Welcome Home: a collaborative theatre project for everyone

Two long-time area artists are cooking up some collaborative theatre, and they’re inviting Kootenay residents to take part. “Welcome Home: Kootenay Origin Stories” will bring together people of all ages, genders, ethnicities and orientations to share their stories on stage—and there’s no experience necessary.

Actor, director, and writer Pat Henman, and writer and editor Anne DeGrace are excited about the project for its creativity, opportunity, and capacity to build community in new ways. Taghum Hall is a partner in the project.

“Everyone came from somewhere,” says Henman. “We’re asking: What circumstances led to you call our region ‘home’? If you were born here, how did your parents come to be here? Do you come from back-to-the-landers? Political refugees? Are you a new immigrant, or have your ancestors been here for thousands of years?”

In sharing stories of how folks landed and why they stayed, the project aims to enrich lives and bring people together. Stories may be shared through music, movement, storytelling, monologue, stand-up comedy, or just about any other creative means. Participants will work together to shape the stories, and to develop the performance as a whole in a true collective endeavor. And there’s even more support, explains DeGrace.

“We’ll have four to five dedicated sessions with community professionals who will offer workshops such as songwriting, storytelling, playwriting, movement, and improvisation,” she says. “It will be a safe place to explore creativity and personal stories, and a really rich experience overall.”

A maximum of 20 participants will meet for two hours on 12 Saturday mornings at Taghum Hall; there will be two rehearsals before the final performance evenings on May 2 and 3 at the Hall.

There is no cost to participate, including the workshops, and participants and coordinators are all volunteers. Proceeds from the performance will be split between Taghum Hall’s kitchen project and a broad-based community cause of the collective’s choosing.

“We’re looking for diversity in stories, and in participants,” says Henman. “We’d love to hear from people between the ages of 12 and 99, and from all walks of life. We simply ask that participants apply with the intention to attend all or most of the sessions, and of course the performances.”

The Welcome Home project is built on a model shared with DeGrace and Henman by the W.O.W. Collective of Wolfville, Nova Scotia, who for years have been mounting community collaborative theatre and giving all the money to local causes.

“This project both builds and benefits our community. It’s perfect for Taghum Hall, because building community is at the core of everything we do,” says DeGrace, who is also a board member.

Those interested should apply at taghumhall.ca/events before December 12. Twenty people will be chosen from the applications with an eye to story and participant diversity. The sessions begin January 17, 2026.