Author: Praxis
After scouring the internet for good uses of YouTube videos to promote Canadian theatrical productions, one thing became crystal clear: Indie companies have this scene locked down! No venued or commercial companies we found really had anything worth posting in this format.
Give it time. The mainstream takes time to co-opt new forms, but they invariably get around to it. It has likely not sunk in that people who watch YouTube promo clips are the NEW audience for theatre and they are still milking the OLD one.
Here are some fine examples of the use of YouTube videos to promote indie productions:
Experimental Indie
Dedicated To The Revolutions
What do you think? Is this the new cost effective way to promote a show, or just a fun hobby for artists with too much time on their hands? Do these clips make you want to see these shows, or are they just entertainment unto themselves?
Any suggestions?
(New picture every time we ask that question from now on.)
Highly recommended interview with Canadian theatre legend Morris Panych on One Big Umbrella today. Never one to pull punches on the internet, Panych gives a series of entertaining and refreshingly uncensored responses to the questions posed by M.K. Piatkowski. Highlights include:
“Who would direct the coolest production of one of your plays?
I can tell you who would direct the uncoolest. The asshole from New York who directed Avenue Q…”
“Where would you like your work to be produced?
It’s a nice feeling to have a play make you some money, so anywhere is fine. That said, one of my favorite recent experiences was going to see Lawrence and Holloman at a little hole in the wall place in Kensington Market…”
“What scares you? What can’t you write about?
…Sometimes I think I should write about being gay but I have nothing to say about that, either. ‘I’m gay’ is not a play; although some people seem to have made a career of it.”
You can read the full interview on One Big Umbrella here.
The provincial government in BC has the arts community piping mad after they reduced arts funding to 1980s levels in a single pre-election budget! (Did these guys pay attention to how well that worked out for the government in the federal election?) Theatre Skam has responded with your typical, “Don’t get mad, record and remix a really hilarious song about it” response. Click the link below to hear:
On Monday February 24th CAEA held its annual AGM. Though attendance in the past has been so poor that quorum has not been achieved, members turned out in exceptional numbers this year. Debate from the floor made clear the motivation behind this unparalleled presence. The Member Resolution put forward by TAPA Indie-Caucus member Mark Brownell prompted this surge in numbers—artists came to vote.
The resolution (with minor amendments), passed with overwhelming support; only one individual voted against it.
Those who spoke in support of the resolution—which deals with member-created work —urged the audience to consider the specific manner in which the way that artists work has changed. Individual members spoke for those from across the country who could not be present, reporting that they see their impetus to create as being stymied by the association. A particular point of emphasis noted the distinction between producers and member-creators. A second distinguishing point was the necessity of making this discussion a national dialogue. The President himself could not help commenting “I am getting a strong message here.” He explained that member-initiated production has been put on Council’s work plan for the next year.
With respect to concerns about the resolution, one speaker suggested that CAEA avoid an influx of too many member-creators and make the agreements available to these artists more difficult to access.
Council meets in March. Equity by-laws place the command of this Member Resolution firmly in the hands of Council. The membership present at the AGM has voted, with quorum. Council now has the opportunity to vote and determine the future of this resolution. Attendance on Monday evening must send to Council a clear signal as to how the resolution and its outcomes might be handled.
Click here for the CAEA Council Info Page
- What would you do in a completely empty hotel room or the hallway in between?
- What is the importance of the audience to this piece?
- Does the risk and imagination stretch beyond the physical confinements?
Launched in 2008, The Performance Gallery (Inside the Box) was one of the SummerWorks Theatre Festival‘s many new initiatives. In its inaugural year, the gallery, which took place on the 2nd floor of the Gladstone Hotel, featured an eclectic group of artists offering everything from short plays to dance to performance art to improvised concerts. This year it returns to the Gladstone (Aug 6- 9 & Aug 13-16th) and is seeking site-specific but not necessarily site-themed pieces (7-10 minutes) in all performance mediums.
Mike Daisey’s visit to Canada was overshadowed by that of another charismatic Yankee who rose to success through a combination of excellent public speaking skills, fully harnessing the potential of the internet, and the notion that a broken system requires change. So it goes.
The basic premise of Daisey’s argument is thus: A system that encourages artists to incur $100,000 + debt while the average wage of graduates hovers somewhere below the poverty line, is a corrupt one that will eventually collapse under the weight of its inability to provide a return for its investors.
This scheme implicates academia, a large swath of artistic institutions, and of course
American Theatre Magazine, whom in a matter of months it seems Daisey has singlehandedly de-legitimized as voice genuinely representing the interest of American artists through a critique of its role promoting and benefiting from deeply flawed institutional and educational models.
If it costs roughly $40,000 a year to go to New York University, and $4000 to go to York University, is NYU ten times “better” than York? What added value does your extra $36,000 a year buy you?
Although there are a number of excellent undergraduate or certificate conservatory programs, there are actually very few MFA theatre programs in Canada period. What’s up with that? Are MFAs necessary at all – or do we not have enough? Two thirds of the cast of our recent production of
Stranger (and the producer) trained in the US after completing an undergrad degree in Canada…
Time to find something new to gossip/speculate aimlessly about. After an exhaustive search, Matthew Jocelyn was announced this morning as Artistic and General Director of Canadian Stage Company.
Was this the right pick? This was not one of the old guard names that had been thrown around ad nauseum over the past few weeks. On the surface though, a born and bred Torontonian who is bilingual and has significant international accomplishments under his belt seems just about right. Care to disagree?
Hello Indie Artists,
I am putting forward an individual member’s motion at Equity’s next AGM on the evening of February 23rd.
The motion is as follows:
“WHEREAS Equity members who create their own work (Member-Creators) are under-represented on Council;
AND WHEREAS there is dissatisfaction among such Equity Member-Creators with the current options to engage Equity artists, including The Independent Artists Projects Policy (the “Indie”), Small Scale Theatre Addendum and Co-op Guidelines that are available to its members;
BE IT RESOLVED THAT steps be taken by Equity staff to address this dissatisfaction by consulting with a committee made up of volunteer CAEA Member-Creators whose purpose is to field concerns and suggestions, gather information and seek advice from fellow CAEA members as well as examine alternative options, devise revisions or alternatives to the current agreements and policies and report back to the business representatives, senior staff and the membership at large.”
I am asking all Equity members in good standing to arrive at 6 p.m. sharp and support this motion when it appears on the agenda. I also request that members be courteous and polite during this meeting. A member’s motion is rare and the President brought this section of the AGM to the general membership’s attention in good faith and with a desire to let all points of view be heard. Now is the chance for you to make a difference in shaping the future policies of your association. We hope that you will attend.
~ Mark Brownell
Praxis Theatre is a member of the Indie Caucus and supports this motion. We encourage CAEA Member-Creators who share our concerns to arrive before 6pm at the Austin Gallery, 1 King St W., 12th floor, Toronto. (@ King Subway Stn.) on Monday February 23rd, 2009.
Finding a way to project this image of Department of Culture’s recent Senate appointments was what started the whole (Wrecking) ball rolling for me.
What the heck just happened?
By Michael Wheeler
In a classic case of careful what you wish for, days after wondering aloud to a colleague how anyone ever got to be part of a Wrecking Ball, I found myself at the centre of the technical side of one.
This was hilarious for many reasons. These included:
- It is possible that some of the alcohol from the Stranger closing night party was still in my system when I arrived at Theatre Passe Muraille on Monday morning.
- I had no real knowledge about how digital projectors worked, but would be running one.
- I had never used Powerpoint before, which all of the images I was responsible for would be stored in and manipulated by – on one of two laptops. I would be unable to determine which one until I arrived.
- As I have stated previously, I believe The Wrecking Ball to be the most exciting thing going on in Canadian theatre right now, and I felt a heavy bias towards not fucking one up.
- Things got more ridiculous when I ended up writing a report on this experience for The Globe and Mail, which critic J. Kelly Nestruck duly posted on their theatre blog, Nestruck on Theatre.
This all occurred over 48 hours, and I gotta say: the one thing I am learning about the theatrosphere is that it pays to act fast and be decisive.
Click the link below to read my Globe and Mail debut:
Click the link below to view a high res-photo of the new DoC Senate:
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