ARTIST PROFILE
Steve Ballantine
Steve Ballantine is the founder and Artistic Director of the Sault Youth Theatre ( SYT). He has recently returned from Manchester, England, where he was completing an M.A. in Applied Theatre. Steve already holds a B.A. in Drama from the University of Windsor.
During his career, he has had occasion to train or work with notable theatre pioneers such as Jerzy Grotowski and the members of his Polish Actor's Lab company; Richard Nieotczym and the Actor's Lab in Toronto; and Eugenio Barba and his Odin Theatre in Holsterbro, Denmark, while at the same time serving as directing apprentice to Ridar Nillson at The Tukat Theatre (an Inuit theatre company also in Denmark). In addition, Steve has studied at The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in London (England), the University of Toronto, George Brown College, and the Banff School of Fine Arts.
Upon leaving university in 1975, Steve Ballantine went on to a career as a young professional actor based out of Toronto for 13 years. During that time, he appeared in many plays at Toronto's various theatres, such as The Factory Lab, Passe Muraille, The Global Village Playhouse, The Bathurst Theatre, and The Poor Alex. Steve appeared in a number of well-known Canadian television programs, among them The Littlest Hobo, Seeing Things, Night Heat, and Today's Specials. He was also seen in a number of feature films and commercials.
After returning from Denmark in 1980, Steve Ballantine began his career of teaching and directing in Canada. By the time he moved to the Sault in 1988, he had taught workshops for dozens of community theatres and a number of secondary and post-secondary schools, including Humber College and the three arts High Schools in Toronto.
Mr. Ballantine has been the recipient of six individual Ontario Arts Council awards to conduct Artists-in-the-Schools projects, including one here in Sault Ste. Marie at St. Joseph College in 1989. Steve also received an award from the Ontario Ministry of Education's Golden Learning Enrichment Foundation for a similar residency in Manitouwadge in 1990. In 1999, he was given the Canada Council's maximum award to individual artists to help finance the year of sabbatical study just completed at the University of Manchester.
During the time he spent developing the Sault Youth Theatre and its programs to teach acting, Steve also directed plays for most of the other theatre companies in town. He has directed, designed, and produced over 40 different productions for SYT and the Sault Youth Theatre Academy. (The 'Academy' was formally formed by Steve and his company a few years ago, its goal to channel the efforts of SYT projects into a more clearly defined educative process for training actors of all ages in the various refinements of a specific theatre craft.) In late 2000, he began a new set of classes that focused on 'Physical Theatre' and produced two shows across the fall & winter season.
Congratulations to Steve! His contributions to the
community are greatly appreciated.
You can contact Sault Youth Theatre at (705) 941-9509
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