We started this journey in Sue Newman’s dance class on Salt Spring Island when we were 3 years old—and it didn’t take long before we knew we wanted to start a theatre company. Sadly, the world wasn’t ready for a theatre company run by 3-year-olds. And, as it turned out, we weren’t ready either.

 

So in elementary school we acted and danced and sang, and then in high school we kept acting and dancing and singing, and then we moved off to Vancouver and Victoria to do more acting and dancing and singing (and some special effects) until we remembered “oh yeah, we’re going to start that theatre company”.

 

It wasn’t until 2013 that the stars aligned: we both found ourselves living back on Salt Spring and it was time to bring exitStageLeft to life with RENT. One set, one batch of costumes, how hard could it be?

 

Really hard, as it turned out.

 

Without the incredible support of this unique and talented community, that may have been the end of it. But really, it was just the beginning. With every show and every season since then, we’ve learned more about ourselves, our company and the kind of culture we want to create.

 

We want exitStageLeft to simultaneously be as professional and as fun as possible. We choose to work from a place of possibility and positive expectations, pushing our people to places they may not even have realized they could reach. We strive to surprise and delight audiences with the level of power and polish we bring to every performance.

 

And we want our people to feel respected, valued and entirely exhausted in the best way possible—from a combination of hard work and continuous belly laughs.

 

We didn’t know any of this when we were 3. And we’ve still got more learning to do. But we hope you’ll be part of this ongoing journey with us—as a supporter, an audience member, or maybe even a member of our ever-growing theatre family.

JEKKA MACK

artistic director

CHRISTINA PENHALE

artistic director