Citing burnout, the creative minds behind Peterborough’s Theatre on King will take a final bow this spring

For over a decade, The Theatre on King (TTOK) has served as a hub for experimental performance art in Peterborough. Founder Ryan Kerr launched the black box theatre in 2013 to give local artists a space to test out new ideas and push creative boundaries. 

Now, Kerr has decided it’s time to move on. He is resigning his role as the theatre’s artistic and technical director, he told Currents in an interview. Local performing artist Kate Story, who has supported Kerr at the theatre in various capacities through the years, has also decided to step back from her involvement, she said.

Before they go, the two artists are mounting a farewell production that epitomizes the kind of work Kerr has prioritized at TTOK over the years. Death In Reverse: Project Baroness is a collaborative, multi-disciplinary production inspired by the avant garde artists who dared to mock political authority in the early 20th century, Kerr explained. The show is scheduled to run at TTOK from May 8 to 10, 2025.

Kerr and Story have worked together on Death In Reverse for years, and the production has encountered many setbacks along the way that Story said are emblematic of the challenges TTOK has faced. “We had to struggle so hard just to make this project, and in the end, it’s a much reduced version of itself,” Story said. “Yet we still really want to do it. And it’s the last project with us at the helm of TTOK.”

As they prepared to start rehearsing for Death in Reverse, Kerr and Story sat together in the intimate 60-seat venue on a cold afternoon to share the journey that led them here, and the factors that have forced them to say goodbye. 

Kerr explained that one of the reasons he initially opened TTOK was to provide himself and other Peterborough artists with an affordable place to rehearse. In the 1990s, Kerr had access to a space just like that at the Union Theatre on Hunter Street. 

But since the closure of the Union in 1996, “there was nowhere where you could afford to put on a brand new work that may or may not fail,” he said. Although Peterborough was (and remains) home to several other theatres, they are all larger venues with rental rates that can be prohibitive for local artists who want to take risks and make experimental work.

So Kerr dove into the work of recreating a space like the Union, drawing on his background in technical direction to help dancers, musicians, poets and actors bring their creative visions to life. Hundreds of local productions have been staged at TTOK under Kerr’s leadership, and his efforts earned him a Peterborough Arts Award in 2019.

But the reality of managing the space eventually took over Kerr’s own artistic ambitions. “As the space opened and we got busy, I found that there was much less time for my own work,” he said. “It’s very hard to run the space and do the tech and all the admin and be on the stage all at the same time.”

Kerr said constant struggles to fund the theatre have contributed to his experience of burnout. “Chasing the money every single day all the time is exhausting,” he said.

TTOK generally receives about $10,000 in funding from the City of Peterborough each year, and the theatre has a “fantastic” landlord, Kerr said. But steady operating funding has proven elusive. “We have no hope of getting any operational funding from the city or from the province or from the feds,” Story said. “There’s just no way — it’s not going to happen.”

That means it’s up to donors and ticket sales to keep the theatre afloat, and “you can only make so much money in a small space,” Kerr said.

“There’s an awful lot of work that has to take place behind the scenes, and no one sees it, and you’re never paid for it,” he said.

Adding to his ambivalence is the fact that there simply isn’t as much independent experimental theatre being made locally as there used to be, Kerr added. He said audiences have come to prefer “safe” theatre, and the loss of the Union meant a whole generation of local artists grew up without the formative experiences that are possible at a little venue where experimental risk-taking is encouraged.

Story noted that the high cost of living is making it harder for young artists to create. “Our younger colleagues have extreme anxiety and stress,” she said. “So that’s part of why we’re not seeing the outpouring that, you know, 20 or 30 years previously would have been possible.”

It all adds up to Kerr and Story believing now is the time to pass the torch. But the decision doesn’t come without reservations. Story said she’s “sad and angry” that the theatre hasn’t secured enough operating funding to pay the bills and pay staff for their efforts. “It shouldn’t be be this hard,” she said.

“I did what I could for as long as I could,” Kerr said. “I’d like to just be an artist again.”

The theatre’s general manager, Shannon McKenzie LeBlanc, will take over for Kerr when he moves on later this spring. She has slowly taken on more responsibility at the theatre over the past several years, learning to manage social media, front-of-house and bookkeeping for TTOK since joining the staff roster in 2019.

McKenzie LeBlanc said she feels grateful that she could “ease into all the different aspects” of running the space and “help ease the burden” on Kerr to keep the theatre running. “It’s magical. There’s nothing else like it in this town,” she said of TTOK. “I think I would have regretted it if I didn’t at least give it a shot.”

Although the longterm future of TTOK remains uncertain, McKenzie LeBlanc has agreed to renew the theatre’s lease for an additional two-year term. She plans to “continue on with Ryan’s vision,” while also working more closely with local house and electronic dance music collective Otonabeats to host regular small events and DJing workshops. 

“Ryan and Kate were such a driving force with creating programming. I’m not sure that I have the same capabilities that they do,” she said. “But I hope that there are people in this town that still want to create original work, and that we can give them a space to do that.”  

Before leaving their roles at TTOK, Kerr and Story have planned one final event, and it’s a celebration of everything TTOK under Kerr’s leadership has stood for. Death In Reverse: Project Baroness is a multi-disciplinary drama based on the radical DADA art movement of the early 1900s. It will run from May 8 to 10.

Written by Story with help from Kerr, the play will feature a diverse cast of local actors, musicians and dancers. Trent Radio will also record and broadcast the show live.

“We’ve got older actors, we’ve got younger actors,” Kerr said. “And everyone who’s involved in the project is gung-ho about it.”

Kerr shared that the DADA movement has always inspired and amazed him since he learned about it in high school. Artists created works mocking the pervasive nationalist, capitalist and materialistic notions of the time, and celebrated those living in the margins following World War One. 

DADA artists faced censorship and persecution, but they continued making art, which makes their story resonate today, according to Story. “These people were facing really frightening consequences and it didn’t stop them,” she said. 

For Kerr, the themes of the show are a little bittersweet. “It’s hard for me [to do] a show about resilience when I’m throwing in the towel,” he said.

“It’s hard to pull the plug. It really feels like a failure. However, I opened the space knowing that I’m allowed to fail,” he continued. “I’ll reinvent myself in a new manner, just like I’ve done before.”