On March 5, Winnipeg’s Village Conservatory for Music Theatre (ViC) will present its 2025 Inhibition Exhibition. Founded in 2018, the conservatory provides young musical theatre performers in Manitoba with theatre, music and dance training in one place.
Daphne Finlayson, festival producer, confirmed that “the big purpose of the ViC is to give Manitoban and Winnipeg artists the chance to have post-secondary professional musical theatre training here at home without having to go to a bigger city like Toronto or Vancouver — basically, making sure that people who don’t want to leave don’t have to.”
The Inhibition Exhibition, created in 2021, was designed to give young performers the opportunity to develop their own projects.
“This came about because we noticed that there is a finite amount of work for young performers in our city, and so one of the best ways to counteract that lack of work is to teach people how to make their own,” Finlayson explained. “And so, we started the festival as a way to encourage the next generation of artists to get excited about what they can create instead of waiting around for someone to give them a job.”
Finlayson said the ViC has been lucky to survive the COVID-19 pandemic and continue hosting the exhibition, which is now in its fifth year. During the pandemic, the conservatory was able to adapt to the restrictions.
“One of the big things that the ViC has going for it is that we’re small, so we’re able to kind of pivot really quickly,” she said. “So, we held out with doing in person lessons as long as we could until we were no longer allowed to do so and it was no longer safe, so then we switched to all-digital instruction for a while.”
The first Inhibition Exhibitions had to be held virtually due to the pandemic, with the ViC adapting by producing 14 short films over a two-month period. The conservatory returned to in-person classes in the 2021-22 academic year and the exhibition resumed in-person performances by 2023.
Aside from providing a platform for the ViC’s students, the Inhibition Exhibition provides a platform for Winnipeg artists who may not have other spaces to share their work.
For example, the Community Cabaret, held on opening night, will feature 10 local acts, ranging from burlesque performances to short films.
“We just wanted to create a space where artists of any shape or size could get together and get excited about what the Winnipeg theatre and arts community is doing,” said Finlayson.
Also planned as part of the exhibition are Mindful Mayhem, a showcase of short pieces by current ViC students, a staged reading of Sinking Ship, a new play by local playwright Ethan Stark, and the Should This Be a Musical?cabaret, which will celebrate Broadway flops.
For the first time, the exhibition will take place at the Gargoyle Theatre, a venue Finlayson said was a natural fit.
“They are dedicated to platforming new Manitoban theatre,” she explained. “That is their whole jam, that is the reason why they exist, and they became a very natural partner for us […] their mission just totally meshed with ours.”
Ultimately, Finlayson hopes the exhibition will encourage Winnipeggers to engage with the local performing arts scene.
“I just hope that people get excited about the work that is happening in Manitoba, and how we don’t have to fly to Broadway, we don’t have to go to Toronto,” she said. “There’s so much cool stuff happening right here at home, and it’s my hope that through this festival we can get people excited about what their neighbours and their friends and their loved ones are working on and celebrating what we’ve got going on here at home.”
The 2025 Inhibition Exhibition runs from March 5 to March 9 at the Gargoyle Theatre. For more information, visit villageconservatory.com.
