About The Company

The Friendly Spike Theatre Band is a registered charity that has been producing theatrical play productions, literary works, and various art projects by and about the marginalized since 1989. Founded by Ruth Stackhouse and others, this theatre company is a community whose participants are artists, playwrights, and theatre actors who identify as disabled, psychiatric and or attempt survivors, mental health advocates, social activists, MAD, deaf, and mobility impaired.

Words by co-founder Ruth Stackhouse from The Friendly Spike Theatre Band Review (1989-2014) published in 2015.

“From the beginning, the company was rebellious. Founded in 1989 by theatre artists Ken Innes, Miles Cohen, and myself, Ruth Stackhouse, we delightfully named our theatre after a couple of dogs – Friendly and Spike. Rather than a traditional theatre company with an Artistic Director whose vision everyone else works to achieve, we were three directors forming a circle.”

“Together, we had a shared vision to establish a company that would engage community members in both process and performance. Each of us had been involved in the professional theatre scene and we were turned off by its exclusionary practices. We wanted to bring theatre back to the people. We were not the first company to have this aim, and I am grateful to say, we won’t be the last, either. A people’s theatre movement runs through history, sometimes manifesting out of political struggles, such as Nightwood Feminist Theatre, starting in Toronto in the late 1970’s.”

Ruth Stackhouse, The Friendly Spike Theatre Band Review, 2015

“This is my story

It is a fact

I am real and I can act

All of us together

Are The Friendly Spike Theatre Band

(pay attention) listen, learn

we hope you understand”

Mission Statement

To make available to the public-at-large, a facility which will allow them the opportunity to exercise their creative potential. This is an open door to encourage the artist in everyone. To operate an on-going theatre with a set season of plays that brings theatre back to its people. Involving the entire team in process and performance.

Current Project

Our current project is scheduled for completion by December 2026. We will be hosting a social reunion in Toronto for past and present FSTB members, their families, their friends, and participants. Offering light refreshments and a featured staged play reading of ‘The 7th Floor‘ – written by board member Henrik Kartna, who identifies as MAD. ‘The 7 Floor’ is a community-based play that takes place in a psychiatric unit of a fictitious mental health hospital. Characters are inspired by Henrik Kartna’s real life experience. Henrik Kartna himself is a psychiatric survivor and has dealt with mental health issues most of his life. Our goal is to continue production and dramatization of this current play.

Donations

 We are notifying in kindness that we are looking for donations in any amount to assist in funding a rehearsal/workspace and to secure a venue to host the staged reading of this play. Donations can be made directly to The Friendly Spike Theatre Band, and we will contact you on where to send your issued tax-deductible receipt. Or you can visit Canadahelps.org – search our charity and make your donation there. CanadaHelps will issue you a tax-deductible receipt and receive a small fee from your donation as an acting third-party donation platform.

Contact

For more information about The Friendly Spike Theatre Band,

please do not hesitate to call/text/email us:

647 544 7412

[email protected]

5105 – 55 Mercer Street

Toronto, ON

M5V 0W4

PROUDLY WE’RE YOUR FAN