Category: Theatre in Ottawa and the region.

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.

 

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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A Mid-Pandemic Letter to the City of Ottawa from a Young Theatre Critic (cc: GCTC’s Daisy)

A Mid-Pandemic Letter to the City of Ottawa from a Young Theatre Critic (cc: GCTC’s Daisy)

It’s been a strange few weeks.

Despite the unprecedented scope of this cultural wound, I write to my city from a place of optimism – from an internal ache for community and togetherness. I write in knowing regard of the healthcare professionals sacrificing their wellbeing for my own; I write with gratitude, from the comfort and safety of my Centretown living room. 

I write to express how deeply I miss theatre. It has taken these two-ish weeks to grieve its former omnipotence in my life; no longer can I (like many of my friends and co-saboteurs) define my personhood solely by its business, its preoccupation with dramaturgy and semiotic resonance. My evenings aren’t spent in the dark of the Babs Asper or the GCTC; they’re occupied with growing anxiety at the abysmal state of my arts-sustained bank account.

I write, though, because I know that we will survive this – that our theatre will evolve, and perhaps even thrive. A few displaced productions will be lost to the panic, and for this I express the most supreme of empathy and commiseration; the precarity of my beloved art form does not escape me at this time. Some productions, however, saw the briefest glimpse into COVID-19; they opened in its earliest days of panic, with a surplus of crinkly gloves and hand sanitizer. We can’t be sure such shows will come back to the fullest of their imagined capacities, but we must still acknowledge that they happened – that even in their truncated state, they are ever-deserving of archival within the critical sphere.

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The Assembly – NAC: In Search of a Middle Ground

The Assembly – NAC: In Search of a Middle Ground

 

photo Maxime Côté   The Assembly

No longer is there a “safe place” on the Canadian political spectrum; to be moderate is to be a mere bystander to fascism and anarchy, while to cling to either ideological extreme is to engage in bigotry or naïveté. Trump’s America leaves no room for a middle ground, nor does it open adequate space for level-headed debate; Trudeau’s Canada, according to Porte Parole’s unnerving verbatim play, The Assembly – Montreal, isn’t far behind. Gone, seemingly, are the days of the Canadian theatrical identity – sentimentality for its own sake, polite facades spackled over mid-left political leanings.

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5 O’clock Bells, the story of Lenny Breau. a monologue that outweighs time and remains brilliantly intact!

5 O’clock Bells, the story of Lenny Breau. a monologue that outweighs time and remains brilliantly intact!

 

5 O’clock Bells.  photo Pierre Brault.s face book.

5 O’clock Bells,  written and performed by  Pierre Brault brings the artist back to the Gladstone theatre 12 years later in a show that has retained all its impeccable artistry since its world première in 2008, in the same theatre. Commissioned by the Great Canadian Theatre Company (gctc) in 2006. This  powerful portrait of Canadian Jazz Guitarist Lenny Breau who grew up in Maine,  with a  family of country musicians but whose exceptional musical and guitar-playing talents lead him to search out new forms of contemporary music, spear- headed cotemporary jazz  in other parts of the continent,  influenced especially by the work of Chet Atkins,who lead him to create a sound that brought  him world recognition as a brilliant and original  guitarist.

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Teamwork from Stadium Lights to the Stage: The Wolves at The Gladstone

Teamwork from Stadium Lights to the Stage: The Wolves at The Gladstone

 

Wolves photo Andrew Alexander.  Reviewed by Kennedy Fiorella

Sport is the world’s greatest connector. People from all over the world tune in to watch their country face off during the FIFA World Cup, the Winter Olympics, and more international sporting events. On the ice, field, or pitch –a team can come together, or fall apart, making for dramatic highs and even lower lows.

As my high school drama teacher, Mr. Scott Sprague, once said, “Sport in itself is the truest form of performance.”And that is exactly what is seen onstage at Theatre Kraken’s production of The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe. The Wolves follows a soccer team of the same name, made up of nine sixteen to seventeen-year-oldgirls, as they navigate not only the pitch, but their personal development, complicated social lives and future ambitions. Led by #25 on defense, the Captain (Meg Sutton), acts as the replacement Coach (as he’s always hungover, as discussed by the girls) and tries to hustle her teammates to compete at their best. #2 (Chelsey Cowan) and #8 (Jordan Quayle) make up the defense, a charming yet innocent pair of sixteen-year olds who are less “mature” then their highly developed teammates. #13 (Olivia Piercey) and #11 (Kelsey Rideout) cover the midfield, girls who are striving to be more advanced then they truly are.

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undercurrents 2020 : Crippled – a necessary intersect between grief and hope

undercurrents 2020 : Crippled – a necessary intersect between grief and hope

Crippled Photo Chris Hibbs

undercurrents Festival Director Patrick Gauthier and Associate Director Brit Johnston have discussed openly their curatorial strategy for this year, one which stems from an urgent problem: mid-winter Ottawa begs for joy. The city has resigned itself to being stuck squeezing as much life as possible from short, frigid days. In programming undercurrents 2020, Gauthier and Johnston have searched Canada for beacons of theatrical joy, even if the performances fit that moniker in ways that defy convention.

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Cold refreshing Identity: Take de Milk, Nah?A Bold and Necessary Success at the National arts centre

Cold refreshing Identity: Take de Milk, Nah?A Bold and Necessary Success at the National arts centre

 

photo Andrew Alexander

The National Arts Centre’s website calls Jivesh Parasram’s Take d Milk, Nah? a “highly-hyphenated story about the search for identity.” This is certainly the case: Parasram’s burst onto the national scene is a not-quite identity play, an Indo-Caribbean-Hindu-Canadian hour-and-a-half of reconciling experience and impact, and a nearly-incredible solo show. Take d Milk, Nah?, in its insistence on the in-between, is a landmark piece of theatre for the NAC – if not for dramaturgical finesse, then for unmistakable, commendable certainty in itself and in its own importance.

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Ottawa Fringe: Timmy, the Dog, Disappears a Bizarre Hidden Gem at Ottawa Fringe 2019

Ottawa Fringe: Timmy, the Dog, Disappears a Bizarre Hidden Gem at Ottawa Fringe 2019

A box set, a couch, a nuclear family, a dinner party; we have seen this show before, or so we think. Timmy, the Dog, Disappears, is a wickedly funny comedy by Martin Dockery, presented by Black Sheep Theatre. It is difficult to describe this show without peppering in spoilers, but in short, do not let your own misconceptions fool you; Timmy, the Dog, Disappears is neither a played-out-farce nor a skit expanded into a too-long play. Timmy, the Dog, Disappears is deeply amusing and at times nihilistic, with nuanced social commentary to spare and great performances all around.

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