Foster Festival Annual Report 2017

Call To Action -
What’s Next?
Dr. Devlin, who led the study, said: “This clearly demonstrates that the physiological synchrony observed
during the performance was strong enough to overcome social group differences and engage the audience
as a whole.” How powerful is that?
In the spirit of continuing to build both a strong theatre community and a community in which we live,
we are asking all of our supporters to introduce a friend, neighbour, family member or colleague to the
Foster Festival by bringing them with you to the theatre for a shared heartfelt experience at one of our
2018 performances – an experience that will endure with all of us for many years to come!
Life’s lasting memories are created through shared experiences! Join us in Sharing in the Laughter and
help our festival grow. We are asking all of our supporters and audience members to share your love of
the Foster Festival with friends, colleagues, and your personal networks.
In a recent interview Executive Director Emily Oriold was asked if she could have one wish for the Foster
Festival and share that wish with our community, what would that wish be? Emily answered, “The most
common answer I can imagine is to say ‘stay in the black!’. However, my truest wish is to have everyone
in our community experience the Foster Festival and share in the laughter with us at least once. I really
mean that.”
One of our favourite things to do each performance is to stand by the doors and greet our patrons. The
amazement and pride on peoples’ faces is truly heartening as they enter the stunning lobby and then
beautiful Cairns Hall. Even more rewarding is the moment following a performance when a patron will
come up to us and say “Thank you, I really needed that today. I will remember this show for a very long
time.” What a joy to know we are helping create lasting memories for our audiences and providing them
with a heartfelt afternoon or evening. As Norm says, that’s more and more needed these days.
A new research study that was conducted in November 2017 by University College London England’s
Division of Psychological and Language Sciences has found that watching a live theatre performance
can synchronize your heartbeat with other people in the audience, whether you know the other people
or not. The team found as well that alongside individuals’ emotional responses, the audience members’
hearts were also responding in unison, with their pulses speeding up and slowing down at the same rate.
“When we establish
human connections
within the context of
shared experience we
create community
wherever we go.”
Message From Norm
After the progress that the Foster Festival has made in our first two seasons of
operation, I am extremely excited to see what the third season and beyond hold
for us. Executive Director Emily Oriold and Artistic Director Patricia Vanstone
have done a remarkable job of putting our festival on the theatrical map. I have
travelled a lot this past year and more and more I have noticed how the Foster
Festival and the names of Emily and Patricia keep popping up in conversations
with other industry people I meet. I know we will continue to build and grow and
that knowledge inspires me to put my head down and keep turning out new
work. Here’s to 2018.
Gina Greenlee, Author -
Postcards and Pearls: Life
Lessons from Solo Moments
on the Road
Norm Foster, Playwright
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Foster Festival Annual Report 2017 | Page 14