Ten Foot Pole Theatre was founded in 2007 with the motto "telling stories that polite people wouldn't touch." Our first production was Rob Salerno's debut script Balls, toured to that year’s Ottawa, London, and Hamilton Fringe Festivals, starring Rob Salerno and Adam Goldhamer. After garnering several awards – including the Hamilton Fringe Playwriting Award, the London Fringe Best Original Production Award, the London Brickenden Award for Best Touring Production, and Patron’s Pick at the Ottawa Fringe – the following year, Balls appeared at the Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton, and Vancouver Fringes.

In 2009, Ten Foot Pole launched the Show Us Yours Series, which remounted Balls together with two other successful shows from the Fringe circuit, Giant Invisible Robot by Jayson McDonald and The Sputniks by Elison Zasko. The Show Us Yours Series was a successful first venture out of the festival circuit for Ten Foot Pole and put the company on the Toronto indie theatre map.

The 2009 production of Balls, starring Salerno and Garrett Watson, with Cole J. Alvis directing, also brought the cumulative total of money raised by the show for the fight against cancer to more than $2000. Agencies that have benefited from the show’s fundraising include the Saskatoon Cancer Centre, the Alberta Cancer Foundation, the BC Cancer Foundation, the Canadian Cancer Society (Ontario) and the North York General Hospital.

That year also saw the launch of a successful collaboration between Ten Foot Pole and lemonTree Theatre creations on a production of the classic prison drama Deathwatch by Jean Genet. That show, in the basement of XPACE Cultural Centre, was a tremendous success, pulling in rave reviews and a near sold-out run. It was selected as an official event of Toronto Pride 2009.

Ten Foot Pole's other major production that year was Salerno's first solo show, Fucking Stephen Harper: How I Sexually Assaulted the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada and Saved Democracy. FSH was developed with the Buddies in Bad Times Theatre Young Creators’ Unit, and workshopped at the Rhubarb Festival and the Big Comedy Go-To in London, ON before taking audiences by storm at the Toronto Fringe Festival. In 2010-11, FSH toured to the Winnipeg, Edmonton, Victoria, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary, and Wakefield Fringe Festivals, earning the "Best in Fest" award in Winnipeg and Ottawa, and selling out in Winnipeg, Edmonton, Ottawa, and Calgary. It was also voted "Best Theatrical Production of 2011" by readers of Ottawa's Xpress Magazine.

In 2010, Ten Foot Pole also workshopped Salerno’s new screwball comedy, Big In Germany, at the Toronto Fringe Festival. The show was directed by Victor Correia and featured Salerno alongside Michael Young and Brad Hampton, and was stage managed by Jer Banks. Ten Foot Pole was then invited to bring a full production of the play to the 2011 International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival and the Halifax Queer Acts Festival in 2011, and followed that up with further workshops of the show in 2012 at the Winnipeg, Calgary, and Edmonton Fringes. It's now set to debut as a feature-length rock musical satire at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in Toronto in 2013.

In addition to remounts of Fucking Stephen Harper and Big In Germany, the ten-city 2012 Fringe Tour also saw Ten Foot Pole premiere two new Salerno plays: RAW at the Toronto Fringe, and First Day Back at the Victoria and Vancouver Fringes. ten Foot Pole is continuing to develop these plays and hopes to bring them before a Toronto audience again soon.

In 2010, we launched a small theatre consulting operation, where we help emerging artists put on their best shows with production and promotional support. Between founding producers Rob Salerno and Mikaela Dyke, we have successfully produced shows in more than 50 festivals, as well as a dozen independent productions and tours. We wanted to use our experience to help other artists find their audiences. We offer a one-stop solution for graphic design, web hosting, marketing, media relations, merchandise, and more.

Some highlights include working with Uncalled For on their 2012 Next Stage Festival show Hypnogogic Logic, with Theatre Brouhaha on their inaugural production LOVESEXMONEY, and with Cart/Horse Theatre on their shows This Lime Tree Bower and Eirlys & Eckhart. Other clients include Heart in Hand Theatre, Theatre Elusive, Afterglow Theatre, Wog Productions, Panfish Productions, Snobbish Theatre, and more. Our clients have praised us for our professionalism and our results. We're thrilled to be helping other companies develop their audiences.