Ottawa’s Youth Infringement Festival (YIF)’s success can be attributed to its longevity–this will be its 27th year running–and its commitment to creating spaces for youth-led creativity.
“The main thing that makes Youth Infringement [Festival] really unique, is being entirely youth-led,” says general manager of the Youth Infringement Festival Jake Nevins. “So, everybody other than the board of directors , who are more of a guiding force than directly creatively involved, is under 30.”
This year’s festival will take place over two weeks, from March 27 to April 3, and features six original plays, all created by local youth artists between the ages of 16 and 25.
Odds and Ends feat. Gray Joslin, Sadie Cann. Photo provided.
“Rather than something like a school setting, or a theatre camp, there isn’t somebody else modulating and doing the actual creating,” says Nevins. “The youth, in any capacity, they’re flexing creative muscles at every step of the process.”
Not only is this festival a place where youth can experience complete artistic freedom, but the YIF also provides mentorship for these young creatives. Each year, youth under 25 are paired with local theatre professionals to support them through the process.
“There’s mentorship at every step of the way, from professionals who are really enthused about the program,” says Nevins. “It’s a great balance between folks getting to have the space to try and to learn, and having that guidance that still results in something they are happy with at the end of the day.”
The festival is also open-access, meaning YIF is committed to removing additional barriers for folks to access these spaces or performances.
“We don’t create any additional barriers—there’s no fees associated with any of the programming, there’s no prerequisite experience, education, anything like that,” Nevins assures. “We understand that there are some barriers that have to come down. A big one that we’re working on is simply transportation time.”
Odds and Ends feat. Rebecca Johnson, Sadie Cann. Photo provided.
“We put a lot of the resources that we do have towards making sure that all of the rehearsal spaces are located in areas that people can’t get to. But we don’t put up any additional barriers and we are working harder every year to knock down the ones that are intrinsic to the environment in the world,” continued Nevins.
Six shows are performing at the festival, and this year, they don’t shy away from more difficult topics.
“Every year we do notice some patterns and trends—I always find it interesting to see what kinds of topics and tones are really speaking to young people in Ottawa in a given year,” says Nevins. “And this year, there’s a number of dark comedies.”
Week one features Odds and Ends, a black comedy about two morticians who have to work with living customers for the first time, Sell the Children, another black comedy about a couple who sign a mysterious contract, and I Have Something to Say, which follows the conversation between the main character and their best friend about moving on from the baggage left behind by the men in their lives.
Week two features The Death of a Swan, which adapts the classic trope of making a deal with the devil through a more women-led lens about a business owner trying to save her café. There will also be a French-language piece titled Phèdre, a body-horror reimagining of the French tragedy by Racine of the same name.
I Have Something To Say feat. Karelle Sikapi. Photo provided.
Finally, there’s I Think That Went Well, another black comedy about a couple going through a divorce, trying to find their way forward with a dead therapist.
With the addition of Phèdre, this year’s festival is fully bilingual, with surtitles projected in French and English to accommodate audiences.
“I think it’s really awesome that there’s this space to tell these stories, and to bring these ideas forward,” says Nevins. “At the very beginning of our season, we take pitches and some of those are first drafts of scripts and some of them are just concepts.”
Nevins also mentions that YIF takes pitches in all stages, but specifically seeks out the shows that aren’t done to give any idea the space to grow.
“We make a point to take some things that are done, some things that are not done, some things that aren’t even started, and balance that out,” he says. “It’s all about giving the space to do it, the space to just give it a go.”
Make sure to show your support for the Youth Infringement Festival from March 27 to April 5. Tickets for weeks one and two can be found on their website. For more information about the festival lineup and scheduling, you can take a look at the shows online.
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