Sometimes life really does imitate art.
The exciting young musical theatre company Shifting Ground Collective named themselves after a lyric from Stephen Sondheim’s musical “Merrily We Roll Along.”
“Something is stirring, shifting ground, it’s just begun,” begins the song “Our Time,” about three optimistic, 20-something artists at the outset of their careers.
For Joshua Kilimnik, Shannon Murtagh and Colette Richardson, the three 20-something co-founders of the company, their time has clearly come. In only a handful of years, they’ve gone from complete unknowns to an artistic force to be reckoned with — and taken seriously.
All of that became clear a few months ago, when the company’s production of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” won three Dora Awards, including best production of a musical and best creative direction of a musical, triumphing over bigger-budget, higher-profile shows like “A Strange Loop” and “Life After.”
And now they’re following that success with a remount of the cult Canadian show “Ride the Cyclone,” Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell’s mordantly funny musical about members of a high school choir who died in a roller coaster accident and have a chance to return to life.
The show hasn’t been remounted professionally in Toronto since the early 2010s.
“‘Cyclone’ has never had a Broadway production, but it’s one of the most popular Canadian shows out there and has such a devoted fan base,” said Kilimnik, on a recent sunny day in Grange Park. “It’s aligned with all the things that Shifting Ground stands for.”
And just what does the company stand for?
More than three years ago, Kilimnik, Murtagh and Richardson sat at a picnic bench at Grange Park — a stone’s throw from where we talked — and wrote out the mission statement for their fledgling company.
“We wanted it to be a landing spot for new people, both onstage and off,” said Murtagh. “That’s never really changed.”
“We wanted to offer a platform to the emerging artists of Toronto and give them an opportunity to develop their craft,” said Kilimnik. “And also to help establish the love of musical theatre in Toronto through outputs that included community engagement events, brand new musicals and beloved works of the musical theater canon. I believe that’s the wording we used. And we’re still going full speed ahead on all fronts.”
What’s refreshing about talking with the three — besides their nerdy musical deep-cut references — is that no one person dominates the conversation. Even in their responses, I can feel the collaborative nature of the team.
They won’t mount a show without all of them being on board. And they always have to have a reason for putting it on.
After mounting Sondheim’s “Merrily” in 2024, the company knew it wanted its next production to be “Spelling Bee.” They all loved it, but why do it? What was the point? And that’s when Richardson came up with her take.
“So many productions played up the comedy of the kids in the show being ‘weird,’” said Richardson, recalling the conversation they had. “I thought it was really important that we took the characters at face value. So I said, ‘They shouldn’t be caricatures. At the end of the day, they’re not weird, they’re not quirky. They’re… neurodivergent.’ And Shannon looked at me and said, ‘Wow, that’s why we do it.’”
“So then when we put out a call, it was to hire predominantly folks that identified as neurodivergent,” added Murtagh. “And I think that’s one of the reasons why it worked. It became artists exploring how their neurodivergence factored into their own creativity.”
Another refreshing thing about the company — which is reviving another Canadian classic, “The Drowsy Chaperone,” next March — is it’s not merely a vehicle to showcase their own acting and singing talents.
Murtagh and Richardson starred in Shifting Ground’s 2023 production of “Ordinary Days,” which impressed me so much I named the company one of the theatre breakthroughs of the year in the Star. Kilimnik directed their 2024 production of “Merrily,” which co-starred Richardson. But none of them performed in “Spelling Bee.” And only Murtagh is in the “Cyclone” cast, which is being directed by Stratford actor Steven Hao, who helmed “Ordinary Days.”
“We decided pretty early on that if we were going to be involved as artists in a direct capacity on a show, there had to be a reason for it,” said Richardson. “We program a show first, and then we sit back and go, ‘Are any of us the right person for this?’ It’s that simple.”
All three consider producing shows an artistic endeavour in and of itself, added Kilimnik.
“We are artistic collaborators in everything we do,” he said. “We’re all part of the conversation, and we’re all looking to bring out a show that reflects our preferences.”
Murtagh and Kilimnik met while doing a show at York University in 2019, and quickly became great friends. Because university theatre productions often pool talent, Kilimnik met Richardson when the latter was putting on a show at U of T’s Scarborough College. During a phone call about a possible production of “Merrily” that Murtagh was going to assistant-direct, she and Richardson decided they were best friends.
Shifting Ground feels like part of a new wave of talented theatre makers that includes the indie companies Bowtie Productions and First Born Theatre Productions, who both put on musicals, and Icarus Theatre, which does straight plays.
“I think it has something to do with coming out of the pandemic,” said Kilimnik. “People spent two years at home watching bootlegs of Broadway shows. They got fed up with waiting for opportunities to happen to them, and started to want to fight for their own opportunities. In the Toronto theatre ecosystem, very talented folks seem to get cast over and over in things. That doesn’t leave much space for new voices — on the stage or behind it.”
Shifting Ground wants to provide opportunities for talented people who may have just graduated from theatre school who need a foot in the door. They attend student productions. They hold open calls. They take recommendations from people they know.
“We have talented friends, but we’re not just interested in hiring people we already know,” said Murtagh. “A lot of the folks involved in ‘Ride the Cyclone,’ for instance, we didn’t know. They came to an open call and we were blown away.”
And emerging talent isn’t just about age, said Kilimnik. “Spelling Bee” director, Jennifer Walls, is an established actor, but she had only been directing for a couple of years. They found her, too, at an open call.
While “Merrily” is obviously an artistic touchstone for the company, it’s hard not to think of what happens to the characters in the show, who end up breaking apart. How will the three avoid a similar fate?
“We don’t leave space for grudges,” said Murtagh. “We talk through problems. A lot of the magic of this company comes from the fact that the three of us are not just great collaborators but also best friends. I’m so grateful that I get to make art with them, and the idea of not getting to do that scares me.”
“I’m not gonna lie, but we do have moments where we go, ‘Guys, that was hard, that did not go well,’” added Richardson. “We need to separate our egos from what is best for the company.”
Before every production, the three join pinky fingers and sing these lyrics from — what else? — another “Merrily” song: “Here’s to us! Who’s like us? Damn few.”
Indeed.
“Ride the Cyclone” begins performances Wednesday at the Annex Theatre, 730 Bathurst St. Visit shiftinggroundcollective.com for tickets and more information.
