Dear friends, readers and patrons of Praxis Theatre:
We have only until January 7th 2012 to fundraise with a charitable receipt for supporting Jesus Chrysler.
If you are ever going to donate to Praxis Theatre – Now is the time.
Click here to donate & receive a charitable receipt*
This is an exciting time for Praxis Theatre. Jesus Chryslerwas our first production as part of the season of an established Toronto theatre, and the first time we have employed our artists under the Canadian Theatre Agreement.
All of this costs money and we couldn’t do it without the support of our donors. We are so close to reaching our goal, but we need your help to get us there… so we’re calling on our friends across Canada to help this indie company out. We are seeking $25 donations from far and wide from anyone who can contribute to supporting Praxis Theatre.
If you have enjoyed any of the three different works we presented at three stages of development this year, or simply just enjoy reading the blog – a $25 donation from many of you would go a long way toward ensuring there will be more of the same in the future.
Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to seeing you in theatre and on the internet in 2012.
Sincerely,
Michael and Aislinn
*If you choose to donate online through Canada Helps and Theatre Passe Muraille – select “Praxis Theatre – Jesus Chrysler” in the Fund/Designation drop down box.
Vaclav Havel, the Czech dissident playwright who was jailed repeatedly, having his work banned by hardline Communist authorities before becoming the first post-1989 President of Czechslovakia, has died at age 75.
A personification of the potential for praxis between art, activism, and politics, his legacy is nothing less than a transformed country, continent and understanding of what art can achieve.
Central to Havel’s role as a dissident was his role as a signatory and vocal promoter of Charter 77, which led to his imprisonment, and continues to be influential as a political manifesto that advocates for human rights in a global context:
Charter 77 is not an organization. It has not statutes, no permanant organs and no organized membership. Everyone who agrees with ideas behind it participates in its work and supports its members.
Charter 77 is not a base for opposition political activity. It wants to serve the general interest like many similar examples of civic initiatives in various countries – West and East. It does not lay down its own programs of political or social reforms or changes but to engage in the spheres of its activity in a constructive dialogue with the political and state power, especially by calling attention to various concrete instances of the violation of human and civil rights, to prepare documentation on them, propose solutions, submit various general proposals aimed at deepening these rights and guaranteeing them”
Previously denied accreditation by The Harper Government to attend the recent climate talks in Durban, NDP Environment Critic Megan Leslie had risen in Parliament to question Environment Minister Peter Kent about the government’s decision to unilaterally withdraw from Kyoto. When the Minister’s response began with”if she had been in Durban”, deliberately turning the knife on the fact that he had stopped her from going, it was a moment of cataclysmic duplicity sparking outrage from the opposition, culminating in Trudeau calling Minister Kent a “Piece of Shit” (47 secs).
Next Media Animation
Two years ago we blogged about Taipei based NMA as also “possibly a version of internet theatre” just as it was gaining notoriety. At the time, part of our interest stemmed from a contest they were running to have your own avatar become part of the news. They seemed to have stopped that promotion now, but in this case it doesn’t really matter as Canadians are in fact the news.
Rick Mercer
Rick Mercer has been on top of what Canada’s reluctance to accept is global responsibilities by using misleading language like “intensity based targets” for some time. Although some of the responsibility for not implementing Kyoto lies with previous Liberal federal governments, Canada’s global commitments were probably permanently DOA in 2006 when The Harper Government abandoned any pretense of environmental responsibility and this video was made for The Mercer Report.
Aviva Armour-Ostroff as Dee. Set and Costumes by Scott Penner. Photo by Will O'Hare
“Jesus Chrysler is currently onstage at a re-imagined Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace. It is an important Toronto story about our history. My jaw dropped and I said “wow” out loud when I entered the transformed theatre. I was immediately transported into another world and welcomed by fellow comrades. It was like a child seeing Santa’s Village at the mall for the first time.”
George Perry- Mooney on Theatre
No matter what night of the week, you can see Jesus Chrysler for $20. Only $15 for weekend matinees.
As a follow-up to last week’s post, here are the two pieces that I created as a response to The Aftermath and The Debacle. The three workshop productions that are featured at the New Groundswell Festival this year are so incredibly different from one another – in content, style and approach. Nightwood Theatre’s New Groundswell Festival runs until Saturday December 10th. So you’ve still got time to get there!
The Aftermath Materials: Toy Bird’s Nest, Paint, Newspaper Text
The Debacle Materials: Mason Jar, Found Images, Tape, Music Box Blueprint
The Aftermath, by Lisa Codrington, is directed by Audrey Dwyer and features Lisa Codrington and Ijeoma Emesowum.
The Debacle is by Ann-Marie Kerr and Susan Leblanc-Crawford (Zuppa Theatre, Halifax)
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Shira Leuchter makes performance stuff and other art stuff. She recently worked with UnSpun Theatre on a new piece that was performed as part of Harbourfront’s HATCH program.
Her website is here and she collects all of her shallowest thoughts here.
Inspired by the time Eugenia “Jim” Watts’ spent as an ambulance driver during the Spanish Civil War, the game has seven levels of increasing difficulty as you pick up wounded comrades (pinkos), which earns you points while you avoid fascist soldiers, their bullets and boulders.
Cecily got her start making games through The Difference Engine Initiative, which “aims to diversify what kind of videogames are made” by “introducing new gamemakers from under-represented groups”.
What is your high score? Can you finish Save a Pinko? Only Cecily has completed the game so far, so it is difficult to complete but it is possible…
The budget brought forward on November 28 recommends a 10% cut to arts grants totaling $1.94 million. Budget deputations will be heard on December 7 and 8, and the final budget will be approved by City Council on January 17.
Friends of the Arts and its 20,000 supporters from every Ward calls on all City Councillors to support sustained investment in grants to artists and arts organizations in the 2012 budget.
The impact of a $1.94 million cut (10%) to arts grants will be extremely serious for Toronto residents, arts organizations and artists while offering very little short-term savings for the City’s bottom line. It will directly cause:
Reduced investment in Toronto: for every $1 granted by the City, $17.75 is raised from other sources in support of arts organizations. If a 10% cut were applied to Toronto’s arts organizations (large and small) it would translate into a $25 million loss of investment in Toronto, affecting jobs, performances, festivals and exhibitions.
Fewer arts projects in neighbourhoods across the city: TAC currently supports 250 arts projects annually with grants totaling just over $1 million.
Fewer individual artists will receive support: TAC currently supports 200 individual artists including writers, composers, visual and media artists with grants totaling just over $1 million.
Over 20,000 Torontonians from every ward in the City have signed the Friends of the Arts petition, calling on Toronto City Councillors to maintain investment in the arts.
In May 2011, Toronto City Council voted unanimously in favour of the Creative Capital Gains report recommending increased support for the arts to $25 per capita.
The current recommendation would reduce the city’s support for the arts to just $17 per capita, much less than competitive North American cities.
Arts and culture are essential to Toronto’s economy, generating $9 billion every year. The city achieves this economic return on a relatively small arts investment.
130,000 people work in the sector – and many more depend on related businesses, including those in hospitality and tourism.
Toronto’s arts scene is a big part of what makes Toronto a great place to live, work and visit – yet Toronto invests less in the arts than other major cities; City Council has been working to change that, and it must stay the course.
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Friends of the Arts is a network of arts supporters including the following organizations: Arts Vote Toronto, Arts Etobicoke, BeautifulCity.ca, Business for the Arts, Creative Trust, Lakeshore Arts, Scarborough Arts, Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts, Toronto Arts Foundation, Urban Arts.
Margaret Evans as Jim (r) with Jeffrey Wetsch as Nate (l). Photo By Will O'Hare
With a 40-person capacity and a run that closes December 11th, Jesus Chrysler is presented in a special Sunday night performance with Pay What You Can tickets available at the door on Sunday December 4th @ 7:30 PM.
Guess what? Nightwood Theatre’s Groundswell Festival opens today! This year, Nightwood has re-envisioned the festival as a national festival of contemporary women’s theatre. The festival offers masterclasses, workshops, readings and more, and it’s all about process, so it’s really fitting that I’ve been invited to sit in on rehearsals for all three workshop productions for this series.
To start, I sat in on a rehearsal for Jordi Mand’s Between the Sheets. It’s directed by Kelly Thornton and features Susan Coyne and Christine Horne. There’s some really lovely work being done here, and I’m not just saying that because Jordi is my cousin. This is the piece that I created as a response to their process. I’ll share the pieces I make based on both The Aftermath and The Debacle very soon.
Shira Leuchter makes performance stuff and other art stuff. She recently worked with UnSpun Theatre on a new piece that was performed as part of Harbourfront’s HATCH program.
Her website is here and she collects all of her shallowest thoughts here.
“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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