I am YEG Arts Series: Megan Dart

Connection through storytelling matters. And has always mattered. But to Megan Dart, the joy of retuning to where audiences and the arts connect has been immeasurably gratifying. As a writer, producer, and arts administrator, she thrives on the creative process, always remembering to trust in it. Her inspirations? She finds them everywhere, but nowhere more profoundly than when she’s working alongside her sister at Catch the Keys Productions, their award-winning theatre company. Lucky for us, one of their favourite annual projects begins this week at Fort Edmonton Park’s Capitol Theatre! Aptly named ​“Dead Centre of Town,” this immersive Halloween experience is a testament not only to Dart’s love of good storytelling, but to her belief that anything is possible. This week’s ​“I Am YEG Arts” story belongs to Megan Dart.

Tell us about your connection to Edmonton and why you’ve made it your home.

I moved to Edmonton in 2002 to finish my post-secondary schooling. At the time, I was studying to be a teacher. My credits from one university to the next didn’t transfer as smoothly as I’d hoped, and I found myself taking a semester of seemingly unrelated courses. I took every class I could on topics I’d always been interested in: folkloristics, gender studies, linguistics, criminology….

My gender studies professor asked me to stay after class one day (we had just handed in a major paper). She clutched my paper in her hand as I lingered at the back of the room while the other students filed out, then stared me dead in the eyes and asked: ​“What are you doing here?” I immediately thought to myself, ​“I’ve been found out! I’m a fraud!” That’s when she thrust my paper back at me and said: ​“You’re a writer. You need to write.”

She introduced me to the Professional Writing program at MacEwan University. I applied immediately and was accepted that next term. It was the boost I needed to fulfill my passion. I’d always been a writer, but up until then no one had ever given me permission to follow writing as a viable career path. To be honest, I didn’t plan on staying in Edmonton following graduation. But in my first few years here, I discovered Edmonton’s rich arts community: theatre, music, poetry, dance, festivals — all of it. I met people who became dear friends and inspiring collaborators. I met my mentors, who continue to shape my creative practice. I fell in love, and started a family, and continued to build a career as an artist and arts administrator. I had the opportunity to collaborate on some incredible events and festivals, and now 20 years later, I can’t imagine living anywhere else. There’s something spectacular about the creative community here. So very many stories live here.

How did you get your start in arts advocacy, and how has it influenced your path?

Art has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I’m grateful for parents who introduced me to and nurtured my love for arts at an early age. Looking back, it’s no surprise I became a writer and a theatre collaborator — Hooked on Phonics was my favourite game as a kid. I have memories from a young age of creating living room ​“theatre productions” for our grandparents or offering ​“guided experiences” in our backyard for neighbourhood pals with my sister. Storytelling is something I was raised on: big fish stories around the kitchen table, unfettered access to well-stocked bookshelves, music — so much music.

And as I expanded my practice, I became more and more aware of how storytelling connects us and builds community. Storytelling matters. Stories have impact. Stories are important. Your story deserves telling. I passionately believe cities that inspire and uplift and centre arts and culture — cities that encourage the stories of its people to be told — are cities that nurture a healthy, engaged, enriched way of life. And the thing I love about the impact of arts here in Edmonton is that there are so many ways to tell a story and so very many people willing to support a story being told. Anything is possible.

How did you get your start in theatre production?

Hilariously, rather by accident. Shortly following graduation, I was working as a communications consultant and lobbyist for a national industry association. It involved a lot of travelling to legislative hearings across the country. At that time, my sister, Beth, was finishing her degree in Stage Management in the University of Alberta’s Theatre program. As part of her degree, she decided that rather than write a paper, she was going to stage what we later pretentiously dubbed ​“The Revolution.”

She called me between hearings: ​“Do you think you could write a play?” I penned the first draft on the flight home that night. I’d never written a play before. I’d studied plays in school, sure, and I’d dedicated my studies and career to writing, but I’d never considered writing a play. I had no idea what I was doing!

This artistic game of storytelling involved staging the play I wrote in one space, relaying the visuals of that play via video feed into a second space where a group of musicians improvised in real-time to what they saw, piping the audio feed of the music into a third space where two visual artists created paintings inspired by what they heard, and a second video feed that showed the creation of those paintings on a screen above where the play was being staged — and this was before Wi-Fi was widely available! Thanks to the genius of our long-time collaborator Michael Caron, we created our own dedicated network to make the multiple livestream feeds work.

We wanted to see if we could carry the themes of the play (which only the actors and director had read — the musicians and visual artists had no idea what the play was about) through different artistic mediums. I remember sitting with Beth in the booth as the house lights went down. We clutched each other’s hands and held our breath (while Beth simultaneously called the show!). We had no idea if it would work. And then it did. We left that night with artistic adrenaline running through our veins and immediately started plotting our next production. Catch the Keys Productions, our experimental indie company, was born that year. We staged the first-ever Dead Centre of Town (our annual historically inspired immersive thriller) in 2007 on a hope, a dream, a heckuva lot of zip ties, and $500 cash, which we kept in the freezer. Fifteen years and more than twenty-some original productions later, we’re still creating and producing off-centre immersive theatre.

What themes are you drawn to as a storyteller?

I tend toward personal stories — stories that challenge how we put the personal onstage in a collective experience with care. Stories rooted in experience and history. Stories told through a feminist lens. Stories that challenge the audience/​artist relationship. Stories that consider the environment they’re told in, that enliven all five senses. And I LOVE a good ghost story.

As a collaborator and co-conspirator, I continue to examine how storytelling can be made immersive, how we might create a fully intentional and curated sensuous environment that focuses the audience experience on a multitude of levels: audience as a group, audience as individual, and audience as invited ​“player” in the world.

Tell us about someone who’s mentored you or helped set you on your path.

I am grateful to have many mentors. I would not be where I am today without their generous support. I cut my teeth as a playwright, producer, curator, and arts administrator with Nextfest, under the wonderfully weird and perfectly challenging guidance of Steve Pirot, someone who continues to be an unmatched creative force in my life to this day.

I’ve had the great grace of learning from Murray Utas in a multitude of capacities: as Festival Manager with Nextfest, as co-founder of Expanse Movement Arts Festival (where I had the great gift of collaborating with a team of geniuses who grew and loved that festival), as an instigator with Chinook Series alongside a passionate group of producers who helped seed wildly innovative ways of bringing community together, and now as my partner in all things Fringe Theatre, where he continues to enthusiastically challenge me to reimagine what’s necessary, what’s possible, and what’s next.

Adam Mitchell teaches me daily how to be a patient leader, how to measure empathy against every decision, how to value people over process and product, to question status quo, to join the quiet revolution.

And of course, my sister, Beth Dart: I wouldn’t have penned my first play, learned how to coil a cable, challenged my perception of how stories can be told, or pursued this path if it weren’t for her support, collaboration, and relentless creativity.

What’s one piece of advice someone gave you growing up that turned out to be true. What’s one piece that didn’t hold up?

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received was: ​“Surround yourself with people smarter than you, and wear good shoes.” I’m still learning to prioritize proper footwear, but I’m grateful every day to be surrounded by genius folks who challenge me to be better. A second great piece of advice was to start every creative project by asking yourself and answering this question: Why do you need to tell this story now?

A piece of advice that didn’t hold up? Anytime anyone told me I ​“couldn’t” or ​“didn’t have what it takes.”

What is the creative writing process like for you? Where do you usually begin?

Most of my scripts start as short poems. I focus on a kernel of thought, a word or a phrase, a colour or a texture, and examine how to expand that into something robust, something meaningful, something unpredictable.

Immersive theatre is collaborative. It demands the attention, perspective, skill, and expertise of everyone involved in creating the world.

My favourite part of the Catch the Keys rehearsal process involves dramaturging the script in the room. I am forever in awe of the collaborators I work with, and I take great joy in working closely with them to mold and adapt the script — or sometimes throw it out entirely and start again! — to build the artist/​audience experience we’re creating together.

Tell us a little about what you’re currently working on/​exploring.

This October, I’m proud to collaborate with the DCoT Collective on the Annual Dead Centre of Town, running October 13 – 30, at the Capitol Theatre at Fort Edmonton Park. This award-winning annual thriller digs up and dances with Edmonton’s true history in an immersive Halloween experience. I’m so grateful to be working with the brilliant minds behind this project again — it’s a bit like running away to the scare circus every year!

Following Dead Centre of Town, I’m heading back into the creative lab to research and write a new work, Drive Truck. This one-act play is inspired by the true story of a long-haul truck driver with a storied past. For 40 years, he outran questionable decisions, the law, and heartbreak from the comfort of his 18-wheeler cab, while inadvertently bearing witness to the real-time ecological collapse of Canada’s once-pristine ecosystems. Part humorous retrospective, part love letter to the eroding great Canadian wilds, this quick-witted script will explore and combine true testimonials, deep-cut 70s musical references, climate change and ecological collapse, beat poetry, and intimate audience interactions.

Tell us about the role funding has played in your career and the doors it opens for artists.

Funding is essential. The support of funding bodies, like the EAC, help make great art happen. I’m so grateful for funding support that allows my collaborators and me to continue to grow, experiment, fail, and learn. Because all of it — the growth, the experimentation, the failure (especially the beautiful failure), the lessons — are essential to the creative process. Support that allows for expansion of craft and that challenges process is what helps spur an evolving arts scene like the one we celebrate in Edmonton.

Describe your perfect day in Edmonton. How do you spend it?

A slow and easy morning where I don’t need to be out of bed at any specific time. Enjoying a latte from the Fringe Grounds Café. Adventuring through the river valley in the fall with my family and our dog when the leaves are changing. Jamming on a wild new project that presents so many untamed problems worth solving with an exciting group of collaborators. Enjoying a delicious meal and a robust glass of red wine at one of my favourite local restaurants with my best pals. A fire outside under the stars to end the night.

You visit Edmonton 20 years from now. What do you hope has changed? What do you hope has stayed the same?

I hope our arts scene is still vibrant. I hope audiences continue to be generous in their support and continue to take creative risks alongside artists. I hope artists are well sustained via equitable funding that allows for opportunity to not just make art but also make a living. I hope barriers to access have been removed. I hope institutions share their resources. I hope our stories leave Edmonton to be told to the world, but I also hope artists who leave Edmonton have more reasons to come home and share what they’ve learned. I hope we mentor each other. I hope we meet each other with kindness.

Click here to learn more about Megan Dart and her work. And visit the Edmonton Arts Council’s website to learn more about grants and awards that support YEG artists.

About Megan Dart

Megan Dart is a playwright, poet, producer, and arts administrator. Alongside her sister, Beth, Megan is the co-Artistic Producer of Catch the Keys Productions, an award-winning scrappy indie theatre company specializing in site-specific, immersive creation. Recent playwriting credits include ren & the wake (Catch the Keys Productions, 2022); Curio Shoppe (Catch the Keys Productions, 2021); Fossegrim & Nøkk (Alberta Musical Theatre Company’s New Musical Program); Charlie Horse (shortlisted for the 2018 Alberta Playwriting Competition); Dead Centre of Town (annual, Catch the Keys Productions; recipient of a 2017 Award of Excellence in Interpretation from Interpretation Canada), and Ursa Major (Catch the Keys Productions & Workshop West Playwrights’ Theatre, nominated for four Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Awards, including Best New Play).

Megan is also proud to serve the community as the Executive Director with Fringe Theatre, producers of the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival and home to more than 500 arts events year-round.

Megan was named one of the Top 100 Women in Business by the Wanderer Online, is a University of Grant MacEwan Distinguished Alumni, and a recipient of the 2020 Edmonton Artists’ Trust Fund award.