Category: Arts News

Student Review: You Are Happy? at the Great Canadian Theatre Company

Student Review: You Are Happy? at the Great Canadian Theatre Company

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Are You Happy
You Are Happy
Photo : Andrew Alexander

Reviewed by Kellie MacDonald in the theatre criticism class of Patrick Langston

Rope, razor blades, a bottle of pills — they’re not your typical punchlines, but this isn’t your typical comedy, either. Originally written in French by Rébecca Déraspe and translated in English by Leanna Brodie, You Are Happy leaves you with a sinking feeling in your gut that, as perfect as things seem, we, individually and collectively, are hurtling towards ruin. This absurd
dark comedy, directed by CBC alumnus  Adrienne Wong, opens the Great Canadian Theatre Company’s 2017-2018 season.

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Student Review: Educating Rita at the Ottawa Little Theatre – A feminist play about growing from the inside out

Student Review: Educating Rita at the Ottawa Little Theatre – A feminist play about growing from the inside out

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Educating Rita
Photo Maria Vartanova

Reviewed by Eden Patterson in the Critcism class of P. Langston

A hairdresser walks, not into a bar, but into a university office. It’s the 80’s in Northern England. Rita (26), the hairdresser, is disappointed with her life. She longs for an education but feels the net of society’s expectations drowning her into a sea of an unhappy marriage and into the deep depths of ignorance. Frank, an old, pessimistic, student-loathing alcoholic professor finds the quick-witted and relentless Rita in his office. Over the course of many weeks, Frank guides Rita on her path to higher education and towards a final exam. However, as it is put in the show, “if you wanna change, you gotta do it from the inside.”
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PLAYWRIGHT MARCUS YOUSSEF WINS 2017 SIMINOVITCH PRIZE IN THEATRE

PLAYWRIGHT MARCUS YOUSSEF WINS 2017 SIMINOVITCH PRIZE IN THEATRE

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Prize awarded Monday, November 6 at the National Arts Centre

November 6, 2017 – OTTAWA (Canada) – Playwright Marcus Youssef has been named the 2017 recipient of the Siminovitch Prize, Canada’s most prestigious prize in Theatre. This year marks the 17th year of the Prize, which was celebrated at a ceremony today in the Fourth Stage of the National Arts Centre, hosted by Paul Sun-Hyung Lee and Anne-Marie Cadieux. The award of $100,000 is the largest theatre prize in Canada. Mr. Youssef will receive $75,000 and Christine Quintana, whom he has chosen as his protégée, will receive $25,000.

Mr Youssef was one of four talented playwrights on this year’s shortlist, which also included Evelyne de la Chenelière, Hannah Moscovitch, and Donna-Michelle St. Bernard. …

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Student review: Opening night performance of Bent

Student review: Opening night performance of Bent

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Reviewed by  Carly Jevcak

What starts off as a booze and drug filled night turns into hell for Max as he brings home a man wanted by the Nazis, which upends his life. The opening performance of Bent by TotoToo Theatre at the Gladstone Theatre was a harrowing experience, but that says more about the content rather than the production. After being caught by the Gestapo in 1934 Berlin for being a gay man, Max is sent to the Dachau concentration camp where the only ray of sunshine is his developing secret relationship with fellow prisoner, Horst. The men try their hardest to survive under the most trying of conditions and find ways to subvert the prying eyes of the guards.

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Koffi Kwahulé: Lauréat du Grand Prix de Littérature Dramatique 2017

Koffi Kwahulé: Lauréat du Grand Prix de Littérature Dramatique 2017

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Nous sommes heureux de vous annoncer que Koffi Kwahulé est lauréat du TheatGrand Prix de Littérature Dramatique 2017 (ARTCENA) pour sa pièce L’Odeur des arbres aux Editions Théâtrales.https://www.editionstheatrales.fr/auteurs/koffi-kwahule-73.htmlhttps://koffikwahule.jimdo.com/l-odeur-des-arbres/

Capital Critics announces award nominees. New play category will replace student award this year!

Capital Critics announces award nominees. New play category will replace student award this year!

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OTTAWA, October 10, 2017 – The Capital Critics Circle today announced the nominees for the nineteenth annual English-language theatre awards for plays presented in the National Capital Region during the 2016-2017 season.

The nominees are:

Best professional production:

Candida by George Bernard Shaw, directed by Laurel Smith, Classic Theatre Festival

Children of God written, composed and directed by Corey Payette, an Urban Ink (Vancouver) production in collaboration with NAC English Theatre, in association with Raven Theatre (Vancouver) 

Kill Me Now by Brad Fraser, directed by Sarah Garton Stanley, a Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre (Winnipeg) production in collaboration with NAC English Theatre

The Last Wife by Kate Hennig, directed by Esther Jun, a GCTC/Belfry (Victoria) co-production

Outside Mullingar by John Patrick Shanley, directed by Dave Dawson, Black Sheep Theatre

Vigilante written, composed and directed by Jonathan Christenson, Catalyst Theatre (Edmonton) in association with the NAC.

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Kwame Kwei-Armah – New Director of the Young Vic in London

Kwame Kwei-Armah – New Director of the Young Vic in London

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“>You’re told you can’t do this. I’ve tried to go: yes we can’

The new artistic director of the Young Vic in London will break the arts glass ceiling for African-Caribbeans. It’s a role he has performed before in Baltimore, making theatre about police violence and experiencing the ‘rage’ gripping the US . Portrait: Alicia Canter for the Guardian by

Kwame Kwei-Armah’s imposing face has just been splashed all over the news. Last week he was appointed artistic director of Young Vic in London, one of Britain’s most prestigious theatres. It’s a great job, make no mistake. But there was something more to it than that. He is the first African-Caribbean director to run a major British theatre.
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THE NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE’S EXTRAORDINARY PRESIDENT AND CEO PETER HERRNDORF TO STEP DOWN IN 2018

THE NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE’S EXTRAORDINARY PRESIDENT AND CEO PETER HERRNDORF TO STEP DOWN IN 2018

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Peter Herrndorf
CEO of the National Arts Centre, Ottawa
Photo David Kawai

 

September 18, 2017 – OTTAWA (Canada) – Peter Herrndorf, the President and CEO of the National Arts Centre, will be stepping down on June 2, 2018, after leading Canada’s largest performing arts organization for 18 years—and ushering in  a period of extraordinary growth for the institution.

Herrndorf is credited with transforming the NAC artistically through major national and international performing arts projects and physically through the $225.4M Architectural and Production Renewal project that was supported by the Governments of both former Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the current Government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. …

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Le Théâtre des Quartiers d’Ivry annonce la mort d’Adel Hakim

Le Théâtre des Quartiers d’Ivry annonce la mort d’Adel Hakim

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Adel Hakim

 29 AOÛT 2017 /

Nous avons la tristesse de vous annoncer le décès d’Adel Hakim, survenu le mardi 29 août 2017 à Ivry.

Adel est décédé chez lui, entouré de ses proches. Il n’a pas pu, comme il le souhaitait, mourir à Zurich , auprès de l’association Dignitas.

Il a souhaité expliquer son choix et son engagement de mourir dans la dignité dans une lettre que nous nous vous communiquons. Nous vous remercions de prêter attention à cet adieu.

Elisabeth Chailloux
et le Théâtre des Quartiers d’Ivry – Centre Dramatique National du Val-de-Marne

_________ …

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Christina Watt is performing a Cross-Canada concert.

Christina Watt is performing a Cross-Canada concert.

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Hello Friends,
This Sunday, Sept 10, World Suicide Awareness Day, I am honored to be invited to perform in a cross-Canada concert in recognition of this day and its significance worldwide. Twenty-one hours of continuous concerts. Other Ottawa performers include Christiane Riel (Soprano), John Avey (bass-baritone); Yvonne Cox (harp); Leopoldo Erice (piano); Isabelle Gagnon (harp); Michelle Gott (harp) Sandra Graham (mezzo-soprano) David Jalbert (piano) Renée Lapointe (mezzo-soprano) Christiane Riel (soprano) Claire Stevens (piano) Louis Trépanier (guitar).
The event, from morn to night, NFLD to BC, will be live-streamed. Below is the link and also an article.