Theatre For Thought, June 30, 2012

ALL YOUR THEATRE NOW BELONGS TO YOU

joel fishbane

Fringe Festivals have long been a unique way to tap into the zeitgeist and this year’s Montreal Fringe was no exception: there were four shows about the end of the world, three of which involved zombies. At least one show at the upcoming Toronto Fringe will continue the trend, although exactly how remains to be seen. Zed.To, produced by The Mission Business, looks like it might be another zombie-flavoured night at the theatre. A piece of immersive entertainment, its plot actually started way back in 2009, threatening to give new meaning to that old writing technique of starting a story in medias res.

To understand the show, I caught up with one of its creators, Elenna Mosoff. The artistic associate producer of Acting Up Stage Company, Moseff was most recently seen celebrating the company's accomplishments at the Dora Awards (for their productions of Caroline, or Change and Ride the Cyclone). But she hasn’t had much time to admire the trophies – she’s too deeply immersed in another, more pressing narrative.  Since 2009, Mosoff and her partners – local hotshots David Fono, Martha Haldenby, Trevor Haldenby and Byron Laviolette – have been crafting a theatre event that involved the creation of an online universe which will have direct consequences on the theatrical experience being planned for the upcoming Toronto Fringe.

Recent Features

Turbulent describes his life and even his work, but a kind of calm has set in on Ken Gass and he sets EYES ON THE FUTURE. In this fascinating interview, conducted by Christian Baines, Gass moves on from his woes with Factory and talks about his new company, The Canadian Repertory Theatre, already preparing its first outings.

Gorman

When we asked Matt Gorman to write about the trials and tribulations of a small company in a very big market, he offered us his lovely and almost elegiac REMEMBER...EVERYTHING which explains what Cart/Horse is up against even as it prepares its next production.

In THE CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY STUDIO ENSEMBLE; THEN BUT ESPECIALLY NOW, Wendy Nielsen tells the history of the glorious institute and how it has grown into one of the major training grounds (and competitions) in the world.

Matty Burns left school, waited, waited some more and then realized it was time to take action. In FROM NAPKINS TO OPENING he describes the creation of Tagged and It's Complicated, a two-hander musical about love in the new age...not always a pretty sight.

Burke's Oleanna

MAMET'S POLITICS SQUARED, an interview by Christopher Douglas, explores Jacqui Burke's approach to her her production of the controversial playwright's Oleanna. Burke must deal with the violence - verbal and physical of the play - and decipher the enigmatic relationship of shifting power. 

In THE KING OF COLLABORATION Canadian Stage Artistic Director Matthew Jocelyn tells Christian Baines that running the company has now become a delicate job of matching each production (dance or theatre) to the proper space and audience, even while inviting the company's audience to explore beyond their boundaries.

There is something quite special about The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine - the iconic Canadian work that examines rage within one couple. The play - 25 years old this year - still troubles. Its writer, Robert Morgan, tells us how it came to be in the delightful ANGER EXPLORED AND THE OH-OH MOMENT.

Simard

There is French, English...and then there is wordless. Director/writer Yves Simard talks about removing all the words to create images about alienation that will not also alienate the audience. His first-person piece, ME AND I ON THE SKY is an object lesson on bringing a reader into the process of creation.

As director Miles Potter prepares one of the most anticipated (and maybe significant) openings of the 2012-13 season, he takes us behind the scenes to prep and rehearsal for Michael Healey's Proud in THE PLAY (NOT THE CONTROVERSY) IS THE THING. His description of the process is delightful and funny and shows that even during heated debate, actors, writer and director can find their bliss. 

Marcus

When Modern Times Stage Company prepares a season, there it is not merely a question of grinding plays into the season. Co-directors Peter Farbridges and Soheil Parsa research, test, read and reread, travel and consider long and hard before announcing. This year, as Parsa writes in THE LESSON AND FORGIVENESS, the plays have resonance beyond the company.

Oh! what a year Acting Up Stage has had! Their production of Caroline, or Change was a critical and box office success and pulled down a ton-weight of Dora Awards. But artistic director, Mitchell Marcus, has to look toward the future now and expectations are exceptionally high. In his first-person piece, THE JOURNEY OF A YEAR, he presents that season and all the decisions which went into its making.

Against The Grain Theatre artistic director, Joel Ivany, has let us into his heart and company many times over many different articles for The Charlebois Post; in his most recent piece for us - A DIARY OF ONE WHO APPEARS - he introduces his team as well as an exciting season - precisely the kind of year that has put this small, vibrant team on the opera map.

Hand

Singer Gregory Finney describes his journey not just to find his place but also, quite literally, his voice in F@*! I'M IN THE WRONG FACH

Jason Hand poses questions about design in HURRY SUNDOWN that most people - even theatre people - never think about. Hand designed the lighting for the present outdoor production of Midsummer Night's dream and explains how the position of the sun - as it changes throughout the run of the work - can change everything.

In OPERA WITH A TWIST Aria Umezawa introduces our readers to Opera 5. Theatre? Yes. Opera? Yes. Multimedia? The pictures show you that. But also no, no, no. Opera 5 is for people who know and for those who want to understand this not-so-complex art and the company is on a mission to explain and to bring it on.

Adamczak

IN DEFENCE OF LEGALLY BLONDE AND THE CONTEMPORARY MUSICAL musical theatre pundit Stuart Munro offers a long form article on why this musical - yet another work based on a movie - works within the framework it sets out for itself and for the audience. Using several YouTube videos he examines the structure of the piece and why it is something a little better than just pure fun.

Shane Adamczak is a Fringer to his heart and he is bringing his show ZACK ADAMS: The Complete History of Zack Adams to the Toronto Fringe. Take a moment and read what he has to say in WHAT IS A FRINGE FESTIVAL: AN "ARTIST'S"PERSPECTIVE.

Joel Ivany, Artistic Director of Against The Grain Theatre, is not only a frequent CharPo contributor, he is also head of one of the most exciting companies in the country. They do opera and they do theatre and they do it on a scale that is small, intimate and - ultimately - haunting. As he prepares his production of Turn Of The Screw (Benjamin Britten's spook story), he talks about what he has found in its text in KILLING CURIOSITY.

Review: A Midsummer Night's Dream

Dmitry Chepovetsky and Gil Garratt. Photo by Chris Gallow.

O Canada!

CanStage attempts to inject some local flavour into this Dream

by Stuart Munro

While sitting in the High Park Amphitheatre (one of my favourite venues in the city) snacking on my dinner, three men wearing “crew” t-shirts came on to the stage and set up a backdrop that could only have been inspired by cottage country, complete with Muskoka chairs. It was at this point that Dave Ross pointed out a note in the program that said “director Richard Rose has given the play a unique Toronto twist, bringing it closer than ever to High Park today.” As the crew donned Mountie costumes and a set of bagpipes ushered in Theseus and Hippolyta, I knew I was in for a Canadian Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Now, I usually do my best to keep an open mind about setting and design choices like this; Shakespeare (and especially this play) has been done to death, and finding new interpretations can be very successful in bringing out new thoughts from these well known plays. But something about this looked more thrown together than thought out.

CharPo's Real Theatre! June 29, 2012

BREAKING NEWS: Open Letter to Factory Board about online petition

Board asked to resign

An email was sent to The Charlebois Post today (2:15 pm) from Ed Gass-Donnelly, son of the former artistic director of Factory Theatre, Ken Gass. It was addressed to the Factory Theatre Board of Directors (who yesterday released an official statement about the firing of Ken Gass). Its subject line was "Factory Theatre's community responds". 

Following is the text of the email as well as a link to the online petition to which it is referring.

(Read the petition here)

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

To the Factory Theatre Board of Directors:

A STATEMENT FROM YOUR COMMUNITY

I’m writing in protest of your abrupt termination of Ken Gass as Factory Theatre’s Artistic Director last week. I enclose a petition with more than 2600 names calling for Ken’s re-instatement and the Board’s resignation.

First, I must confess that Ken is my father, so it may seem easy to write this off as a familial bias. However, I dare you each to read through the full petition, not just the most recognizable names but also the many passionate comments.  You cannot ignore the 2600+ voices. There’s no way the Factory will have any future credibility with this board in place.

CPT Picture of the Week, June 27, 2012

Sh*t Theatre People Say

produced for the Dora Awards by Julian De Zotti and Lisa Marie Di Liberto

BREAKING NEWS: Statement By Factory Theatre Board

This evening (6:57 PM), the Factory Theatre Board of Directors sent out, via email, the following statement:

Statement from the Board of Directors of Factory Theatre

Factory Theatre Board says the show will go on

Board members back plans for future theatre development

Toronto, ON (June 27, 2012) – Ron Struys, the President of the Board of Factory Theatre, today commented on the future of Factory Theatre.

“It is never easy to part with someone who has contributed so much in the past to Factory Theatre and theatre in general as has Ken Gass.” Struys said. “The Board believed that change was necessary to insure the future of this wonderful institution. Factory Theatre is in great shape and we are moving ahead with our new season and plans to renovate our building.”

EVENT: With Love and a Major Organ (Fringe)

Dora Awards Coverage

“It’s like the Tonys, just without Neil Patrick Harris or Bernadette Peters…” – Thom Allison, Host

by Dave Ross

Last night was the Toronto theatre event of the season, the 2012 Dora Mavor Moore Awards, held at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts. It’s a time of celebration, where the theatre community takes a “dark night” and recognizes the achievements of the many talented actors, performers, directors, choreographers and composers that call Toronto home. The awards, in their 33^rd year, honour productions in five major categories: General Theatre, Independent Theatre, Theatre for Young Audience, Dance and Opera. 

If there is one thing that Toronto knows how to do, it’s throw one hell of a party for the arts. CharPo was lucky enough to be invited to the VIP Cocktail Reception in the Sony Centre before the awards ceremony, giving us a chance to mix and mingle with the nominees and jurors. Fellow contributor Beat Rice and I spent the first part of the evening meeting many fine nominees, every one of which was excited to be there. We also ran into some old faces, and found contributor Jasmine Chen amongst the crowd as well. With a brass band on the street and the Dora Girls (my name for them) dancing and getting the crowd energized, it was a wonderful start to the evening. We met Nicole Underhay, nominated for Outstanding Performance, General Theatre Division for The Small Room at the Top of Stairs, many of the cast of Seussical the Musical at Young People’s Theatre, and director Ashlie Corcoran, nominated for Outstanding Direction, Independent Theatre Division  for The Ugly One. It was a real pleasure to see her win later on in the evening. We also spotted friendly faces in Gideon Arthurs, directing his last Fringe here in Toronto before moving on to become manager of Tarragon, and saw Ken Gass (formerly of Factory Theatre) as well. 

After Dark, June 26, 2012

In The Heat of The Night
What is happening to the Fringe and do we all need to worry?
By Gaëtan L. Charlebois

The 2012 editions of the Montreal Fringe, The Ottawa Fringe and the London Fringe are over and that, my friends, is problem number one with that thing we love so much: The Canadian Fringe Movement.

The Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals is the organization that holds the rights, in this country, to that glorious name: Fringe. They can bestow it or not, based on certain criteria. This year they blessed a new Fringe, in PEI, the Island Fringe. But here's what else we THOUGHT they did: maintain order among the festivals. Apparently not.

Theatre For Thought, June 23, 2012

QUEEN OF THE STAGE

joel fishbane

Here’s a funny story: last winter I auditioned for the Montreal premiere of Elizabeth Rex, Timothy Findley’s award-winning play about a meeting between Queen Elizabeth and Shakespeare’s company of actors. After discussing the show, director Mike Payette asked if I had any questions. “Just one,” I said. “Is Leni Parker playing the Queen?” Mike’s smile was almost imperceptible as he neither confirmed or denied the question. Suffice it to say I didn’t get the part; but a few weeks later, I learned that Leni Parker would indeed be playing that most famous of all British queens.

I can’t take credit for putting the idea into Mike Payette’s head; he’s a smart enough guy that he had already offered her the role by the time I came along. And why not? Leni Parker is one of Montreal’s most respected talents, a Concordia grad who has become known for the regal bearing she brings to every role she plays. Whether it’s the titular Baroness in Michael Mackenzie’s The Baroness and the Pig or the romantic heroine of Collen Curran’s True Nature, Parker can be countered on to provide an imposing presence and the sort of wit that can turn a simple greeting into a cutting remark.

Review: Pam Ann

Welcome aboard Pam Ann Flight 269 to Paradise…

… and in the words of our air hostess for the evening… FUCK OFF!

by Dave Ross

Pam Ann is the alter ego of Aussie comedienne Caroline Reid, a raunchy, bitchy air hostess extraordinaire. In her one-woman show, Pam tackles all the myths and stories of air travel from her viewpoint in the galley, hilariously portraying almost every stereotype there is. Throughout the course of the evening she adopts several different uniforms to serve her “passengers” in different manners. Pan Am Pam Ann (there’s a running joke here) opens the night with a series of cleverly edited sequences from the television show Pan Am. Later in the show, she turns into a first-class flight attendant, before morphing into a Gloria Gaynor-esque pride queen for her final schtick. 

CharPo's Real Theatre! June 22, 2012

EVENT: The No Bull$#!% History of Canada (Fringe)

Review: The Goat, or Who is Sylvia

(poster art)

Stopping . . . after having started

The Goat never gets going

by Stuart Munro

(This review contains spoilers.)

About twenty minutes into ATIC Productions’s mounting of Edward Albee’s The Goat, or Who is Sylvia, things start to go sideways for the characters. Martin is fucking a goat, and his wife Stevie—understandably—is having trouble with this. Unfortunately for everyone else, the production begins to go sideways around the same time and by the end of the evening, it’s clear no one has been on sure footing all night.

CPT's Picture of the Week, June 21, 2012

And here comes the Toronto Fringe!

Photo from snug harbour, from Burning Bush Productions

2012 Toronto Fringe Index

Fringe 2012 Index

After Dark, June 19, 2012

One Fundamental Joy
Healing the spirit
by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

When things get hairy - health, finances, The Charlebois Post, life, love - I pick up my dog, he glues his body to my chest (knowing what's coming) and I squeeze him so hard he moans. As I loosen the hug we both do the same thing: we sigh. He nods off and I feel the weight of the world melt away.

As everything was coming down on my head last week - deadlines missed, student protests, Syrian horror - I realized that I might break the dogs ribs if I kept picking him up. Then I thought, "Thank keeeeerist for The Fringe!"

Not just the Fringe, actually.

Theatre.

Theatre For Thought, June 16, 2012

AN UNENLIGHTENED CONVERSATION WITH ELIZABETH BLUE

joel fishbane

I met Elizabeth Blue a year ago but she still hasn’t met me. Such is the life of the actor: you perform a series of quirky quasi-autobiographical monologues and people start thinking they know you better then their own friends. Hoping to avoid embarrassment in case we bumped into each other on the street, I decided to contact her when I saw she was returning to the Fringe Festival – along with her new show One Week with the Shaman. I’m happy to report that now we’ve properly met - or at least as properly as anyone can meet in the digital world.

“I got into performing as a junior in high school,” Elizabeth Blue wrote in an email, no doubt sent from some quaint café in the heart of Manhattan. “I got the extra role in Into the Woods – Milky White the cow, a role previously given to a stuffed animal.” Apparently the role was such a hit that people to this day call her Milky White. “That cow really opened up doors for me,” she added.

CharPo's Real Theatre! June 15, 2012

Review: Rent

Unpaid Rent

Inspiration lacking

by Jessica Yen

RENT by Jonathan Larson is an iconic Broadway show that since its première in 1996 has enjoyed long runs on Broadway, has been produced worldwide and adapted into a film. This rock opera based on Puccini's La Bohème tells the story of young artists struggling to live in New York's Lower East Side under the difficulties of poverty and HIV/AIDS. A show with this much legacy begs for new interpretations especially since it has been over 15 years since the original production. Unfortunately, the LOT's presentation of RENT lacks inspiration and falls victim to clichés.

CPT's Picture of the Week, June 14, 2012

Event Theatre:

Robert Lepage at Luminato with his (spanking?) new Playing Cards 1: Spades

(as always, his company has terrific pictures; this one is by Erick Labbé)

After Dark, June 12, 2012

Why We Do It
Answering the question: "Why is there so much Fringe shit on your site?"
by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

For the next three months or so - whether you go to our national, Atlantic, Alberta, Montreal or Toronto sites - you will see a whole heap of Fringe coverage. Since I started covering the Montreal Fringe, some two decades ago, I have been an apostle of the movement. The reason is simple.

The Fringe is the alpha and omega of Canadian theatre. Before there were festivals at Stratford or Citadels in Edmonton, there were Fringes. Sure, back then we called it amateur theatre competitions (or festivals) but it still boiled down to an assembly of people who loved theatre defining the art of the future as it pertains to this country and, in most cases, doing it with nothing but imagination.

Review: Next To Normal

(poster art)

A Light in the Dark

Clearwater Theatre finds the truth in a complex show

by Stuart Munro

“I am the one who knows you

I am the one who cares

I am the one who’s always been there

I am the one who’s helped you

And if you think that I just don’t give a damn

Then you just don’t know who I am”

So sings Dan, the husband of Diana, about halfway through the first act of the Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning Next to Normal. Diana has been struggling with bipolar disorder for the better part of sixteen years, but it seems as though this is the first time that Dan is at a loss for what to do. After this, the roller coaster of emotions really takes off, and it becomes clear why Next to Normal is referred to as the “feel everything musical.”

Review: Einstein on the Beach

"Building" from Einstein on the Beach (photo credit: Lucie Jansch)

The Must Be Seen

Glass, Wilson, Childs, Luminato = event

by Axel Van Chee

Einstein on the Beach, an opera composed by Philip Glass, directed by Robert Wilson, and choreographed by Lucinda Childs was something of a holy grail back when I was at music school: everyone talked about it but no one had seen it, except for the few professors who happened to be at the right place, at the right time, and also of a certain age. It is known to be a landmark work that changed, and extended our understanding of not just music, but the art of theatre since the work's premiere in 1976. And that, I think, is what makes the recreation at Sony Center as part of the Luminato Festival such an extraordinary event: what the audience is witnessing is not something new, but a seminal work that, like the atomic bomb (borrowing a page from Einstein), transformed the world of the performance arts.

Theatre For Thought, June 9, 2012

ANOTHER SUMMER OF FRINGE

joel fishbane

Artists are starting to look alarmed. Actors mutter to themselves on the street as directors quietly go mad in the shower. Journalists comb through press kits. Juries are being dispatched. Technicians stockpile coffee and cases of Red Bull. Yes, Canada, the signs are here: another summer at the Canadian Fringe is about to begin. 

The Montreal Fringe is the first festival out of the gate and it has a long tradition of being a ten-day, wine-soaked party that separates the wheat from the chaff. The unprepared usually wake up on the last day in a puddle of their own handbills, hungover and unable to recall if they even made it to their last performance on time. But those made of sterner stuff will flounce off to Toronto and Edmonton with an armful of buzz, solid press quotes and maybe even an award.

CharPo's Real Theatre! June 8, 2012

CPT's Picture of The Week

An iconic photo from an iconic show: Lucie Jansch's image of the segment "Bed" from Robert Wilson's production of the Philip Glass opera Einstein on the Beach, opening this week at Luminato.

Dora Nominations Press Conference

Megan Follows in Nightwood's Penelopiad (photo: Robert Popkin)

It's 9:45 AM in Rehearsal Studio A in The Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre

A crowded slate for TAPA

by Jasmine Chen

It's 9:45 AM and already Rehearsal Studio A in The Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre is bustling with artistic directors, arts administrators, city councillors, choreographers, and representatives from  the rich variety of theatre companies across the city. Excited chatter fills the room as colleagues catch up with one another over coffee and mini muffins. There are so many people here that there aren't even enough chairs, but the mood is jovial and there is a sense of anticipation for the coming announcements. Ten o clock rolls around and we are asked to take our seats. We soon learn that this year 116 producing companies registered 212 eligible productions for a total of 169 nominations! 

After Dark, June 5, 2012

On Prizes and PR
Yeah, a rant
by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

It seems to be awards season again.

In a few days TAPA (Toronto Alliance of Performing Artists) will announce the nominees for its Dora Awards - one of the most coveted and recognized theatre prizes in the country. TAPA - an organization that truly seems to function - makes a shitload of noise, does everything up nice and I do believe everyone is pleased as punch to get one.

Meanwhile, five Toronto critics (all print) announced the winners of their prizes this week. The Toronto club seems fairly small and more than slightly elitist and denies the growing power of sites like this one but the fact is, those five men saw most of the winning plays and no one can begrudge the sheer, mad amount they work. (Sorry...couldn't resist italicizing "men".)

On our own site Richard Burnett (The Abominable Showman) tore our own critics' prize, The Montreal English Critics Awards (MECCA), a new asshole.  (Full disclosure: I am a founder of the MECCAs and vote in them.) Richard had a few things a tiny bit askew (as does the community which berates the awards every year). One award he mentions is not an award for best text, it is for best new text (and the late Ted Allen doesn't qualify - first, for being late and all...). Lion King was not nominated because no one among the MECCA-ese (12 souls this time out) saw it or if they did, did not care to nominate it. No award was given in Best Visiting or Best Sound, for that matter, not because no one was nominated but because everyone was...once. Yup - over a dozen noms in each category. 

Theatre For Thought, June 2, 2012

SPIDER MAN, STUNTS AND MERRICK’S GHOST

joel fishbane

Most Canadians will be watching the Tony Awards to see if the Stratford Festival’s Jesus Christ Superstar will win Best Revival of a Musical (it won’t) or if  Josh Young will win for his portrayal of Judas Iscariot (er…maybe). But the real drama that day will have already happened over at Foxwood Theatre. Annoyed that Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark only received two nominations (for set and costume), the producers are offering free tickets for the matinee performance to anyone named Anthony, Antonio, Antoinette, Toni or Antonia.  Said producer Michael Cohl: “Nothing would make us prouder than to have more Tonys than any other show on Broadway on Sunday, June 10.”

The stunt, which is cute at best, becomes more significant when one considers that Cohl has long been angling for the title of the Next David Merrick. Although he died in 2000, Merrick remains a titan in the history of American theatre. Merrick was the legendary producer of shows like 42nd Street, Hello Dolly! and Marat / Sade and was himself the progeny of other legendary showmen like P.T. Barnum and Florence Ziegfeld. 

CharPo's Real Theatre! June 1, 2012