Meet Breedbate Theatre, the new kids on the block of Kingston’s drama scene.
After hearing stories of how difficult finding jobs can be in the theatre business, Aiden Robert Bruce, ArtSci ’25, and Sara Starling, ArtSci ’24, decided to create Breedbate Theatre, Kingston’s newest theatre company. The duo successfully presented the company’s inaugural production, The End of the Line at the 2024 Theatre Kingston Fringe Festival, within The Kick & Push Festival this August.
As one of the five founders of the Queen’s Theatre Troupe, Bruce is no stranger to building community and opportunity. Combined with Starling’s talents as a playwright, the pair began the company after a successful application to the Fringe Festival through its lottery system. Starling is now attending the National Theatre School of Canada, and Bruce is finishing their last year at Queen’s in the DAN School of Drama and Music.
Their unique name, ‘Breedbate’ is inspired by a word used in William Shakespeare’s The Merry Lives of Windsor, meaning “someone who breeds or originates quarrel.”
“I thought it was a really good descriptor of what I think theatre should do,” Bruce said in an interview with The Journal. “My favourite part of theatre is going with a friend and after the show discussing what we saw. We’re replacing quarrel with conversation, essentially, in our definition, but we want to spark conversation, we want to get people talking.”
Tight deadlines between Breedbate’s conception and its first performance proved challenging for the company, but they rose to the occasion. Once securing their festival spot the company only had a few short months to bring the play to life. A hands-on experience, its founders were involved in all aspects of the show’s production, from set design to social media promotion.
Their hard work on The End of the Line proved to be a success during its short run. It was shown at Confederation Place Hotel, starring Jake Henderson and Bruce. The play follows the conversation of a passenger and a crew service member on a train, as they travel to the end of the line. It also includes a surprise twist the audience won’t expect.
“It was a lot of work among just a few people—I built the small set, it was just two benches. We were trying to figure out how to make this set come to life on the very limited budget. I ended up just taking apart a bed frame with my dad and painting it. It was very scrappy, and very difficult to throw everything together on a crunch, but it was a good experience,” Bruce said.
Bruce’s time at Queen’s has helped them develop the skills needed to start Breedbate Theatre. “Queen’s has a mix of focuses, it’s sort of a select-your-own program, you can learn a little bit of everything. That definitely helped a lot with this process of having a really small team,” Bruce said.
Outside of the classroom, Bruce also attributes their time with the Queen’s Theatre Troupe as valuable, providing experience in pulling together a production with limited means. The club was founded in 2023, providing students with an avenue to gain theatre experience by learning through practice and exploration.
For Bruce, balancing Breedbate Theatre alongside classes isn’t easy, but their dedication bodes well for the company’s future.
“I have a relatively light course load both semesters, so I wanted to dedicate this year to obviously finishing my education, but also setting aside that extra time to further my career while I’m still at school,” they said.
Looking to the future, Breedbate Theatre hopes to provide spaces for emerging artists to display their work and connect students to the wider Kingston arts community.
“We want to continue providing opportunities to emerging artists […] we also want to be able to introduce the community to some more published works that Kingston might not have seen before,” Bruce said.
Breedbate Theatre hopes to continue their momentum with their next show later this year.
Tags
DAN, Drama, Queen’s Alumna, Theatre
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