Santiago Guzmán in Quixote! Costumes by Diego Cavedon Dias, Photo by Memo Calderón
We’ve been thinking a lot about…well, everything. From fires to bombs to parades to joyous protests full of music, to goats in Downtown Toronto.
At the same time we are in rehearsal here for two shows that bring together artists from the province and from further away; some whose families have been here for millennia, some who are newcomers to Canada. Retelling stories from our common human history, rooted in specific place and time, but seeming as fresh and irreverent as when they were written. The story of Quixote! is inspired by the first modern novel, over 420 years ago in Spain, made new and meaningful for our times in this delightful and fun-filled production suitable for all ages. The story of Ichabod Crane and the village of Sleepy Hollow gains new meaning in our atemporal production, told at the edge of the woods around a roaring fire.
What do they have in common? Without giving spoilers, in Ken’s adaptation of Don Quixote, and Ken and Allen’s new musical re-telling of Sleepy Hollow, the shows are both firmly rooted in their original worlds or source material while also being subtly relevant to modern times. And they are stories told by, about, adapted by, and presented by, humans. While AI is speeding up and theoretically making things easier, I think about what is happening to our communities: loneliness, rising hate and the loss of connection – some of it accelerated by COVID, yes, but most on a trajectory spurred on by social media and now AI. Everything is filtered and sorted for us, which can reduce us to products or markets with little agency and a rising inability to sort what is real from what is manufactured when we “live” online. AI and Social media are diminishing the role of the arts in our world and we need to consciously reverse course.
Why does it matter?
Because the Arts heal us. Artists help tell us where we come from, who we are, and who we can be. They help us heal, both mentally and physically, whether through laughter, or feeling seen through a painter’s brush, a playwright’s pen, or a performer’s presentation. In these times, perhaps more than any other, the arts matter. Human creativity and ingenuity matters. Our self expression matters. We have to encourage human creative expression in our families, ourselves and in our communities, both by learning to express ourselves, and by gathering together.
When we started the Ross Creek SummerArts camps almost 20 years ago, we saw a need to give kids a space to explore who they are while providing skills and tools to then tell their own stories. To give them room to play in nature while also ensuring they are doing the work of kids, which is learning and wiring their brains without the need for the internet to create and explore. There are no cell phones at camp because we believe that every group that comes together is making new community – effectively rewiring the community brain to be in the moment and to be focused on the connections between kids, and kids, counsellors, and faculty, every moment. It can seem like just camp from the outside, but the intention of it shows up in the way the kids interact, what they create, and how they learn to be with each other. The importance of that has only become clearer and while it is difficult for some kids to give up their phones for a week or two, there is also palpable relief.
Similarly, our adult programs and the theatre are about creating magic by being present together. To find joy in the most basic human instinct – to gather and share in something together, where no external force is telling us what to see or how to interpret it. We celebrate the “conversation” in real time between performer and each audience member, between faculty and students together, between artists and our community.
In the moment, it might feel easier to stay home, to give our kids a screen, to ask AI to solve our problems. But when we do, we make things harder for ourselves in the next moment. The messy, beautiful, creative solutions that come from humans playing, creating, dreaming, making, and connecting in real life are what give us hope for the future here.
Together, we need to support kids to go to camp, go ourselves to the theatre, see a gallery show, read a novel – we need to celebrate what is most beautiful about humanity – our capacity for empathy, which is tied, of course, to the arts. By being able to tell our stories and communicate our own thoughts, feelings, and beliefs in a creative way, and to be able to suspend our disbelief and see ourselves and others in a tale of misguided chivalry from Spain, or for our kids to meet children from another culture and play together, means we maintain our humanity, our capacity for seeing another perspective and open ourselves up to possibilities and most fundamentally, understanding.
While we know that the arts are good for us, it is the best kind of medicine – the kind that makes us laugh, weep, and feel, essentially human and connected.
In that spirit of connection, we are also doing something for the first time this year with a relaxed performance that is designated for people living and working in our community who may not get opportunities to visit the theatre otherwise. On July 13, for our matinee of Quixote!, we are welcoming Syrian families, Latin American farmers and factory workers, Ukrainians displaced by war, and international students from South Asia for a picnic, a talk from Artistic Director Ken Schwartz about what to expect, and then the performance.
We can choose to make that difference. Even with simple gestures, we can make our world together.
Please join us at Ross Creek this summer. Spend July 1 with us, sharing in a celebration of the cultural and artistic diversity that makes Canada extraordinary. Send your kids to SummerArts camp, or support a stranger’s kid to come to camp if they can’t afford it through our bursary program. Come to the theatre and share in the laughter, the amazement, the excitement.
Be seen, and see each other, in a shared space.
It isn’t easy to make new habits, or to go against the tide, but we promise, it is worth it. We’re ready to welcome you.
With love,Chris and Ken
PS: We are looking for board members to help us on this journey! See here for info!
