Praxis Theatre is currently on hiatus! Please find co-founders Aislinn Rose and Michael Wheeler at The Theatre Centre and SpiderWebShow, respectively.
March 14, 2007, by
Comment

March 11, 2007, by
Comment

Small Wooden Shoe tries to be
Reasonable People,
Reasonably Disagreeing

The information
One Night Only!
(It’s a debate and we hope to have it settled by the end of the night)
Sunday March 11, 2007 at 8pm
Harbourfront Centre – Studio Theatre
235 Queens Quay West, Toronto, Canada
Tickets $15 BOX OFFICE: 416.973.4000
TICKETS ON SALE NOW!

The creative team
Produced in association with Harbourfront Centre as part of HATCH.
Conceived and Directed by Jacob Zimmer
Created with and performed by Dustin Harvey, Ame Henderson, Evalyn Parry, Evan Webber
Moderated by Misha Glouberman
Designed by Trevor Schwellnus
Video by Daniel Arcé
Debating coaching by Tim Maly
Stage Managed by Laura Nanni
Series Dramaturgy by Brendan Healy

About the show
Arguably the printing press was the invention of the millennium – in which case it has a great deal to answer for. Coached by Tim Maly and moderated by Misha Glouberman, Small Wooden Shoe debates the printing press and everything since — while trying to keep it useful, entertaining and above all, reasonable. With PowerPoint, a dot matrix printer and most likely some singing.

Gutenberg, Copernican, Newtonian, Darwinian, Industrial, Nuclear, Information – Small Wooden Shoe tackles one after another in the Dedicated to the Revolutions series. Bringing together lecture-demo, talent show and debating tournament, this is theatre that engages the audience in an honest, casual way while maintaining the need to step up and entertain.

Reasonable People, Reasonably Disagreeing brings together Small Wooden Shoe regulars Ame Henderson (Public Recordings, Clash) and Trevor Schwellnus (Aluna Theatre [Dora winner: Set Design], Public Recordings, Mammalian Diving Reflex), long time Halifax collaborator Dustin Harvey (Secret Theatre, Fire in the Hole, Dapopo) and new collaborators Evan Webber (One Reed Theatre) and Evalyn Parry (Independent Auntie Theatre, Buddies in Bad Times) with Small Wooden Shoe Artistic Director Jacob Zimmer.

After creating the Rhubarb! hit Do You Have Any Idea How Fast You Were Going? (“sly, fun [and] post-modern” – NOW Magazine) and Wave 2’s Connect the Dots (“inventive and form-breaking theatre . . . intelligently, comically and entertainingly.” – NOW Magazine), Small Wooden Shoe brings the third show in the Dedicated to the Revolutions series to Harbourfront Centre’s HATCH, taking on the Gutenberg Revolution – in the form of debate.

March 9, 2007, by
Comment

Praxis Theatre presents
An explosive one-man journey through the past and present of the Canadian railroad.

Directed by Michael Wheeler
Starring James Murray
Lighting Design by Paul Hardy
Stage Managment by Meredith Scott

March 8-10, 15-17, 22-24 @ 8pm
Queen West Arts Centre
100A Ossington Ave.
$15 tickets at the door

March 6, 2007, by
Comment

49 hours to opening curtain
By Ian Mackenzie

I’m filing this dispatch on behalf of the creative team, which is – as you’ll see – hard at work putting the finishing touches on our play Steel.

There is much to be excited about: the newly established Queen West Arts Centre; Andrew Zadel’s original script; Michael Wheeler’s vision for the play. And yet, as I write this, the 49 hours we had has become a mere 46, less than two days. I can only imagine that the weight of the opening curtain hangs heavily on these theatre artists.

What follows is a short photo easy chronicling a window in this production’s history: 49 hours to opening curtain.

The venue. Queen West Arts Centre.

The space. Looking back toward the entrance of the black box.

Director Michael Wheeler.

A directors notebook.

Stage Manager Meredith Scott and a LITEPAK lighting console.

Lighting designer Paul Hardy.

House lights.

David Galpern and Steels James Murray.

Backstage, looking through blacks that were hung earlier in the day.

Someone elses tool kit.

Three lights.

Steel opens this Thursday, March 8 @ 8pm at the Queen West Arts Centre. Tickets at the door.
March 6, 2007, by
1 comment

We put the question to the streets, so to speak, for this: a random sampling of shows people have seen and liked.

Tara Beagan – Associate Artist at UnSpun Theatre.

“VideoCabaret’s The Saskatchewan Rebellion will change what you know is possible in theatre. Particularly if you’ve not seen any in the series of The History of the Village of the Small Huts, get your arse into the Cameron House as soon as possible. The spastic precision of Michael Hollingsworth is a force to be reckoned with. You will be gleefully and repeatedly clobbered by the genius of this show. The whole creative team astounds, to the point where singling out one person is a bit crass. This is living, breathing visceral theatre perfect for a city whose venues are headed toward extinction there is no abundance of space or budget here, just a vigorous application of talent. At the end of this 74-minute power play you wanna take the whole company to the park and play outside until your fingers can’t work your zipper anymore. Just fucking amazing.”

The Saskatchewan Rebellion is on now for a limited run.

Have you seen any good theatre lately? Please drop us a line with the word.

March 5, 2007, by
Comment

We put the question to the streets, so to speak, for this: a random sampling of shows people have seen and liked.

Jessica Greenberg – actor and Director of Education and Outreach for Studio 180 Theatre.

What a refreshing treat to attend an evening at the theatre featuring some spectacular chiquitas. Hannah Moscovitch’s The Russian Play and USSR (Company Theatre Crisis/Absit Omen Theatre) are two plays giving voice to women, beautifully portrayed with wit and grace by Michelle Monteith (The Russian Play) and Maev Beatty (USSR). As always, Hannah’s work is funny, moving, surprising and smart and both Michelle and Maev offer performances well worth the trip down to the lake. The down side is that they only run from Feb. 21-24 as part of the Hatch Festival at Harbourfront Centre’s Studio Theatre. Perhaps these gems will have a future life . . .

The Russian Play will play again during the Magnetic North Theatre Festival June 6-16th.


Helen Taylor – Shaw actor and pet owner who loves to walk her dog, Lulu, in the park. Recently seen in Hana’s Suitcase.

The wonderful Danny, King of the Basement at LKTYP is a Roseneath Theatre production about a single mom and her son struggling to get by in Toronto. It’s hilariously written and acted and genuinely moving to boot. The colourful urban set has its own witty personality. Take your kids, check, go see it even if you don’t have kids. A real gem.

Danny King of the Basement, by Daniel Craig, ran at LKTYP Feb. 4-25.

Caryn Green – actor, producer and baker of delicious chocolate and white Toblerone cupcakes. Currently completing The Passion of Winnie, a short film about Winnie Mandela to be featured at the Luminato Festival, June 2007.

John and Beatrice definitely got my goat! What incredible, brave performances by Canada’s finest actors, Caroline Cave and Rick Roberts, in a gut-wrenching, poignant story about the search for love. A perfect antidote to Valentine’s Day clichés – this play will move you to laughter and tears.

John and Beatrice by Carole Frechette runs at The Tarragon Extra Space until March 24.

Have you seen any good theatre lately? Please drop us a line with the word.

February 28, 2007, by
1 comment

“If you decide to be an actor, stick to your decision. The folks you meet in supposed positions of authority – critics, teachers, casting directors – will, in the main, be your intellectual and moral inferiors. They will lack your imagination, which is why they became bureaucrats rather than artists; and they lack your fortitude, having elected institutional support over a life of self reliance. They spend their lives learning lessons very different from the ones you learn, and many or most of them will envy you and this envy will express itself as contempt. It’s a cheap trick of unhappy people, and if you understand it for what it is, you need not adopt or be overly saddened by their view of you. It is the view of folks on the verandah talking about the lazy slaves. There is nothing contemptible in the effort to learn and to practice the art of the actor – irrespective of the success of such efforts – and anyone who suggests there is, who tries to control through scorn, contempt, condescension, and supposed (though undemonstrated) superior knowledge is a shameful exploiter.”

– David Mamet
True and False: Heresy and Common Sense For The Actor, 1997
February 26, 2007, by
Comment

Please visit Wordsmyth Theatre for more information on this production.

February 21, 2007, by
3 comments

The legend of Mafu Jiang
By Ian Mackenzie

Last time we spoke, I gave you probably more information than you needed on Steel’s print marketing strategy: you may recall the pickaxe, the Stranger Theatre ad, the half-baked Photoshop humour.

Since then, we’ve developed our final publicity materials for the show. No real drama to report on that front. After all, if we’ve done our job, those posters and postcards should be speaking for themselves (or, more accurately, speaking for our show).

The big news is the discovery of Mafu Jiang. He’s an independent printer trained and equipped in the ancient art of high-quality digital printing. We used him to print our publicity materials for this show. His prices are incredible, and his quality is top notch.

1000 postcards (two-sided colour) for $200.
100 posters on high-quality glossy stock for $60.

Anyone who’s grown tired of the Kinkos manoeuvre or of similarly high-priced print options, you need to write this information down – talk to Mafu Jiang.

Here’s the info:

mafu_jiang@yahoo.com
416 303 3214
Located near Lansdowne & Dundas in Toronto

An independent printer for the independent theatre. What’s not to love?

February 20, 2007, by
Comment

Which of the following words best describes your world view?
Optimistic
Pessimistic
Cynical
Realistic
Skeptical
Idealistic
Pragmatic