TODOS Productions is a Newfoundland and Labrador theatre company that seeks to develop, produce, support, and promote the work of Black, Indigenous, Artists of Colour, 2SLGBTQIIA+ artists, landed immigrants, and artists with disabilities within NL.
We asked Artistic Director Santiago Guzmán some questions for our members to get to know TODOS Productions better.
Artistic directors play a pivotal role in shaping a company’s artistic vision. What is the driving force behind your company’s mission? How do you select the plays and projects that align with this vision, and what impact do you hope to have on your audience and the artistic community?
The driving force behind TODOS is equity and representation. TODOS was born from the desire of creating a space in Newfoundland and Labrador for artists who, like me, felt unseen & ignored. I wanted TODOS to uplift and develop voices that historically have been silenced and forgotten in our communities. And I think that those values have been the sieve I have used to curate our seasons, the casting of our productions, and the creative company. TODOS is relentlessly trying to find ways to create theatre where care and kindness are at the core of the way we practice our craft, while honouring the humanity of our team members. We strive to challenge, and reframe colonial means of theatre creation to investigate and practice creative ways from an anti-racist, anti-oppressive and abolitionist perspective. Since 2019, TODOS has championed voices and stories that NL hadn’t heard enough. And we are seen by our local industry as role models in equity, representation, and holding our community accountable to do better. There’s always room for growth, there’s always room for play, there’s always room for TODOS.*
*TODOS means everyone in Spanish.
Every theatre company has its standout productions that linger in the hearts of the audience. Could you share a memorable Atlantic Canadian production from your company’s repertoire? What made it special, and how did it resonate with both the team and the audience?
I think all of the workshop presentations and productions have been designed to reach the communities that historically have not seen themselves represented onstage. We have identified the barriers that stop audiences to attend theatre and created strategies to overcome them. In return, TODOS’ productions has seen the most diverse audiences (not to mention the most diverse casting AND creative teams) in Newfoundland and Labrador. Pam Halstead, PARC’s former AD, attended in 2022 the workshop presentation of “NewfoundLanded” in St. John’s. The first thing she mentioned was that she forgot she was in NL, and thought she was in a major Canadian city, as the diversity in the audience was something like she had never seen before in our community.
Tell us about the significance of PARC for the development of your company. What was the importance/ impact of our services for your organization?
PARC has supported the development of scripts that we have been produced or intend to produce. Playwrights working with TODOS have benefitted from dramaturgical resources from PARC’s programming and services, thus advancing their scripts closer to production. “Happy Anniversary” by Vanessa Cardoso-Whelan and “Urn” by Santiago Guzmán were published in 2024. That would not have been possible without the support of PARC, providing dramaturgical support along the way.