About Us
Balls - Show Us Yours Series - Deathwatch - Fucking Stephen Harper - Big In Germany
Ten Foot Pole Theatre was launched in 2007 with the first workshop productions of Rob Salerno’s play, Balls, at that year’s Ottawa, London, and Hamilton Fringe Festivals. The micro-budgeted production starred Rob Salerno and Adam Goldhamer.
It was a great kick off for the company. That production won the Hamilton Fringe Playwriting Award, the London Fringe Best Original Production Award, the London Brickenden Award for Best Touring Production, and was a Patron’s Pick at the Ottawa Fringe.
The following year, Ten Foot Pole was lucky enough to be drawn in the Fringe touring lottery, and took Balls across Canada, playing in Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton, and Vancouver. The 2008 production saw Salerno and Goldhamer reprise their roles while Laurel Green was brought on board as a dramaturg and assistant director. The show was a great success, earning 4- and 5-star reviews all across the country.
In 2009, Ten Foot Pole launched the Show Us Yours Series, which remounted Balls together with two other successful shows from the Fringe circuit, Giant Invisible Robot by Jayson McDonald and The Sputniks by Elison Zasko. The Show Us Yours Series was a successful first venture out of the festival circuit for Ten Foot Pole and put the company on the Toronto indie theatre map.
The 2009 production of Balls, starring Salerno and Garrett Watson, with Cole J. Alvis directing, also brought the cumulative total of money raised by the show for the fight against cancer to more than $2000. Agencies that have benefited from the show’s fundraising include the Saskatoon Cancer Centre, the Alberta Cancer Foundation, the BC Cancer Foundation, the Canadian Cancer Society (Ontario) and the North York General Hospital.
That year also saw the launch of a successful collaboration between Ten Foot Pole and lemonTree Theatre creations on a production of the classic prison drama Deathwatch by Jean Genet. That show, in the basement of XPACE Cultural Centre, was a tremendous success, pulling in rave reviews and a near sold-out run. It was selected as an official event of Toronto Pride 2009.
Ten Foot Pole’s other major production that year was Salerno’s first solo show, Fucking Stephen Harper: How I Sexually Assaulted the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada and Saved Democracy. FSH was developed with the Buddies in Bad Times Theatre Young Creators’ Unit, and was workshopped at the Rhubarb Festival and the Big Comedy Go-To in London, ON before taking audiences by storm at the Montreal and Toronto Fringe Festivals. In 2010, FSH toured to the Winnipeg, Edmonton, Victoria, and Vancouver Fringe Festivals, earning the “Best in Fest” award in Winnipeg and selling out in Winnipeg and Edmonton. Salerno is excited to be bringing this show to the Ottawa Fringe Festival and the Piggyback Festival in Wakefield, QC in 2011.
In 2010, Ten Foot Pole also workshopped Salerno’s latest play, Big In Germany, at the Toronto Fringe Festival. The show was directed by Victor Correia and featured Salerno alongside Michael Young and Brad Hampton, and was stage managed by Jer Banks. Ten Foot Pole has been invited to bring a full production of the play to the 2011 International Dubnlin Gay Theatre Festival and the Halifax Queer Acts Festival in 2011.
During the 2010 Fringe Tour, Salerno and his former UofT classmate Mikaela Dyke first discussed pooling their talents to launch a theatre consulting firm. Toward the end of the year, they had already booked a handful of clients, including Theatre Brouhaha and Soupcan Theatre. They’re looking forward to working with more emerging artists through 2011.