Dear Patrons and Supporters,

We’ve been forced to pause our season of plays, and in that pause, recognize the fragility of all of the people we hold dear - patrons, artists, staff, students and extending out from them, the Provincial, National and World community that is just a few degrees of separation away. There’s a tragic irony in the fact that the social connections that demonstrate our humanity are actually the highway upon which a virulent threat travels.

In that pause - in the quieter moments between meetings and phone calls dealing with ever changing variables, I am reminded of why it is that the sharing of hope and inspiration through story is so vitally important. When we are home together or alone, we inevitably share in story to pass the time. That story comes to us through television, movies, books and shared memories. Whether we recognize it or not, the stories we engage inform the way we interact with each other. They inform our humanity and the manifestation of faith in our lives.

I’m reminded of Bright Star - a musical we produced in spring of 2019, that took its community of characters through a valley of despair to a miraculous ending where a mother is reunited with a son she was sure she had lost. The collective gasp in the theatre when audiences realized that Mother and Son were reunited is one my fondest theatrical memories.

We want to believe that there is an unexpected grace in the world where people are reunited. And when such a story is put to music and dappled with light and life on stage, the experience rushes in to fill every part of our being, and the secret fearful places in us are filled with hope and possibility. And even if we can’t quite believe such things could be, we feel that they are possible.

I am also reminded of the host of people who not only join us in the theatre, but follow a call to be generous in supporting our storytelling efforts. And in this pause, we thank you. Patrons and donors like yourselves are the only reason we can start again on the other side of this crisis.

So, we’re holding our breath, making plans that change with every passing day. Artists, students, painters, builders, technicians, janitorial staff, cooks, servers and box office folk are ready and standing by for the next opening, waiting for our medical brothers and sisters to give us the all clear, as they struggle to heal the body so that we can gather to feed the soul in the wake of these desperate times.

Reunited again, under the bright stars of Rosebud.
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May your Easter be filled with warmth, reflection and family conversations from home.

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Morris Ertman
Artistic Director
Rosebud Theatre