Pier Rodier is no stranger to the road: his company has been touring the province for twenty years and has performed for more than 185,000 youth. For Franco-Ontarian students living far from major centres, these tours are often the only opportunity they have to experience professional theatre in French.

From November 2002 to April 2003, Vox Théâtre is presenting Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio in over fifty schools in northern, eastern, and southwestern Ontario.

"It’s meaningful for francophones from these regions to see their culture on stage. It’s also an enriching experience for the artists—often emerging artists—to share their art with a broader public," adds Rodier.

Vox Théâtre artists also offer workshops in the towns they visit, where youth and adults alike can hone their acting skills by working on body language and voice; those more interested in the action behind the scenes can try their hand at sound or lighting.

Thanks to an Ontario Trillium Foundation grant of $50,000, Vox Théâtre and Pinocchio will visit the following twenty-one Ontario locations:

Dryden, Fort Frances, Thunder Bay, Gogama, Dubreuilleville, Sault-Ste-Marie, Chapleau, Timmins, Kapuskasing, Hearst, Cochrane, Smooth Rock Falls, Iroquois Falls, Larder Lake, Sarnia, Chatham, London, Paincourt, Pointe-aux-Roches, Rivière-aux-Canards, Windsor.