New Canadian theatre productions will be in the spotlight this week in Chatham.
The Kiwanis Theatre is hosting Theatre Gargantua's Sidestream: A Festival of New Works.
The four-day festival opens on Wednesday and features two shows every night at 7 p.m. until Saturday.
"We've got 23 artists coming in to present eight shows over four nights," said Mike Scott, General Manager of Theatre Gargantua. "There's a musical part to each night, there's things that we're seeing for the very first time. Alexandra Lainfiesta is flying in from Vancouver to give us the very first look at her new musical. So it's really stuff that presents like the breadth of Canadian art that's happening right now."
The audience to encouraged to provide feedback on the shows after.
"Many of them are seeing an audience for the first time, and the audience's feedback when they see them is very important," said Scott. "It will affect the next stage of the development for them, so your participation in the festival really helps the development of the shows, and it gives you a chance to sort of be part of the creation process."
While most of the shows are new, the closing night perfomance has already been presented at many festivals.
"'The Queen In Me' opened the National Art Centre season a couple of years ago. It's been to the Belfast Arts Festival, it's out in Vancouver this fall. Many of these are new works that are in development, and we're hoping that they will have a similar trajectory after they've seen an audience here."
A 4-day pass is available for purchase, or you can just buy tickets for each night at www.cktickets.com or at the box office. Each night, the audience is invited to the Garden on King after the shows for live music and to discuss them.
The festival is also a homecoming for Scott, who grew up in Chatham.
"My very first theatre experience was at the Kiwanis Theatre. It was a school trip to go see Winnie the Pooh, and I probably still somewhere in a box at my parents' house have the autographs of everyone who played Winnie the Pooh, and Kanga, and all the characters," said Scott.
For the full Sidestream Festival schedule, CLICK HERE.