This July 1st marked the first Canada Day in four years that I did not spend in a marathon rehearsal session for a Toronto Fringe production. And yet, I do have a Fringe show this year… it’s just that I can’t exactly rehearse for it.
What I can do is tell you what – and who – I will be putting in the basement of Snakes & Lattes and what they will be doing. What I can’t do is tell you what’s going to happen once everyone is there.
The premise started out simply enough: What happens when you put Dungeons & Dragons, a character-based role playing game, in front of an audience? Is it interesting? Does it become performative? How does the presence of an audience affect the playing of the game? And… how the heck do you play Dungeons & Dragons? I have no idea, and I want to find out.
Previously on this page we have described the project as “part performance experiment, part research project”. Well, as the idea developed, its inherent ‘liveness’ and unpredictability – the fact that the story is created on the spot through the collective imagination of its players – became very exciting, and I wanted to open up this experiment to other members of the theatre community.
Snakes & Lattes on Bloor (click to enlarge)
Enter Trevor Schwellnus and Lyon Smith, Dora-winning lighting and sound designers respectively. While lights and sound are usually fixed features in a theatrical presentation, with set levels and fade in and fade out times, Trevor and Lyon will be experimenting with creating live light and soundscapes for each of the stories as they develop. Trevor and Lyon are also D&D nerds from way back.
Over the course of the Fringe we’ll also get to see how different kinds of players and their different backgrounds affect the game, and what that will mean to their relationship with the audience.
Our first game on the 10th will be played by members of the theatre and improv community, all with a background in playing D&D. The team includes one of my Toronto improv favourites, Carmine Lucarelli, winner of a Canadian Comedy Award as part of the ensemble of Show Stopping Number: The Improvised Musical, as well as Scott Moyle, Artistic Director of Urban Bard Productions, and dramaturg Stephen Colella, among others.
The second game on the 14th will be made up entirely by members of Toronto’s gaming community. Big thanks go to Kate Bullock and the Toronto Area Gamers for fitting me out with players and our Dungeon Master.
Our third and final game on the 16th will see these two brands of nerd join forces for a final epic game. Don’t miss Praxis Theatre co-Artistic Director Michael Wheeler as he returns to his D&D roots, playing alongside award-winning playwright Nicholas Billon, and Dora-nominated actor (and everyone’s favourite guy) Colin Doyle. You can also catch Colin at this year’s Fringe in The Godot Cycle, and we thank them for not scheduling his performance during our game.
Finally, I’ve also invited visual artists of various aesthetic styles to join us in our adventures to live draw/sketch the scenes and characters as they develop. If you’re an artist, please don’t hesitate to bring your sketch pad with you.
Oh, and about our title? It’s possible Michael and I were being nerds of another kind that day. Hope to see you in the basement.
Dungeons & Dragons (not) The Musical– Toronto Fringe Festival, 2011 Dates:
July 10th, 4pm to 10pm
July 14th, 7pm to 1am
July 16th, 5pm to 11pm Venue:
Snakes & Lattes – 600 Bloor Street West. Tickets: Click Here to purchase, or here for more information.
*PLEASE NOTE: there is a maximum allowable attendance of 20 people at any one time; the box office will be located at the venue and will be open for the entire 6 hour performance time.
Jane hosts The Kitchen Party Nervous Breakdown - Everyone's favorite reality TV show.
by Sky Gilbert
Most people accept, in principle, the notion of colour blind casting. Colour blind casting is based on the idea that we are all the same – that there are not essential differences between people of different races. Most of us also agree with the goals of colour blind casting, in principle: to fight prejudice – and educate people about the false associations made between race and personality traits.
But where are we in terms of sexuality blind casting? I may be the only person interested in this topic. I was inspired to explore sexuality blind casting because of the homophobia I experienced as young actor in theatre school. My acting teachers at York were pretty insistent upon removing my feminine ‘mannerisms.’ When I left theatre school and came out of the closet many years later, I found that drag opened huge possibilities for me, really unlocking my acting talent. In contemporary movies and tv shows we do not see a lot of out gay actors. Oh yes there’s the gorgeous, straight acting Cheyenne Jackson of Glee fame. But unfortunately we can’t all be masculine and perfect looking — and some of us don’t even don’t want to be. Is there anything that could be done to challenge casting directors and theatre directors to hire gay men for straight roles?
What a stupid question. Gay men are hired all the time to play straight roles. But these are actors who don’t ‘appear’ to be gay – in other words masculine gay men. And here we come to the important question: is there a relationship between gay actors and femininity, or lesbian actors and masculinity? Colour blind casting works because black men are essentially the same as white men — only their skin colour is different. But maybe gay men are fundamentally different from straight men. Are all gay men feminine? No, but some are. And some straight men are effeminate also. The difference is that gay men often embrace their femininity and are comfortable with it; it’s part of their culture. They may let their guard down and act effeminately outside the audition, and even let a little bit of it seep into the audition by accident.
If an effeminate gay actor auditions to read for a straight masculine part, will he get it? Probably not.
Should he?
Daniel Sadavoy and Jen Neales in Episode 1: 'Something Popcorn This Way Comes'.
These are the kind of questions that The Nervous Breakdown Kitchen Party Reality TV show sets out to answer. The Kitchen Party is yearly youth project of my theatre company The Cabaret Company. It takes place in an actual kitchen. (For the past two years it has taken place in Moynan King’s kitchen in her studio apartment in Parkdale.) Approximately ten young queer actors (out and proud gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people) are invited to perform, and are paid a small honorarium. Quite often they are graduates of Buddies Queer Youth Programme. The rehearsal and performance process takes about a week and the performance is filmed for the Kitchen Party website.
The principle behind the event is pretty simple. It’s a kitchen party and somebody is going to have a nervous breakdown. The young actors work in couples and improvise scenes based on difficult, conflicted queer relationships directed by myself and my assistant Andrew Cheng. During the party, the couples pair off, break away from the party and argue and then return — so we get to see each conflicted couple separately. Near the end I stand up and ask they audience to vote on which of the partygoers will be angry enough to have a fit. The audience votes. Then we finish and the audience finds out who ‘blows.’ When a small invited audience of artistic directors, directors, and casting directors attends this one-time performance, they are sitting in Moynan’s living room watching a party in the kitchen. The performance, which usually lasts about 45 minutes, and is followed by an informal chat over wine and cheese in which the young actors are able to meet their potential employers and talk about the issues raised by the play.
And what are the issues? These young actors are improvising their own scenes, and encouraged to bring details that come from their own lives and the lives of their friends: real queer detail. For instance, the conflicts are often about class, sometimes about race, sometimes about different notions of being ‘out of the closet,’ and sometimes about promiscuity or drugs. The actors are not playing themselves, but they bring their own mannerisms to their roles in the David Mamet school of performance. The David Mamet School (as I like to call it) is explained in his book True and False. Mamet’s theory holds that actors don’t need to ‘act’ in the sense of taking on a character mask. Instead they need only perform the lines taking care to follow the character’s intentions. But would this work for a gay effeminate actor playing a straight masculine role? Probably not. Mamet’s approach is, I would posit, heterosexist (as heterosexist as Mamet himself is) and assumes that men are masculine and women are feminine, and no one has anything to hide.
Click here to learn more about the Kitchen Party Reality TV Show
Well these young actors don’t have to hide anything at The Kitchen Party. And the directors and casting agents who attend are encouraged to open spaces for them in their casts and acting companies. This is a big issue –and like Rome — the solution won’t be built in a day. In fact it may never be solved until we change our current definitions of what it means to be a man or a woman.
When I went for my Ph.D. exam one of my examiners asked me: “What is a ‘man’?” It was a very good question. I said that there is a biological man, and this can be confirmed by checking for x and y chromosomes (I can never remember how many is proper) and of course by checking for the presence of a scrotum and penis. But that will only tell you whether or not it is a biological man. The rest of the notion of ‘dude’ is concocted from cultural stereotypes, many of which are present simply in that word ‘dude’. I like to think of myself as more of a ‘dudette’ (with a penis). Am I still a man? Are there parts I can play, that match my ‘parts.’ ?
It’s a question we are just beginning to think about at The Kitchen Party Nervous Breakdown Reality TV Show.
The 32nd annual Dora Awards are tonight at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts. Good luck to all the nominees, organizers, presenters, wait-staff, and spouses or partners that don’t know anyone but will make a good show of it anyhow.
Praxis will be live tweeting sights-and-sounds form the Doras, maybe some of the results too – but no promises! We’re looking at more of a colour commentary.
Maybe see you there? If not follow along from home/tastefully from your seat at the Bluma right here!
IN THE WINGS – Episode 3 – “The Apology” starring Kaitlyn Riordan, Sascha Cole and A. Jelly Konstruct (who is a dead ringer for You Should Have Stayed Home dramaturg and producer Julian DeZotti)
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?
iPhone photo of a recent Toronto Star editorial cartoon by Theo Moudakis
1 – Play Games With Us
“Do you need my bag of miniatures?”
Toronto Fringe Exec. Director Gideon Arthurs
Ever since we started talking about our site-specific Dungeons & Dragons project at this year’s Fringe Festival, theatre people from every part of the industry have been coming out of the closet as former players of the game, with some even revealing they still regularly get together with friends to play.
We’re looking for players for our 6 hour marathon sessions in the basement of Snakes & Lattes, so let us know if you play, or used to play, and if you’re free on July 10th or July 16th. We’ll also be playing a trial game in advance of the fringe to experiment with our live sound and lighting designers, so even if you can make it to a Fringe game, there is the possibility of using you as a guinea pig whilst we quest to save our enchanted donkey. (This is not a joke – we lost our Donkey in the first trial game and we still plan on getting it back.)
2 – Get Locked in a Cage With Us
“Don’t worry – I promise we won’t get arrested.” You Should Have Stayed Home writer and performer Tommy Taylor
We have been rehearsing our 2011 Summerworks show You Should Have Stayed home off-and-on ever since we presented part of it at Buzz in April. Recently, we decided to include a scene that explores the conditions in the g20 detention centre on Eastern Ave. that requires 40 performers. No – that is not a typo: four zero. If you are A) Male and B) want to be in Summerworks – this is your chance.
You don’t need to be an actor, but you do need to be available for 4 rehearsals over evenings and weekends at the end of July, as well as all 6 performance dates (which are also mostly evenings and weekends). We will do some improvisational exercises to get a sense of each other, and Tommy and other detainees will give some presentations about their experiences. Then we will create a 10 minute scene that will be integrated with Tommy’s story. Mostly your job will be to act like someone surprised at and exhausted by being locked in a cage.
In either case all you have to do is send us an email to get the ball rolling to info@praxistheatre.com
If you want to play games make the Subject: D&D Player. Tell us in 150 words or less what your connection to the game is, what you do now, and why you want to play.
If you want to experiment with what it is like to be locked in a 10 x 20 ft cage in a safe theatrical setting make the Subject: G20 Detainee. Tell us in 150 words what you do with your time on this planet and why you’d like top be involved.
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.
Well we have been busy bees here at Praxis, writing drafts, making proposals, cutting deals, and generally hustling the way that a company must in an era where not much is going to come for free to a small indie company with no operating funding, office space, or corporate sponsors (although we’re not against having the right ones).
The end result is that we have 3 different productions at 3 different stages of development that we invite you to attend and engage with between now and the end of the year.
So we are using “season” in a new way with this announcement.
Usually, it denotes a series of final products. This model doesn’t work for a small company that often integrates presentations and performances into our development process. So our season has one show we are doing the initial exploration on, one that will be mid-development, and one that is in fact our final product.
Each show has its own relationship to how it will interact with its audience through this site and we invite you to participate in whatever way interests you:
Maybe you just like to go to the shows and read the posts; maybe something about a show infuriated you and you need to interact with us about it; maybe you will send us your thoughts or ideas when we ask for them (or when we don’t). Or maybe something else we haven’t thought of that the internet is about to invent will present itself as a possibility.
Read below to see what we’re up to.
Thanks for involving yourself with our work and communications as you see fit!
Dungeons & Dragons, (not) The Musical @ The Toronto Fringe Festival
Created by Aislinn Rose
Stage One – Just looking into it
Praxis Theatre will be playing host to three Dungeons & Dragons tournaments, where audience members can come and go throughout each adventure or stay for the full 6-hour marathon.
Part performance experiment, part research project, the events will feature some of Toronto’s favourite actors, directors and comedians at their nerdiest. While drama nerds and D&D geeks go head to head, live sound & lighting artists will create a unique atmosphere for each tournament.
Snakes & Lattes in the heart of the Annex has kindly offered their space for our shenanigans, so audience members will be able to enjoy coffee, yummy treats, and an authentic D&D in the basement experience.
Dates:
July 10th, 4pm to 10pm , July 14th, 7pm to 1am, July 16th, 5pm to 11pm Venue:
Snakes & Lattes – 600 Bloor Street West.
After being translated into seven languages, attracting a concerned following around the globe, and forming the basis for a The Fifth Estate documentary, this Facebook note is a major artifact documenting the deterioration of Canadian civil rights in the 21st Century. We look forward to working with Tommy to continue this important discussion through a live performance based on his experience that is integrated with online media.
Dates: Aug 4th @5pm, Aug 6th @ 2:30pm, Aug 7th @ 10pm, Aug 10th @ 7:30pm, Aug 12th @ midnight, Aug 13th @10pm
Jesus Chrysler produced in association with Theatre Passe Muraille
Written by Tara Beagan. Directed by Michael Wheeler. Starring Margaret Evans
Stage 3 – This is it. We spent a long time making it – now we’ll put it on for you.
Jesus Chrysler revolves around 1930s activist and director Eugenia “Jim” Watts and the work of progressive Toronto-based theatre artists of the 1930s.
An intimate, immersive production at the centre of which is legendary Toronto activist and director Eugenia “Jim” Watts. An unsung icon of 1930s Toronto theatre, Jim had her work banned by a Prime Minister before enlisting in The Spanish Civil War, becoming its sole female ambulance driver. Jesus Chrysler invites a select audience to explore Jim’s life and loves along with her, in a show that engages with and questions the intersection of art and politics.
Dates: Nov 29 to Dec 11th Location: Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace, 16 Ryerson Avenue, just north of Queen St. West, east of Bathurst Street.
Here’s some Saturday morning videos that hint humanity may not be doomed after all.
1 Brigitte dePape Ted Talk
Yesterday Brigitte dePape was the top news story across Canada as “the rogue page” who silently interrupted the Throne Speech that kicked off the first day of the new Parliament.
Wouldn’t you know it – she’s also a theatre artist, performer and articulate advocate for the value culture can contribute to society. (Spoiler alert – she’s not talking the economic value artists bring low-income neighbourhoods, or tourist dollars mega-musicals bring in.) Check out this dramatic monologue/Ted Talk combo she performed as part of last year’s TEDxYouthOttawa. 1/2 way through the clip she finishes the monologue, throws on a dress and starts the Ted Talk part. Wow.
2 The Grand Rapids LipDub
Move over Thriller – there is a new “Greatest Music Video Ever“. Really, what’s not to love about this video? It is a major achievement both for a community and artistically. Now it is being credited with turning around the fortunes of Grand Rapids. Which, after you watch the video, makes total sense.
Trust me – take the full 10 minutes. Make a tea, or whatever it is you need to do to get comfortable and enjoy. Be careful around 6:22 – that’s when my beverage almost came out my nose.
“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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