Praxis Theatre’s Top 10 of the Top 10 for 2011

The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs: Hilarious, heartbreaking, dedicated to exposing the Means of Production in the 21st Century

by Aislinn Rose and Michael Wheeler

10

The Cult of Mac for including Mike Daisey’s play The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs in its round-up of 2011 Mac stories.

Cult of Mac reports that in February of this year, bad publicity was at an all-time high surrounding the conditions and suicides at the Chinese factory Foxconn, Apple’s largest supplier. Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak was apparently moved to tears by the story as told by Mike Daisey when he saw the show, and urged Tim Cook, Apple’s Acting CEO to see it as well, saying “I will never be the same after seeing that show.” [Full disclosure: this list was created on two Macbooks, with some side research on one iPad, after tweeting to one another via two iPhones.]

We’re not surprised by Wozniak’s reaction to Daisey’s performance. Daisey has appeared on a number of 2011 lists across North America, and for the New York Times list of Cleverest Theatrical Moments a category was created for “most remarkable storyteller who isn’t Mike Daisey”. Daisey was a definite influence on our co-production of You Should Have Stayed Home at SummerWorks this summer, and we hope he’ll come to Toronto soon.

9

Richard Ouzounian for his entertaining and unabashed campaign against the new regime at Canadian Stage.

Ouzounian didn’t have much to say in favour of Canadian Stage’s 2011 productions, noting that the only shows anyone seems to be enjoying are the “imports”. He’s quick to congratulate Theatre Passe Muraille on importing Ride the Cyclone, however, hinting that perhaps it’s not WHETHER a show is imported but WHO does the importing, if you’re looking for a measure of consistency. (For more on Ouzounian’s vendetta against large-scale theatrical risk-taking, see Globe and Mail Critic J. Kelly Nestruck’s thoughts on the matter.)

Maybe they’ll open the balcony, but if they do it just to mount Shirley Valentine again who cares?

General Assembly at Occupy Toronto

8

Torontoist for embracing complexity and contradictions by listing Occupy Toronto as both Hero and Villain in their year-end poll.

For progressive-minded Torontonians who think structural change is required to make our society more just, generous and inclusive, Occupy Toronto was equal parts inspiration and frustration.

HERO: “Nominated for: establishing a beachhead of resistance during an age of austerity… Occupy Toronto may have annoyed a lot of neighbours with its first volley of direct action, but in the long run that annoyance has forced a critically vital discussion about social justice into the mainstream.”

VILLAIN “Nominated for: squandering a rare opportunity… “Friday” made Rebecca Black famous; it did not make her talented… No matter what the alt-press told you, the robber barons never broke a sweat worrying about the park-dwellers.”

7

Josh Stearns for topping the list of Storify’s Stories of the Year.

Storify is an awesome resource that reinforces the notion of Twitter as a microblogging or even news-writing tool. Earlier this year we enjoyed Jonathan Goldsbie’s use of Storify to highlight humourous tweets collected under the #matlowmurdermystery hashtag he created after Councillor Matlow tweeted about attending a murder mystery dinner.

David Hains was another great Storifyer with his use of Storify to collect the Open Letter Councillor Wong-Tam wrote to Mayor Ford via Twitter after she had been blocked from attending a City child care meeting.

Storify used its own tool to highlight the 3 most “liked” stories of 2011, with Josh Stearns topping that list after collecting stories about journalists being arrested at various Occupy protests across the U.S. Stearns had this to say about Storify: “It really paints a whole picture, rather than just being a series of links… You get to see journalists … being tackled by police, shouting that they’re press in video they took as they’re being arrested.”

6

John Coulborne in the Toronto Sun’s ‘Best on Stage on 2011’ for making The Last 15 Seconds his #1 play of 2011.

Just because we missed this multimedia show about terrorism created and presented by Kitchener/Waterloo’s MT Space at Theatre Passe Muraille doesn’t mean we can’t be excited about it topping this list. Great to see a critic unafraid to give accolades a show with reduced profile, if it is in fact the best thing he saw all year.

We're all used to this image now, but take a sec to imagine what it was like the moment before doing it.

5

Huffington Post Canada for including theatre artist Brigette DePape and her STOP Harper sign in their Top News Photos of 2011.

When a lone page on Parliament Hill walked onto the floor during the Throne Speech with the STOP Harper sign she had smuggled in under her jacket, the notion that brave and unimagined theatrical interventions would be required under a Harper Majority was cemented.

It turned out that the page, Brigette DePape, is also a theatre artist who had toured the Canadian fringe circuit with a solo show she had written about the possibility of change through activism. Here’s to theatre artists taking more chances in 2012.

4

J Kelly Nestruck for The Globe and Mail’s Theatre ‘Year in Review’ which reiterates the important role Summerworks plays in the theatrical ecosystem.

For continuing to point out that The SummerWorks Festival is one of the most important places for new theatrical work to emerge and that the recent decision to remove funding by Heritage Canada smacks of political interference.

Ride The Cyclone (practically every 2011 top 10 list), If We Were Birds (2011 Governor General Award) and The Middle Place (2011 Toronto Theatre Critics’ Award), are just a few of the shows that used Summerworks as a barebones way to get these important works in front of an audience. There is no credible reason based on artistic merit for this festival to have its funding pulled.

3

NOW Magazine for their bursting-at-the-seams “Top 10” list.

Not content to mention a mere ten favourites from 2011, Jon Kaplan and Glenn Sumi of NOW Magazine had to include a selection of “other standout shows” and “riveting revivals” along with their “top 10”. This is probably a reflection of the amount of shows this duo sees in a year, and a reflection of their commitment to covering a wide range of indie theatre.

Among their favourites and honourable mentions were several shows by indie companies big and small, including Obsidian Theatre, Studio 180, Litmus Theatre, and Convergence Theatre. (And no 2011 list is complete without mention of Atomic Vaudeville’s Ride the Cyclone from Victoria.) NOW Magazine seems to get how this new theatre ecology works.

2

Howard Sherman for putting together the Mother of All Theatre Top 10 Lists.

This producer, consultant and pundit used his website to compile, summarize and link to most of the major theatre-related top 10 lists for cities across North America. the English-speaking world. Tip-o-the-hat Sir. Well played.

Way to go Ombudsman Marin – you are the praxistheatre.com top of the top 10s for 2011.

1

Andre Marin for ‘Ontario Ombudsman’s Top 10 Highlights of 2011’

First off – flat out mad props to any provincial ombudsman who takes some of his or her time between Christmas and New Year’s to publish a Top 10 list of things their office investigated that year and promote it on their personal Twitter account.

Secondly, although he rates it #8 on his list, we think his report ‘Caught in The Act’ which widely condemns policing actions actions at The G20 Toronto Summit as “the most massive compromise of civil liberties in Canadian history” is historically and fundamentally a categorically important document for all Canadians concerned with preservation of civil rights.

Top 10 Praxis Pinko Picks for 2010

The Carnegie Library at 1115 Queen Street West will eventually become a permanent home for The Theatre Centre

by Michael Wheeler

1

A permanent home for The Theatre Centre

The Theatre Centre has existed in many locations since being founded in 1979, began a research and development program for Toronto indie theatre in 1984, and updated this practice in 2004 to its groundbreaking residency program now in place. It is an established leader in boundary-pushing, innovative and challenging approaches to performance and has nurtured and developed the talents of many of the city’s top artists.

In April, City Council offered the long-term lease of the former Carnegie Library at 1115 Queen Street West to The Theatre Centre as sole tenant. After 48 years of closure to the public, residents of Toronto will be able to enjoy the building once more.  More money still needs to be raised to bring this much needed resource and home for a community into reality, but this first step, and the commitment of a number of key foundations to support this move, is my #1 pick for 2010.

2

Citizens Against Proroguing Parliament

What? Yep. That was this year. Can you believe it? Hoping Canadians wouldn’t notice their democracy being shut down by framing it as a “procedural issue” Prime Minister Stephen Harper prorogued Parliament to avoid questions about the treatment of Afghan detainees and was met with impressive organization online and in the streets. It’s hard to tell what was more heartening: a single Facebook page becoming an overnight organizing megaforce or 200,000 Canadians asserting their right to live in a democracy coast-to-coast with a single voice. It’s a good thing we finally got to the bottom of that whole Afghan detainee thing….Oh – wait a second!?!

3

Rosie DiManno

For real. This is not a joke and I am not being ironic. Turn your theonion.com filters off for a second: I get it. There was a point in my life where I was ready to start a “Bring Back DiMannoWatch” Facebook Page. Then Rosie became the only reporter in Toronto interested in capital “J” journalism as it related to G20. Instead of recycling myopic statements by subjects with much to hide, DiManno has been doing the work The Toronto Police Force and, well, every other journalist in the city, was unwilling or unable to do. She has already achieved tangible results by bringing the facts to a place where the public can interact with them and forced me to remember that human beings are often complicated and contradictory creatures.

4

People who did the thing they said they would do, in the time alloted, the way they said they would do it

Most successful endeavours this year were likely based on your contributions.

5

Summerworks

Summerworks is one of the most important theatre festivals for new independent performance in the country. Some of the shows produced there may not or may not speak to Conservative values, and the festival may or may not have submitted a grant late at a certain point. None of this changes the important role the festival plays in Canada’s performing arts ecosystem and the opportunity it presents for emerging artist/entrepreneurs to jumpstart their own careers.  The recent move to Queen W. and the inclusion of independent music are also a big plus for making it an event with wide community appeal.

Cardinal Clement was concerned data from the census could establish facts that differed from official state doctrine

6

Munir Sheikh

Whatever ideological differences we may have with one another as citizens, it is not acceptable for the government to act as if the Enlightenment didn’t happen. Facts are relevant, data is important and logic can only be ignored at our peril.

7

Sidney Crosby

An overtime sudden-death goal to win the final gold medal of an Olympic games, at home, simultaneously making your country the one with the most gold medals at the games, and establishing a new record for gold medals by a country at any Olympic winter games. Our grandchildren will be jealous.

8

praxistheatre.com comment of the year

I would like to acknowledge the highly subjective “winner” of this category each year in this space. Even though I just interviewed Brendan Gall six weeks ago, if we’re going to base these things on merit, I believe he was also the clear winner of ‘Comment of the Year ’ for his response to our February post: “How Do You Get a Grant?”

9

The moderate growth of the theatrosphere

Although there is plenty of room for many new projects at the intersection of online tools and performance, 2010 was the year many companies committed to expanding their artistic practice online. From interviews with Studio 180’s creative team, to checking out pics Obsidian Theatre had uploaded of a cast member transforming her appearance, to Alberta Theatre Projects creating an audio mixtape from online submissions, to hearing from a flow of artists creating new work through the ‘My Story’ posts on The Tarragon Theatre Facebook Page – this was a significant year for the integration of social media tools with performance.

10

Beautifulcity.ca

It’s still unclear whether any of the funds from the City’s Billboard Tax will reach their original target of “public art” to offset the visual pollution caused by billboard advertising as originally intended, recommended by city staff, and supported by a majority of Torontonians. Ten years from now, the real value of this movement may be the politicization and organization of a generation of artists and community activists.  This is a new cohort of engaged citizenry that understands how to communicate through social and mainstream media and is determined to have an impact at City Hall – not just for arts funding – but to contribute to a city that is understood as a community and is based on inclusive values.