“ ...no one is better at mounting a totally unique and exquisitely creative piece of work than Ghost River Theatre.”
Jessica Goldman, CBC Radio Reviewer
About Ghost River Theatre
MISSION AND VALUES
Led by Artistic Director Eric Rose and Executive Director Christy Offer, GRT is a devised theatre company that creates, develops, and produces live performance experiences through a significant investment in imaginative research and experimentation.
Ghost River Theatre is a catalyst for enriching Calgary’s thriving arts community. Our mission is to drive boundary-pushing and immersive creative experiences in original live performance.
We are CREATIVE in our artistry and our decision-making.
We encourage a diversity of perspectives and talents to come together to CO-CREATE
We act with COURAGE, willing to take the steps required to grow and (sometimes) leap into the unknown.
HOW WE MAKE THEATRE
GRT makes our work in a rigorous, supportive collaborative-creation environment that recognizes and utilizes the unique abilities of all participants, premiering our work in Calgary and then touring it nationally and internationally. We value the daring, the illuminative, and the surprising. Our work embraces a hybrid of high-tech visual spectacle with low-fi theatrical magic, constantly reframing and rediscovering what theatre is and is capable of.
Over our 32-year history, our unique creation process has yielded an impressive roster of critically acclaimed productions: ONE, The Highest Step in the World, Tomorrow’s Child, GIANT, The Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst, STRUCK, amongst many others. Our intention is to engage audiences in meaning-making experiences that push the boundaries of live performance, while wrestling with the complexities of our contemporary moment.
GRT is honoured to be an arts leader in the Calgary, Alberta, and national cultural ecologies. Each year GRT hosts and teaches artists from all over the world through our Devised Theatre Intensives. As a leader in our community, GRT co-founded and manages The West Village Theatre, an 80-seat black box performance and administrative space located in Calgary’s inner-city neighbourhood of Sunalta.
Our TeaM
Eric Rose: Artistic Director
Eric Rose is an award-winning director, deviser, playwright, educator, and the Artistic Director of Calgary’s acclaimed Ghost River Theatre (GRT). His work is characterized by a striking audio-visual aesthetic that embraces the impossible; constantly reframing and rediscovering what theatre is and is capable of. Mr. Rose’s passion for the creative process has inspired the diversity of his theatrical experience spanning large scale contemporary and classical theatre, site-specific and immersive performance, experiential design, installation, performance creation, devising theatre, new play development, physical theatre, and dance.
As a sought-after teacher, Mr. Rose has shared his unique approach to theatrical creation with professionals and students all over the world. In addition to leading GRT’s 4-Day and National 3-week Devised Intensives in Calgary, he has taught for the Young Vic in London UK, Prague Quadrennial of Performance and Design, Kathy Knowles Theatre Company in Accra, Revolutions International Festival in Albuquerque, across Canada and at various post- secondary institutions and festivals. Mr. Rose has been honoured to be the Playwright in Residence at Alberta Theatre Projects, to be named to Avenue Magazine’s Top 40 Under 40 and to have received the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Artist Award for his body of work as a theatrical innovator.
Recent GRT credits include: playwright /director STRUCK; director/co-playwright SensoryBox; director/co-playwright GIANT (Betty Mitchell Nomination Outstanding Director & New Play – Award for Outstanding Ensemble); concept/direction/co-creation of Intuition Project; co-adaptor, sound designer and director Tomorrow’s Child, directing/co-playwright The Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst (Betty Mitchell Awards for Outstanding Production, Direction, New Play and shortlisted for the Gwen Pharis Ringwood Prize in Playwriting).
Additional credits include: directing a lab workshop of Troilus & Cressida for Stratford Festival; Concept/Co-Creator I am Canada, Canadian Museum for Human Rights; Concept/Co-Creator TropiCalgary, GLOW Festival; directing/co-creating A Date With The Night for The Globe Theatre; directing/dramaturging a new version of Hannah Moscovitch’s The Huron Bride for Vertigo Theatre; directing the Canadian premiere of The Kite Runner for Theatre Calgary/Citadel Theatre; directing/co-writing Once Upon an Atom Bomb with Jennie Esdale and David Rhymer for the Green Fools Physical Theatre; directing/co-writing Peril in Paris with Ethan Cole (Betty Mitchell Award for Outstanding New Play), a new musical for Lunchbox Theatre; directing/dramaturging The Forbidden Sacrifice for the Kathy Knowles Theatre Company in Ghana.
For Film and TV, Mr. Rose co-wrote a feature length documentary for New Path Influence, and recently co-wrote and co-directed a new streaming series, So Dark the Sky, which filmed in summer 2023 and is co-produced by Ghost River Theatre and North Country Cinema.
Christy Offer: Executive Director
Christy Offer holds a BMus (UBC) and an MBA in Arts & Media Management (Schulich School of Business, York U.) From 2015 - 2018, she was Curator of the multi-disciplinary Calgary International Children’s Festival. Previously as Artistic Presenting Manager of the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts (Vancouver), she managed the Chan Centre’s presenting season and received a UBC President’s Staff Award for Creativity and Innovation, for developing the centre’s outreach series. She has sat on numerous arts boards, including as President of the Western Front Society artist-run centre in Vancouver. She first joined Ghost River Theatre as its Producer in 2022 before becoming Executive Director in 2023.
Ryan WeslEy Gray: Admin & Marketing Coordinator
Ryan Wesley Gray, is a seasoned professional driven by a fervent commitment to fostering growth, inclusivity, and community cohesion through innovative thinking and cooperative strategies, with a focus on the Arts and Culture sector, based out of Calgary, Alberta.
With a diverse background spanning media relations, social media campaign management, recruitment, content creation, qualitative and quantitative research, SDR, podcast production, and copywriting, Ryan brings a wealth of expertise to every endeavour. Moreover, his extensive involvement in Calgary's vibrant theatre and film scene since 2010 - wearing multiple hats as an actor, writer, producer, arts administrator, educator, and front of house manager - underscores his deep-rooted passion and dedication to the cultural landscape of his hometown.
Artistic Excellence
Accomplishments:
22 Betty Mitchell awards, 66 nominations.
52 original productions since 1992.
Appearances at the Magnetic North Theatre Festival, underCurrents Festival, Belfry’s Spark Festival, High Performance Rodeo, Canada’s National Arts Centre, the Pride of Place Festival (UK), Summerworks National Series.
Winning 3 Betty Mitchell Awards for Outstanding Production of a Play for The Highest Step in the World (2010),ONE (2011) and The Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst (2015).
Receiving the Canadian Institute for Theatre Technology’s Award of Merit for The Highest Step in the World. An award whose past recipients include Robert Lepage, Cirque du Soleil, and Ronnie Burkett.
Receiving the Calgary Critics Award for Best Technical Design for Tomorrow’s Child (2014).
Snezana Pesic’s design work for ONE (2011) was selected to represent Canada at the 2015 Prague Quadrennial.
Chosen as the first ever Company-in-Residence at the University of Calgary’s School for the Creative and Performing Arts (2015-16).
Patrick Du Wors design for Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst selected to represent Canada at the 2017 World Stage Design Expo and Competition in Taipei, Taiwan.
Recipient of Canada Council’s New Chapter Grant for our production, GIANT (2019).
Anton deGroot’s design for GIANT selected to represent Canada at the 2022 World Stage Design Expo and Competition at the University of Calgary.
Makambe Speaks chosen by The Canadian High Commission in the UK for Canada Spotlight Showcase at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (2021).
Tomorrow’s Child receiving a month-long presentation by Assembly at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2023.
These kinds of accomplishments and accolades received by Ghost River Theatre are recognition of a deep ongoing commitment for achieving the highest in artistic excellence.
HISTORY
Ghost River Theatre is a nationally acclaimed theatre company based in Calgary with a more than 20-year history of daring performance creation. The company began as an ad-hoc group in 1992 with a performance of Lester’s Hat at One Yellow Rabbit’s High Performance Rodeo and became an incorporated company in 1999. Under the visionary leadership of its founder Doug Curtis, Ghost River quickly established itself as a social and political provocateur, creating boundary-defying performance theatre in Canada. Seminal shows like The Carrot Warrior, Mesa and An Eye for an Eye brought issues of local and national importance to the stage while garnering critical acclaim to the company; opening up both national and international touring opportunities.
When Doug stepped back from the company due to health issues in 2007, incoming Artistic Director Jason Rothery transitioned the company into a new model to lead the company into a sustainable future while continuing to present and create vital new Canadian works.
In 2009, David van Belle and Eric Rose were appointed as Co-Artistic Directors with a mandate to reinvigorate the organization and establish a clear artistic and administrative structure. Van Belle and Rose’s vision of imaginative storytelling, provocative and challenging creation processes and a focus on strategic planning and administrative excellence would propel GRT beyond its founder. Under their leadership, the company has embraced and reinterpreted Ghost River’s mandate for highly theatrical creation through such works as The Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst, ONE, Tomorrow’s Child and The Highest Step in the World.
In 2015, Rose became the sole Artistic Director of GRT after van Belle stepped-down as Co-Artistic Director to move to Edmonton with his family and pursue playwriting full time. Now in his 13th Season with Ghost River, Rose’s work continues to expand the intellectual, physical and spiritual imagination of devised performance by creating contemporary mythologies based on stories that reflect our experience of the world.