1) What the fuck is going on? A tremendous amount, that’s for sure. There is a mind boggling amount of wonderful work happening in Toronto – all the time. The biggest change for me personally – since leaving my theatre/opera producing career a year and a half ago – is to make sense of the […]
Author: Ian Mackenzie
The Daisey cutters
Not sure how much news of this has made it north of the border to Canada. In case you missed it: A recent performance of U.S.-based monologist Mike Daisey’s Invincible Summer was disrupted when 87 members of a “Christian group” walked out of the show en masse, destroying the show’s original outline as they left. […]
How to write a sentence
“For me, a play is a form of writing which isn’t complete until it is interpreted by actors. But it’s still a form of writing. And so most of my time is spent thinking about how to write a sentence.” – Wallace Shawn
Who wrote it? Who knows – but we like it
Have you checked out your WikiPlay lately? Here’s an excerpt we enjoyed from the Steams of consciousness thread: The curtains open to reveal that the whole stage is shrouded in darkness except for a single spotlight with an empty chair inside its light. After approximately 30 seconds, a man dressed in a smart suit with […]
10 questions: Greatest hits – Volume II
The Wrecking Ball 1) What the fuck is going on?That’s the crucial question – the question that as artists we have to ask ourselves every day. Marvin Gaye taught us to ask that question. So in short: the glaciers are melting, the water is rising. The world is changing and staying the same all in […]
Who’s theatre-blogging this town anyway?
We like to think of them as cultural cartographers: next-generation journalists plotting their maps of Toronto’s theatre scene one blog post at a time. They are theatre-bloggers of the local variety, and we love them deeply. Toronto-based artist Tara Beagan is theatre-blogging. Here’s a sample: “ ’Bout a year and a half ago, while in […]
10 questions: Geoff Kolomayz
1) What the fuck is going on?I have no idea. Actors are on strike, but anyone who was working is now under a continuance letter. There are no picket lines, and anyone who wasn’t working can’t get a gig. So. Are we on strike or not? 2) Why are puppets an important part of theatre?Now […]
Ready, set . . . opening tomorrow!
Ready, Set, Life! This is the Rest of Your Life!written and performed by Geoff Kolomayzdirected by Alison Lynne Ward Quarter Life Crisiswritten and performed by Alison Lynne Warddirected by Geoff Kolomayz Showtimes:April 13th @ 8pm14th @ 5pm and 8pm15th @ 2pmApril 20th @ 8pm21st @ 5pm and 8pm22nd @ 2pm Location:Diesel Playhouse56 Blue Jay Way, […]
Just how classist is theatre?
Good question. And one that’s been coming up a lot lately. Here’s what some of our peers are saying on the topic (click through to read the full posts): Laura Axelrod at Gasp, On theater and class: “Working class issues aren’t addressed in mainstream theater, except in a weird patronizing sense. There’s no variation of […]
The WikiPlay Project
Please click through to get to UnSpun’s awesome WikiPlay page.
10 questions: Jacob Zimmer
1) What the fuck is going on?That’s what we trying to figure out in rehearsal. 2) You’ve written a lot about theatre, do you have any unifying theories that have risen to the top?Right now, “curiosity” is a key word. As long as curiosity is there I think we have a chance. Also curiously doesn’t […]
The actor’s deepest calling
“Theatre – through the actor’s technique, his art in which the living organism strives for higher motives – provides an opportunity for what could be called integration, the discarding of masks, the revealing of the real substance: a totality of physical and mental reactions. “This opportunity must be treated in a disciplined manner, with a […]
Greg Dunham goes Hollywood
A quick shoutout to Greg Dunham – a Praxis Theatre alumnai who made his feature film debut this past weekend in the critically acclaimed new film The Lookout. You might remember Greg from our Partron’s Pick-winning production The Blood of a Coward at the 2004 Toronto Fringe Festival: He was winning raves even back then: […]
10 questions: David Cote
1) What the fuck is going on? Workwise, constant theatergoing and writing – that’s my job. I edit the theater section of Time Out New York (TONY), assigning reviewers and reporters and trying to review two or three shows a week myself. What I can’t fit into the Lilliputian space our magazine allots for reviews […]
Opening today: Nor The Cavaliers Who Come With Us
Nor The Cavaliers Who Come With UsFor two weeks only! March 28 – April 6, 20078 pm @ the Studio Theatre4 Glen Morris Avenue Check out Praxis Theatre’s Q&A with the show’s co-creator Megan Flynn here.