Author: Capital Critics Circle

This section is reserved for Arts News that comes our way via press releases from theatres in the area, or newspaper articles about arts events that are not theatre reviews.
Barbara Gabriel Wins 2022 Major Nathan Cohen theatre Critics Award

Barbara Gabriel Wins 2022 Major Nathan Cohen theatre Critics Award

The Canadian Theatre Critics Association has announced the 2022 winners of the Nathan Cohen Awards for excellence in Critical Writing.

Nathan Cohen is widely regarded as Canada’s pre-eminent theatre critic and widely credited with playing a key role in raising professional standards for Canadian Theatre in the postwar era. This year’s awards were adjudicated by well-known Chicago Tribune theatre critic Chris Jones, who is also director of the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center’s National Critics institute. The highly regarded British – American critic and theatre journalist has also twice served on the drama committee for the Pulitzer Prize.

Gabriel’s prize was in the first category of outstanding achievement in a written or verbal review of a particular production or productions by a Canada-based writer. Her win  was for her review of “Cottagers and Indians“ by Drew Hayden Taylor,  entitled “Haunted History in Cottage Country.” It was first published by Capital Critics Circle  and then  re-published by  the international  The Theatre Times.

Chris Jones writes of her prize winning review:

“My winner is the review of  “Cottagers and Indians,” which I think really captures the commitment and the sardonic humour of the piece under review. I’ve long been fascinated by this kind of experimental lede that draws in readers and then makes a transition to a more traditional voice  so the piece can do  what reviews need to do. This difficult linkage is seamless in this piece and quite beautifully achieved. I’m with every word and I go  exactly where  the critic wants me to go.”

Under the direction of Gil Garratt,  the Blyth Festival theatre continues to break new ground in Canadian theatre by both revisiting  canonical Canadian plays (James Reaney’s trilogy “The Donnellys” will headline the ambitious 2023 season) and encouraging a rich diversity of voices, sensitive to a changing social and cultural national landscape. In keeping  with his reputation as an inventive latter-day trickster, Hayden Taylor’s play mines the dark comedy  of the never-ending Aboriginal tragedy  in Canada.  Directed by Dene director Deneh’Cho Thompson, its set design by Beth Kates and Anishinaabe  artist Moses Lunham extended the space visually in an iconographic rendering of the plays central dramatic tensions.

Gabriel has elected to donate her prize money to Water First Education and Training, a charity which supports Indigenous Communities in addressing critical water challenges.

The  winner for outstanding critical writing  outside the traditional review format is J.Kelly Nestruck for his essay, “Shaw vs Shaw: Why the theatre festival isn’t cancelling the anti-vaccer playwright,”published by the Globe and Mail. Jones praised the essay as both a fresh and worthwhile reading of Shaw, “an audacious idea, making a very serious point.”

Runner up in both categories was Martin Morrow, first for his review of Chekhov’s  “Uncle Vanya” and then for his essay ,  “Playwright Sharon Pollock brought Canadian stories to the stage and loved underdogs,”  both published by the Globe and Mail.   He shared the latter award  with Signy Lynch for her essay “Performing at Home in the Pandemic: Boca del Lupo’s PLays2Perform@ Home Collection,”published in the Canadian Theatre Review.

It was a bumper crop of submissions for the all-important third category of Outstanding Emerging Critic, which celebrates outstanding achievement  by a Canadian-based writer who has been practising theatre criticism for less than three years, either professionally, or in a training context. The award includes an internship at Intermission Magazine under the mentorship of Senior Editor Aisling Murphy.

The Award-winning adjudicator,  dance critic, Globe and Mail writer and author, Deirdre Kelly commented:

“There were many contenders for the top prize but Sophy Bouey’s review of Antoinette Nwandu’s  Pass Over – a filmed version of the original Steppenwolf Theatre Company – Production, won out for its concision, clarity, and contagious enthusiasm for its subject. Runners- up Shalon T. Weber Heffernan and Liam Donovan also  deserve recognition  for their use of descriptive language and multi-layered theme…”

In encouraging emerging theatre critics and through them, informed new audiences, the growing success of this category augurs  well for the future of Canadian theatre.

BLACK tHEATRE WORKSHOP joins the NAC English Theatre!!!!

BLACK tHEATRE WORKSHOP joins the NAC English Theatre!!!!

Young Yacou
Photo Christophe Reynaud de Lage

The Black Theatre Workshop is partnering with NAC English Theatre in an unprecedented new shared curation model for the national stage. NAC English Theatre has committed to the annual appointment of a co-curating company in residence, beginning in 2021-2022 with the invitation for a Black-mandated theatre organization to envision their mandate through a national lens.

As the inaugural Co-Curating Company in Residence, Black Theatre Workshop, the oldest Black theatre company in Canada, will have agency over half of English Theatre’s programming resources for the 2021-22 season. Black Theatre Workshop, currently celebrating its 50th anniversary, will have the opportunity to envision its mandate of fostering and showcasing Black Canadian art and artists on a national scale.

 

PLAYWRIGHT TARA BEAGAN WINS 2020 SIMINOVITCH PRIZE IN THEATRE

PLAYWRIGHT TARA BEAGAN WINS 2020 SIMINOVITCH PRIZE IN THEATRE

November 26, 2020 – OTTAWA (Canada) – Ntlaka’pamux playwright Tara Beagan has been named the 2020 laureate of the Siminovitch Prize, the largest and most prestigious theatre prize in Canada. Ms. Beagan will receive $75,000, and $25,000 will go to her selected protégée, Joelle Peters.

Ms. Beagan, who is based in Mohkinstis (Calgary), is proud to be Ntlaka’pamux and, through her late father’s side, of Irish ancestry. She is now Playwright In Residence at Prairie Theatre Exchange (Winnipeg). Seven of her 32 plays have been published, two of which received Dora Award nominations (one win). In 2020, her play Honour Beat won the Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award for Drama.

“Every Indigenous theatre maker to this point has created this moment, just by doing the hard work of existing,” said Ms Beagan. “Young Indigenous makers, you are the culmination of all your ancestors. Hold strong, check in with the earth and sky and remember that so many are walking with you.”

The 2020 Siminovitch Prize Foundation jury of peers was comprised of Chair Vanessa Porteous (Calgary), Jessica Carmichael (Montreal), Julie McIsaac (Toronto/British Columbia), Olivier Sylvestre (Montreal) and Donald Woo (Toronto).

“Tara Beagan’s nominator, Michelle Thrush, aptly describes her as ‘a word lover and a carrier of stories,’’ said Jury Chair Vanessa Porteous. “Beagan herself sees theatre as ‘sacred work.’ During jury deliberations, there was palpable excitement in the room whenever Beagan’s work came up. It hits you in your heart and in your body. The jury identified in her writing a quality of being both sublime and unbearable. Beagan is carving out a place. No other writer on this territory proposes this kind of material for our consideration, material so rich in character, story, emotion, humour, violence, humanity, compassion, complexity, and righteous fury. Her vision is uncompromising, her voice is necessary, her trajectory embodies the deepest values of the Siminovitch Prize. This is quite simply excellent, searing, unforgettable theatre of the highest calibre.”

“My daughters and I are delighted to see the 2020 Siminovitch Prize in Theatre awarded to Tara Beagan,” said Dr. Lou Siminovitch, who celebrated his 100th birthday in May. “This Prize was created 20 years ago in part to honour my late wife Elinore, a pioneering playwright whose work focused on social justice and political repression. As a feminist who struggled to have her voice heard, I believe Elinore would have loved the bold and brave nature of Tara’s work and especially her brilliance in making voices that otherwise might not be heard resound across the stages of our nation.”

The Siminovitch Prize also recognizes the importance of mentorship to support emerging talent through the $25,000 Protégé Prize. Ms. Beagan has selected Joelle Peters, a Toronto-based Anishinaabe and Miami performer/playwright, as her protégée. Ms. Peters is currently part of the Animikiig Creator’s Unit at Native Earth Performing Arts, writing a full length coming-of-age play called Niish (mentored by Falen Johnson). She also co-wrote Frozen River with Michaela Washburn and Carrie Costello, which is set to premiere at Manitoba Theatre for Young People in the spring of 2021.

“It’s a good feeling when someone you look up to says ‘I see you and the work you’re doing, keep going,’” said Ms. Peters. “Being selected as Tara’s protégée is an incredible encouragement and I look forward to seeing where my life as a storyteller takes me next.”

The announcement took place during the Prize’s 20th anniversary, virtual ceremony on November 26, an event that drew together the Canadian theatre community and theatre lovers from across the country. The ceremony also celebrated each of the exceptional shortlisted playwrights, who included Carmen Aguirre (Vancouver), Martin Bellemare (Montreal), Karen Hines (Calgary/Toronto), and Annick Lefebvre (Montreal).

“We congratulate Tara Beagan on receiving the Siminovitch Prize in honour of her extraordinary body of work,” said NAC President and CEO Christopher Deacon. “We also recognize all of the other exceptional playwrights on the shortlist this year – Carmen Aguirre, Martin Bellemare, Karen Hines and Annick Lefebvre – all of whom represent the very best in excellence and innovation in Canadian theatre.”

ABOUT TARA BEAGAN

Tara Beagan is proud to be Ntlaka’pamux and, through her late father’s side, of Irish ancestry. She is cofounder/director of ARTICLE 11 with Andy Moro. Beagan served as Artistic Director of Native Earth Performing Arts from Feb 2011 to Dec 2013. During her time, NEPA continued with traditional values for guidance, had an Elder in Residence, and named and moved into the Aki Studio. Beagan has been in residence at Cahoots Theatre, NEPA, the National Arts Centre and Berton House (Dawson City, Yukon). She is now Playwright In Residence at Prairie Theatre Exchange (Winnipeg). Seven of her 32 plays are published. Two plays have received Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations, Miss Julie: Sheh’mah and winning Outstanding New Play in 2005 for Thy Neighbour’s Wife. In 2018, Beagan was a finalist in the Alberta Playwrights’ Network competition. In 2020, Honour Beat won the Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award for Drama. ARTICLE 11 has worked across Turtle Island, in Aotearoa, Australia and Scotland, and is grateful to be based in Mohkintsis (Calgary, AB)

 

ABOUT JOELLE PETERS

 

Joelle Peters is a Toronto-based Anishinaabe & Miami performer/playwright. She is from Walpole Island First Nation, Bkejwanong Territory in Southwestern Ontario and moved to Toronto to study Acting for Camera and Voice at Seneca College. Joelle loves the stage and screen and would like to continue living in both worlds. Joelle has performed across Canada at festivals and theatres such as Western Canada Theatre, Thousand Islands Playhouse, Factory Theatre, Summerworks Festival, Theatre Passe Muraille, and has toured across ON and BC. Joelle loves exploring new works and ways to engage with storytelling and is developing an interest in directing and dramaturgy. Currently, she is part of the Animikiig Creator’s Unit at Native Earth Performing Arts, writing a full length coming-of-age play called Niish (mentored by Falen Johnson). She also co-wrote Frozen River with Michaela Washburn and Carrie Costello, which is set to premiere at Manitoba Theatre for Young People in Spring 2021.

 

ABOUT THE SIMINOVITCH PRIZE

The Siminovitch Prize recognizes excellence and innovation in Canadian theatre. Over a three-year cycle, the Siminovitch Prize celebrates a professional mid-career director, playwright, or designer who is acknowledged as a leader in the theatre and whose work is transformative and influential. Past playwriting laureates include Marcus Youssef, Olivier Choinière, Joan MacLeod, Daniel MacIvor, John Mighton and Carole Fréchette. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the prize that was launched in 2000 to honour the values and achievements of the renowned scientist Dr. Lou Siminovitch and the late Elinore Siminovitch, a pioneering playwright.

The Prize also recognizes the importance of mentorship to support emerging talent: the laureate receives $75,000 and selects a protégé who receives $25,000. Furthering the tradition of mentorship within the Prize, a group of playwriting students from the Anglophone and Francophone programs of the National Theatre School of Canada participated in a workshop with the artists shortlisted for the Prize in late October.

In 2016, the Prize began a partnership with the National Arts Centre. Both the NAC’s English Theatre and French Theatre are led by Siminovitch Prize laureates – Jillian Keiley (2004) and Brigitte Haentjens (2007). In fact, since the Prize’s inception in 2001, works from all its laureates have graced the

New performance protocols for public coming to the NAC

New performance protocols for public coming to the NAC

COVID-19 Drive-Thru Assessment Centre in the NAC parking garage

Starting November 19, 2020, the Ottawa Hospital will operate a Covid-19 Drive-Thru Assessment Centre in the NAC parking garage. The Centre will ensure our fellow Ottawa residents have access to convenient and accessible Covid-19 testing options. It will also provide shelter, comfort and warmth over the winter months to our community’s health care workers.

Rest assured that we have put in place safety protocols to ensure our employees, artists and audiences are not affected by the presence of the testing site, which mostly operates during daytime hours and is located in an isolated area of our parking garage.

For now, vehicle and pedestrian access to the NAC’s Albert Street garage entrance will be restricted during the day. We ask the public to use one of the other garage entrances.

For more information about Covid-19 testing at the NAC, visit the Ottawa Public Health Health Web site.


Reopening the NAC: What to expect when coming to a performance or event

Our team at the National Arts Centre looks forward to greeting you as soon as we get the green light from public health agencies. Here is a preview of what you can expect when coming to an NAC performance or event:

Everyone will be required to wear a face mask at all times. Social distancing of at least two metres will be in effect throughout our public spaces.

Prior to coming, you will be asked to pre-register when buying your ticket. At that time, we will share instructions about safety protocols, suggested time of arrival and directions to the entrance designated for your event. You will also be asked to provide your contact information for tracing purposes in case the public health agency needs to be in touch.

On the day of the performance or event, you will be greeted by our staff and asked screening questions such as whether you have a fever or been in recent contact with someone with COVID-19.

There will be lots of signage to inform you of distancing guidelines, as well as visual aids, such as markings on the floor along designated pathways, to safely guide you to your seat.

Because visitors will always be required to be two meters apart, you might have to wait a little longer before entering the building. There will be varying maximum occupancy limits in all the spaces, as well as other measures to prevent overcrowding. You will also notice an increased presence of NAC employees and volunteers, including members of our cleaning and security staff, who will be there to ensure your safety.

The water fountains have been disabled. In our public washrooms, every second stall and every second sink will be out of use. With respect to food services, intermission bar service is not available at this time.

Please check this page from time to time for updates.

Cyprus Avenue: A Shocking exploration of trauma and Identity

Cyprus Avenue: A Shocking exploration of trauma and Identity

Reviewed by  Emmalynn Mallay   in the theatre criticism class of Patrick Langston

Eric is convinced: His newborn granddaughter is Gerry Adams, the Irish Republican politician. Eric is haunted by the trauma of living through the Troubles, when Northern Ireland was rocked by bombings and conflict between the Catholic Irish Republicans and the Protestant British Loyalists that left thousands of civilians dead between the 1960’s and 1990’s 

Loyalist Eric (Stephan Rea) will not suffer Catholics, and certainly not Gerry Adams himself disguised as a newborn, in his house. Unaware of his psychosis, he hires a hit-man to take out his granddaughter, willing to do anything it takes to defeat thefenians”. David Ireland’s 90-minute drama Cyprus Avenue explores what it means to be Northern Irish after a history of extremely partisan politics and having an identity which contradicts itself. Can one be both British and Irish? Is there a difference? Does it matter? Eric’s identity is shattered when he realizes he might, in fact, be Irish 

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Cardinal: A playful battle between memory and disease

Cardinal: A playful battle between memory and disease

By Gwenith Kikkawa     student in the  theatre criticism class of Patrick Langston

Cardinal takes us on an unexpected clowning journey into a man’s mind as his memory deals with an uninvited guest, Alzheimer’s disease. A unique show like this awakens our inner childlike innocence, inviting us to wonder what it might be like to lean into our vulnerabilities with laughter and play when facing the very serious matter of disease.

Mitchel Rose and Madeleine Hall make their mark as both playwrights and performers in Cardinal, a Aplombusrhombus theatre company production. Rose plays Memory, a buoyant and endearing character dressed fully in cardinal red who, as you may predict, enjoys having things just as he remembers them to be. When Hall enters the scene as Disease, a mischievous and yet equally endearing character dressed fully in the contrast of white, she makes a game of her discovery by engaging Memory in a secretive game of hide and seek. Rose, the director, makes imaginative use of the stage set and props that unveils itself as an invisible playground for these clowns to explore the human condition. Thus begins the unfolding of a heartfelt inner battle of trickery and silliness.

Why clowns? Perhaps it is because they are human connectors, the ones who wear their hearts on their sleeves, the ones who are honest to a fault and make themselves exposingly approachable no matter the circumstance. There is a saying in the circus business that “a clown falls down so we don’t have to.” This so beautifully captures the eloquence of Rose and Hall’s clowning and the gift it offers. By making humour out of our reality – all the pains and frustrations of life – we are able to have a cathartic release and transform our pain into joy. What we have here is the work of true alchemy.

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Book review: choreographic Theatre of Tensions: (post-dramatic, la modernité corporelle, multiculturelle …le nouveau théâtre..

Book review: choreographic Theatre of Tensions: (post-dramatic, la modernité corporelle, multiculturelle …le nouveau théâtre..

Choreographic Theater of Tensions – Forces & Forms

Maura Baiocchi, Wolfgang Pannek (2020), São Paulo: Transcultura.
Foreword by Hans-Thies Lehmann

Choreographic Theater of Tensions – Forces & Forms
Introductional note: Shane Pike
ISBN 978-85-64246-05-8
232 pages. 90 black & white photos. 50 coloured photos

TAANTEATRO: [Des]construction and Schizopresence

TAANTEATRO: [Des] construction and Schizopresence
Transcultura, São Paulo, 2016.
Org .: Wolfgang Pannek, Maura Baiocchi
Contributors: Alda Maria Abreu, Rodrigo Marco del Pont, Natalia Barrionuevo, Celia Musilli, Luiz B. L. Orlandi.

Taanteatro Companhia was founded in 1991 in the city of São Paulo. Itis recognized nationally for the singular and outstanding quality of its works, which involve creative, theoretic and didactic processes in the field of performing arts. Maura Baiocchi conceived taanteatro dynamics, an investigation of the scenic-corporal language based on the tension principle.

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Remembering the death of the great Colombian Santiago Garcia.

Remembering the death of the great Colombian Santiago Garcia.

SEMBRARON SUS CENIZAS EN SU ROSAL. EN MEMORIA DE SANTIAGO GARCÍA: NUEVA VERSIÓN DE LA OBRA NAYRA-LA MEMORIA

Carlos Satizábal

A seis meses de la partida silenciosa de Santiago García en el inicio de la peste del mundo en que vivimos, le rendimos homenaje al maestro y para sembrar sus cenizas en el rosal de trece rosas del patio de la casa del Teatro La Candelaria, rosal al que él, el maestro, cada día, antes de tomar el sol al lado de sus rosas, las contaba y confirmaba que eran trece, siempre trece, mágicamente trece, y entonces se sentaba a recibir el sol y su luz al lado del bello rosal mágico de trece rosas constantes.

El Teatro La Candelaria, Patricia Ariza, su directora, y Catalina García, la hija del maestro, y de Patricia, con sus hijos Simón y Santiago, invitaron a un pequeño grupo de familiares, amigas y amigos al ensayo general de Nayra-La Memoria, obra esencial del legado de Santiago García y que el grupo ha vuelto a componer bajo la dirección de Patricia, quien estuvo en la creación del montaje original al lado del maestro en la mirada poética y dramatúrgica de la dirección.

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Short List for the Siminovitch Prize for Playwriting

Short List for the Siminovitch Prize for Playwriting

SIMINOVITCH PRIZE FOUNDATION AND NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE ANNOUNCE THE SHORTLIST FOR THE 20th ANNIVERSARY SIMINOVITCH PRIZE IN PLAYWRITING

Shortlisted artists celebrated and laureate announced in first-ever virtual ceremony

October 15, 2020 – OTTAWA (Canada) The Siminovitch Prize Foundation and the National Arts Centre today announced the shortlist for this year’s Siminovitch Prize, the most prestigious theatre award in Canada. The jury has selected five outstanding playwrights as finalists for the esteemed theatre prize, now celebrating its 20th year of honouring excellence and innovation in Canadian theatre.

The Siminovitch Prize Foundation and the NAC are proud to introduce this year’s shortlist: Carmen Aguirre (Vancouver), Tara Beagan (Mohkintsis/Calgary), Martin Bellemare (Montreal), Karen Hines (Calgary/Toronto), and Annick Lefebvre (Montreal).

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For Youth, Theatre is Action.

For Youth, Theatre is Action.

Over the past two years, I have had the privilege of inviting  a group of teenagers in Canada, ages 13-17, to consider theatre as a possible means of fighting for climate action. These ten youth, Natasha Knight, Anna Carsley-Jones, Sebastien Cimpaye, Sophie Dean, Quinn Lesaux, Jaya Matiation, Olivia Smith, Ethan Whidden, Kaatje Yates, and Paige Young, are all driven by their love for the planet – and are deeply concerned  about a future they feel they have inherited. As Sophie says, “We’re a group of teens with a goal and the passion to achieve it. We’re not all the same; we have different backgrounds and ambitions, but we’re united in our goal for climate action through theatre.” Quinn adds, “I would describe us as a group of teenagers who have a strong opinion on climate change; we’re trying to get our voice out there for older and younger audiences and trying to inform them how they can use their voice to control this problem.”

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