I LOVE WHAT I DO.
MUSIC • THEATRE • PLAY
Mr. Mark is Canadian performer, composer and percussionist Mark Cameron. For more than 20 years, he has been creating performances that invite kids to do more than watch — to sing, make noise, imagine, experiment and become part of the show.
His work ranges from one-man family shows and junk orchestras to original productions created for symphony orchestras. Whatever the size of the stage, the idea is much the same: give kids permission to play.
HOW I BECAME MR. MARK
For 28 years, Mark Cameron was a percussionist and accompanist at Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, creating music for dancers every day.
Somewhere along the way, the kids started calling him “Mr. Mark.”
The name stuck.
So did the idea that music is something you make, move to, experiment with — and play with.
THEN THINGS GOT NOISY.
MUSIC • MAYHEM • IMAGINATION
What began at the ballet grew into something much noisier. Mr. Mark started creating his own shows for children — combining original songs, percussion, unlikely instruments and a healthy amount of silliness.
Washboards, buckets, junk and musical inventions — if it could make a sound, chances are it found its way into a show.
For more than 20 years, those shows have taken Mr. Mark to festivals, schools and family audiences across Canada.
THEN THE ORCHESTRA JOINED IN.
STORY • MUSIC • IMAGINATION
Mr. Mark’s shows eventually found their way onto an even bigger stage — with a symphony orchestra.
Working with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Regina Symphony Orchestra and Symphony New Brunswick, Mark has created original family productions combining music, theatre, comedy and audience participation.
From superheroes who can’t sing in tune to the adventures of a jumbo-sized cardboard box, the orchestra becomes part of the story — and part of the play.
PLAY IS SERIOUS BUSINESS.
CURIOSITY • CREATIVITY • CONNECTION
Underneath the music, noise and silliness is something Mr. Mark takes very seriously: play.
Kids learn by trying things, changing things, making mistakes and discovering what happens next. Whether they’re conducting a junk orchestra, inventing a sound or imagining that a cardboard box is something entirely different, they’re not just watching — they’re creating.
A Mr. Mark show doesn’t end when the curtain comes down. You Go Home and Play!