Processed Theatre's Journey to The Fringe Part III

Week 3: The Theatre Space
In a market so full of artists and patrons, it’s always been sad to me that more venues haven’t launched to serve this massive need.

By Christopher Pineda

We are Processed Theatre. Last September we produced a successful “Reefer Madness: The Musical” at Mainline Theatre, and are now preparing for the debut of our second show, blindly hoping that we can continue to produce the quality and popularity of “Reefer Madness: The Musical.” 

I’m the General Manager at Processed Theatre. Niki thinks this post is too business-y, so she made me preface it with that. You’ve been warned.

One of the greatest headaches in any young theatre company’s journey is the struggle to find a suitable place to rehearse, perform, and conduct business. Especially in Montreal, the spaces available to artists like us are not exactly inviting to those who are operating with basically no capital on hand. In a market so full of artists and patrons, it’s always been sad to me that more venues haven’t launched to serve this massive need. My guess is that it’s too hard of a business model for artists to run successfully, and not lucrative enough for those on the business end to invest their energies into. What do you think?

Maybe limited venues for new artists are universal and it’s just nature’s way of ensuring only the strongest are naturally selected to survive.


The Freestanding Room was a nice home for us over the past months and would have been a great venue for EDGES: A Song Cycle had everything gone according to plan. Luckily, we have a similar space above the MAI that should suit the show nicely for our Montreal Fringe Festival debut. However, much of the reason these spaces (including Mainline Theatre, where our mainstage show, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, will be in September) work for our shows is that we remain constantly aware of the spaces available in our city and price range when we are selecting the season’s shows. To some extent, the space controls the show, and if other artists are finding themselves as limited as we have felt in the process of developing, is it possible that limited spaces are limiting the development of our whole community?

Can you imagine ever learning your harmonies over Skype?


Last Monday, I moved to New York City. Aside from learning how to manage a theatre company in a different city, I have the pleasure of learning how another theatre ecosystem functions and I can’t wait to share the secrets I learn in this city. Maybe limited venues for new artists are universal and it’s just nature’s way of ensuring only the strongest are naturally selected to survive. Regardless of your discipline, success is making the most of your situation. For example, I’m learning a strategy with Processed Theatre that allows me to manage without having to physically be in Montreal. Much of the credit for this ability goes to both technology and the great team I get to work with. But if it’s possible today to innovate beyond the need to have a theatre space for business, can we eventually do it for rehearsal and performance? Can you imagine ever learning your harmonies over Skype? How about learning choreography via YouTube? Success is making the most of your situation; so if the venues are not there for you, figure something out. There are already a lot more possibilities than you think.

See Part I of this series.

See Part II of this series.