CRATER CREATIVES: MATTHEW HEITI
Welcome to Crater Creatives, a biweekly artist profile series offering a unique look into the artists that call Sudbury home! There’s certain type of creativity that’s born up here in Northern Ontario, maybe it’s the wilderness that surrounds us, or maybe it’s just our resourceful spirit. Whatever the case may be we’re here to shine a spot light on the innovative artists of all sorts in this big old crater! Have an artist you’d like to recommend for a future Crater Creatives profile? Shoot an email to jessica@ourcrater.com and tell us all about it!
Writers are too often the unspoken heroes of the theatre world. The actor gets all the praise for their stellar performance, but where would they be if not for the one who gave them the words to begin with? Illuminating the voice of the Northern Ontario playwright we have Matthew Heiti, an active member of just about every theatre company you can think of here in Sudbury his dedication to storytelling is something to be admired. Find out more about this artist, his work and what keeps him inspired below!
How did you become interested in theatre as a writer and actor?
I was homeschooled growing up, and my parents believed in free play as way of exploring and making sense of the world around you. This was probably the first introduction I had into the importance of storytelling. Then I was lucky enough to attend what might be the greatest high school on the planet: Sudbury Secondary. Its performance arts program, under Judi Straughan, was instrumental in shaping me. What fascinated me most about theatre was its impermanence: every performance only happens once. The impact of a moment becomes that much more significant. But writing, for me, in theatre, fiction or film, has always been about telling a good story. And trying to make it mean something.
You wear many hats working with Pat the Dog, Playsmelter, Crestfallen and STC. All theatre organizations with very different mandates. How do you see the theatre community growing through your work?
What’s common about all the organizations I work with is a dedication to creators and work that has something to say about life up here in the north part of our province, specifically the Sudbury region. It’s been a fascinating transformation to watch and participate in. When I moved back from the East coast in 2010, there weren’t many other theatre creators I could collaborate with. Now, with a playwrights’ unit at STC and a new theatre creation festival with PlaySmelter, there is a host of talented writers, telling stories inspired by our region. And some of these creators are now having an impact in both provincial and national conversation. One of the most significant things we can work toward is creating more opportunities here that can keep our artists working in our communities. When we work elsewhere, we have to sing the praises of our creators. Hopefully we can continue to slowly shift those long-held impressions of Sudbury.
What artists locally or beyond keep you inspired?
Locally, what is most inspiring to me is actually not any one individual but the artistic community at large. We are on a good trajectory here, but it’s important to stay humble. There is still so much to learn. There is a lot of competition in the arts, but we’re better served by working together and participating in the conversation about what we want our city to be.
What is your favourite thing about being a part of Sudbury’s artistic community?
The best thing about this artistic community is that there is a pride growing that was not here, even in recent memory. Much of that pride is grounded in things we used to be ashamed of: the landscape and personality of a resource-based industrial city. That’s a good thing, because rather than trying to impersonate other, larger cities, as we have done, we are finally owning our stories.
And because that community is still forming, finding its voice, you can make a meaningful difference here. Look at the festivals we have celebrated for decades that are going stronger than ever. The new ones that have sprung up in recent years that have spread into our forests and downtown. We have festivals of music, performance, theatre, literature.
The reinvigoration of our downtown has been the most exciting thing to watch. A city needs a strong core. Of course, there is still a long way to go, but the repatriation of our downtown as a community of restaurants, pubs, cafés, galleries, markets, literary presses, festivals and artisans is something I want to belong to. We are building things, literally new structures, rather than tearing them down.
There will always be naysayers and pothole warriors, but at the very least, you can’t make the age-old complaint of there being ‘nothing to do’ up here. There is something to do in town every night of the week.
What would be your best advice for a new artist looking to get involved in our local arts community?
We unfortunately, for now, lack a central artistic hub, where artists can gather under one roof. We need a rallying point to serve our artists. But the artistic community here can be very warm and welcoming. We only get better with new collaborators.
The best way to get involved in any discipline is to go out to the events that interest you. Stay afterward and introduce yourself to the organizers or artists. Also, as we do live in the age of digital connectivity, we’re only an email or message apart.
Where can we follow your work?
Pat the Dog Theatre Creation works with emerging and established playwrights across Ontario, but we have a specific interest in theatre creators living in the North. We have been workshopping new plays for the past 5 years through our PlaySmelter series, and for the first time, we will be offering mainstage productions of two of these pieces from May 3 – 9 in Sudbury. More info at www.patthedog.org
With Crestfallen, I explore new work in strange places. Our most recent production was BrokeDownTown this past October. We have a new project in the slow cooker: www.crestfallentheatre.com
I also do some writing at www.harkback.org
Jessica Lovelace
Jessica Lovelace is a Public Relations and Communications grad, musical theatre enthusiast, lover of live music and part-time unicorn tamer. Some have said that the Big Dripper from Sub City is a regional delicacy and the perfect end to a Sudbury Saturday Night – Jessica is definitely one of those people. No, the hair is not a perm.
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