Tracy Martens.
This is another episode of YQG in Bloom.
Make sure you follow, subscribe, and check them out.
Have a good day.