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Breaking the fourth wall

By putting out a magazine by and for people who create theatre, alumna May Antaki hopes Intermission readers feel a true connection to those on stage
June 20, 2017
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By Lucas Napier-Macdonald


It was an offer she couldn’t refuse.

In 2015, May Antaki, BComm 12, accepted an invitation to team up with stage producer Philip Riccio and Ryerson University journalism student Maija Kappler to start an online magazine about theatre in Toronto.

May Antaki May Antaki earned her business degree at Concordia because, even though she wanted to work in the arts, she first wanted to gain business knowledge.

Armed with a three-year Metcalf Foundation grant, the trio initially planned on covering any onstage performance — opera, comedy, even ballet. Eventually they narrowed the focus down to theatre proper, and began to plan Intermission.

To differentiate their publication from existing ones in the city, the team of three opted against the “outsider looking in” approach to arts journalism, handing the pens and notepads to the people actually on stage or in the wings instead.

At the end of last year, Torontoist magazine nominated the nascent magazine as one of its 2016 heroes, an affirmation that Antaki and her co-creators had quenched a thirst readers had not yet realized they had.

Today, Antaki discusses the value of her education at Concordia’s John Molson School of Business and what motivated her and her teammates to start up Intermission.

How did you get from doing a BComm in finance to focusing almost exclusively on writing and editing?

May Antaki: “My aim through business school was always to work in the arts. I wrote a lot as a kid. I got my business degree because I wanted have the knowledge of finance and accounting and marketing to be able to do my own projects. It’s a skill that’s lacking in the arts world, I think.

After graduating, I worked in the film industry and the publishing world a bit, and then in 2015 I got together with Philip and Maija to start Intermission.”

How you did you get involved with the project?

MA: “I knew very little about theatre. I had seen the odd thing at [Montreal theatres] the Centaur or the Segal Centre growing up, but it wasn’t a part of my world.

Philip is the captain on one of my softball teams — I’m actually on two. We were out for drinks after a game on a Friday night, and he said, ‘Hey, I’m thinking about starting an online magazine. I know you’re an editor. Do you want to join?’

I told him I knew nothing about theatre. He asked me again if I was interested, and I told him I was, and he said, ‘Great. It doesn’t matter.’”

Intermission launch party Publisher Philip Riccio addresses the crowd at the Intermission launch party in Toronto in November 2016. Photo: Dahlia Katz

It took you six months to start up the magazine. That seems like a huge effort, especially since arts and theatre coverage tends to be the first thing to get axed when a publication is losing money. Was there ever a conversation about that?

MA: “That’s why Phil wanted to start Intermission, because he felt that there was less and less coverage happening in traditional media. This was a way to fill that void.

Also, we have only one focus, whereas newspapers and magazines tend to generally have multiple things that they’re trying to cover. I think this is what gives us an edge.”

How do you feel about the state of arts journalism at large in Canada?

MA: “Reviews are great and they’re really helpful and useful in terms of finding a show to go see, but they’re not a reason why I go to theatre. We want people to actually go to the theatre, and our way to do that is by giving artists a platform so that audiences and artists have a connection.

I’m more likely to go to the theatre or go see any kind of show if I feel like I know who the artist is. Intermission is breaking that fourth wall between the two.”

What kinds of things can readers expect?

MA: “Artists talking about their experiences. There’s a lot of what we call our ‘Artist Perspective’ pieces, which are essentially personal essays written by actors, directors, and other theatre artists. The focus is always on something they’ve been exploring in their work and practice.”

How has the reaction been so far?

MA: “There have been a number of articles on the website that I can think of that have had really widespread effect. There was one published last April called ‘Wrestling with ‘Success,’ written by Christine Horne, a very well-established theatre artist in Toronto.

She wrote a personal essay about what success means to her. She starts off the article by saying the week of September 20, 2012, she was on the cover of NOW magazine and she also couldn’t pay her rent.

I think it just resonated with a lot of people. They’re still talking about it. They knew who Christine was before the article, but she became even more compelling because she was so honest, and there’s not a lot of honesty these days generally in the media.”

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