A groundbreaking new collection, Ignite: Illuminating Theatre for Young People gathers three plays for young audiences that feature “messy” and complicated creation processes: The Middle Place by Andrew Kushnir, verbatim theatre created from interview transcripts with shelter youth; And by the way, Miss . . . by URGE with the Ensemble, devised theatre created by women developed through workshops with girls, and made for exclusively girl audiences; and Beneath the Ice by Eva Colmers, a location-specific, cross-cultural piece that was enriched by Southerner and Northerner encounters in Canada. Accompanying each script are stories and voices relevant to the initial spark that led to their creation, including scholarly introductions; timelines of the creative journey; and contextualizing pieces that foreground the voices of playwrights, collaborators, and community stakeholders involved in the development process. All of these plays highlight specific ethical questions relevant to theatre practitioners and scholars for work concerning audiences of any age.

Heather Fitzsimmons Frey is an Associate Professor in Arts and Cultural Management at MacEwan University in Edmonton. Her research focuses on performance for, by, and with young people. She uses a range of research methodologies and frameworks including archival research, performance-based inquiry, performance-based historiography, and qualitative research. She is an advocate for theatre for young audiences and for artists who create work for young people.

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