Tonight at midnight 40 people will fill the cage. Photo by Will O'Hare
by Michael Wheeler
Tonight at midnight we are adjusting the way we perform You Should Have Stayed Home. For one night only, the show will be presented as a slightly altered version that includes a cast of 40 instead of the regular 27.
The decision is informed by our desire to present a clear idea:
This is what 40 people crammed into a 10ft by 20ft cage, begging for water looks like. Our set is the same dimensions as the cages at The Eastern Ave. Detention Centre during G20 Toronto, and it will be full of the same number of bodies.
We don’t imagine that this will be in any way a REALISTIC portrayal of what it was like to be detained and deprived of your Charter rights that weekend, but we do think it is something theatre should try to look at.
When I trained as a director at The Tarragon Theatre under Artistic Director Richard Rose we discussed at length the notion that at the end of the day, theatre is people moving through space and time. This is the actual number of bodies, in a good approximation of the space, for about 12 minutes of our hour-long show.
There is an interesting mix of family, friends, and theatre community members joining the cast for one night to contribute to this theatrical experiment. I’m even going in the cage myself. It seems important.
Yesterday’s ruling by a Toronto judge that the police acted as aggressors against peaceful protestors at G20, shows that as a community and a democracy, demanding accountability from our institutions and law enforcement agencies is more urgent than ever. I’m not sure if a piece of theatre can achieve that, but we have decided to try.
“The only organized or collective physical aggression at that location that evening was perpetrated by police each time they advanced on demonstrators… The zealous exercise of police arrest powers in the context of political demonstrations risks distorting the necessary if delicate balance between law enforcement concerns for public safety and order, on the one hand, and individual rights and freedoms, on the other”
Justice Melvyn Green – in a 29-page ruling released yesterday
Moderator:
Emily Burke, managing editor, The Mark News
Panelists: Tommy Taylor, playwright/performer of You Should Have Stayed Home Ajamu Nangwaya, labour lawyer specializing in police accountability Nathalie Des Rosiers, General Counsel of Canadian Civil Liberties Association
Midnight Show: 40 people in the cage
Aug 12th @ midnight
Photo by Will O'Hare
About a month ago we made the decision to put forty people in the cage with Tommy for a portion of the show. Our approach to the piece changed in a lot of ways after that, including putting a desk in the middle of the stage, so we ended up needing about 27 performers to make room for our new approach.
Beyond the practicalities of bodies in space, we felt it was the right decision artistically as what we were creating wasn’t living anywhere close to realism.
Why 40? Because that is the number of people who were in Tommy’s cage, which is the exact same dimensions of our set at The Eastern Avenue Detention Centre.
So we have decided to pursue this approach for one show only – The Midnight Show! Joining our volunteer detainees will be members of the production team, friends of the show and some members of the theatre community. For one night only, lets look at what 40 Canadian citizens stuffed into a metal cage with no access to water looks like.
Final Show
August 13 @ 10pm
This is probably our best show time and the last show of the run. It’s gonna be packed. Buy in advance, or show up early to get in. They hold 1/2 of the tickets to be available at the door 1hr before the performance.
Photo by Will O'Hare
2 – The critical response thus far
Globe and Mail theatre critic J Kelly Nestruck tweeted immediately following the opening night show
So far we have received two reviews for the show and they are, well, contradictory. Meyerhold would be proud!
NOW Magazine‘s Jordan Bimm reviewed the show, giving it NNN, but was disappointed with the show’s choice to have Tommy tell his story instead of live it in terms of performance style.
“The adaptation could go further – with more parts acted than recounted – but as it stands this is a sad but important piece of Canadian history.”
Meanwhile S. Bear Bergman reviewed the show for Mooney on Theatre (which does not rate shows out of 4 or 5) and was enthusiastic about the choice, comparing the performance style to Spalding Gray:
“Tommy Taylor’s You Should Have Stayed Home, which has more than lived up to its pre-SummerWorks hype…YouShould Have Stayed Home is in many ways the truest testament to the power of a likable narrator.”
So there you have it, the only way to weigh in on this is to come check it out.
Back in the winter, Tommy was interviewed as one of four subjects that were focused on in a CBC Fifth Estate documentary about G20, during which Tommy told CBC about his plan to make a play about his experience. Low and behold – when the show airs, it shared the same name as the play Tommy was planning on creating (plus the word AT).
We’re not complaining – this was a great publicity boost for the show and the documentary was very well received. So much so that it was just nominated for a Gemini award for best writing in a documentary. Congrats to journalist Gillian Findlay on her nomination for bringing some of the consequences of G20 Toronto to viewers across the country.
Tommy Taylor reads from the script at one of our BIG rehearsals
In the current configuration and story-telling methods this means we have probably room for 5-7 more guys in the cage. It will be just fine without them – there are some objects on stage that did not exist in reality, and what we are doing is much more representative rather than a re-creation, at this point, but why stop now?
You can either do it, or you can’t. If you can do it, we want you, especially if you are a guy. We are pretty good with women, though we could probably take two more.
Here are the details. Email info@praxistheatre.com to let us know you’re coming – or heck – just show up to rehearsal #3. Today at 6pm.
All rehearsals and performances @ The Theatre Centre.
REHEARSALS
July 29 – 6-10 PM & July 30 – 1-5 PM
TECHNICAL REHEARSAL –
Aug 4, 11 AM – 3 PM
PERFORMANCES – The Theatre Centre
August 4, 5 PM
August 6, 2:30 PM
August 7, 10 PM
August 10, 7:30 PM
August 12, MIDNIGHT
August 13, 10 PM
by Michael Wheeler
Director – You Should Have Stayed Home
Rehearsals are sometimes an unpredictable place. Ideas come and go, scenes are rearranged, staging is adjusted, and sometimes, as was the case yesterday, you can arrive at a fundamental realignment of your strategy:
We don’t need just men to tell this story – we need at least ten women to tell a ten-minute section of You Should Have Stayed Home at Summerworks.
So it goes. It makes sense artistically. It makes sense practically. And we were also growing uncomfortable with excluding half the population from participating in this project.
So, new game plan:
If you are a guy – still get in touch. Although we have had huge a number of men express interest, we still don’t have enough confirmations. We still NEED to hear from you.
If you are female – we currently have at least 10 open slots, open on a first email first reserved basis. You don’t have to be a performer, you do have to be able to work with others in a safe and structured environment.
Relevant Details:
(If you can’t make one of the rehearsals – we can still make it happen.)
If you are available for 3 or 4 rehearsals next week – you can join the cast for a 10-minute scene with 39 other people. You don’t have to be an experienced performer- as long as you can work with other people.
To learn more email info@praxistheatre.com.
2 – Form a strategic partnership with the production
Strategically, what we need to make this piece go is cash. Funding cuts to Summerworks by Heritage Canada have increased ticket prices, but artists involved in the festival don’t receive that increase – the festival does. So we have the same product at an increased price, with no increase in revenue. Strategically we need to pursue multiple revenue streams, like partnerships with engaged citizens just like you. Click here to get strategic.
3 – Come to the show
Dates: Aug 4th @5pm, Aug 6th @ 2:30pm, Aug 7th @ 10pm, Aug 10th @ 7:30pm, Aug 12th @ midnight, Aug 13th @10pm
Location: The Theatre Centre, 1087 Queen St. W. Click for Map
Tickets: Info on how to buy tickets available via Summerworks.
4 – Follow us online
The show has a Facebook Page and Praxis has an active Twitter Account – both of which will be full of info and stories surrounding the production.
5 – Spread the word
Do you know someone who may be interested in this sort of thing? Tell them about it. Word of mouth is the single most powerful factor that can drive awareness of a production. Use Facebook, drinks with old friends, Twitter, family dinner, sports practice, etc. There are a lot of venues where you can say, “Hey did you hear about this G20 play where….”.
Looking forward to your involvement with the piece!
The proceeds frorm these nation-wide readings will go to the recently de-funded Summerworks Festival
by Michael Wheeler
Today will see over 70 companies across the country join together in readings of the play Homegrown by Catherine Frid, in an impressive display of solidarity amongst Canadian theatre artists.
As one of these 70, it is a heartfelt honour for Praxis Theatre to join our peers from coast-to-coast in an action that supports the notion that art is created within an ecosystem, and that it is a slippery slope down the road towards censorship if a government only forms relationships with artists that support or reinforce its ideological agenda.
As a final note, a tip of the hat to playwright Catherine Frid who didn’t ask for any of this but lends her play to the entire country tonight. And another to event organizer Michael Healey for showing leadership in pursuit of solidarity in a time when we needed both.
Momentum grows for nation-wide performances of Homegrown by all theatre organizations that receive federal funding in protest of Summerworks Festival being defunded by Federal Government
Last week, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty followed up the Summerworks announcement with this statement:
“One thing I’d say, and maybe it’s different than it used to be, is we actually don’t believe in festivals and cultural institutions assuming that year after year after year they’ll receive government funding. They ought not assume entitlement to grants … no organization should assume in their budgeting that every year the government of Canada is going to give them grants because there’s lots of competition, lots of other festivals, and there are new ideas that come along. So it’s a good idea for everyone to stay on their toes and not make that assumption.”
While it may seem reasonable to suggest that arts organizations shouldn’t simply expect automatic renewal of funding, there is no argument to be made for this kind of cut to an organization with a strong record of meeting and exceeding its mandate, announcing consecutive years of record-breaking attendance and growth.
The cumulative message behind the Summerworks axe and the statement by the Finance Minister could not be more clear:
If you create work that critiques the Harper Government – we will take away your funding.
So begins what will likely be a challenging era for cultural institutions that are committed to making groundbreaking work which may (gasp) challenge the dominant value system – or just aren’t interested in being propagandists for a mean-spirited regime designed to respond to the commands of a leader who cannot tolerate criticism. When L’Etat C’est Moi is the rule of the day – and Moi has a big problem with people putting on plays about ideas he doesn’t agree with – Houston We Have A Problem.
Even if we accept for a moment that promoting already famous people like Alex Trebek is a good idea that needs support from taxpayer dollars, how on earth do they imagine artists on very rare occasions become famous? They struggle to hone their craft in festivals devoted to groundbreaking work just like Summerworks, which has an extraordinary record as the birthplace for a number of the most exciting new works in Canadian performance. Last year’s Summerworks hit, Ride The Cyclone, recently announced an off-Broadway deal as a direct result of participating in Summerworks.
After traveling from Victoria BC to Toronto to participate in the National Series at Summerworks, Atomic Vaudeville's 'Ride The Cyclone' get a chance to take their show to NYC.
Almost none of the artists involved in Summerworks will be paid a living wage. Practically everyone doing a Summerworks show is working a second/third job and knows the best they can hope for financially is a small honorarium and that the show will go on to have a greater life after the festival. Everyone participating does it anyhow – because they know that Summerworks is an important place for new contemporary performance in Canada.
All of this is to say giving Summerworks the axe is an extremely poor approach to public policy and the cultural equivalent of poisoning the well.
The immediate impact of this politically motivated intervention in cultural policy is that ticket prices will go up and the marketing budget will go down. All tickets, including for the Praxis Theatre/The Original Norwegian Co-Pro, You Should Have Stayed Home, are now going up by 50% to $15. ($10 + $5 FST*) *Free Speech Tax. Summerworks is also in the midst of a grassroots fundraising campaign you can participate in here.
Canadian Actors Equity Association’s Executive Director Arden R. Ryshpan was the first member of the theatre community to respond to the situation with a statement released by CAEA last week:
“It is hard to interpret the Minister’s statement as anything but a threat and a potential ideological attack on the arts. I don’t recall seeing similar statements made about long-term government support to other industries such as forestry, fisheries or mining. Given that our industry is larger than all three of these sectors combined, we deserve better from our Government including meaningful consultation leading to thoughtful program change and development, if required. An off-the-cuff remark by a Minister alluding to substantial change of practice is shocking and imprudent.”
Artists across the country have also independently begun to respond positively and pro-actively to the situation. The Globe and Mail reports Western Edge Theatre in Nanaimo, B.C. will perform a public reading of Homegrown on July 15 with all proceeds going to The Summerworks Festival.
Multi Dora-winning Shaw and Tarragon playwright Michael Healey has sent out a call to action to all Artistic Directors of organizations that receive Federal arts funding to join Western Edge Theatre in performing a reading of the play, whether or not they participate in the fundraising initiative. Healey has offered to provide scripts and keep a list of participating companies so that the initiative can continue to gain momentum.
This is not the type of storm theat can be weathered by hoping they won’t come for you. Or if they do survive it that way – lets talk about how relevant the work those theatres end up putting on will be. Will Stephen Harper’s vision of Canada be the only art that forms partnerships with the government? The final sentence of Michael Healey’s message to AD’s of Canadian Theatres urging them to participate in a nationwide reading of Homegrown expresses best the necessity of a national response to this attack on Canadian culture:
“If you find yourself anxious about the potential ramifications for your own company’s federal funding as a consequence of taking part in this demonstration, I can think of no better reason for participating in it.”
On that note, the Dora Awards are coming up in Toronto. To keep the hype building, TAPA has released, In The Wings: Episode 2 – Richard Lee. The awards go down Monday, June 27 at 8pm at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts in the Bluma Appel Theatre. Praxis will be live-tweeting from the event – but maybe not so much about the results.
The Executive Director of ACTRA Toronto argues that at its core, attending a live event is more powerful than watching a broadcast on a screen. The best broadcasting can offer “is finding ways to broaden out the experience without losing it.” Brian Topp then goes on to make a few other salient points – including not closing the door on collaborative progressive partnerships.
Earlier this week, cycling advocate Dave Meslin put on a bit of political theatre, in a clinic on how to combine media, on-the-ground activism and digital self-publishing, to achieve a tangible result in forcing the city to revise their cycling statistics for John St. Too bad the next day, four suburban city councilors out voted two downtown city councilors to remove bike lanes from Jarvis St. Have you bought/renewed your membership with The Bike Union? It seems they will be in need of additional resources.
Here’s some things I was wondering about in the cultural world: What’s going on with The Canada Prizes and Rob Ford’s New Arts and Culture Advisor? Or will none of these things exist in the future? If this is the case will there ever be a press release about the absence of these things – or will they just slowly melt away?
IN THE WINGS: Episode One – David Ferry – The first in a series on the Dora Mavor Moore Awards with special correspondent A. Jelly Konstruct
At the Dora nominee press conference David Ferry was announced at the winner of the 2011 Barbara Hamilton Memorial Award given to a Canadian artist who demonstrates excellence in the performing arts, and is dedicated to advocating to being and ambassador for the arts. It is awarded each year by The City of Toronto. Below is his acceptance speech.
I am so honoured to be this year’s recipient of the Barbara Hamilton Award for Excellence in the Performing Arts/ I am humbled to be among the superb company of previous recipients: all artists I so fortunately know or have known and worked with. Each of them have been in their ways trailblazers and mentors, and I don’t know if I can actually carry their laundry, but I have been fortunate to have walked under their lights.
RH Thompson spoke last year so eloquently about the lack of funding and proper physical housing for our truly groundbreaking theatre companies here, and he sounded a chord for me about those things I often feel we don’t get right in Toronto. More and more I believe that as an artist I have to take increased responsibility for those things which are not happening in our Theatre community, instead of placing responsibility solely at the feet of others. Daunting , I know, but there are some simple things that I believe I can take more responsibility for:
Firstly, mentoring …look at the fine work Martha Burns has done getting younger people into theatre;
Secondly, political activism…RH Thomson and Eric Peterson both have been strong engagers in political dialogues of many shapes and types…and thirdly by reaching out to the larger public in increasingly creative ways…Albert has been engaged in using this space to do just that, just as Douglas Cambell did before him with The Canadian Players and George Luscombe did with TWP.
And thirdly we must find new ways to speak about our art-form in an intelligent way to the world at large.
I despair to see the decreased coverage of the Theatre in the traditional media (and the critics are not the enemy here, they despair too I am certain); a Media that is morphing as we speak, and which is, world-wide, giving up the ground of serious arts coverage to banal consumerism and unformulated pop reporting. I find myself wondering what I can do to affect change in how our art-form is covered and disseminated via alternative models? Perhaps ways not entertained by our unions and producers when the templates for our current artist/producer agreements were first conceived.
I despaired to see, during our recent federal election, such rampant cynicism on display. Many of us vented via social networking in an unprecedented way. But my despair came from my personal realization that I will accomplish nothing in trying to convince the public at large that what I do, what we do is essential to a healthy, pluralistic society by simply harping to people of a similar mindset via Facebook; but only by becoming active amongst my neighbours in the larger community..by actually volunteering for a political party, or lobbying group or community organization..by engaging in a true dialogue with the community beyond mine perhaps I can make a real impression about what should be important to us as a culture.
And I despair when I see reduced opportunities for younger artists in the theatre due to economic restrictions and reduced work opportunities that can actually pay a living wage. I know that offering mentorship to those artists is essential, we are after all part of a long line of people who, going before us, pass out their hands to those that follow, and this we must do too…if we do, while engaging in the outward looking, activist dialogue I mentioned just now, those young artists will pass back to those that follow them the ethics of engagement, and they will create new forms, not just Konstantin’s new forms of theatre, but new forms of communication that penetrate and influence the larger more distant circles of community within which we are just a small (but essential) wheel within a wheel a turning.
“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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