Theatre Terrific facts for kids

Theatre Terrific is a special theatre group in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is also known as the Theatre Terrific Society. This group is the oldest theatre company in western Canada that focuses on performers with disabilities. They create amazing shows that include actors with and without disabilities.

History of Theatre Terrific

How it Started

The idea for Theatre Terrific began in 1984 with Connie Hargrave. She wanted to create a theatre company especially for performers with disabilities. Theatre Terrific officially started in 1985. It was one of the first theatre groups in Canada to include both disabled and non-disabled actors.

Sue Lister was hired as an instructor and soon became the Artistic Director. Their very first show was a musical called Dancing on the Head of a Pin with a Mouse in my Pocket. They performed it at the Vancouver Fringe Festival in 1986.

Reaching Out to Schools

In 1987, Theatre Terrific started a program called Direct Access. This program helped students learn about theatre and perform. In 1988, Sue Lister began to audition actors for school tours. These tours included both disabled and non-disabled actors.

The group traveled all over British Columbia. They performed special plays for both elementary and high school students. This helped them share their unique theatre with many young people.

Growing and Changing Leaders

In the early 1990s, Theatre Terrific started to get attention from other countries. By 1992, they became a member of the Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance. This showed how important they were becoming in the theatre world.

In 1995, Jamie Norris became the new artistic director. Sue Lister moved back to the UK in 1996. Jamie Norris left in 1998. After him, Elaine Avila and Trevor Found became co-artistic directors. They focused on teaching theatre skills. They left the company in 2000.

In 2001, Liesl Lafferty became the artistic director. The company had been quiet for over a year before she joined. She left in November 2004.

Susanna Uchatius became the artistic director in 2005. Under her leadership, the company started to explore different themes in their plays. They moved away from only focusing on disability-related topics. Susanna Uchatius also wrote some of her own plays. One of these was Hello in 2019. This play told the story of Arthur Miller's son, Daniel.

Laen Hershler became the artistic director in 2024.

Artistic Directors

• Sue Lister (1986-1995)
• Jamie Norris (1995–1998)
• Elaine Avila and Trevor Found (1998–2000)
• Liesl Lafferty (2001–2004)
• Susanna Uchatius (2005–2023)
• Laen Hershler (2024-present)

Past Productions

Theatre Terrific has performed many plays over the years. Here are some of them:

• Dancing on the Head of a Pin with a Mouse in my Pocket by Leonard Angel (1986)
• Such Stuff as Dreams are Made On (1987)
• One on One (1988/89)
• Syllabub by Kico Gonzalez-Risso (1990/91)
• Good-Looking Friends by John Lazarus (1992/93)
• Ring of Fire by Margaret Hollingsworth (1994/95)
• Breeding Doubts by Sandra Ferens (1995)
• Scraping the Surface by Lyle Victor Albert (1996)
• Step Right Up by Elaine Avila and Trevor Found (1999)
• Spiralling Within by Siobhan McCarthy (2003)
• Jumpin' Jack by Lyle Victor Albert (2004)
• Error of Eros' Arrows (2004)
• Ugly (2005)
• slowrunning (2006)
• Workin' (2007)
• doGs by Susanna Uchatius (2007)
• The Glass Box (2008)
• The Secret Son (2009)
• dirty white by Susanna Uchatius (2010)
• I Love Mondays by Susanna Uchatius (2015)
• The Ridiculous Darkness by Wolfram Lotz (2017)
• Hello by Susanna Uchatius (2019)
• Digital Fracture: VOICES (2020)
• WINDOWS (2021 - online production)

Awards and Recognition

Theatre Terrific has won and been nominated for several awards. These awards recognize their excellent work in theatre.

Notable Performers

• Jan Derbyshire (performed in doGs in 2007)