Welcoming the New Leadership Team

Please welcome Ken Cameron as the new Artistic Director. Ken is the author of more than fifteen plays and was the Executive Director of the Alberta Playwrights' Network, a provincial organization that develops plays and playwrights around Alberta, from 2001-2007. He has worked with the internationally renowned One Yellow Rabbit for five years as Assistant Director on all of their new productions and tours to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Toronto, Philadelphia and Vancouver. Ken is also an active member of the Playwrights Guild of Canada.

"No one can replace Mary Vingoe and the contribution that she has made to Canadian theatre as the founding Artistic Director of the Magnetic North Theatre Festival. Five years ago she accepted the weighty task of taking a shared dream and wrestling it into the shape of one of Canada's premiere theatre festivals, doing so with grace and poise. Under her guidance Magnetic North has become a showcase of excellence, a forum of ideas, a cultural meeting place for our nation's theatre artists and an annual pilgrimage for many. I am proud to aim for the bar she has set so high and excited about the future of the Festival."

Please welcome Ann Brophy as the new Managing Director. Ann has worked as a Theatre Producer and Administrator in Newfoundland for the past 10 years, most recently as Managing Producer with Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland. Ann has produced/managed over 30 new Canadian plays and is currently the Fundraising Coordinator for Festival 500 – Sharing the Voices, a biannual international choral festival held in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

“I am honoured to step into Barbara Howatt’s shoes and am immensely grateful for the solid and secure place that both she and Mary have brought it and look forward to working with Ken Cameron and the Board of Directors in the next stage of the life of Magnetic North, from Vancouver to beyond…”

Please join us in welcoming Ken and Ann to the dynamic Magnetic North Team. For complete contact info, click here.

A Fond Farewell

In 2002, the Board of Directors for Magnetic North set out on the daunting task of finding the artistic and administrative leadership that would take what was then a seed of a vision, and establish a Festival that would cover the country and showcase and support the work of the Canadian theatre artist. It was indeed a daunting challenge, and we did indeed get very lucky.

Artistic Director Mary Vingoe and Managing Director Barbara Howatt have realized that vision far beyond our expectations and leave us with a secure, solid foundation. We wish them every success and thank them immensely for their hard work and dedication.

“Congratulations and thank you for your amazing achievement of creating such a wonderful festival for all of us!” Hans Böggild, co-writer/director, The Satchmo’ Suite

“A huge and heartfelt thank you for all that you have done for our dear nation, for the new friendships you have made possible, and for the wondrous and gigantic creature to which you have given life”. forever, The Old Trouts.

“Laying a successful foundation for an organization as large, complex and important as Magnetic North takes guts, brains, and simple heroism. Thank you Mary and Barbara for being great Canadian heroes; you gave us all something to look up to and to live up to”. Jillian Keiley Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland.

KEN CAMERON,
MNTF'S NEW ARTISTIC DIRECTOR



ANN BROPHY ,
MNTF'S NEW MANAGING DIRECTOR

MARY VINGOE
MNTF'S OUT-GOING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

BARBARA HOWATT
MNTF'S OUT-GOING MANAGING DIRECTOR