In the spring of 2004, SKILLS received a grant from the Community Capacity Building Initiative. The purpose of the grant is to assist people who are interested in the theatre arts connect with other like-minded individuals.

The workshops began in September of 2004. The group began meeting Monday evenings in the SKILLS training space and in January of 2005 moved to a space at the Fringe Theatre Adventures site in Old Strathcona. The Rising Sun Theatre group have developed a play called “The Giraffe who thought he could fly” and will be premiering the play in June at the Fringe Theatre. Rising Sun has also been successful in obtaining a spot at the Saskatoon Fringe in August and is very excited about the road trip ahead. Future plans include hoping to perform at the Winnipeg Fringe and also to travel throughout Alberta to perform the play in a variety of settings, i.e. schools, conferences etc…. The group also hopes to travel to Vancouver in 2006 to perform at the kickstART festival (this is a festival that celebrates the gifts and talents of people with disabilities in a variety of artistic venues).