Coming Soon
New Chapter
Hope is pleased to be joining Theatre Saskatchewan as Executive Director, supporting theatre artists, organizations, and communities across the province.
Festival of Art and Discourse
Speaking Engagement, University of Regina
Hope will present "For the Love of It: The Philosophy and Cultural Infrastructure of Community Theatre" on Friday October 23rd 2026.
Abstract:
The word amateur comes from the French amateur and the Latin amator, meaning “lover.” Although the term is now often used to imply inexperience or a lack of skill, its origins describe someone who pursues an activity for the love of it. Across Saskatchewan, community theatre artists and volunteers embody this devotion by producing ambitious work, developing skills, preserving local stories, and creating places where people can connect and belong.
Some of Canada’s longest-running theatre companies are amateur organizations. Regina Little Theatre, for example, recently marked a century of continuous operation and is the oldest continuously producing English-language theatre company in Western Canada. Its longevity demonstrates that community theatres are not temporary recreational groups, but enduring cultural institutions sustained across generations.
Drawing on my experience as a community theatre practitioner and Executive Director of Theatre Saskatchewan Inc. , this presentation will explore amateur theatre as cultural infrastructure.
However, describing community theatre as a “labour of love” also reveals tension. Love sustains the sector, but it can also normalize invisible labour, volunteer burnout, and limited resources. This presentation will consider what community theatre provides beyond entertainment, whose labour makes it possible, and what communities, funders, and provincial organizations owe the people who sustain it. Ultimately, it asks what might change if Saskatchewan recognized amateur theatre not as lesser theatre, but as essential social and cultural infrastructure.