Wednesday, August 31, 2011
CPC's Video of the Week, August 31, 2011
You don't get a lot of musicals at a Fringe, let alone
a Leonard Bernstein chamber opera. Trouble in Tahiti is
at the Vancouver Fringe.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
After Dark, August 30, 2011
The Village PeopleIt really does take a village
By Gaëtan L. Charlebois
Monday, August 29, 2011
Openings We're Tracking This Week, August 29-September 4
Paul Van Dyck in Paradise Lost (Atlantic Fringe)
Sunday, August 28, 2011
The Thread, August 28, 2011
Every week we will be posting a whiff of provocation and inviting you to join the conversation in the comments section below. You may respond to the original subject or to previous postings. Play nice. CPC and CharPo contributors will be joining the convo from time to time.
This Week:
The National Post's Christie Blatchford took some time to blast the late Jack Layton's deathbed letter for sophistry and ambition. Blatchford's op-ed became the furor of the social networks and many saw it as tasteless and ill-timed. We are wondering if it is not something more pernicious. Has the first volley been fired in a culture war between left and right which may threaten arts across the country, especially theatre? Discuss.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Theatre for Thought, August 27, 2011
George Bernard Shaw vs. Terror and PityWhatever you think of Shawfest, it should always be applauded for single-handedly keeping Shaw’s work alive in North America.
joel fishbane
Friday, August 26, 2011
The Friday Five, August 26, 2011
FIVE FICTITIOUS THEATRE COMPANIESI wouldn’t be surprised if some of these already exist. No, scratch that. I would be VERY surprised.
by Matt Raudsepp of Matt and Kyle and Matt
Thursday, August 25, 2011
News: (Montreal) Black Theatre Workshop names Quincy Armorer AD
BTW press release:
BLACK THEATRE WORKSHOP WELCOMES QUINCY ARMORER AS NEW ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
MONTREAL, August 25, 2011 – The Board of Governors announced today that it has selected its new Artistic Director of Black Theatre WorkshopQuincy Armorer. Quincy has a long history with the company, a vast amount of theatrical experience within Canada, and the board and staff are pleased with this new appointment.
CPC's Picture of the Week, August 25, 2011
Probably the greatest living Canadian theatre photographer,
Cylla von Tiedemann, took this photo of
Soulpepper's new production of Ionesco's
Exit the King (Brenda Robins and Oliver Dennis)
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
News: Rose wins CC's Walter Carsen Prize
Tarragon Press Release:
TARRAGON THEATRE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, RICHARD ROSEWINS PRESTIGIOUS WALTER CARSEN PRIZE
Canada Council for the Arts annual prize recognizesdistinguished achievement in the performing arts.
TORONTO, August 24, 2011 – Tarragon Theatre is very proud to announce Mr. Richard Rose, Artistic Director of Tarragon Theatre is winner of the 2011 Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts. The $50,000 prize was presented by the Canada Council for the Arts in recognition of Richard Rose’s directorial vision and notable career in Canadian theatre.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
After Dark, August 23, 2011
Ending The ConversationThe media may be shooting themselves in the foot
By Gaëtan L. Charlebois
Monday, August 22, 2011
Openings We're Tracking This Week, August 22-28, 2011
Peter 'n' Chris Save the World (Victoria Fringe)
Sunday, August 21, 2011
The Thread, August 21, 2011 (New weekly feature)
Every week we will be posting a whiff of provocation and inviting you to join the conversation in the comments section below. You may respond to the original subject or to previous postings. Play nice. CPC and CharPo contributors will be joining the convo from time to time.
This week:
The Toronto Star said that the Shaw Festival's centrepiece Shaw play - Heartbreak House - was flopping and that next season would see no Shaw works at the main house. With Stratford already playing many non-Shakespeare works on the famous thrust stage, how long before the two Ontario festivals have completely moved away from their principle mandate and become like every other house? How much longer should the taxpayer continue to support the big houses efforts towards mere box office success? Discuss.
Feature: Montreal's New Opera Piccola
Opera in the Summer
joel fishbane
Summer has long been the time when music fills Montreal: from Osheaga to the Jazzfest to CETM’s New Wave Theatre Festival, every genre of music has managed to have its day in the sun. Opera has long been the exception to this rule – the Montreal Opera Company shuts down for the summer and our summer theatres have been lax at filling the void. Enter Opera Piccola, a new company founded by Taras Kulish and Anne-Marie Trahan. Devoted to bringing professional opera to the summer crowds, they’re hoping to turn la belle ville into La Bohème.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Theatre for Thought, August 20, 2011
SPOILER ALERT!When it comes to theatre I avoid press releases and critiques like the plague. I have to.
joel fishbane
Friday, August 19, 2011
The Friday Five, August 19, 2011
Five Indispensable Stage PropsActing is the dumbest profession on earth. It’s completely regressive. Suddenly, you’re 4 years old again, doing your best impression of an adult, except this time, people are paying good money to see you move around, talk and yell and gesticulate. Meanwhile, for you this is playtime, this is paradise. In fact, only one thing can make you happier... some toys.
By Matt G of Matt and Kyle and Matt
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Reviews: (Shaw Festival) Heartbreak House; On The Rocks
Politicians making speeches they cannot deliver on. Police cracking heads. Chekhov. Burglars. It's Shaw Fest!
by Byron Toben
CPC's Picture of the Week, August 18, 2011
The fabulous "Brotherhood of Man" number from
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
with Ari Butler and the ensemble cast
playing this week at the Drayton Festival Theatre
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
News: SummerWorks announces Jury Prizes
After it's big wins at Calgary's Betty Mitchell Awards, Ghost River's ONE captures another award at the close of SummerWorks.
Read the full list at the SummerWorks site.
Read the full list at the SummerWorks site.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Openings We're Tracking This Week, August 15-22, 2011
How to Succeed in Business (Drayton Festival Theatre)
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Recent CPC Features
Rebecca Ugolini interviews Alisa Palmer, the new head of English-language theatre at the National Theatre School, in FEEDING THE YOUNG. Palmer, after a vigourous career, finds that now is the time to give back and help in the shaping of a new generation of theatre artists.
In PRETEND IT'S GOING TO PRINT, Sue Edworthy, a well known Toronto marketing expert, talks about mistakes made by emerging companies in their PR and how to solve them. This is a must read not just for tyros but for many pros who are still getting it wrong.
Keith Waterfield and his accomplice, Alain Mercieca, started out by saying, "Let's fuck and do art." And so was born HOW TO ENTER VAUDEVILLE, Waterfield's first-person description of the coming together of forces to create The Waterfield Follies.
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.
CHOICES are what Deepali Lindblom's life are all about. The choice of career, country to live, training and performance. As she prepares Satringa she tells, in a lovely first-person piece, about the journey.
In AN ARTIST PERFORMS, theatre people from across the country celebrate that one moment when their lives changed - when they saw a performance they knew would make them for the rest of their lives: Rammstein, Maude Guérin, The Raging Grannies - we are marked.
Michael Delamont set out to be funny in his first-person piece OF VAUDEVILLES ALL ATOMIC, CABBAGES AND DRAGQUEENS - as he set out to be funny in is his solo God is a Scottish Drag Queen. However, journey don't always turn out the way you expect. Scottish Drag Queen changed with time and his essay, here, takes a decidedly poignant turn.
Djanet Sears calls herself the daughter of Lorraine Hansberry, and in NOTES OF A COLOURED GIRL she shares her reasons for writing for theatre with breath-taking and invigorating style.
In RE-OXYGENATING THE SHAVIAN FLAME Shaw Festival Artistic Director Jackie Maxwell speaks to Christian Baines about stretching the limits of the company's mandate, its audience's expectations and, at the same time, creating art that challenges and explores social issues.
Gordon Mack describes the incredible gestation period (and fund-raising period) for one of Vancouver's most exciting and popular outings ITSAZOOS Debts. In THE HORROR OF INEVITABILITY the writer/director shares the journey of a complex show that actually made it to success.
In 500 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF RISK David C. Jones profiles an event that has helped move acting students towards real-life work situations: Risky Nights.
There are a few things Bill Millerd - the artistic director of The Arts Club in Vancouver - wants you to know. Things are going well, the expansion of the company is working and, despite the bad news from Vancouver Playhouse, theatre in Vancouver is doing quite well, thanks much. He is not, as the title suggest, THE LAST MAN STANDING.
It is not a role you take on lightly, but - the way actor Chris Moore tells it - he and the artistic director of Persephone, in Montreal - just asked ONE REAL QUESTION: WHY NOT? when deciding on Hamlet. In Moore fascinating first person, he talks about the very beginning of the process of prepping for this magnificent (and frightening) character.
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.
In FOR THE CHILD TAKEN, FOR THE PARENT LEFT BEHIND Teesri Duniya artistic director Rahul Varma explains the weight of the company's next production - Where the Blood Mixes - and the journey both work and playwright took to bring a deeper piece to the stage.
Paul Van Dyck tried out his new play, The Harvester, at the Montreal Fringe and learned a few things about the work and how it should evolve. Before he performed the work at the Atlantic Fringe, two months later, he applied his lessons. See what they are and what every writer must learn in his first-person piece THE GROWTH OF THE HARVESTER.
In BEHAVE YOURSELF, PLEASE...A MONKEY IS WATCHING YOU, Mike Czuba, a polyvalent theatre person, explains the genesis of his piece Satie et Cocteau and the theory - both musical and theatrical - which went into the creation of the work.
In THE LITTLE FESTIVAL THAT COULD you get artistic director Ian Farthing's fascinating tale of changing his life and - yes - falling in love with a small town. Moreover, that small town took him to their hearts and developed a bond with Shakespeare that fuels both the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival and Prescott, Ontario too.
As director/producer Anthony Sherwood tells us, there are other stories to tell around the drama of the Titanic that James Cameron did not seem to get to. Beyond questions of class, there was the very real question of race. In his piece TAKING ON HISTORY Sherwood explains the genesis of Titanic: The Untold story.
INTRODUCING METACHROMA is precisely what it says - an introduction of this exciting new company by its members and - have a look - the ensemble comprises some of the best actors in the country.
In PRETEND IT'S GOING TO PRINT, Sue Edworthy, a well known Toronto marketing expert, talks about mistakes made by emerging companies in their PR and how to solve them. This is a must read not just for tyros but for many pros who are still getting it wrong.
 |
| 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.
CHOICES are what Deepali Lindblom's life are all about. The choice of career, country to live, training and performance. As she prepares Satringa she tells, in a lovely first-person piece, about the journey.
 |
| Lindblom |
In AN ARTIST PERFORMS, theatre people from across the country celebrate that one moment when their lives changed - when they saw a performance they knew would make them for the rest of their lives: Rammstein, Maude Guérin, The Raging Grannies - we are marked.
Michael Delamont set out to be funny in his first-person piece OF VAUDEVILLES ALL ATOMIC, CABBAGES AND DRAGQUEENS - as he set out to be funny in is his solo God is a Scottish Drag Queen. However, journey don't always turn out the way you expect. Scottish Drag Queen changed with time and his essay, here, takes a decidedly poignant turn.
Djanet Sears calls herself the daughter of Lorraine Hansberry, and in NOTES OF A COLOURED GIRL she shares her reasons for writing for theatre with breath-taking and invigorating style.
 |
| Maxwell |
In RE-OXYGENATING THE SHAVIAN FLAME Shaw Festival Artistic Director Jackie Maxwell speaks to Christian Baines about stretching the limits of the company's mandate, its audience's expectations and, at the same time, creating art that challenges and explores social issues.
Gordon Mack describes the incredible gestation period (and fund-raising period) for one of Vancouver's most exciting and popular outings ITSAZOOS Debts. In THE HORROR OF INEVITABILITY the writer/director shares the journey of a complex show that actually made it to success.
In 500 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF RISK David C. Jones profiles an event that has helped move acting students towards real-life work situations: Risky Nights.
There are a few things Bill Millerd - the artistic director of The Arts Club in Vancouver - wants you to know. Things are going well, the expansion of the company is working and, despite the bad news from Vancouver Playhouse, theatre in Vancouver is doing quite well, thanks much. He is not, as the title suggest, THE LAST MAN STANDING.
 |
| Moore |
It is not a role you take on lightly, but - the way actor Chris Moore tells it - he and the artistic director of Persephone, in Montreal - just asked ONE REAL QUESTION: WHY NOT? when deciding on Hamlet. In Moore fascinating first person, he talks about the very beginning of the process of prepping for this magnificent (and frightening) character.
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.
In FOR THE CHILD TAKEN, FOR THE PARENT LEFT BEHIND Teesri Duniya artistic director Rahul Varma explains the weight of the company's next production - Where the Blood Mixes - and the journey both work and playwright took to bring a deeper piece to the stage.
 |
| The Harvester poster |
In BEHAVE YOURSELF, PLEASE...A MONKEY IS WATCHING YOU, Mike Czuba, a polyvalent theatre person, explains the genesis of his piece Satie et Cocteau and the theory - both musical and theatrical - which went into the creation of the work.
In THE LITTLE FESTIVAL THAT COULD you get artistic director Ian Farthing's fascinating tale of changing his life and - yes - falling in love with a small town. Moreover, that small town took him to their hearts and developed a bond with Shakespeare that fuels both the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival and Prescott, Ontario too.
As director/producer Anthony Sherwood tells us, there are other stories to tell around the drama of the Titanic that James Cameron did not seem to get to. Beyond questions of class, there was the very real question of race. In his piece TAKING ON HISTORY Sherwood explains the genesis of Titanic: The Untold story.
 |
| Metachroma |
Brad Fraser has always been concerned with what happened at the Tarragon - the so-called Healey Affair. In a short play, presented at Wrecking Ball in June 2012, Fraser imagines a conversation in TITLE AT END.
In a fascinating piece - CODPIECE DAUGHTERS - on shows past and present, Vile Passéist Artistic Director Dan Bray talks about using female actors in male roles and concepts of gender in early modern theatre.
The on thing you need when you're about to launch a highly anticipated festival is a sense of humour and Sarah Segal-Lazar has that in spades as she shows in her first-person piece WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU'RE EXPECTING (TO PLAN A FRINGE) - a five-step program for the hopelessly Fringe-y.
 |
| Miller in Hardsell / Vendu |
It's been a bumpy but happy ride, Greg Wanless tells us on his 30 years with Thousand Islands Playhouse in REACHING MIDDLE AGE - a wonderful first-person piece about getting and holding a theatre.
Ann-Marie Kerr began as the director and - when a happy miracle happened - ended up acting the solo role in The Debacle, which began its life in the Atlantic region but continued on to being a jewel of the Festival TransAmériques. In MUSICAL CHAIRS - MOVING FROM DIRECTOR TO ACTOR IN A SOLO SHOW, Ms. Kerr writes about the journey.
In KILLING CURIOSITY Joel Ivany is back to tell us about his new Against The Grain Theatre production, Turn of the Screw, the ambiguous, troubling Benjamin Britten adaptation of one of the most controversial novellas written. There's a governess, spooks and children who may have been through a horrific experience. 8 Ways My Mother Was Conceived was a gorgeous little Fringe play, last year in Montreal. However, playwright/soloist Michaela di Cesare took criticisms to heart and decided to improve her work and give it a new life. In FROM ONE-WOMAN SHOW (IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD) FRINGE SHOW TO TRUE TEAM EFFORT she tells us how.
Guy Mignault went to Toronto for an interview, thought nothing of it, then realized that he was starting to want the job he was being offered - artistic director of a French-language company in a city IN AN OCEAN OF ENGLISH.
In On collaborations, handling the spice and writing a Bollywood play à la Québécoise called Poutine Masala Stéfan Cédilot describes the happy and improbably series of events that went into making an extravaganza for one of Montreal's most popular alternative houses.
 |
| McHardy |
In MOTHER AND ME Itai Erdal speaks about the moments around his mother's illness and death and about how the event nurtured his his piece How to Disappear Completely and how theatre and film helped him to cope.
Edward Roy takes us into the heart of the matter in THE UNSPOKEN his first-person article about directing his own play, Beyond the Cuckoo's Nest at YPT. The play is reaching a young audience and discussing a problem many of us don't even think exists until adulthood: mental illness.
 |
| Semele (photo: Karl Forster) |
Trevor Barrette is a very young man who had music and a story and lyrics and, finally, a musical which needed a production house. In WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE IN LOVE? he talks about the genesis of To Be, his work, and the happy marriage he found with Persephone Productions.
 |
| Chafe and Phillips (photo: Don Ellis) |
Robert Chafe talks about the journey his play Oil and Water took from a thrilling and heart-breaking true story to waiting for rights for the story to meeting its fascinating protagonist, Lanier Phillips. There is nothing about LANIER REMEMBERED that will leave you untouched.
The Sunday Feature: First-Person, Martha Chaves
A Day in the Laughs
by Martha Chaves
(Editor's note: This is the beginning of an occasional blog series stand-up comedian Martha Chaves will be writing for The Charlebois Post-Canada.)
Someone asked me recently in an interview to describe a day in the life of a female stand-up comedian as if it would be the easiest thing to do. But I have no idea what other female - or male - stand-up comedians do with their day and even if I knew I would not tell on them unless I'm under a subpoena! And frankly, the idea of just “telling” about a day in my own life seems like an odyssey in and of itself.
Where to even begin? Should I start at the moment of going to bed at the crack of dawn, after non-stop consumption of world news, Facebooking, Twittering and hunting for vegan food, or at the moment of getting up at the crack of brunch when all of the above mentioned activities begin?
Where to even begin? Should I start at the moment of going to bed at the crack of dawn, after non-stop consumption of world news, Facebooking, Twittering and hunting for vegan food, or at the moment of getting up at the crack of brunch when all of the above mentioned activities begin?
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Theatre For Thought, August 13, 2011
THE MARY POPPINS SYNDROMEIt's been done...?
joel fishbane
For months now, Bennett and I have been trying to write a musical. Given my obsession with the genre and his own not-insignificant talents with a piano, this seemed more or less a fait accompli. Like most would-be duos, we started off by arguing over whose name would come first (I’m sure Rogers and Hammerstein had the same fight). Then we started combing through public domain material, looking for something to adapt. Musicals are almost always adapted from other sources; the idea of people breaking into song isn’t really something that tends to provoke original thought.
Friday, August 12, 2011
First Person: Keir Cutler at the Edmonton Fringe
Thoughts from the 30th Edmonton Fringe Festival
by Keir Cutler
I was photocopying programs and flyers for my new solo play “Teaching Shakespeare: A Parody,” debuting shortly at the 1999 Montreal Fringe Festival. A woman, that I’d never seen before in my life, photocopying at the machine beside me happened to look over my shoulder and see what I was doing and asked. “Are you performing in the fringe festival?”
“Why yes, yes I am.” I answered proudly.
“Well then you must not be any good!”
I looked at her stunned. I wasn’t getting insulted for a show I’d done. I was getting insulted for a show I was going to do. She’d never seen me onstage, but she saw the word “fringe” so obviously I must suck. What do you say to that? Nothing.
We just continued photocopying.
Review: (Montreal) The Lion King
 |
J. Anthony Crane as “Scar” and Dionne Randolph as “Mufasa” face off in THE LION KING National Tour. ©Disney. Photo Credit: Joan Marcus. |
Hakuna matataMontreal production of The Lion King goes off without a hitch
by Richard Burnett
The Friday Five, August 12, 2011
Five Meals That Are Safe To Eat In The Audienceby Kyle Gatehouse of Matt & Kyle & Matt
If you're anything like me, you believe that Hamlet is best enjoyed while enjoying a plate of ham. Same goes for a dish of duck during The Wild Duck and some cucumber sandwiches to munch alongside Algernon in Earnest.
I've seen it all and eaten it all while seeing it, so I can tell you that theatres generally frown upon eating during performances, with the exception of these five theatre-friendly meals...
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Edmonton Fringe: CPC suggests...
Jem Rolls (Edmonton Fringe); Pissed Off...as usual
Shows seen, shows proposedThe Edmonton Fringe is coming!
By Gaëtan L. Charlebois
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
After Dark, August 9, 2011
Left, Right and The Dogma of TheatreWarnings from American politics
By Gaëtan L. Charlebois
Monday, August 8, 2011
EVENTS
Listed alphabetically by city/festival.
(Montreal) Segal Centre, Sept-Nov, 2011
(Toronto) The Life and Times of Mackenzie King (To November - open)
(Montreal) Segal Centre, Sept-Nov, 2011
(Toronto) The Life and Times of Mackenzie King (To November - open)
Sunday, August 7, 2011
The Sunday Feature: Kendra Moore (The Lion King)
Kendra Moore (photo: John Ballard)
The Lion QueenCanadian entertainer Kendra Moore’s triumphant return to Montreal with The Lion King
By Richard Burnett
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Theatre For Thought, August 6, 2011
THE MODERN PLAGUEShakespeare vs. the Modern World
joel fishbane
I often feel sorry for Shakespeare. Not only is he dead, which presumably sucks, but he has to deal with the pain of being widely produced and unable to sue for royalties.
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