THE SHIP'S COMPANY SOCIETY

Ship's Company Theatre's 2023 season held two large mainstage productions our music series two presentations our drama camps and our BIPOC playwright residency. Our mainstage productions hired 32 workers residing in Atlantic Canada including actors directors stage managers technicians crew carpenters and designers (set costume lighting sound). Crypthand by Lily Falk ran for 2 weeks with 12 performances and was about the imagined early life of Anne Lister including 2SLGBTQIA+ themes. Downed Hearts by Catherine Banks was a world-premiere and ran for 2 weeks with 12 performances as well. This show was a fictional story about a fisherman who finds a survivor after a plane crash. The play is based on the Swissair 111 disaster that happened off the coast of Peggy's Cove in Nova Scotia in 1998. Our music series included five concerts featuring three different Nova Scotian groups: Dancing Queen an ABBA tribute band based out of Halifax Fiddles & Feet an NS fiddle band featuring six performers and Morgan Toney a Mi'kmaq fiddler from Cape Breton. Our presentations included partnerships with 2b Theatre (Long Distance) and It's Going to Be Great Theatre Co. (A Monster's Journey). Long Distance Relationships for Mythical Times is a show about long-distance relationships woven together with a timeless Chinese folktale about love and separation. This one-woman show by artist Gloria Mok features jasmine tea dumplings and enchanting puppetry. This show ran for 6 performances with only 24 seats available. A Monster's Journey was part of our Picnic Play Series which is outdoors for all ages and pay-what-you-can. This show travelled all over the region for 5 performances. We also brought back our Masstown Market Shipwright Residency for BIPOC artists in where a BIPOC playwright spends a month in Parrsboro working on a new script. This was the fourth year of the residency and the playwright participated in an Artist Talk with our Artistic Director. Ship's also continued its Drama Camps for youth ages 6-14 for one week in July which culminated in a live performance by the participants at our Community Showcase. Ship's had the support of its board and 15 volunteers for the season. Non-board volunteers collectively put in around 120 hours which includes support such as fundraising ushering and welcoming patrons to our venue.