A couple of guests who passed out early - Image by Aislinn Rose

Recently we held a fundraiser at the home of one of our generous donors, Irfhan Rawji, and we’d like to take a moment to offer thanks. We had an amazing line-up of artists and performers from our community, and want to thank everyone who attended, volunteered, created art, played music, or sent us good tidings.

When we began planning our fundraiser, we also set up an IndieGoGo page for people who wished to contribute but couldn’t attend. That campaign ends at 11:59pm on Tuesday, July 3rd.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE

We are currently preparing for a national tour of the award-winning You Should Have Stayed Home, but we’re also looking for help from our readers with our less obvious activities: with your assistance, Praxis Theatre will be able to continue the work we do with praxistheatre.com, as well as our performative experiments with social media and live audiences.

These projects take time and resources, your donation will allow us to have the tools and the time we need to continue with this experimentation.

Fundraiser gallery images by Dennis Hanagan unless credited otherwise.

The hands of live artists Lorena Torres during Aluna Theatre's critically acclaimed Nohayquiensepa

Video artist Lorena Torres will be creating live projected imagery throughout the evening.

MUSIC

As guests arrive they’ll be greeted by the steel-string folk & blues stylings of Praxis friend Ian Rennie. Later in the evening, Local 164, made up of Gordan Bolan, Jenny Young, Jason O’Brien and Dave Chan, will play from their set of Americana/Roots songs. You can also check them out at the Evergreen Brickworks on the June 16th.

PERFORMANCE

Tommy Taylor - You Should Have Stayed Home

Tommy Taylor will be on hand to perform a short piece from our award-winning SummerWorks hit, You Should Have Stayed Home, co-produced by The Original Norwegian.

MENU

This is just a selection of some of the gourmet morsels we’ll be serving

Ceviche

Salmon tartar

with dill, lemon zest, and chives, garnished with yoghurt cream and served on a beet root chip.

Ceviche

with red chili, shallots, mango, cilantro, and citrus juice, served on a plantain chip.

Watermelon, feta, and mint bite

Watermelon cubes stuffed with fresh mint and feta salad.

Wine provided by Reif Estate Winery

Zucchini Latkes

Garnished with yoghurt cream and fresh peas

Praxis Gourmet Sliders

1. Fresh all beef patty with roasted tomato jam, homemade garlic pickles, radicchio

2 Fresh pork sausage patty with orange marmalade mustard and grape salsa

3. Mushroom, sweet onion aioli, aged cheddar

Coconut lime ice cream

Pavlova

Mini meringue cups filled with orange and rhubarb compote garnished with whipped cream and toasted almonds

Assorted ice cream and sorbets

1. Coconut lime ice cream garnished with toasted coconut

2. Strawberry ice cream with graham cracker and pecan streusel

We hope you can make the party. If you are unavailable to attend, donations of any size will be gratefully accepted at:

indiegogo.com/PraxisTheatre

THE ESSENTIALS

When: Monday, June 11th – 6:30pm
Where: 358 Wellesley St. East
How much: $75 (but ask us about our artist rate)
How to reserve: info@praxistheatre.com

Hope You Can Make It

Praxis Theatre 2011 Season

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 Chrysler was 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.

Our 1930s-themed, open-bar, live art, performance and music soiree is shaping up to be the most memorable Praxis Party so far. Email info@praxistheatre.com to reserve your sliding scale $50-$75 ticket today while they are still available.

761 Bay Street on Friday November 4th from 6:30pm to 10pm.

Who wants to hit the open bar with Jim Watts? Photo by Will O'Hare

Artwork created on the spot to be auctioned off by:

Paul ‘SnowyOwl‘ Aloisi

Adrian ‘Sawtay‘ Hayles

Shira ‘Your Process is Showing‘ Leuchter

On Friday November 4^th, Praxis Theatre is throwing a 1930s-themed party on Bay Street in the lead up to our premiere of Jesus Chrysler by Tara Beagan at Theatre Passe Muraille. We may have booked the location long ago, but in the spirit of our play, and the recent emergence of The Occupy Movement we’re going with: Praxis Theatre Occupies Bay Street.

Our last party at the same location was a big hit.

This fundraising soirée, full of gourmet food and drink alongside art, performances, and 1930s inspired music by local artists will take place in a gorgeous reception room located at 761 Bay Street on Friday November 4th from 6:30pm to 10pm.

Tickets are available on a sliding scale of $50-$75 depending on what part of the 99% you are a part of. (Don’t worry, we welcome the 1% as well – and perhaps you’d like to donate to Occupy Toronto.) This is an all-inclusive ticket, and you’ll be provided with a charitable receipt for the price of your ticket minus the value of food and drink ($25). To reserve, please email us at info@praxistheatre.com.

More information on the fundraiser and other options for making a donation to Jesus Chrysler can be found here on the facebook event, and information on Jesus Chrysler and purchasing tickets can be found here on the Theatre Passe Muraille website.

Click here to go straight to Theatre Passe Muraille’s Canada Helps page.

Hope to see you November 4th!

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

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

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

Live tunes, original artwork, sweet patio - good times await at The Press Club on Thursday July 15

Hey remember how much fun it is when Praxis throws a party? No? Refresh your memory with these pics here and here.

This year there are perfromances by Freeman Dre and The Kitchen Party, complete with work by visual artist Andrew Shay Hahn in an event called PRAXIS @ PRESS CLUB.

We’d love to see you there so open up your iCal, or get out your Daytimer, or whatever it is that you do when you decide to go to a place at a certain time – and write us in.  We’ll be there from right after work, till late in the night.

All proceeds go to the ongoing development of Section 98. Exciting new details to be released on this show soon!

Everything you need to know:

Date: Thursday, July 15, 2010 at 6:30pm to Midnight
Tickets: $10 @ door
Location: The Press Club. 850 Dundas Street West, Toronto.
Music by: Freeman Dre and The Kitchen Party MySpace Page
Visual Art by: Andrew Shay Hahn’s Website
Facebook: Event Page

Good turnout for a rainy weekday evening

Christine Horne star of Praxis Theatre Summerworks production Underneath (left), with Amy Lee star of the Fringe hit Moro and Jasp do Puberty

Tim Buck 2 comrades Brittney Filek-Gibson and Ben Sanders battle to see who can have a more ridiculous moustache

Praxis Theatre Co-AD Simon Rice (left), talks to Underneath Sound Designer Wesley Cheang and Praxis Production Manager Meredith Scott

Michael Sullivan with Tim Buck 2 Script Coordinator and director of Fringe hit Rock Time 2009, Aislinn Rose

Praxis Theatre Co-AD Michael Wheeler and GM/Performer Margaret Evans

Thanks to everyone who came out and made this event a huge success.

We must be getting older: Our earliest such events in 2003 and 2004 were heavily beer and shooter based affairs. There was a noticeable rise in decent wines and single malt scotches this time around.

The Circle of Life, so it goes…..

P.S. It’s not too early to book your tickets to Underneath, opening August 7th at The Factory Theatre.

Just CLICK HERE to get yours today.

Praxis will be holding it’s biannual Praxis Gourmet on the evening of Thursday June 4th, 2009.

Praxis Gourmet is an exclusive fine-dining and wine-pairing event, featuring a gourmet five-course meal with wine pairings. This will be accompanied by a live jazz trio and a sneak-preview scene from the upcoming shows this summer. It has proven in the past to be a magical evening and is an essential part of how Praxis raises funds for its productions.

Here’s a look at the menu for June 4th:

Hors d’oeuvres
Endive cups with blue cheese, pecans, dried cherry, and maple vinaigrette.
Heirloom tomato and watermelon gazpacho

First Course
Cured wild caught Rainbow Trout, with wild arugula, Bartlett pear and citrus vinaigrette.

Second Course
BBQ locally farmed turkey with lemon, dijon, and smoked paprika.
Roast fingerling potato
BBQ white and green asparagus
Wild leek aioli.

Cheese Course
Locally produced sheep’s milk cheese from Monforte Dairy.
Marmalade of orange, basil and balsamic.

Desert 
Home made Orange Spice Ice Cream in BBQ half peach with ginger white chocolate tuile.

The price is $110 per person, with all funds going towards our upcoming Summer Season.
A limited number of reservations are still available.