The Collective

Finding Home: A Salmon Journey Up the Humber River. Produced by Theatre Direct. Created by Animacy Theatre Collective. Photography by Kathryn Hanson ShuttererdEye.

Animacy Theatre Collective is a five time Dora nominated and Dora award winning theatre company based in Toronto.  Animacy is the work of the physical theatre duo Morgan Brie Johnson and Alexandra Simpson and is focused on the creation of original, experimental and interdisciplinary theatre works. We tell intersectional feminist stories that use humor and physical storytelling to raise social awareness and create characters who slither across pre-existing borders (human, nonhuman, gender, sexuality).

Our work uses physical theatre (mask and clown), play writing and multimedia to create research-based and devised plays. By collaborating with communities, artists, and grassroots activists, we work to converge the artistic, social and environmental spheres, and to challenge interlocking structures of oppression. Animacy is committed to making our works and creation processes accessible to all artists and community members. We are working to embrace care, decolonial, and accessible practices and are always open to dialogue about these initiatives. 

Animacy was formed through a shared belief in the necessity – especially in the current political climate – of bringing research into conversation with communities through stories that are funny, physical and imaginative. It is our goal to be part of the movement of fiercely funny femme artists, and to hold space as physical theatre creators who use comedy to encourage curiosity about the world we live in.