Praxis Theatre is currently on hiatus! Please find co-founders Aislinn Rose and Michael Wheeler at The Theatre Centre and SpiderWebShow, respectively.

Author: Michael Wheeler

December 14, 2010, by
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Last week was an exciting week for this website; a number of the discussions that started here became amplified as they migrated to a different corners of the internet:

The Guardian:
Noises off: Michael Billington gets the animation treatment

xtranormal image

In this piece, Chris Wilkinson expands upon our December 3rd post about whether the internet is facilitating a new form of theatre through websites like Xtranormal that allow text-to-movie story creation for free through your internet browser. Included in the article is a great video created using text created by Britain’s longest-serving theatre critic Michael Billington, whom no one likely imagined being mentioned in the same breath as Praxis Theatre this time last week.

Torontoist:
2010 Villain: Private Arts Funding Trumping Public

Wesley and Arch played several sets throughout the evening

Steve Fisher goes into all the ways public funding for the arts in Toronto is important and necessary, and all the ways 2010 has been a bad year for government support for the arts nonetheless. Praxis get cited at the end, as a link to observations made in this space on November 30th that our new ‘Arts Czar’ seems to be unwilling to advocate for the value of public funding for the arts, while running a world-class organization that receives 40% of its revenue from the government.

Reddit.com
Hockey fan (and theatre director) calls out Don Cherry hypocrisy in open letter…

"Actually I'm wearing pink for all the pinkos out there that ride bicycles and everything. I thought I'd get it in. What'd ya expect, Ron MacLean, here? To come here?" Don Cherry Dec 7/2010

Someone, I guess we’ll never know who, renamed and reposted Ruth Madoc Jones’ December 8th Letter to Don Cherry to the social news website reddit.com – turning it into an overnight sensation. The post generated thousands of hits and additional 74 comments on reddit.com,  adding to the 45 comments the post inspired in this space, making it the first post on praxistheatre.com to became a trending topic on Twitter.

December 10, 2010, by
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"Im not a Pinko, I'm a Red" - Eugenia "Jim Watts" played by Margaret Evans in Jesus Chrysler by Tara Beagan at Lab  Cab 2010

"I’m no pinko: I’m a Red." - Eugenia 'Jim' Watts played by Margaret Evans in Jesus Chrysler by Tara Beagan at Lab Cab 2010

Photo by Julien Lafleur courtesy of Lab Cab.

December 9, 2010, by
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Hub 14There are just three more slots left in the Producing and Creating Independent Theatre lecture and workshop presented by Cathy Gordon and Michael Wheeler at Hub 14 this Sunday.

Reserve your spot by emailing adapt.lecture@gmail.com

Date: Sunday Dec 12
Time: 2pm to 6pm
Location: Hub 14
Address: 14 Markham St (one block west of Bathurst, just north of Queen St.)
More Info: This pdf
Cost: $40

Please bring pen and paper.

See you then!

Cathy and Michael

December 6, 2010, by
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Wrecking Ball 11 Poster #2 lower res

Image by Microdot Photography

Toronto’s Elite and Artsy types take the gloves off for one last rock’em sock’em night before handing over power to the Lunch Pail type millionaires who know how to get the job done.

Voters are “sick of the elites and artsy people,” running politics.
Don CherryDec 3 2010 in The Toronto Star

On Tuesday December 7 2010, Rob Ford has asked Don Cherry to place the Mayor’s Chain of Office around his neck ushering in an era of unprecedented prosperity where streetcar tracks will morph into subway tunnels, services will increase while taxes decrease, and bicyclists have been warned that it’s they’re own fault if they get hit in the numbers on city streets. The war on the car is over!

Resigned to enduring three full periods of respect for taxpayers bereft of visor-wearing left-wing bleeding heart pinkos, Wrecking Ball 11 on Monday December 6 will be the final opportunity for artsy elites to dig down deep and give it 110%  along the boards.

Come join the Wrecking Ball as we ride the gravy train one last time into the sunset (partially obscured by a Tim Horton’s drive-thru).

Read the 6 teams of actors, directors and writers had one week to prepare 6 new works ripped from the headlines on thewreckingball.ca

Read previews in NOW Magazine and The National Post

December 3, 2010, by
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by Michael Wheeler

A few months ago, as part of a post on the internet and theatre, I concluded with a video made on the online storytelling site xtranormal about the irrational behaviour driving the sales of iPhone 4s. This video has gained a lot of traction, and in particular the sequence where all of the features of a different phone are mentioned while the crazed shopper continues to reply in a robotic even-keeled voice, “I Don’t Care.”

Today xtranormal viral videos made for free on the internet seem to be everywhere. No actors, designers, or live audience to worry about. Just you as writer/director and a cast that isn’t going to give Johnny Depp a run for his money anytime soon, but might run off with Hello Kitty if you don’t keep an eye on em. Below are the two xtranormal videos doing the rounds in the world of North American theatre and Toronto municipal politics – two of our faves in this space.

You should be on Broadway

Rob Ford’s Transit Plan (Note the adoption of the “I don’t care” meme in this video also)

November 30, 2010, by
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by Michael Wheeler

Recently it seems all my actions are direct responses to Rob Ford’s suggestions to Toronto artists.

Guests at Praxis Gourmet #9 play some pool and enjoy a cocktail in the lounge before dinner is served

Guests at Praxis Gourmet #9 play some pool and enjoy a cocktail in the lounge before dinner is served

A month after Ford suggested at The Mayoral Arts Debate that artists raise more money by throwing dinner fundraisers, Praxis Theatre threw its 9th installment of the $110/plate Praxis Gourmet dinner series. The event was our most successful so far with live jazz, a sneak peek at our latest work Jesus Chrysler and a four-course wine pairing that starred Coq au Vin at an upscale Bay Street address.

The latest news out of the Ford administration with regards to the arts in Toronto is that Jeff Melanson, Executive Director of The National Ballet School, has been brought on board in a voluntary capacity as the Mayor’s ‘Arts Czar’. The line is that the Mayor was impressed with an article about Melanson in Canadian Business magazine encouraging artists to be more “entrepreneurial”.

The article does not mention that Melanson is responsible for a budget that receives roughly 40% of its revenue from the government, or that he runs a world class training institution – not an organization with a mandate to actually produce art – but hey, who’s paying attention to those sorts of details now that James Bradshaw isn’t covering the arts for The Globe and Mail anymore?

Wesley and Arch played several sets throughout the evening

Wesley and Arch played several sets throughout the evening

It’s time for artists whose organizations DIDN’T recently receive over $18 million from the Harper government over the next three years to get off the gravy train!

Playing close heed to this message from City Hall for independent artists to put their business thinking caps on and be serious about things, I present this lecture and workshop taught by the “intrepid” Cathy Gordon and myself on how to be a theatre entrepreneur.

Cathy and I have twice taught this lecture and workshop combo at University of Toronto for their students on how to create their own theatre. For the first time ever we are offering it to the public.

We have over 10 handouts that break down all the basics to be considered when creating the infrastructure that will support you and your work. This is probably the cheapest we will ever offer this course as a measure to spread the word about how awesome it is, so sign up now for the lecture you cannot AF-FORD to miss.  Buh-dum-pum.

PRODUCING AND CREATING INDEPENDENT THEATRE
Cathy Gordon & Michael Wheeler / ADAPT services

“Cathy and Michael’s independent theatre creation workshop at University of Toronto addressed topics that most artists fear to even go near in a way that was both fun and engaging. It helped dispel common misconceptions and confusion about how to get my own work off the ground and left me prepared to take control of my career as an artist.”

Yevgeniya Falkovich (University of Toronto 2010, National Theatre School Directing Program 2013)

Sunday December 12
hub14 / 14 markham street
(Queen & Bathurst)
2pm-6pm
$40
To register: adapt.lecture@gmail.com

Lecture topics include:
*Non-profit v For Profit structures- What Are They
*Producing A,B,Cs
*Toronto opportunities – They Do Exist
*Social Media
*Marketing On A Shoestring
*Grant Writing Tips

Practical Exercises:
*Artistic / Company Visioning
*Budget planning

November 23, 2010, by
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Now What  WB Image #1

Check out the lineup on thewreckingball.ca

November 17, 2010, by
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Brendan Gall’s Wide Awake Hearts now playing at The Tarragon Theatre

by Michael Wheeler

The first time they ever let me in a rehearsal room at The Tarragon Theatre was when I was a Script Coordinator during the 2008/09 Season for Alias Godot by Brendan Gall. Two-and-a-half years later, as Director in Training I found myself once again observing a new work by Brendan be brought to the stage during the tech and preview performances of his latest Tarragon play Wide Awake Hearts.

For me the biggest difference between the two experiences was not going to have a smoke every 1.5 hrs as Brendan and I did pretty much like it was our job regardless of weather during Alias Godot. I don’t know if he’s totally off the rockets, but where there was smoking actually, there are now lines in the play about not smoking:

When busted for abandoning his partner “D” played by Maev Beaty, Raoul Bhaneja’s character “C”, explains: “At least I’m not smoking.” “What do you want a medal?”, she replies. “I don’t know. Can you smoke medals?”, he counters.

I always liked that part, even if it made me want to start smoking a bit – or maybe just try to smoke a medal. They gave me one for finishing the half marathon this fall and it would be a beautiful irony if after using running to get off cigarettes, I then got addicted to smoking the medals they give out to runners.

Anyhow, I asked Brendan if we could chat about the processes and experiences of bringing these plays to the stage on G Chat and turn it into a blog post. He said “yes”. This is the (lightly edited) result during which I entirely forgot to ask him about or bring up the smoking thing:

9:03 PM Brendan GchatBrendan: There you go.
me: Cool so this works?
9:04 PM Brendan: Yup.
me: Great. I might pause to copy/paste.
Brendan: Got it.
me: Im also a shitty typer
Brendan: I might pause to pour tea.
Or take out my contacts. They’re really bugging me.
me: S’all good. Here we go.
9:05 PM Brendan: K.
me: Before we talk about the rehearsal room, I wonder if there was any major differences in how you approached writing the two plays?
Brendan: The plays themselves? Yeah, definitely.
9:06 PM Alias Godot was pretty freewheeling in terms of structure compared to Wide Awake Hearts.
9:07 PM In AG, other than obeying the basic structure of entrances and exits – ie. Vladimir & Estragon are visited by Pozzo & Lucky once in the middle of the first act and once in the middle of the 2nd act, I pretty much just wrote intuitively.
9:08 PM In WAH, I decided that I wanted to see if I could write using structure as a much stricter principle.
9:09 PM So I wrote out all the possible character/scene combinations for a 4-hander: 4 monologues, 6 dialogues, 4 trialogues & 1 scene with all 4 of them.
Then I tried to figure out some sort of balanced arrangement of these scenes.
9:10 PM I ended up using a sort of palindrome with the 4-hander scene in the middle and the second half mirroring the first. Also, I made a rule that there always had to be one carry-over character from the previous scene, so that someone was always getting ripped away from what they were doing and thrown into the next thing. I figured out that structure before I wrote a word and then stuck to that without fail, even when it was super-annoying.
9:11 PM Also, I misspelled palindrome.
You’re gonna spellcheck this right?
Don’t make me look dumb, Wheeler, or I will burn you to the ground.
9:12 PM Getting tea. Keep typing.
Tony Nappo, David Ferry, Alon Nashman, Geoff Pounsett, and Paul Braunstein in Alias Godot.

Tony Nappo, David Ferry, Alon Nashman, Geoff Pounsett, and Paul Braunstein in Alias Godot.

me: So when Gord Rand’s character A in Wide Awake Hearts says” he doesn’t write from theme” that was semi-autobiographical in terms of how you approached the play?
9:13 PM
Brendan: Yeah, although we cut that line during previews.
One of the murdered darlings I miss most.
I think it’s still in the published version.
9:15 PM me: I liked that line, but I also thought the play was way better on opening than in previews, so all those little cuts added up to something good. How did you find the process of whittling away in previews differed between Alias and WAH?
9:17 PM Brendan: Well, again, because Alias was so much more “open,” I think it was a lot easier to cut and add willy-nilly (if I can say “willy-nilly”), and I think I initially got quite excited by that, the romantic notion of making changes very quickly, on the fly as it were, and then ultimately found that quite overwhelming.
9:18 PM I think it’s easy with a new work and the writer in the room to default to solving problems with re-writes, and very quickly, but I’m not always sure it’s the best thing to do.
9:19 PM Of course often it’s going to be the script, but sometimes I think even if it IS a problem, it’s maybe a good problem for actors or a director to have.
I think if you get rid of all the problems you can end up with a very smoothly functioning boring play.
I don’t think Alias Godot was boring, but I also am not sure how well it functioned.
I think I just made too many changes ultimately, and lost the plot a little – figuratively and literally.
9:20 PM This time around I was adamant that I not deviate from my design structure, so there were certain things I just wouldn’t do.
9:21 PM If this was the place where A did his monologue, I knew that would always be true. The monologue could change in content and execution, but it always had to exist and its placement could not change. I think those obstructions helped me a great deal.
9:24 PM me: I remember as Script Coordinator that I was very, very busy during previews of Alias giving out copies of Page 46E and the like, things definitely seemed more measured during WAH tech. Do you think you will continue to anchor yourself with structure on the next play you write? What about palindromes? I am partial to palindromes myself. Just a one-off or are their more palindromes in the future?
9:25 PM Brendan: Oh, well, I could never say goodbye to palindromes forever, I would never paint myself into a corner like that. But surely there are other hidden nerdy structures I could adhere to…
I dunno – I’ve always been quite intuitive with writing, but lately I’m starting to think that’s maybe not the best way to be.
9:26 PM I think I will always have to procrastinate before I write, but maybe I will start procrastinating with some prep-work, like figuring out what the hell the thing’s gonna be about.
I should say though, even though I had this structure in WAH, I still didn’t necessarily know what would be accomplished in each scene. I wasn’t that advanced.
I was still writing my way through a series of dark rooms.
I just knew the layout of the building.
Raoul Bhaneja, Maev Beaty, Lesley Faulkner and Gord Rand in Wide Awake Hearts

Raoul Bhaneja, Maev Beaty, Lesley Faulkner and Gord Rand in Wide Awake Hearts


9:29 PM me: You got your start in The Fringe with A Quiet Place. Now that you’re getting produced by other theatres, what one thing do you wish you knew before you started having your writing produced and developed by other people?
Brendan: Oh man…
9:30 PM me: I had to deliver one non-softball.
Brendan: No, no, keep ’em coming.
I just can’t think of an answer.
9:32 PM me: How about this. What does an aspiring playwright need to do to keep his or her voice intact and get produced by imaginative professionals?
Brendan: I think I wish I had known that sometimes the way to be the best collaborator is to occasionally be absolutely stubborn and unbending about something. Not always, but every once in a while, I think this is very useful.
Right, well there you go.
Don’t show your work to people until you are ready to have it torn apart.
Make sure you know what’s important to you and what you’re not sure of.
9:33 PM Let people help you with the latter and don’t let anyone fuck with the former.
I’m still learning how to do that.
Surround yourself with collaborators you trust and trust them.
That sounds contradictory, but I don’t think it is.
You’re a collaborator too.
9:34 PM And sometimes you have to trust yourself.
And I think good casting is 75% of the work.
me: That’s a pretty good list. I have to take a sec to copy/paste so I don’t lose this.
9:35 PM Brendan: I’m not sure of that percentage.
It might be higher.
Possibly as high as 95%.
But really, good actors will carry you to the promised land.
9:36 PM And bad actors will kill you dead.
I’ve been very lucky with that.
me: Yes. As Director in Training this fact has been drummed into me consistently by all parties.
9:37 PM Brendan: Well. It’s true.
There’s that addage: if you take a barrel of sewage and add a teaspoon of wine, you get sewage. Whereas if you take a barrel of wine and add a teaspoon of sewage… you get sewage.
9:38 PM me: Yes, you have been insanely lucky with that. Even A Quiet Place your “Fringe Show” starred Christopher Stanton and James Cade. Excellent addage.
9:39 PM Brendan: Yeah. I’ve also been very lucky to have directors who trusted me, casting-wise. From Pounsett to Richard Rose to Gina, they all trusted me. I don’t think Pounsett even knew who James Cade was at the time. He might not even have known Stanton, I forget.
9:40 PM Likewise, I don’t think Gina really knew Maev’s work, but those two got on like a house on fire.
9:41 PM I just noticed that Google Chat has an “off the record” feature.
Amazing.
9:42 PM me: That’s great to know: Everyone met for the first time somewhere. I think it’s unlikely many directors will be unaware of Maev’s work much longer. Okay this seems good. Do you want to take a pic of yourself with your computer I can use with this? Thanks for being the guinea pig.
9:43 PM Brendan: Absolutely.
Oh, also, this:

CCFA_Logo_ENG_col_sm

November 10, 2010, by
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(l-r) Metcalf Arts Policy Fellow Shannon Litzenberger, Paul Gross, and Toronto Arts Council Executive Director Claire Hopkinson at The Canadian Conference of the Arts in Ottawa

(l-r) Metcalf Arts Policy Fellow Shannon Litzenberger, Paul Gross, and Toronto Arts Council Executive Director Claire Hopkinson at The Canadian Conference of the Arts in Ottawa

by Michael Wheeler

Here’s a rundown of somewhat-related, hopefully interesting, and only partially self-serving, events and ideas that have been going around the internet lately:

  • Over on The Arts Policy Diaries, Shannon Litzberger reports on Arts Day, organized by The Canadian Arts Coalition on Parliament Hill. Advocates took meetings with a number of Cabinet Ministers, while Shannon steered her X-wing straight for the main reactor to have an hour-long chat with Heritage Minister James Moore.
  • Also in Ottawa, The Canadian Arts Coalition Canadian Conference of the Arts, organized a series of seminars on all things arts related. The big bombshell: CBC reports that the guy who compiled statistics for Richard Florida’s seminal works thinks it’s time to move past this whole “creative economy” idea, noting that leading policy makers to look at the arts as “dollars and cents…has been a trap”.
  • “The insurgent… and uncategorizable”  Cathy Gordon and myself taught a workshop at University of Toronto last weekend titled, Producing and Creating Independent Theatre. More info soon on a non-U of T version available to everyone.
  • The Siminovitch people have published Kim Collier’s acceptance speech and it is, well, here just read it. The Electric Company has already destroyed any reputation I have for objectivity on this website. Still, you should probably read it.
  • Still bummed about the swath of uninspiring choices that presented themselves candidates for Toronto Mayor? Eye Weekly has a great piece on how a Ranked Ballot (RaBIT) could change the quality of candidate and tenor of debate next election.
  • Speaking of which, Wrecking Ball #11: Now What? is coming to The Theatre Centre on December 6th, the evening before Toronto’s new City Council meets for the first time at City Hall. More details as they become available on The Wrecking Ball website.
  • With the release of ex-US President George W Bush’s memoirs Decision Points, comes a new Facebook group dedicated to subversively taking the book and placing it in the crime section of bookstores. Don’t ya like it when things are funny cause they’re true?
November 8, 2010, by
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Naomi Klein addresses a capacity crowd at The Great Hall during a Department of Culture organizing meeting just prior to the 08 federal election

Naomi Klein addresses a capacity crowd at The Great Hall during a Department of Culture organizing meeting just prior to the 08 federal election

November 11, 2010 @ 1087 Queen St. W.

7:00pm
Pre-event with Naomi Klein
Food and drinks provided
Tickets: $100 available at GalleryAC (includes pre-event and main event)

8:00pm
Naomi Klein, Hawksley Workman & LAL
Hosted by Martha Chaves
Tickets: $50 in advance / $60 at the door

Tickets available online at Gallery AC
In person at Rotate This, Soundscapes, Toronto Women’s Bookstore and Another Story

Facebook event here, and while you’re at it, why not follow Naomi on Twitter here

Full event info here

G20 Fundraiser

Hey – remember a few months ago when the federal government elected to turn downtown Toronto into a police state, the provincial government violated the charter  creating phantom laws they later claimed never existed, while the chief of the municipal police force admitted to consciously lying to the public and the media throughout a weekend that resulted in the largest series of civil rights violations in Canadian history?

I do.

So do those arrested under fictitious charges and draconian bail conditions that are a blatant attempt to criminalize dissent. Disagreeing with the government is not a crime. Preventative arrest disregards many of the basic tenets of a legitimate democracy. Police officers that remove their name tags while assaulting peaceful demonstrators in a government sanctioned protest area face at worst a $300 fine, while social justice advocates who engage in their democratic rights face tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees and an uncertain future.

If you got 50 bucks – democratic principals and rule of law ain’t going to restore themselves.