Theatre manager Jocelyn Johnston says they have put in place a five-year strategic plan to enhance presence of all the diverse communities on its platform
BRAMPTON: The Brampton Rose Theatre is known as the jewel of all entertainment centres in the city.
Over the years, it has hosted many powerful South Asian artistes , including super-star comedian Russell Peters, Anu Malik (Indian Idol fame) as judge for the Ek Raaz, Ek Awaaz contest, South Asian Canadian duo Josh, New York Times bestselling author and poet Rupi Kaur, comedians Ali Hassan and Shaun Majumder and many more.
As it resumes full-house performances in the aftermath of COVID, Jocelyn Johnston, theatre manager for The Rose and three other venues in Brampton, says the theatre has put in place a five-year strategic plan to enhance presence of all the diverse communities on its platform and building an inspiring performing arts community that reflects the spirit of Brampton.
She speaks about their outreach to the diverse communities of the city.
Q: What exactly are you doing to offer your venues as platforms to the South Asian community seeing as how many come from overseas to perform here?
JJ: Oh, we’ve had South Asian acts here for some time now. Recurring acts like Ali Hassan and Shaun Majumder show their popularity. This year we have several SA acts set up. As part of our strategic plan we aim to send out mailers to the surrounding community to inform them just before the shows. We also have free SA performances coming up in the Garden Square. Vibrant Brampton, a two-day free annual South Asian music, arts and food festival has been holding their events since inception in the Garden Square. Monsoon Sounds is also held in August. We often even rent out our space to accommodate South Asian shows from overseas. However, we should be doing more and we are ramping up our marketing in that direction.
Q: What is the capacity of the hall?
JJ: Well we actually have five venues. The main hall has 868 seats, the smaller studio two is about 100 and the al fresco Garden Square in front of the Rose which has a flexible capacity. All three are located at the same place.
Then we have off-site venues. The Lester B. Pearson theatre houses 400 and the Cyril Clark proscenium seats 180.
Q: Can you tell us a bit about the sound system in the main hall of The Rose?
JJ: Absolutely! It is a state-of-the-art system for high quality speech and music reproduction or sound reinforcement in public places. It accurately depicts stage scenarios so that each sound object corresponds both visually and acoustically. The entire audience can now hear what it sees and vice versa. Also the curvature of the theatre helps in enhancing the acoustics. It is really top notch!
Q: What does your job entail and how long have you been at it?
JJ: I have been at the helm for about eight years now and I look after several aspects including programming, marketing, financial and even technical.
Some South Asian acts slated for the 2022-23 season are:
1. Monsoon Sounds- a celebration of South Asian hip-hop artistes
2. Shaun Majumder – comedian and actor
3. Hassan Ali- comedian and actor
4. How to Fail as a Pop Star – featuring transwoman Vivek Shraya who is an assistant professor at the University of Calgary
5. Red Baraat – hard driving band mixing bhangra, jazz, hip-hop and raw punk energy.
And several more.
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