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1979 - The Beginning
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre (BIBT) was established and
incorporated in Toronto, 1979.
Sky Gilbert became the company's first Artistic Director
that same year and The Rhubarb! Festival was mounted for the
first time.
Buddies was one of the six Influential companies who banded
together to form The Theatre Centre in Toronto - a movement
of theatre that was hailed as the Next Wave. Of all the companies
involved in the venture, Buddies found an artistic and social
connection to the work Nightwood Theatre was doing and an
alliance was formed that showed itself in 6 collaborative
Rhubarb! Festivals.
By 1983 Buddies in Bad Times Theatre was receiving funding
from four levels of government.
1985 – 1993
In 1985 BIBT gave birth to the 4-Play Festival which premiered
at Theatre Passe Muraille. This festival was dedicated exclusively
to the promotion of Lesbian and Gay writers and creators.
Sky Gilbert
Seed Shows came into being in 1986. Opportunity without intervention
was a growing ethos in how Sky Gilbert was building BIBT.
Seed Shows such as DNA's This Is What Happens in Orangeville
won a jury prize at The Festival Des Ameriques in Montreal.
Platform 9 Theatre's Steel Kiss was also produced: born out
of Rhubarb! and developed through Seed. It is now known as
one of the most important plays of the 80's.
BIBT's first mainstage production, Sky Gilbert's The Postman
Rings Once opened at TWP (12 Alexander Street) in 1987. Tim
Jones became General Manager in 1988. By 1990 BIBT had been
directly or indirectly nominated or presented with numerous
and various cultural awards. 1990 marked the year that Sky
Gilbert's Drag Queens in Outer Space hit the stages of Seattle
and San Francisco.
Suzie Goo: Private Secretary
David Ramsden and Ken MacDougall
BIBT was a company on the move that utilized venues within
Toronto to create exciting hit shows. In 1991 BIBT set up
its first permanent performance space at 142 George Street.
Sky Gilbert's Suzie Goo: Private Secretary went on to win
a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Best Production. Daniel MacIvor's
2-2-Tango was nominated for a Chalmer's Award and Don Druick's
Where Is Kabuki? was nominated for a Governor General's Award.
BIBT was a theatrical explosion and a meeting place of some
of the greatest theatrical minds in the country.
It was also integral in its support of smaller independent companies such as Robin Fulford’s Platform 9, Ed Roy’s Topological Theatre and the newly formed Augusta Company by Daniel Brooks, Don McKellar and Tracy Wright, which were creating some of the most exciting theatre in Toronto at the time.
By 1993 BIBT had successfully negotiated a 40-year lease
with the city and entered into a symbiotic partnership with
The Alexander Street Theatre Project (ASTP: a company formed
primarily to raise funds and manage expenses for the renovation
of the theatre).
Strange Sisters?- read
on!
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