Fire Dancers, The Spirit of Shivaree, Rockwood, Ont. 1991,
Costumes designed by Ruth Howard

History

Jumblies grew out of the work of Ruth Howard and artistic colleagues, with inspiration from varied forms of visually-based and socially-engaged performance, especially the British “Community Play”, a form that combines theatre on an epic scale with a philosophy of wholehearted social inclusion and an astonishing capacity for social change. This form sprung from the work in England of Anne Jellicoe, Jon Oram and the Colway Theatre Trust (now Claque Theatre), and was introduced to Canada by Dale Hamilton of Rockwood, Ontario, with the ground-breaking production of “The Spirit of Shivaree”. Ruth Howard had the good fortune to be the costume designer on this production, which united her interests in art, community-building and activism as never before. Ruth went on to design several community plays across Canada and in the U.K., and started to produce her own arts projects that both drew from and adapted the community play model.

In 2000, Ruth initiated South Riverdale Lives and Legends, and produced Twisted Metal and Mermaid’s Tears, a spectacular, multi-lingual production that engaged several hundred local participants. Following this, in 2001, she founded Jumblies Theatre. Since then, Jumblies has undertaken residencies at Lawrence Heights, performing an adapted Caribbean folk tale (I’m Tapingi Too!) and bringing together seniors, youth and Hispanic women; at Davenport Perth Neighbourhood Centre, with Arts for All, producing the highly-acclaimed Once A Shoreline in 2004; and in Central Etobicoke, with Bridge of One Hair, a project engaging Somali, Caribbean and other Toronto Community Housing and area residents, with a culminating production presented at Harbourfront Centre’s 2007 New World Stage Festival. This project won a Dora Mavor Moore nomination for “Outstanding Costume Design”, and a Great Grants award from the Ontario Trillium Foundation. As a result of Jumblies’ legacy and sustainability phase Arts4All (now in its 8th year) and MABELLEarts (the Etobicoke project), are thriving with new leaders, initiatives and events. Meanwhile, in 2008, Jumblies has moved on to a new multi-year residency in Scarborough, with a home-base at Cedar Ridge Creative Centre. The May 2009 Nesting project and evolving gallery event, was the celebration of this project’s first year of local connections.

Star Dancers, Seven Ravens, with 5 Toronto Schools,
Hart House Circle, 1998, Photo: J. Vissers

Jumblies is increasingly cited as a pioneering and inspirational example of art that embraces and intertwines aesthetics and social engagement. Mentorship and professional development have always been integral to Jumblies’ work, and in 2005 Ruth Howard received a Toronto Community Foundation Vital People award to research and develop a more intentional approach to training/mentorship. As a result, in 2006, in partnership with Davenport Perth Neighbourhood Centre, Jumblies launched the Jumblies Studio, and received multi-year development funding for the initiative from the Metcalf Foundation and the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

Our current work involves three intertwining strands: Jumblies Ventures, undertaking residencies and creating and producing new artistic works; Jumblies Offshoots, maintaining relationships with communities, offshoot projects and emerging arts leaders; and Jumblies Studio, mentoring artists and providing opportunities for professional learning, research, discourse, exploration and play.

For more information on the history of Canadian Community Plays click here.