Buddies in Bad Times Theatre
Toronto, Canada
Mission and Mandate
Queer. adj.
1. referring to the LGBTQ community.
2. referring to anything outside of the norm.
History
Buddies moved from location to location for a decade, and finally settled into a permanent space in 1991. They moved into their current location, which is larger and more versatile than the previous one, in 1994.
The original artistic director, Sky Gilbert, was devoted to pushing boundaries and causing upset. He staged provocative productions for the sake of provocation and was notorious for being a crossdresser. He stepped down in 1997 and was replaced by Sarah Garton Stanley, who was in turn replaced by David Oiye in 1999. Oiye focused mainly on supporting queer youth.
Brendan Healy, Buddies in Bad Times Artistic Director
What They Do
The company is also heavily involved in the support of queer youth. Their Queer Youth Arts Program is devoted to developing the "artistic voices" of the next LGBTQ generation and creating a place for those voices to be heard.