There is no more prestigious or lucrative prize in Canadian theatre than the $100,000 Siminovitch Prize. The annual award cycles through directors, playwrights and designers each year. This year, it was awarded to a professional director who advances Canadian theatre through a body of work achieved in recent years, while influencing and inspiring younger theatre artists. $25,000 of the award must be awarded to a protege of the winner’s choice – this year Collier chose director and The Chop Co-Artistic Director Anita Rochon.
Both Rochon and Collier work out of Vancouver’s Progress Lab 1422, where Rochon is also Associate Artistic Producer with Rumble Productions . Neither director is stranger to Toronto: Collier’s No Exit dazzled at Buddies last year while her Studies in Motion comes to Canadian Stage in November. Meanwhile Rochon’s Kismet One to One Hundred wowed audiences as part of Free Fall last year at The Theatre Centre.
Congratulations to both, and indie theatre in Vancouver a little bit too.
Kim Collier
Prior to her career as a director, Kim studied acting at the University of Victoria, physical theatre at Mime Unlimited in Toronto and in 1994 graduated from the 3 year acting program at Studio 58 in Vancouver. A year later she co-founded Electric Company Theatre whose work quickly became recognized nationally as a driving force behind the resurgence of activity in Vancouver’s independent theatre scene.
Under the direction of Collier, the company has created a dozen original works through an intensive collaborative process including three landmark site-specific productions. Kim also has a growing presence on major stages and festivals across Canada with productions at Theatre Calgary, Festival TransAmerique, National Arts Centre, the Citadel Theatre and Canadian Stage. In 2011 her live-cinematic interpretation of No Exit is being presented by the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. Kim is the recipient of multiple awards including three Jessie Richardson awards for directing, a Betty Mitchell for Best Production and in 2009 the Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Award.
Previous Siminovitch Prize Recipients:
Toronto director, Daniel Brooks in 2001;
Montreal playwright, Carole Fréchette in 2002;
Montreal designer, Louise Campeau in 2003;
St. John’s director, Jillian Keiley in 2004;
Toronto playwright, John Mighton in 2005;
Toronto set and costume designer, Dany Lyne in 2006;
Montréal director, Brigitte Haentjens in 2007;
Toronto playwright, Daniel McIvor in 2008;
Calgary and Toronto designer, Ronnie Burkett in 2009.
“They say that if you think you are crazy, then you aren’t. People say that. Right? So the opposite must be true too. If you aren’t crazy, then people say they think you are?”
Renna Reddie is producing for Eldritch Theatre’s Madhouse Variations by Eric Woolfe. She hasn’t been able to sleep properly since the dress run and doesn’t like being backstage alone with all the puppets.
Halfway through the final round of voting for The Canadian Blog Awards, I thought is would be a good idea to point out that there are a good many incredible Canadian blogs that are not involved in the competition. Perhaps they are unaware, don’t care, or both. People use the internet for all sorts of reasons and having a blog is not necessarily a popularity contest.
Here’s just some of the great blogs just from Ontario, in the realm of culture and/or politics, that I read from time to time that I noticed weren’t in this year’s competition:
Unedit my heart: Leah Sandals is a Toronto-based art critic. Her blog allows her to amalgamate all her writings for various media in one place as well as have a forum to publish the other art-related things she is thinking about. The comments section often erupts in genuine dialogue about the role and nature of art. As a theatre guy I have found this portal an interesting introduction to the Toronto art scene.
Mez Dispenser: Dave Meslin is a musician who plays with the Hidden Cameras and frankly Toronto’s most prolific activist. Amongst other activities, he is credited with being involved in the creation of the Toronto Bike Union, City Idol, The Toronto Public Space Committee, and RaBit. The blog is not updated regularly, as “Mez” is often being more effective as an organizer on Facebook where he has 3,122 friends. Still, a good blog to keep bookmarked as it has all the highlights of whatever he is currently engineering.
The Arts Policy Diaries: Shannon Litzenberger is a dance artist, writer, director and as well as the first-ever Metcalf Arts Policy Fellow. This means Shannon is an established creator and performer who is spending a lot of time exploring the relationship between arts policy and practice at all levels of government. As part of this Fellowship she is blogging about the issues and concepts she encounters. If you consider yourself a Canadian arts policy nerd – make this your homepage for the next year. It will make you happy.
Inside Politics (author0b70f): Kady O’Malley is one of CBC’s Ottawa based political bloggers and rumored to be the fastest operator of a blackberry keyboard north of the 49th Parallel. I was reticent to include a blog by a journalist that is hosted by a corporation, but decided to for three reasons: 1) Praxis Theatre is a not-for-profit corporation, 2) Susan Delacourt’s blog, who is essentially Kady’s contemporary at The Toronto Star, is also nominated in the “Best Overall” category of the CBAs, 3) Anyone whose live blogging of parliamentary committees can consistently make me squirt coffee out my nose gets special consideration.
Struts and Frets: Kris Joseph is an Ottawa based blogger, bon vivant, and an actor who performs frequently at The National Arts Centre. I feel like this blog is the closest thing there is to praxistheatre.com in Ottawa. It’s mostly about theatre, but like myself, it seems Kris can’t help discussing politics from time to time. Kris is also the Chair of CAEA’s Independent Theatre Review Committee, which I just wrote about recently. He is a busy guy.
Theatre Ontario: If we’re going to list great somewhat-theatre-related blogs in Ontario, then imagine how pissed Communications Coordinator Brandon Moore would be if I skipped the Theatre Ontario Blog! This is where you can catch all the openings in the province each week, as well as news about who has won this award, and who got that residency, and all the other ephemera you’re probably silently keeping tabs on if you make theatre in Ontario.
The Old Soul: Amy Pagnotta is a musician, television producer, and actor who recently appeared in the hit indie film No Heart Feelings. I’ve been friends with Amy since 1999 when she was an assistant stage manager of McGill University’s undergraduate original adaptation of Gogol’s The Nose directed by Alexander Marine (which I still consider one of the top three shows I’ve ever acted in). This is a very cool blog that unlike the rest listed here, seems to have no particular agenda – other than providing Amy with a venue to express whatever is going on with her through words, image, sound and video.
Yves Jacques was interviewed about The Anderson Project when it toured to Philadelphia.
by Michael Wheeler
This morning I watched the dress rehearsal for ex Machina’s The Anderson Project, directed by Robert Lepage, starring Yves Jacques at Canadian Stage. It is fairly astounding. I will leave it to the critics to dissect all the craziness, but I think it is safe to say that this is must-see material for theatre creators who live remotely near the Toronto area.
This show has been touring since it opened in London in 2006 and for good reason: The technical creativity that goes into the opening credits sequence alone is a little humbling. A projector hooked up to an infra-red scanner that can tell what it is projecting on, and a set attached to a vacuum system that can expand and contract, are just a small part of what you DON’T notice while Lepage weaves at least three tales together in a multi-character drama starring a single actor.
Thanks to Canadian Stage for allowing me to watch it be loaded in and teched for the past couple of days as part of my training program. The Anderson Project is only here for 10 days. I almost missed Lipsynch a year-and-a-half ago and the thought makes me shiver with hypothetical dismay in retrospect.
Naheed Nenshi was elected the first Muslim mayor of a major Canadian city in Calgary last night. He overcame a heavily favoured campaign run by Stephen Harper’s strategists for well-financed Conservative alderman Ric McIver through the use of charisma, vision, and social media. In this Ted Talk he describes his philosophy about and research into how cities grow.
by Michael Wheeler
My Facebook feed was an explosion of political thought yesterday.
One week before Toronto’s municipal election, twopolls came out putting ex-Liberal cabinet minister George Smitherman in a dead heat with Conservative endorsed Rob Ford, while polls showed defacto-NDP candidate Joe Pantalone to be up to twenty-five percentage points behind.
The opinions expressed by my facebook friends, many of whom I had never seen express their political thoughts publicly, embraced one of two competing narratives
Position A: It’s not strategic voting, it’s rational voting: This camp, as exemplified by the post written by Globe and Mail theatre critic Kelly Nestruck on his personal blog, argues for the rational approach to electing a mayor. In a system without runoff voting, your job is to make the best choice you can from the options presented. Life isn’t perfect and either are elections. If you know your candidate isn’t going to win, it is a waste to vote for him or her.
Position B: It’s not strategic to abandon your principles for a right-of-centre candidate: This perspective, as expressed in today’s column by Toronto Star columnist Royson James, argues that there is little practical difference between Ford and Smitherman’s policies. In particular, for progressive voters, there is very little to identify with or embrace in the platforms of the two leading candidates. Even if he loses, in the bigger picture, it is better to cast a vote for the one candidate who isn’t talking about cutting services and taxes.
Surprise! None of my facebook friends spoke out for Ford and only one spoke out for Smitherman based on his platform or abilities.
Just to add a little spice to the mix – yesterday Toronto officials reported attendance at advance polling stations was up a whopping 82.5% from the previous election. Although some of this can be attributed to a well-organized Ford campaign getting their supporters to the polls early, these kind of numbers indicate something greater shifting in the electorate. Later that night, unabashedly progressive and Muslim candidate Naheed Nenshi was elected Mayor of Calgary. In post-election analysis, The Globe and Mail concluded Facebook and social media tools were the game changer that brought Canada its first Muslim mayor.
Where does that leave us here in Toronto 6 days from E-Day? What is actually strategic? Is Smitherman really “as bad” as Ford? Is it more rational to vote based on polling over principals and policies? Is the process of casting a vote that rational an activity? Is there something they know in Calgary that we don’t know here?
All I know for certain is this would be a good start.
Matthew Walker is currently directing Litmus Theatre’s Matchbox Macbeth, an eerie and magical hour-long adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic in a backyard shed. Oct 21-31, Thu-Sun at 7 and 9pm. PWYC, ($10 suggested donation).
Secret Location in the heart of Little Italy revealed with email booking to matchboxmacbeth@gmail.com.
New bail conditions placed on activist Alex Hundert mean he is now banned from speaking to the media. This bail condition comes after he was arrested for speaking on a G20-themed panel at Ryerson University which was deemed by police "attending a demonstration" - also against the law in his case.
by Michael Wheeler
Only total disregard and contempt for democratic rights could lead to a Canadian citizen being informed he or she may not speak on a university panel or to the media or they will be arrested. Especially when that person is talking articulately about the largest series of mass arrests and civil rights violations in Canadian history.
The police and Crown justification to this “unprecedented” infringement of rights is that allowing Alex Hundert to speak may endanger public safety. This excuse is so poor, distasteful, and utterly unconvincing, that it is an unmitigated insult to anyone who just wasted brain power considering it.
Bottom line: we have a constitution that means something (The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms), or we do not. For it to exist in any meaningful way, it must enshrine the right of citizens who wish to speak both for and against the government. If it doesn’t do this very basic job then it totally useless, and Canada is one-step from being a tinpot dictatorship. “Rights” as we understand them in our society are beginning to have anything other little more than a cursory, symbolic meaning. If this ruling stands, it is safe to say we no longer live in a free and democratic society.
Now I am not a lawyer. I have never even taken my LSATs – but a cursory glance at the Charter indicates nine different rights the Crown and police have violated in this case:
Fundamental freedoms
2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
(a) freedom of conscience and religion;
(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
(d) freedom of association.
Life, liberty and security of person
7. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.
Detention or imprisonment
9. Everyone has the right not to be arbitrarily detained or imprisoned.
Arrest or detention
10. Everyone has the right on arrest or detention
(a) to be informed promptly of the reasons therefor;
(b) to retain and instruct counsel without delay and to be informed of that right; and (c) to have the validity of the detention determined by way of habeas corpus and to be released if the detention is not lawful.
Proceedings in criminal and penal matters
11. Any person charged with an offence has the right
(a) to be informed without unreasonable delay of the specific offence;
(b) to be tried within a reasonable time;
(c) not to be compelled to be a witness in proceedings against that person in respect of the offence; (d) to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law in a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal; (e) not to be denied reasonable bail without just cause;
Treatment or punishment
12. Everyone has the right not to be subjected to any cruel and unusual treatment or punishment.
You might not know it reading this space lately, but Toronto is not the only municipality having a municipal election in Ontario on October 25th. In fact they all are!
To celebrate their civic conundrum, The Wrecking Ball crew in Ottawa has put together an event for the occasion with new political works by Pierre Brault, Todd Duckworth, Kris Joseph, Catriona Leger, Kevin Loring, Glenn Nuotio, Alix Sideris and Dennis Van Staalduinen. All proceeds are split between Actor’s Fund of Canada and Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
Meanwhile here in Toronto, political heads are spinning following the release of a new ICAN-Reid Poll that shows Pantalone solidly in first place with Ford and Smitherman tied a distant second. It remains unclear what effect this will have on other electoral conversations going on in the theatrosphere in places like here and here.
The One Toronto campaign to change the tenor and tone of the municipal election appears to be gaining momentum. Despite the negative rhetoric that pushed some candidates into the lead early on, the tide seems to be turning towards a discourse that embraces a positive and inclusive vision for the city. Pantalone’s consistently positive campaign and Smitherman’s new upbeat ads all point towards a race to the finish line that is defined by who wants to be mayor of an incredible city and not who wants to trash it.
“After the years and years of weaker and waterier imitations, we now find ourselves rejecting the very notion of a holy stage. It is not the fault of the holy that it has become a middle-class weapon to keep the children good.”
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