About
Our Story
Groundling is an award-winning Canadian theatre company that re-imagines and re-invents the classics – from Shakespeare, his contemporaries and beyond.
Founded in 2011 by Canadian actor/director, Graham Abbey, the company has emerged as a leader in creating transformative theatre experiences in Canada.
In 2023, Groundling embraced the new opportunities presented by XR and immersive technologies and created the Groundling Performance & Immersive Technology (PIT) Lab in partnership with BMO. Under the creative directorship of XR director/producer, Christopher Lane, the PIT Lab explores the fusion of theatre, gaming, film, immersive technology and XR.
By bringing together creatives from multiple disciplines, Groundling inspires artists to build new performance models, new art forms, and new creative partnerships. These explorations result in dynamic, innovative content for our audiences.
True to our mandate, we continue to re-invent, re-imagine, and be inspired by the classics. And now, in addition to performing in the real world, we’re working in the digital arena as well.
Our Purpose
- To produce world class, innovative, live productions of plays from Shakespeare, his contemporaries and projects inspired by them.
- To re-examine and re-interpret classical theatre for 21st century audiences with 21st century technologies.
- To fuse theatre with other artistic disciplines to create innovative, accessible, inspiring, and relevant content that disrupts the traditional boundaries and expectations of artists and audiences.
- To foster new talent and new ideas through R&D, mentorship, knowledge sharing, webinars, training programs and apprenticeships.
- To inspire a new generation of classically inspired, future facing artists and audiences by engaging with underserved communities in Canada.
- To construct collaborative creative and working spaces that promote cultural abundance, tolerance and shared values.
- To create work that has impact and relevance locally, nationally and internationally.