December 21, 2009 – 4:55 pm
Image by Paul Ingles licensed under Creative Commons 2.0
This week praxistheatre.com was voted the #1 Culture and Literature Blog in Canada in the 2009 Canadian Blog Awards.
We are super-happy about this and really appreciate everyone who participates with the company digitally and in reality.
Thank you in particular to these people:
- Graham F. Scott, for coordinating and designing the great integration, when our website and blog were integrated into a single place on the interweb at praxistheatre.com.
- All of the contributors to praxistheatre.com in 2009:
Gideon Arthurs, Tara Beagan, Maev Beatty, Augusto Boal, Mark Brownell, Deanna Downes, Emily Farrell, David Ferry, Brendan Gall, Joel Grinke, Chris Hanratty, Christine Horne, Daniel Karasik, Ravi Jain, Richard Lee, Hayley Lewis, Bridget MacIntosh, Ian Mackenzie, Ross Manson, James Murray, Leora Morris, Tony Nappo, Simon Ogden, Simon Rice, Aislinn Rose, Michael Rubenfeld, Sarah Sanford, Adam Seelig, Samantha Serles, Rupal Shah, Caroline Sniatynski, Vinetta Strombergs, David Tompa and Aaron Willis.
- Celebrity Theatre creator Greta Papageorgiu and features writer Lindsay Schwietz, for producing regular engaging content in addition to their demanding schedules as arts professionals.
- Ian Mackenzie, for having the idea that we should use our website to engage with our community, and for creating an online culture around the company that put us in a position to succeed in the blogosphere in 2009.
- Everyone who took the time to vote for praxistheatre.com
- Praxis Theatre Board of Directors and Donors. Resources can make art, and arts-based websites, better.
- People and organizations that are kicking our ass in terms of achieving praxis through the confluence of ideas and internet. These inspirations include Mike Daisey, Naomi Klein, The Yes Men, Beautiful City, Avaaz, and Vote for Environment. There are a lot of folks setting the bar high out there by achieving concrete results though their internet-ing.
Happy Holidays to all!
Michael Wheeler
Editor
praxistheatre.com
December 14, 2009 – 10:52 am
praxistheatre.com is one of five blogs in the Culture and Literature category that have advanced to the final round round of voting in the 2009 Canadian Blog Awards.
We need your help to come out on top. It only takes about 10 seconds to vote. The ranked ballot allows you to vote for as many blogs as you want.
Best of luck to our competition: Mouse-traps and the Moon, North By East West (NxEW), Book Mine Set, and Quick Brown Fox. Make sure to check out all four of these great portals to increased understanding of and interaction with Canadian culture.
November 23, 2009 – 11:01 am
Photo by coldpants licensed under Creative Commons.
It’s been almost a 1/2 year since we made big changes at praxistheatre.com with a new format that blended some of our best content from our blogspot blog with our company website. Inspired by a new commitment to integrate our creative process with our web presence, our goal has been to continue to be hub for discussion and analysis of independent theatre while increasing awareness of Praxis Theatre and the original theatrical works we are creating.
There has been mostly positive feedback about this switch, especially in terms of the high functionality of the new website and the potential inherent in an “open source” creative model. This tune-up addresses some consistent critiques from a number of readers regarding readability and organization and is reflected in three changes:
- A single sidebar column that runs down the right margin of the site amalgamates the two smaller columns that preceded it. The text size of these links have been increased.
- Hyperlinks are now underlined in red. If you pass the cursor over a hyperlink, the text will also change to be underlined in red.
- The Upcoming Shows page will contain the “open source” elements of our Section 98 creative process. This page will contain the “source code” of our production: information, discussions, examples, scripts and research we are engaged in. This page will be maintained by Aislinn Rose, Section 98 Open Source Project Leader.
Thanks for participating. We hope you continue to use this is site as a resource and a place for dialogue about indie theatre in Toronto and around the world.
Michael Wheeler
Editor
praxistheatre.com
November 5, 2009 – 4:50 pm
Praxis Theatre presents Section 98: an open-source, interactive, original theatrical creation.
Section 98 dramatizes historical and current events while incorporating modern technology to explore individual and civil rights in Canada. This stage of the creation process will be developed in the context of The Progressive Arts Club, The FLQ, and the present day. The production invites the audience to participate in this experiment through their cellphone, PDA, on their computer before and after the performance, in person, or to simply observe and not interact at all!
The suspension of rights has been a contentious issue throughout Canadian history. Section 98 uses theatre and technology to enable everyone to debate and discuss these issues in 2010. A single presentation of this work-in-progress presentation of this work will occur on will take place at Harbourfront’s Studio Theatre on March 13th 2010 at 8pm.
As an “open source” theatrical project we aim to keep our artistic process open, available and interesting through the use of this website. This production is a collective collaborative creation with all members of the creative team contributing to the process. That being said, we all have specific roles:
Director: Michael Wheeler
Assistant Director: Laura Nordin
Online/Script Coordinator: Aislinn Rose
Dramaturg: Alex Fallis
Sound and Lighting Design: Verne Good
Stage Management: Brittney Filek-Gibson
Performers: Margaret Evans, Jody Hewston, Melissa Hood, Greta Papageorgiu and Ben Sanders.
Click the image below to learn more about Section 98 and Open Source Theatre.
*Photography by Meredith Hanafi
Pip Dwyer and John Gordon play doctors considering playing doctor. Photo by Meredith Whitten
Opening Night: 8:30pm on Friday August 7th at The Factory Theatre Mainspace.
Click here for full info
Good turnout for a rainy weekday evening
Christine Horne star of Praxis Theatre Summerworks production Underneath (left), with Amy Lee star of the Fringe hit Moro and Jasp do Puberty
Tim Buck 2 comrades Brittney Filek-Gibson and Ben Sanders battle to see who can have a more ridiculous moustache
Praxis Theatre Co-AD Simon Rice (left), talks to Underneath Sound Designer Wesley Cheang and Praxis Production Manager Meredith Scott
Michael Sullivan with Tim Buck 2 Script Coordinator and director of Fringe hit Rock Time 2009, Aislinn Rose
Praxis Theatre Co-AD Michael Wheeler and GM/Performer Margaret Evans
Thanks to everyone who came out and made this event a huge success.
We must be getting older: Our earliest such events in 2003 and 2004 were heavily beer and shooter based affairs. There was a noticeable rise in decent wines and single malt scotches this time around.
The Circle of Life, so it goes…..
P.S. It’s not too early to book your tickets to Underneath, opening August 7th at The Factory Theatre.
Just CLICK HERE to get yours today.
Our last such party packed the Duke of York. This time we're taking all of our non-acts to The Cobourg.
Praxis Theatre heads to The Cobourg for a night of good tunes, friendly company, access to reasonably priced alcohol, and celebration!
TONIGHT:
533 Parliament Street
8pm to 1am
$10 @ le door
No variety acts. No acts whatsoever!
Come have a drink with us and celebrate the ridiculous summer schedule that only Praxis would be brave/insane enough to take on.
2 new Canadian works, 2 casts, 2 directors, 2 stage managers, 2 design teams.
1 SHOW DOWN, 1 TO GO:
Our production of Tim Buck 2 @ Toronto Fringe was a huge success.
Our production of Underneath @ Summerworks is fast approaching.
All powered by local artists leveraging their labour to get new original works off the ground.
Stop by for a drink, or stay for the evening. We’d love to see you there!
Photo by Meredith Whitten
The cast of Praxis Theatre’s upcoming production of Tim Buck 2 at the Toronto Fringe Festival reacts to a suggestion by Praxis GM and performer Margaret Evans that the show could be something less than totally awesome.
Want to know more? You can read the media release here.
