Free Fall ‘10 Blogger Shannon talks to Bob and Becky

He Said She Said
negotiating the waters between Bob Wiseman and Becky Johnson

On Saturday March 20th, Bob Wiseman and Becky Johnson are presenting their cabaret at the Theatre Centre. As I write this it is Tuesday March 9 and I close my eyes, trying to imagine being at the West Queen West theatre space. In my mind it is now approaching 9 pm and I am sitting in eager anticipation of the cabaret that I am about to witness. The lights in the theatre dim but that is as far as my imagination will take me- I have absolutely no idea what to expect that night.
I sent Bob and Becky an email trying to fish out some insider information. Bob, a Juno Award-winning composer, keeps my intrigue alive by saying that I should expect ‘adventure, wow factor’. Becky holds up her end of the duo as award-winning clown, comedian, playwright and performance artist saying, ‘expect nothing and we will not disappoint’. These two are hilarious even via email.

I ask our unexpected duo how they met.

Bob: The world of Toronto performing spaces and places. I saw Becky perform her unique work in 2003, we became friends later round then.
Becky: Bob was basically stalking me. I became his friend to normalize the situation.

Reading her response, I question her use of the words ‘normalize’ and ‘friend’. I continue on to ask how they work as collaborators. With such different backgrounds, I am interested in understanding how these differences enriched and/or challenged the creative process.

Bob: That’s really top secret. But frankly when you try to collaborate with someone, you get along or you don’t. As far as I can tell if I just shut up, me and Becky get along great.

Becky: Bob’s creative process is very pushy, very bullying. I agree with everything he says, we tend to get along okay. He is also way more of a genius than I am. This is proven by things like the number of awards he has, his age and the guarantees he gets to perform. His genius makes me a better performer by association.

As always I am fascinated by who mentored these artists. For Bob it was blues musician, Otis Spann. ‘Good morning Mr. Blues. Blues how do you do?’ Becky responds, ‘My sense of mentorship is very cloudy. I tend to prefer to work with younger people and suck the creative energy out of them like a vampire. But when I was younger and trying to do improv in Vancouver, an amazing lady named Ellie Harvie was a great inspiration to me. Her words of wisdom at the time: ‘Move to Los Angeles now.’ She was probably right. I didn’t listen.’

I for one am glad Becky stayed in Toronto and happened to meet Bob in 2003 and now will be performing their cabaret at 9pm on March 20th. Tickets are available for $10 and can be booked by phone at 416-973-4000 or online at harbourfrontcentre.com. ‘We will sell you the whole seat, but you will only need the edge.’

Posted: March 9th, 2010 under Free Fall '10 Blog.
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Our official FREE FALL ‘10 blogger Shannon talks to festival co-curators Franco Boni + Cathy Gordon…….

Over the past couple of days, I have had wildly interesting and inspiring conversations with festival curators and seasoned artists, Franco Boni and Cathy Gordon. I start each interview in the same way, asking them what makes Free Fall unique. Both Franco and Cathy jump to the multidisciplinary nature of the festival and zoom in on the artists.

Three senior artists working in three separate mediums headline the festival: choreographer, Bill James, performance artist, Tanya Mars and DNA Theatre’s Hillar Liitoja.  ‘Frictious’ is the word Cathy uses to describe each artist’s relationship to their medium, ‘they are pushing our perception of what the art-form is and can be.’ Two emerging collectives round out the Free Fall bill: Why Not Theatre and The Chop Theatre of Vancouver. Franco forwards that when we have both emerging and senior artists, ‘the conversation is far more interesting and there is less navel gazing, rather than having one generation talking to themselves.’ He remembers hearing at Native Earth that ‘It’s not a performance unless you have three generations in a room.’ 

Franco hopes the festival will attract the same level of diversity in its audiences including the young generation of artists who haven’t seen Free Fall’s headliners. ‘There are people who don’t know Bill James’ work and should know him and Tanya Mars, she’s won a Governor’s General Award, and Hillar, some people don’t know him. You have to work a little bit harder to find these artists but when people find them, they are really exciting.’ Franco remembers the first time he saw a Bill James piece. He was fresh out of theatre school and ‘Wind’, the site-specific piece set in a Parkdale warehouse, opened up a world of possibilities for his practice. ‘I remember being so inspired by the work and thinking my work has to be better.’ 

Mentorship is a focus of the festival with events taking place in the Tangerine Cream café to honour those who have shaped us as artists. Cathy mentions her fascinating history working with Hillar Liitoja and DNA Theatre but she does not divulge too much; Hillar’s sense of mystery remains. On Thursday March 25^th, Cathy will be in conversation with the elusive Hillar as part of the Culture Congress and jokes that ‘if you want the truth, bring your years of curiosity.’

Free Fall ‘10. March 18-28. Tickets: 416 973 4000 / www.harbourfrontcentre.com

Posted: March 5th, 2010 under Free Fall '10 Blog.
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Harbourfront Centre, in partnership with The Theatre Centre, is pleased to host the third annual Culture Congress, as part of World Stage/Free Fall ‘10.

This event strives to bring together local, national and international cultural players in creative ways that promote authentic conversation and cultural exchange around a given topic.

How do we come together?

This year The Culture Congress poses the question How do we come together? — artist to artist, artist to presenter and artist to audience. Through a series of informal talks, roundtable discussions, post-show parties and game-nights, Culture Congress intends to break down the walls that can  separate artist, presenter, audience – all of whom are necessary to any creative work.

We have invited five Artistic Programmers from Ireland to join in this discussion. They will be asked to share and compare their Irish experiences – as a culture similar to ours and yet so profoundly different in its world perspective. Discussion topics include mentorship, the Canadian presenting ecology and building community.

The Theatre Centre and Harbourfront Centre acknowledge the support of Theatre Junction in making our Irish Delegation possible.

MARCH 24 – OPENING:    Harbourfront Centre - 10:00pm

Culture Congress opens with a Late-Night Stampede Breakfast in conjunction with Theatre Junction’s On The Side Of The Road (Calgary). 

MARCH 25 – 27: AFTERNOON SERIES:

Present Your City

Informal discussions around the presenting ecologies of different cities.

Mentorship Talks

Senior artists discuss the meaning of mentorship with a variety of artists they have mentored in their long careers.

POST-SHOW EVENTS:  Why Not Have A Party? & Games Night!

MARCH 28 – CLOSING:  The Theatre Centre / Cream Tangerine Café – 12 noon

As it began, Culture Congress closes with breakfast. This time, the public is invited to meet the artists of Free Fall over an Artist Breakfast.

For updates on Culture Congress, please email culturecongress@theatrecentre.org. 

The Theatre Centre’s FREE FALL ’10

in partnership with Harbourfront Centre’s World Stage

March 18 - 28, 2010

 Tanya Mars Six Images in Search of An Artist: Remix l Bob Wiseman + Becky Johnson The Bob and Becky Cabaret  l  Why Not Theatre I’m So Close… l  DNA Theatre Wit in Love  l  Theatre Junction On the Side of the Road  l  The Chop Theatre in association with Rumble Productions KISMET one to one hundred l Bill James/ Atlas Moves Watching with Old Men Dancing: Wiser and Still Gorgeous  

FESTIVAL EXTRAS:

L’Orchestre d’Hommes-Orchestres performs Tom Waits at The Music Gallery (Queen & John St.)

One Reed Theatre Little Iliad at The Great Hall (Queen & Dovercourt)

theatrecentre.org l harbourfrontcentre.com

Posted: February 9th, 2010 under Feb 2010 newsletter, Uncategorized.
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It comes as no surprise when Ravi Jain of Why Not Theatr…e asks, ‘What the hell is time?’ Time is quite a big factor for Ravi who battles time zones and borders in collaborating with Katrina Bugaj of the US and Troels Hagen Findsen of Denmark.

Poor Ravi, it’s Monday morning, he has just returned from a weekend away and he now faces a stranger over the phone who is anything but indirect. I dive right in and read a line from Why Not’s promotional material, ‘[The] ensemble takes you into a universe where the fabric of space and relationships tears and repairs itself.’ These are no small topics for a Monday morning but I ask Ravi how this subject matter came about. He, Katrina and Troels began their process by examining Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time. (At this point I doubt my own ability for such conversations; I should have kept to small talk.) Ravi articulates his belief that time is getting faster and faster and sees technology as playing a key role in this. ‘I spend more time with my computer than with people.’ I agree with him.

Ravi is kind enough to simplify Hawking’s theory for me (and I still am probably missing something here). Either the universe is expanding and will do so until ‘the planets and stars sail away from one another’ or … … the universe will contract and ‘come together in a big crunch and slam together’. These opposite relationships with time and space are applied to the story of a couple in Why Not’s piece, I’m So Close…. The husband’s life is continuously speeding up more and more with his career while his wife, who stays at home, is experiencing an opposite shift in pace.

After their successful run at the SummerWorks Festival in 2008, the band of merry actors (to mention one of many abilities) have partnered up with writer, Nicolas Billon to balance the narrative with the abstract. ‘I’m So Close… is a love song drowned out by the hum of the technological landscape we find ourselves in.’

I am eagerly anticipating the show that opens on March 23^rd as part of the Free Fall Festival. In fact, I’d like time to speed up even more so that I could be sitting in the audience of the Theatre Centre tonight.

Posted: February 9th, 2010 under Feb 2010 newsletter, Free Fall '10 Blog, Uncategorized.
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Usually the second question is something like, “So…you guys interviewed a hundred-year-old?” “Yes.” “What was that like?” “Pretty incredible. She had this amazing love story that I guess you could say is really fated if you believe in that kind of thing. You should come and see the show. She’s in it a lot.” “Wow, that’s old. Can you imagine being that old?” “I can a little better now.”

The third question is not as frequent – sometimes people go off, chatting about their own beliefs and philosophies behind fate or destiny – but many people asked, “ How did you meet the people - was it random or planned?” A mix of the two. We contacted some people through friends and family and other people we met along the way - on the street, in community centers, at dances, in rainstorms, parks, bars and even two people on the Parliament Hill – one man, 40, feeding those mangy cats they’ve got out back and the other man, 74, an anti-choice protester standing by the Centennial Flame in front. Some people shared amazing stories or thoughts and others talked about pretty regular day-to-day stuff. We’ve stayed in contact with most people and a few have become lasting friends. But really, how/why did we meet these specific100 people? Was it destiny? Fate? If you believe in that kind of thing, maybe. Hard to answer. One thing’s for sure, we’re very glad we did.

Posted: January 22nd, 2010 under Uncategorized.
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In March 2010, The Theatre Centre in partnership with the Harbourfront Centre’s World Stage will be presenting FREE FALL ’10. The festival celebrates innovation and risk in performance and this year brings together nine new works from leading artists from across the country renowned for pushing the boundaries of multidisciplinary performance.

This is a busy but very exciting time for The Theatre Centre.  We are looking for enthusiastic and friendly volunteers to help us on the lead-up and during the festival in a variety of roles:

-        Ushers / Front of House volunteers: handout tickets, show people to their seats, tidy the theatre and greet audience members with a smile!

-        Culture Congress volunteers: (5-day event as part of the festival for leading artists and practitioners to exchange ideas, attend talks and participate in workshops) help with a variety of administrative duties, disseminate information, meet and greet attendees, etc.

-        Bloggers: watch the show and write about it!

-        Digital media volunteers: we’re looking for people who are digitally savvy to film, podcast and take photos during the festival – in front and behind the scenes - in order to get a candid and informal documentation of the festival.

-        Marketing volunteers: online social media, print distribution etc.

-        Administration volunteers: i.e. compiling artists’ welcome packs, photocopying, deliveries… anything and everything!

-        Artist Assistants:  support the artists’ participating in the festival with a variety of duties including general administration and marketing.

What’s in it for you?

-        You receive complimentary tickets to several performances during the festival. Those who work on 3 or more shifts also receive an invite to one of our opening night events.

-        Make a real contribution to the performing arts

-        Gain experience of working within the arts and have the opportunity of working closely with a variety of artists

-        Add your work experience to your resume and have a letter of reference (upon request)

-        Be valued and recognized

-        HAVE FUN!

To enquire about volunteering for Free Fall ‘10, please contact The Theatre Centre at 416 534 9261 or e-mail volunteers@theatrecentre.org.

Posted: January 22nd, 2010 under Uncategorized.
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The Akhe Theatre celebrates 20 years of innovative theatre by showing all its productions in a month and a half long festival in St. Petersburg, Russia. The festival will run from November 17 till December 28, 2009. Among the shows featured is one of Akhe’s most loved productions White Cabin which comes to the stage of Toronto’s The Theatre Centre on Janury 29-30, 2010.

Check out Akhe’s photostream on Flickr to find out what the theatre are busy with right now and get ready to come to the shows in January!

Posted: November 17th, 2009 under Akhe Theatre.
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January 29 + 30, 2010 @ 8PM, $20
The Theatre Centre

Hailing from St. Petersburg, internationally acclaimed physical theatre company AKHE brings to Toronto White Cabin… “a show about death – the death of culture, the death of a country, the death of a soul. It assaults the eye and worries away at the mind with Beckett-like stillness and clownishly macabre sense of humour.” - Lyn Gardner, The Guardian

White Cabin marks the second year that The Theatre Centre has presented an international touring show within the context of a Canadian Tour. White Cabin will also be presented by PuSh Festival in Vancouver at the 2010 Olympics, High Performance Rodeo in Calgary, and Mois Multi in Quebec.

To check out what to expect from this performance, there is a video which can be watched here.

For tickets call 416-538-0988 and for more information about White Cabin, go to www.akhe.ru
Or, you can follow AKHE through their LiveJournal.

Posted: October 30th, 2009 under Akhe Theatre.
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place the audience in the uncomfortable position of laughing and partying alongside people who are suddenly capable of participating in inane or downright terrifying acts of chauvinism. Theirs is a system of exploitation and objectification, though perhaps the ultimate exploitive act of the evening is its very encapsulation as an art project. I find this levelling of the playing field, alongside its blatant fetishistic undertones, all create rather intriguing extra-textual tensions.

While conceiving the piece, I was fascinated both by the fetishiziation of frat culture in gay pornography and the inherent dichotomy between homophobia and homoeroticism in the subculture. Furthermore, I was drawn to how the subculture existed as a Petri-dish of contemporary masculine identity (particularly collective masculinity) and its inevitably self-cannibalizing outcome. I was also struck by how the women affiliated with this subculture were seemingly so willing to objectify themselves in the face of this force.

Linked to these uncomfortable moral dilemmas is piece’s ‘aestheticization’. When asking a frat boy what constituted an effective keg stand, I was struck by how much his answer resembled a response Marina Abromovich gave four years ago at the Venice Biennale when asked: ‘what constitutes an effective performance’? The frat boy explained, in admittedly less articulate means, that he approached each ‘stunt’ as an unrehearsed personal act of endurance and repetition that required the transcendence of pain. For me, this immediately conjured the language of body and harm-based performance practise of artists such as Abromovich, Burden, Acconci,,and Nauman, in which the body is pushed past entropy to apotheosis. Broadening aesthetic comparisons, the startling use of household materials (Vaseline, condoms, baby powder) in fraternity stunts and hazing suddenly resembled the high-art petroleum jelly landslides of Matthew Barney or the post-modern explosions of John Bock and Ryan Trecartin. Well what better fit for Nuit Blanche?! We attempted to craft scenarios in which, during the middle of the unrehearsed ruckus, an iconic element from the performance art cannon would appear (i.e. during a nauseating eating competition, a boy’s face is suddenly covered in honey and gold leaf to resemble Joseph Beuys).

This piece could never have existed in another space quite like it did at the Theatre Centre. It’s Nuit Blanche incarnation was the ultimate culmination of the ‘frat party-as-performance’ vision we explored in workshop through Harbourfront Centre’s HATCH: emerging performance projects. Through the development process we discovered the work required total audience immersion/disorientation, the artistic apparatus of a social intervention, a steady supply of booze, moments of one-on-one intimacy and confession, and then the space/time/creative framework to allow for the eruption of action so horrifying it might actually provoke audience intercession. I think, for the most part, we were successful in these aims. I would have liked an all-night rager, though I suppose it’s just a fact of nature that frat boys scram after last call. Luckily this Ragnarok, a night of battle, ritual, and chaos, didn’t tear the theatre asunder like the firmament of the universe. Though it came pretty damn close.

Posted: October 23rd, 2009 under Uncategorized.
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Ravi Jain works internationally as an actor, director and teacher. Ravi received a nomination for the Ontario Arts Council’s John Hirsch award for emerging director and was most recently awarded the Urjo Kareda Residency at the Tarragon Theatre for the 2009-2010 season.

Coming up this March, Ravi Jain’s Why Not Theatre will co-produce along with The Theatre Centre I’M SO CLOSE IT’S NOT EVEN FUNNY as part of the Free Fall ‘10 festival, in  partnership with The World Stage.

Posted: October 8th, 2009 under Uncategorized.
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