KAM THEATRE LAB: THE OLD SAME STORY

April 23, 2025
Kam Theatre Lab: The Old Same Story
Thunder Bay 2024
Location: SilverCity
Showtimes: 6:30 & 8:30 pm

Director: Paula Thiessen
Cast: Michael Sobota, John Books, William Roberts, Eleanor Albanese, Pierre Beaupre, Teresa Castonguay, Sandra Brown, Gloria Dowton, Terry MacLeod, Jan Henderson, Rodney Brown, John Taylor, Lila Cano, Monique Mojica, Denis Lacroix, Damon Dowbak, Barbara Kemeny, Estella Howard
Running Time: 94 minutes
Language: English            Season Finale

“Compelling and impactful, Kam Theatre Lab: The Old Same Story will resonate not only with NWO residents or those involved in theatre, but with a wider audience as well.”—Adrian Lysenko, the Walleye
 
This fascinating locally produced documentary charts the rise and fall of Kam Theatre Lab, an experimental touring collective that became a driving force on Thunder Bay’s theatre scene from 1974 to 1989. KTL combined clown and mask performance with social commentary embodied in the back-to-the-land movement.

First-time director Paula Thiessen, co-editor Sarah Furlotte and sound editor Zoe Gordon do a remarkable job of drawing together numerous candid interviews, hundreds of photos and archival footage to establish KTL’s origins and its rogue’s gallery of characters, while charting the group’s genesis. Many stories are amusing, while others reflect drama inherent with conflicting egos. 

The film’s tone is augmented by local musicians Rodney Brown, Lorrina Belluz, Robin Ranger, Damon Dowbak, Kim Erickson and Ken Hamm. 

For almost 15 years, KTL carved out a unique place in a town that also boasted at least three other established theatre groups including Magnus Theatre, Cambrian Players and Moonlight Melodrama. 

Kam Lab was committed to supporting and producing Canadian playwrights at a time when most theatres were performing American or British plays. Their experimental and edgy work—often filled with zany humour—challenged capitalism, consumerism, industrial pollution, homophobia, and social injustices, adding a critical voice that was all but absent in the Thunder Bay theatre world.   

Balancing the motivations of individual artists, the ideals of the collective, and the attempt to earn a living in a marginal town, led to schisms in the troupe. All the exhilaration and tension that come from close personal and creative relationships—while striving for uncompromising artistic and political vision—were manifest in KTL. It made for a combustible mix.

 “Kam Theatre Lab: The Old Same Story” reinvigorates the almost-forgotten history of a daring group of artists who, for a time, made its mark on the cultural scene in Thunder Bay.