I want to begin by making a few admissions:
1. I love people watching. Sometimes I worry that I am crossing the threshold and actually staring at people (which I admit is weird).
2. I love eavesdropping. I just can’t help myself.
3. I love public transit. I try to peek at what people are reading on the subway and always wish I could hear what’s playing on their iPods.
Who can claim to not be interested in the lives of other people?

The Chop Theatre has arrived from Vancouver bringing with them the experiences of 100 Canadians. KISMET one to one hundred is a sensitive and honest glimpse into the lives of the people ranging in age from 1 to 100 who were interviewed about the role fate and destiny played in their lives. The performance is a collage of sound clips, video, re-enactments and pictures documenting the 100 interviews. Statistics, mapping and stories are brought to life within the piece which results in a performance that is deceptively simple yet utterly intriguing.

You cannot help but be moved by the stories that are at times heartbreakingly truthful and may find yourself examining your life, where you have been and where you are going. KISMET is indeed a celebration of humanity and the passing of time. 

Catch KISMET one to one hundred at the Theatre Centre March 26-28, 2010.
-Shannon Roszell

Posted: March 30th, 2010 under Free Fall '10, Free Fall '10 Blog.
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A four foot tall ice sculpture is being carved as we enter the Fleck Dance Theatre for Theatre Junction’s performance, On the Side of the Road. A woman wearing a silver sequined dress dangles her feet nonchalantly over the edge of the stage chatting with the burly sculptor.

The stage itself is sculptural. A birch tree floats above the flawlessly white stage in front of a silver curtain. A silver foil helium balloon is tied to pile of deer antlers that sit close beside the sculptor and his muse. This world is dreamlike, almost hallucinatory.

The cast of seven welcomes us with a tongue-in-cheek song reminding us that ‘death is not the end.’ Death is a driving theme in this work; the piece centers around the story of a young writer who returns to the wilds of northern Alberta after the loss of his father.

But this is no conventional piece. Dancers, actors, musicians and a sculptor form the Resident Company of Artists and each weave their unique skills to create this layered performance. Expressive movement and atmospheric live music illuminate the character’s subjective experience, adding further depth to the dialogue and monologues. Director, Mark Lawes, refers to this work as ‘a pop-art hybrid that is both accessible and new.’ This richly imagistic piece is a work that must be experienced.

On the Side of the Road runs from March 24-27 at the Harbourfront Centre.
 

Posted: March 30th, 2010 under Free Fall '10, Free Fall '10 Blog.
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Contribute to our mentor wall and get 2 for 1 tickets to see KISMET one to one hundred by The Chop Theatre - a fantastic new show based on 100 interviews with Canadians from across the country aged 1 to 100, about the role fate and destiny play in their lives.

Our MENTOR wall is an exhibit taking place throughout FREE FALL in the cafe/gallery located at the front of the theatre. We want you to celebrate those in your life who have helped you become who you are. Simply by emailing ruth@theatrecentre.org a name of someone who has helped you, supported you or inspired you in the past, or right now, you will automatically receive a voucher allowing you to take-up the 2 for 1 offer ($20 for 2 tickets). Alternatively, pop by cafe/gallery before the show, add your message to the exhibit and then buy your tickets right there at the Box Office. 

KISMET one to one hundred opens March 25 at 8.30pm and continues March 26 at 9pm, March 27 at 7pm and March 28 at 4pm. The Theatre Centre, 1087 Queen St W. (corner of Dovercourt and Queen). Box Office 416 538 0988.

Posted: March 24th, 2010 under Free Fall '10, Uncategorized.
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‘Wit In Love’: Hillar Liitoja opens up his home to Free Fall audiences.

DNA Theatre’s performance Wit in Love heightens the sense of fascination surrounding artist Hillar Liitoja. As one of only 16 audience members, you are a guest in Hillar’s Bathurst Street home.

Based on Sky Gilbert’s novella, the performance is a dialogue with 20^th century philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein. In Wit’s kitchen, with the gas-stove flame burning hot, amidst copious kitchen knives and pairs of hanging underwear, we are given a glimpse into the psyche of this great mind. Our host pulls us into the complex and conflictual reality of loving his brother, a love that extends beyond familial.

Intrigue seeps out of Hillar’s every pore. Although his actions as Wit are unpredictable, each gesture is executed with the utmost precision as he walks a fine line between genius and madness. Gilbert’s lyrical text is at once brooding and humorous, simple yet deeply troubling.

The simmering intensity of this performance will stay with you; it is an experience not to be missed.

March 20-22, 24-28 @ 6:45 pm. 133 Bathurst Street.

Call Hillar to reserve tickets. 416 504 5099

-Shannon Roszell

Posted: March 22nd, 2010 under Free Fall '10, Free Fall '10 Blog, Uncategorized.
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-fortune cookies
-three women in Medieval dresses
-hundreds of hardcover books
-live-feed projection 
-gold paint on pages
-lemons, Majesty brand
-evaporated salt, Top Flo 20 kg. bags
-three projection screens
-French tapestries, Tenture de la dame à la licorne
-strings of fortune cookies
-lion mask
-horse mask
-triangle dings
-IF HE KNEW WHAT WE KNOW
-stacking books
-tumbling books
-throwing books, catching some
-gong sounds
-globe
-fruit bowl
-yard stick
-wash stand
-crumpling pages
-‘It has long been my habit to engage in the pursuit of knowledge. With a smile, I made my choice.’

Describing Tanya Mars’ newest performance will always fall short. Her images are constantly changing, evolving, and challenging audiences. A performance designed to explore and exploit the senses, you cannot predict the next shift that will take place.

Six Images in Search of an Artist: Remix is Mars’ first Canadian performance since 2008 when she was awarded a Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts. The piece is influenced by a series of medieval, French tapestries representing the five senses: taste, touch, smell, hearing, sight and a sixth sense, mon seul désir.

If you’ve never seen Tanya Mars perform, then you need to.
If you have seen Tanya Mars, then you know you need to see her again.

Mars’ 14 hour performance continues today, Friday March 19 from 3-10 pm. I suggest you get on down there, eat a fortune cookie and be mesmerized by one of Canada’s most innovative multidisciplinary artists.
 

Posted: March 19th, 2010 under Free Fall '10, Free Fall '10 Blog.
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The artist, the Iliad and the soldier: One Reed Theatre presents its newest performance at Free Fall ‘10.

As artists we sometimes get lulled into thinking the rest of the world sees things the way we do. If we are liberally-minded, egalitarian, anti-establishment lovers of art, then doesn’t that mean everyone is right there with us eating vegetarian food and voting NDP? The starting point for Little Iliad reminds us artists that the way we see it isn’t the way it’s seen by all.

Evan began the creative process by engaging in a conversation with his friend, an Afghanistan-bound soldier and perhaps ideological opposite. When talking with Evan, I was shocked to hear that the most well-funded theatre in the US is the Theatre of War which produces Greek drama and uses it as a form of drama therapy for soldiers. I did some digging myself and Evan is alluding to a 3.7 million dollar contract to tour Greek drama to military bases around the US. That alone is cause for debate but the themes and ideals expressed within the Homeric tale, Philoctetes, are no simple subject either. This dialogue between ultra-liberal artist, Evan Webber and soldier friend Thom serve as the basis for Little Iliad.‘The piece is in part a document of its own unmaking and the complexities of that attempt to communicate and work with someone who has a really different opinion and a really different view of life. He does what he does and I do what I do but we seem to find some common ground around the story. That story was something common for us to work on.’ So what should we expect? Small audiences of around fifteen people will experience the mix of pre-recorded and live elements that comprise the performance on headphones. ‘The piece draws from a documentary aesthetic and honours the idea of original texts as much as possible.’ Evan compares the performance to a ‘karaoke show of you singing a track of your own performance in the past. We are acknowledging that the show is a show and we are drawing attention to its re-representation. It is a very theatrical show.’They say that good things are worth waiting for. In the case of Little Iliad, good things are worth climbing for. An intimate room on the third floor of the Theatre Centre is where One Reed Theatre will premier their newest creation on Thursday March 25th at 6:45pm. Catch this in-progress workshop before one of Free Fall’s other performances. Evan promises it will be ‘like a stiff drink before you see a show.’ How did Evan know that any mention of liquor always attracts a crowd of artists. In fact, a love of alcohol may be one thing that artists and soldiers can agree on.

Posted: March 15th, 2010 under Free Fall '10, Free Fall '10 Blog.
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Posted: March 11th, 2010 under Free Fall '10.
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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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