The Abominable Showman, May 20, 2012

Larry Kramer (photo by David Shankbone via Wikipedia)

Hollywood is a four-letter town

The long and winding road of Pulitzer- and Oscar-nominated writer Larry Kramer’s controversial play The Normal Heart which begins a U.S. national tour in June, headlines Toronto’s Buddies in Bad Times Theatre this autumn and is slated to hit the silver screen in 2014, thanks to Brad Pitt

By Richard Burnett

Not everyone likes writer Larry Kramer’s play The Normal Heart which was crowned one of the Hundred Best Plays of the Twentieth Century by the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain. 

“The Normal Cash Register – that’s what Robert Ferro called it,” my longtime mentor, the Godfather of Gay Lit, Felice Picano, told me in 2004. “It’s a terrible play. The idea of making money out of AIDS is appalling to me.”

Felice can say that because he was there when Gay men were dropping like flies in the early 1980s. “I remember the day when a friend and I were out at Fire Island and saw the sexual connections. We literally said, ‘We’re dead men.’”

Truer words were never spoken.

First-Person: Michaela di Cesare on the evolution of 8 Ways My Mother Was Conceived

From one-woman (in every sense of the word) FRINGE show to true team effort

How this remount changes everything

by Michaela di Cesare

I was asked how the input of a new director, Tamara Brown, has taken 8 Ways my Mother was Conceived from a FRINGE production to something “more mainstage.”

This is going to be a little metaphysical. I can’t help it. Everything to do with this show has come about through a series of drastic life-changing events that have unfolded over a two-year period from the fall of 2009 to the fall of 2011 (roughly) which could not have fallen into place in a more literary fashion if they were being written into a novel. I’m only going to list the uncanny events that have to do with Tamara (because I think people are tired of hearing the story about how I fell in love and got married). I’ll begin by saying that in some ways her influence has been there from the beginning.

Tour Whore, May 20, 2012

Having It All

A guide to holding on to the creature comforts

by Cameryn Moore

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the little creature comforts of my home turf, stuff that I was going to miss when I went out on tour. I re-read that piece now and I feel like a whiny little baby. I bet you were thinking that, too. It’s okay. You can say it. Or I can say it for you. Suck It Up, Cameryn! That’s Showbiz! That’s Being an Adult! That’s What You Get for Thinking that Solo Performance Art Is Where It’s At! You Can’t Have It All!

But…

Yes, I can. And I do.

Maybe not all of everything. I definitely can’t have a thriving 25-stop tour every year AND a three-season raised vegetable garden (my primary partner doesn’t pull weeds). I don’t see me maintaining a deeply personal relationship with a coffee shop, when that coffee shop may change every two to four weeks. But after I was done wallowing in my latest bout of “oh god I’m hitting the road again” angst, I realized that many of the things I enjoy running across while touring are a little bit of domesticity on a smaller scale, in a more discrete amount. These are things unique to my billet or neighborhood or foster city that I fall in love with quickly and look forward to when I come through again next fall, next spring, next year:

News Roundup, May 19, 2012

Bring it On (photo: Joan Marcus)

Off To Broadway: TORONTO The production of Bring it On, now wowing audiences in Toronto as it tours across the continent, will finally land on Broadway. (See the video of the announcement to the cast at the Mirvish Theatre. Read our review.)


Season announcements: CALGARY Theatre Junction has announced its 2012-13 lineup which includes visits from companies from across Canada as well as from Belgium, Australia, the US and Japan. The company itself will be producing a new work by Mark Lawes.  See the press release. MONTREAL Espace Libre has announced its new season which includes over a dozen companies from around the world including Old Trout Puppet Workshop (Alberta) with Ignorance. See full season details. (In French) Maison Théâtre, the young people's venue, has announced a season of plays for all ages including serving as host for some of the most celebrated companies in Canada: Confettis, Carrousel, Bouche Décousues, Le Clou and Dynamo. See the season brochure. (In French)

Theatre For Thought, May 19, 2012

THEATRE SHOULD BE SEEN, NOT READ

joel fishbane

I don’t usually take issue with comments waged by Gaëtan Charlebois, our eponymous editor, but this week I couldn’t resist. Last week, in his own weekly editorial, Gaëtan did not lament the lack of production of “the classics” and remarked that he’s satisfied with the idea that these plays can still be read. “Because theatre is also literature,” he wrote. Sorry, Gaëtan, but here I have to object. Theatre is not literature: the mark of a truly great play is that it cannot be read.

As someone who dabbles in both plays and fiction, I’m deeply aware of the great divide between the two genres. With literature – which here I’ll define as any written prose, fiction or non - nothing separates author and audience. The enjoyment of the text is dependent on nothing but availability of the material and one’s ability to read. Further, the author knows this and tailors the writing accordingly. Hemingway, for instance, often structured his dialogue to ensure the audience knew what the characters were doing without the narrative voice having to explain. Other writers rely on descriptive prose, heightened language and other rhetorical styles. But the point is that in the end there is only one voice - the author’s – and one listener – the reader. 

CharPo's Real Theatre! May 18, 2012

CPC's Picture of the Week, May 17, 2012

Our columnist, Cameryn Moore (Tour Whore, every Sunday) is indeed touring her new show power / play to 22 cities across Canada including several Fringe Festivals. Her pictures are always good, but we especially like this one by Caleb Cole.