I Am YEG Arts: Andrew Ritchie

Photo by Mat Simpson

Andrew Ritchie is seemingly everywhere all at once in Edmonton’s theatre scene. His versatility as a theatre artist, whether he is directing or performing onstage, has taken Andrew across the country, but it is his ability to ​“build it yourself” here in Edmonton that has always brought him back. As Artistic Director of Thou Art Here Theatre and co-founder of the Found Festival (under Common Ground Arts), that DIY mentality has allowed Andrew to tell relevant and exciting stories in unexpected places while focusing on how space and the role of the audience can be explored in any theatre show. Director, theatre maker, improviser, program coordinator, teacher, producer – this week’s I Am YEG Arts feature focuses on Andrew Ritchie. 

Tell us about your connection to Edmonton and what keeps you living and working here.

I was born and raised in Edmonton or amiskwacîwâskahikan on Treaty 6, and I am a third-generation settler of Scottish, Irish, Welsh and Polish heritage. My family originally immigrated to Winnipeg and rural Alberta, but we’ve kind of been in Edmonton since the 1980s or the 1950s, depending on what side of the family. And I’ve had the privilege to work across the whole country, including spending many years in Toronto, ON, but also in Regina, SK. But I’ve always been pulled back to Edmonton because this is where my community is. A lot of my personal family actually doesn’t live here anymore, so it definitely is a place where my chosen family is. It’s where my closest friends are, it’s where I’ve just found community among the people that practice theatre here, and I think – especially after living in Toronto, which is a much larger city than Edmonton, then also in Regina, which is a much smaller city than Edmonton – Edmonton feels kind of like the perfect size in between, and I feel like I can have a large impact in the city with my art. And there’s also an ability to be DIY and to build it yourself here, which is kind of why I want to keep living and working here. Currently I work as the Program Coordinator with Theatre Alberta, I am the Artistic Director of Thou Art Here Theatre, I’m an ensemble member with Rapid Fire Theatre, and I’m also a freelance theatre artist. 

How did you get started in theatre? Was it always plan A?

No, it was definitely not plan A, or B, or C, or D. My parents loved attending theatre. They were always patrons of the arts, so I think I was very lucky as someone growing up in Edmonton that I got the opportunity to see shows at the Citadel or at the Mayfield Dinner Theatre, or at the University of Alberta. And we’d go to the Fringe sometimes, or to the Street Performers Festival. But I was never really an artsy kid. It wasn’t really until high school where I came across a lunchtime improv club, and through that I heard about improv that happened at 11:00 o’clock at night off Whyte Ave, which was Rapid Fire Theatre. I’d never heard of something like that before, and it was the coolest thing. This was in 2003 and I just fell in love with theatre. From that I did the Bachelor of Arts in Drama at the U of A, which eventually led me to graduate with my degree in theatre, kind of focusing on directing but kind of getting a handle on a little bit of everything from the BA program. And right after graduating, in 2011 I was part of a group that founded Thou Art Here Theatre, and also, I was part of a group of individuals that created the Found Festival under Common Ground Arts, and those two things happened roughly around the same time. And I think those kind of solidified my ongoing career in theatre. 

What was one of the biggest professional risks that you’ve taken and how did it influence where you are today?

This was a tough one to think about. I think the biggest show risk I’ve ever taken was that in 2019 I directed and produced a production of Mr. Burns: A Post Electric Play by Anne Washburn, who’s an American playwright. And at the time, I wasn’t living in Edmonton and that show was just so large in scale. I think the artistic risks we took to transform the Westbury Theatre into three different theatre spaces for that three-act play, and the design elements, and the original music we wrote for the show, and just all those different parts that came together for the piece were just such a huge risk and I think paid off in the art. It was definitely a very challenging process, and I can look back on that and it makes me think of the grandiose vision of that and the aesthetic of that show that is something that I’m interested in continuing to try to find. And I think for me as a director, I think scale or spectacle with people, just having a lot of artists involved, is kind of something that I’m always interested in working on large scale shows, even when I have small scale budget. So that was a very big risk that I think I took that continues to influence me. 

Top: Mr. Burns, a post-electric play by Anne Washburn. 2019. Directed by Andrew Ritchie, photography by BB Collective.
Bottom: MINE by Ash Hicks. 2023. Directed by Andrew Ritchie, photography by Mat Simpson.

Tell us a bit about your role with Thou Art Here Theatre and what makes it special to you and the city.

Thou Art Here Theatre was co-founded in 2011 by myself and Neil Kuefler, who is a dear friend and a fellow graduate from the U of A. We both were emerging artists in the city and we, like many emerging artists, were very eager to work and we just weren’t getting as many opportunities as we wanted. So, we decided to create our own opportunities and to produce shows in the spaces that we could get, which were free spaces, and I would say maybe sometimes ​“guerilla spaces” – spaces that maybe you could ask for permission for, but we chose not to at that time. At that time, we were very interested in Shakespeare, being inspired by our professor David Barnett at the U of A. We were producing site specific, or ​“site sympathetic” Shakespeare shows that were engaging with the space. 

That theatre company is so special to me. I still work with them today. I’ve come and gone from the company a little bit over the years, but really it represents friendship to me, like camaraderie. It’s really hard to run a theatre company, but I think one of the reasons that Thou Art Here continues to exist, and a lot of the people that originally started it are still involved, is because we’ve always centered friendship at the forefront of it, and through that we’ve been able to take huge risks with our shows. We were able to tour a show to Calgary. We were able to collaborate with Freewill for the past eight years. And since 2011, the company has changed a lot. We are now a non-profit, and we just became a charity, and we also dropped the Shakespeare mandate so we are now less focused on the work of Shakespeare and more focused on how space and the role of the audience can be explored in any theatre show. 

I think all theatre wants its audience to be engaged, of course, and I think when you break the rules that we understand about theatre, with how an audience may be is sitting, or they respond, or if they participate, I think it makes it much harder for the audience to disengage with the show. And I think it’s more likely for it to be very memorable and hopefully an emotionally impactful experience. 

Of all of your ​“site sympathetic” productions that you have created over the years, are there any particular standouts?

With Thou Art Here I think the one that we talked about the most in a certain nostalgic way is our production of Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, which we did three times. It had such a success to it, so three years in a row, and each year we kind of built upon it with the design of the show. We did it in 2014 and 2015 at the Rutherford Provincial Historic Site on the U of A campus, and then in 2016 we toured it down to the Lougheed National Historic Site in Calgary. And though many of the artists that were involved in the shows became close friends and it was a group of 10 actors, I found all three productions of those had ensemble. We found a beautiful sense of ensemble and I’m always trying to find that again. 

Photo by BB Collective

As a long-standing member of Rapid Fire Theatre, how does improv inform your creative process as a theatre creator?

I think it informs every part of it. I am constantly reminded of the rules of improv, or the tenants of improv. I am often working as a director or a leader in a space, and I think how I choose to have warmups in the space, how I approach rehearsal or teaching or directing, I want to embrace active listening, taking risks and that sense of play, which are all so important in improv. And I think continuing to act onstage and be in front of an audience can be super important for a director and makes them much more empathetic to the role of the actor and how an actor goes about the work that they do. So, I think it’s all very tied together and I’m so very lucky to have performed as long as I have with Rapid Fire Theatre. 

Who’s someone inspiring you right now and why?

I recently had the fortune to travel to London, England and I saw a production of The Seagull by Anton Chekhov, directed by Jamie Lloyd who wouldn’t be a household name, but this production starred famous Emilia Clarke. It wasn’t Emilia Clarke that made this production inspire me – she was great still – but the overall design of the show and how it was they staged it, it really embraced simplicity. It took away any props or costumes. It was so contemporary to London and to the context there. It really just used people and theatricality. It was not naturalistic; it was using just chairs and bodies in space to create all the different environments. And I thought that was so refreshing and it was clearly not possible to do in film and I think that’s such an inspiring thing to see in theatre. 

And the other thing I just have to mention, are all my friends that are doing work in this city that inspire me. There’s so many in the theatre community, but if I could rattle off a few, I am so inspired by my dear friends and their work: Geoffrey Simon Brown, Elena Eli Belyea, Gianna Vacirca, Oscar Derkx, Ainsley Hillyard, Lianna Makuch… there’s so many. I’m inspired by my friends and community. 

Tell us a little bit about what you’re currently working on and what you’re hoping to explore next.

So, I am currently developing a new solo show, my second show that I’ve ever created. It’s called Cycle and it is all about urban biking and bike culture in Edmonton and in Canada. It’s going to be exploring everyone’s favourite two words: bike lanes. And I’d say it’s hyper local, hyper political. It’s also inspired by my time working as a bike food courier in Toronto and kind of talking about gig work culture and how biking can intersect with climate change and how we all have a right to move around our cities. So that’s the show I’m currently working on. 

The other thing I’m working on is that I’m about to have a second baby with my amazing, inspiring partner and wife Marlee in August. So that’s kind of the next big life project. 

If people are interested in learning more about any of the things I’ve talked about, you can go to https://​thouar​therethe​atre​.com/ or on all the socials, or I have a website andrewritchie​.net and sometimes I post on Instagram, but not often. 

About Andrew Ritchie

Andrew Ritchie is a director, theatre maker, improviser, teacher, and producer born and raised on Treaty 6 territory in Amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton). He has performed and directed across Turtle Island (North America) and his work has ranged from new work, contemporary, classical, improvisational, movement, mask, clown, bouffon, and immersive theatre.

He has a Master of Fine Arts in Directing & Creation from York University, a Bachelor of Arts in Drama & English with Distinction from the University of Alberta, and is a graduate of the Citadel/​Banff Centre Professional Theatre Program.

Andrew is a co-founder and artistic director of Thou Art Here Theatre. He has performed improv across North America including being an ensemble member with Rapid Fire Theatre. Currently he is Program Coordinator with Theatre Alberta, an arts-service organization dedicated to the growth and development of the Albertan theatre community.

Previously he was the Sandbox Series Coordinator & Theatre School Director at Globe Theatre in Regina, SK from 2018 – 20. He is a co-founder of the Common Ground Arts Society’s Found Festival, Edmonton’s multi-disciplinary found space arts festival and was festival director from 2014 – 2015. He has ran two other indie theatre companies: Rock Steady Productions (2010−2012) & You Are Here Theatre (2016−2020).