We are a collectively run not-for-profit theatre company building a community & a cultural hub in Toronto’s East End. Underpinning all of our works the core value of accessibility.

Outdoor Theatre

Using Shakespeare as a foundation, we re-interpret, re-write, and re-new these stories for a contemporary audience. We push the boundaries of what is possible in outdoor theatre.

Education

Integrated into the artistic practice, education gives theatre purpose, encourages risk-taking, and reminds us to look towards the future of the art. We strive to educate younger generations of theatre artists through our educational programming, and connect with emerging professional artists through our annual summer production.

Community Building

We welcome our community into our work; sometimes as audience, sometimes as fellow artists. We understand that when people gather and an experience is shared, the sense of community becomes stronger.

Accessibility

We offer our programming free, or Pay-What-You-Can. Accessibility unlocks everything we do. The stories we tell are useless unless our audience understands and connects with them. Education can only influence if it is made available based on need rather than money; community can only be built if everyone is welcome.

History

Taking something that was already there, using it as inspiration, and leading it to unexpected territories is what Ruff has always been about.

In 2012, Brendan McMurtry-Howlett returned to Toronto in hopes of working in the park that he grew up in, Withrow Park, with a company that inspired his love of theatre in, Shakespeare in the Rough. But Upon returning, he learned the company had taken their final bow. So he gathered a team of artists he loved working with, and began hosting micro-events in living rooms and neighbourhood backyards. Before long, the group of emerging artists had earned enough money to put on their first show Two Gents, an adaptation of The Two Gentleman of Verona that reimagined the play as a more egalitarian offer.

This began Ruff’s long history of adaptions, which ventured to re-conceptualized casting (Romeo & Juliet), explorations of form (Macbeth: Walking Shadows), to entire rewrites (Portia’s Julius Caesar, My Co-Mates & Brothers in Exile).

In 2016, Kaitlyn Riordan took over the company as Artistic Director, pushing the company to a fiercely feminist edge. In 2018, Eva Barrie joined her as Co-Artistic Director, and the two worked under, and advocated for a flattened hierarchy and intersectional value systems.

In 2021, a new collective leadership team – made up of Patricia Allison, Christine Horne, Kwaku Okyere, PJ Prudat, and Jeff Yung – was appointed the head of the company.  This collective embodies the flattened hierarchy and intersectional value systems that Ruff has been building towards. Every decision is guided by Ruff’s 5 Key Values.

Since 2012, Ruff has taken a decidedly un-precious delve into classical plays, finding ways for them to embody our modern city. With the support of our engaged community, we’ve been able to take risks in our organization and our art, and look forward to surprising and delighting our community in ways we can’t even yet imagine, for years to come.

Artistic Leadership Collective

Patricia Allison

Collective Member

Patricia Allison (she/her) is a queer/ disabled choreographer and movement director. She comes from a contemporary dance background and spent a significant time studying canonical-counter discourse. Patricia lives with her wife and two birds named Larry and Wilbur who enjoy sitting on her shoulder while she types (the birds, not her wife).

Christine Horne

Collective Member

Christine Horne (she/her) is a mother and actor, last seen on stage as Hamlet in Why Not
Theatre’s Prince Hamlet. She’s a fledgling gardener, excitable bird watcher, and avid reader aloud of children’s literature. Christine has received several awards for her work in theatre, television, and film, but she holds none so dear as when she was crowned The Queen of Weird Shakespeare by a passing cyclist while rehearsing Ruff’s Portia’s Julius Caesar.

A metis woman standing outside with green leaves behind her. She is wearing a blue tank top and her long brown hair is down. She has a small smile and pink lips.

PJ Prudat

Collective Member

PJ Prudat (she/her) is a Treaty 6, Meadow Lake born, proud Métis/Cree (roots to Batoche, Red River, Qu’Appelle) & French/Scandinavian actor and a writer. PJ is galvanized by Indigenous perspectives, experiences and stories of this land. She is a resident artist with the Theatre Centre & amp; Nightswimming and recently with Canadian Stage. PJ has performed as a company actor at both the National Arts Centre, the Shaw Festival and has performed in Indigenous~Creative-led shows extensively across the country. She holds a B.A. in Drama from the University of Alberta. Kitatamihinâwâw.

Jeff Yung

Collective Member

Jeff Yung (he/him) is a Tkarón:to based actor, martial artist, and sometimes poet. As an actor Jeff recently appeared in the world premieres Prodigal with The Howland Company in association with Crow’s Theatre and Trojan Girls and the Outhouse of Atreus a co-production between Outside the March and Factory Theatre. Before becoming a member of the Shakespeare in the Ruff Artistic Leadership Collective Jeff appeared in their production of Portia’s Julius Caesar alongside fellow collective member Christine Horne. Jeff loves videogames, TV and boba and is a graduate of TMU.

Collaborating Artist

Kwaku Okyere

Collective Member

Kwaku Okyere (he/him) is a queer Ghanaian-Canadian multidisciplinary theatre artist. Most
recently, Kwaku played Oberon in the Dora-nominated ensemble of Theatre Rusticle’s
acclaimed swan song production of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, performed at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, which recently presented Kwaku with the 2020 Queer Emerging Artist Award. Kwaku is also an emerging director, most recently having co-directed the 2nd Year Period Study Project at George Brown Theatre School with veteran director Jeannette Lambermont-Morey, and will return to GBTS this summer to co-direct the 1st Year Shakespeare Scene Study with the visionary Allyson McMackon.

Founding Members

Andrew Joseph Richardson

Artistic Associate

Lois Adamson

Founding Youth Development Coordinator

Emma Mackenzie Hillier

Founding General Manager & Producer

Marcel Stewart

Founding Youth Development Coordinator

Lawrence Smith

Founding Board Chair

Past Artistic Directors

Brendan McMurtry-Howlett

Founding Artistic Director

Kaitlyn Riordan

Artistic Director (2016 – 2021), Founding Member

Eva Barrie

Artistic Director (2018 – 2021)

 

Past Company Members

Makram Ayache
Desirée Leverenz
Darwin Lyons
Giovanni Spina
Thomas Stoneman
Caitlin Sullivan
Kwaku Okyere
Jesse Griffiths
Brookyln Doran
Nicole Myers
Holly Laflamme

Board

Shakespeare in the Ruff acknowledges and sincerely thanks our volunteer board for their commitment and generosity. If you are interested in joining our Board of Directors, please contact us here.

Bonnie Clarke

Board Chair

Cecile Peterkin

Treasurer

Marah Smith

Secretary

Cecile Peterkin

Fernando Alfero

Marlis Schweitzer

Breanna Malony

Andrew Moodie