YYZ BUDDIES

First Encounters: One-To One Performance Part 2 featuring Berenicci Hershorn, Kenji Ouellet, Johnson Ngo, Aynsley Moorhouse and David Frankovich

2012-02-10T11:02:00.000-05:00

You’ve read about them in Xtra!, The National Post, on BlogTO and Torontoist (just to name a few!). Starting tonight, you can be among the first to experience one-to-one performance at Rhubarb. At 5:00 we open the box office at the 519 Church Street Community Centre for first-come, first-served Pay What You Can (cash only!) appointment bookings with our one-to-one artists. Before your appointment, hang out and read a book or play a game in our waiting room or grab a Rhubarb –themed bite from our friends at Fabarnak.

Did you know that you can start your one-to-one experience at home?

If you have a smartphone, MP3 player or other headphone-equipped device at the ready, click here to download Walk With Me by Aynsley Moorhouse. Head to the Buddies Box Office, press play, and voila! Your walk to the 519 becomes an artistic experience not to be missed. If you’re reading this now and can’t make it to a computer in time, not to worry—we’ll have a laptop at the 519 where you can download Aynsley’s piece.

You may remember reading our domino interview with five one-to-one artists. This week, we bring you part two, featuring Berenicci Hershorn, Kenji Ouellet, Johnson Ngo, Aynsley Moorhouse and David Frankovich.

BERENICCI HERSHORN

In Blue Light, you and Berenicci will exchange secrets. Don’t worry—she won’t tell.

Kenji Ouellet to Berenicci Hershorn:

What importance does telling the truth have for you generally, and what role does this play in your performance?

Berenicci: My very first artistic inspiration was a little onion that peeled away to nothing in my astonished hands. And I have been forever fascinated by the way we come to know things. The process by which we edge our way around the circumference of comprehension, working towards a centre we may never ever find. There’s such an exquisite rhythm to it.

“We dance around in a ring and suppose,

But the secret sits in the middle and knows”

JOHNSON NGO

Come and Make Your Own China Doll with Johnson Ngo as he shares his story with you.

Berenicci Hershorn to Johnson Ngo:

Your work, as I know it, deals with identity albeit in a very visual, metaphorical and often tangential way. Looking back at the work I've done over the years, I see that work I thought was cooly cerebral and conceptual turns out to be very personal indeed. Given that we use our person as our medium, do you think that all performance work deals with identity whether the artist owns up to that or not?"

Johnson: Since our person is used as medium, I feel that all performance inherently deals with identity, but there is a difference between works dealing strictly with identity (and politics) and those dealing with more dominant themes. Not to mention the works of artists, such as Cindy Sherman and Nikki S. Lee, whose works intrinsically deals with the performance of identity.

I address the construction and fluidity of identity, specifically within a homosexual context. Prejudice and stereotypes are just some of the themes I am working with within my performances.

DAVID FRANKOVICH

Hungry and curious about your past, present and future? Come to Psychic Cooking Show where David Frankovich will cook you a meal and tell you your fortune.

Psychic Cooking Show

Johnson Ngo to David Frankovich:

Do you have a personal connection to mysticism or fortune-telling?

David: I'm really interested in rituals. With tarot, for example, every reading is different. It may consist of the same structure, the same set of ritual actions, yet will always be different. Performance is the same way. Once a performance begins it opens to any number of possibilities. Every time it is performed a performance changes and the performer in turn is changed by the performance. In a way, this can be thought of as a kind of magic. Transformation through ritual action. On a personal level, I come from a media arts background, so discovering performance was for me a profoundly transformative experience. It has changed and continues to change the ways that I think about art and make art. I definitely feel changed when I perform, and often when I experience a performance. I wouldn't call it a mystical experience in a literal sense, but it is very powerful, which is maybe why I'm drawn to the idea of a kind of ritualized performance practice.

AYNSLEY MOORHOUSE

Aynsley’s Walk With Me is a sound art journey through memory and perception.

Walk With Me

David Frankovich to Aynsley Moorhouse:

What, for you, is the relationship between sound, memory and walking?

Aynsley: For me, the relationship is more about that between your memory and your perceptions. How you interact with the world and the way you travel through it depends on how your brain processes the things around you. I'm fascinated by what happens when you can't trust your perceptions, and the anxiety and disorientation that can result from this mistrust. If, for example, you can't navigate your way home from somewhere you've known your whole life, walking becomes something scary and foreign. Likewise, you can only trust what you hear if you understand the sound or have heard it before. Typically the brain creates and maintains a catalog of familiar sounds which can be used to categorize and interpret new ones. When this system breaks down, sounds can become disorienting and confusing, reinforcing that you can no longer understand or trust your perceptions, and then by extension, the world around you.

KENJI OUELETT

Kenji flew all the way from Germany to bring you Klangkorper, in which a choreography is played out on his audience member’s body.

Aynsley Moorhouse to Kenji Ouellett:

Can you describe the challenges of conveying narrative through touch?

Klangkörper, the performance presented at the festival, involves no narrative in the sense of what is usually understood as storytelling.

Its structures are related to those used in instrumental music or dance (when dance is abstract rather than narrative). For a musician, musical structures (like, say, a sonata form) can be experienced as a kind of narrative, but this might not be the experience of the average listener of a piece of music.

A sound and a touch component interact and have a dialogue within Klangkoerper, creating other types of dynamics, so those similarities can only say so much anyway.

Parts of Piece touchée no 2, another piece [of mine], deal directly with story-telling, and more generally touch and language. Generating meaning with touch (through similarity, relation or convention) can be challenging, but I felt that the most difficult thing was rather to find or create texts that could be set to a touch score in an interesting way.

One-to-one performances run from Friday, February 10th through Sunday, February 12th. Fridays from 6PM to 10 PM (last performance at 9:30) and Sunday from 2-5 PM (last performance at 4:20). PWYC, cash only, first-come first-served. Box office opens one hour prior to performances.

PERFORMANCE ORDERS #3 AND #4: Neck Ties and Witchcraft for the YCU

2012-02-09T15:32:00.000-05:00

From the young blood at Rhubarb we've taken two more performance orders. Here we talk to Michael David Lorsch of As In Happy and cassy walker of satan in me. Both artists are members of the Young Creator's Unit, part of the Queer Youth Arts Program at Buddies.

PERFORMANCE ORDER #3 - taken from Michael David Lorsch

What do you want the dance/performance to be about?
Where we look for happiness

Describe the movement and sound of the dance/performance.
Hysteric yet determined. Sustained energy. Colourful. Comical.

What should it look like?
There should be a lot of space as I think we always see happiness as something far from us or perhaps something we don't currently have. I sense of clown should be felt.

Costumes?
For some reason I feel we need neck ties. I'd like to see the performers change the piece by what they find in their search - removing clothing, adding debris, whatever's in the area.

Site/Setting?
Corner of Alexander and Church on the Zodiac street mural. Though I imagine they can leave it.

Lighting?
Natural lighting

Any thoughts on Music (a particular piece of music, or genre)?
Anything with "Smile" in it. Smile by Charlie Chaplin (MJ), Smile, You Make Me Smile by Aloe Blacc

Is there a mood or theme you would like the piece to communicate/explore?
How happiness runs and controls our lives.

How many performers?
Two

Any other ideas or thoughts to share?
NOPE

Who are you?
Michael David Lorsch

What do you do?
Theatre artist and Boylesque T.O member

Age?
24

PERFORMANCE ORDER #4 - taken from cassy walker

What do you want the dance/performance to be about?
magic. witchcraft.

Describe the movement and sound of the dance/performance.
solemn. flowing. sharp. chaotic. contorted. like possession. the sounds are rhythmic, and should only be coming from the bodies.

What should it look like?
it should look like a ritual. i see a steady crescendo. from order to chaos. silence to noise.

Costumes?
white. nothing but white. flowing white dresses for everyone.

Site/Setting?
around a table covered in white. everything happens around the table.

Lighting?
only candles and lamps set on the table in a symmetrical fashion.

Any thoughts on Music (a particular piece of music, or genre)?
everything comes from the bodies on the stage. they are the music.

Is there a mood or theme you would like the piece to communicate/explore?
like the spectators are watching something they shouldn't be. something private. secret.

How many performers?
five.

Any other ideas or thoughts to share?
do feel free to offer your blood. :)

First Encounters: An Opening-Night Imagined Conversation with YOU

2012-02-08T11:50:00.010-05:00

An imagined First Encounters with you, dear blog reader:

Us: Hey, what’s the most exciting thing happening in Toronto tonight?

You: Easy question. Opening night of Rhubarb at Buddies, obviously. Everyone is going.

That’s right, tonight is the night! The evening kicks off at 8:00 PM with a double-header of The Little G8 that Could in the Cabaret and Bleed in the North Chamber. Stick around for The Failure Show, Sea Foam Blue, Night and Day, Please Forever Please and 33. Also be sure to visit Trust My Gut in the Mezzanine and place your performance order at our Made to Order café.

Whew.

Messapotamia LeFae is here to take your order

Did we mention that there’s also a party?

Stop by our Kick-Off Bash! Starting at 10:00 PM, get your groove on to tunes spun by the dynamic DJ Phil V (if you haven’t seen it already, check out Phil’s response to Ellen’s dance challenge here) with special guest performances by MC Jazz and Messapotamia LeFae.

MC Jazz

Here's a sneak peak of Messy's unparalleled lip sync prowess:

You: So, wait, my ticket covers all of these amazing things?

Us: You bet.

You: That’s a bargain! See, I told you it was the place to be.

Us: We’ll see you tonight.

PERFORMANCE ORDER #2: Another order up from Wives

2012-02-05T11:41:00.003-05:00

Continuing to take performance orders from Rhubarb artists for our blog, we caught Wives (Leah Fay Goldstein, Emma-Kate Guimond and Julia Thomas) rehearsing Sea Foam Blue and took their ultimate performance order.

PERFORMANCE ORDER FORM

What do you want the dance/performance to be about?

Be honest.

Play with belly fat.

Make me aware of my body.

Get us out of our seats.

Text message.

Staring contest.

Licking contest.

De-sacralize female bodies.

Do a magic trick.

Describe the movement and sound of the dance/performance.

The sound of flab-slapping without hands.

Syncopation

Boy band.

Life cycle.

Jiggly.

What should it look like?

Time Warp.

Falling in love.

Fluid dancing in zero gravity.

Life is much better down where it's wetter

Costumes?

Naked OR Inorganic materials (ie styrofoam)

Not saran wrap

Site/Setting?

The bathroom.

Existential Darkness.

Post-Apocalypse.

A baby's crib.

Lighting?

Lightning.

A black hole.

FOAM PARTY! Dance number.

Any thoughts on Music (a particular piece of music, or genre)?

Jamaican Dance Hall

Arabic Dabke

Siberian Throat Singing

Is there a mood or theme you would like the piece to communicate/explore?

Epiphany

Recycling

Colonization of Mars

How many performers?

Who are you?

We are WIvES 

What do you do?

We make body-based intermedia love songs.

Age?

75 (together).

Catch Sea Foam Blue, “a live analogue-projection and dance fanta-sea of inter-species love and its evolutionary consequences.” During Week 1 of Rhubarb which is coming right up!

Landwomen return to sea

Revisit the blog's previous PERFORMANCE ORDER FORM

Morsels: Rachel Steinberg interviews Maggie Hutcheson and Dan Watson

2012-02-02T15:43:00.001-05:00

Early on in the curatorial process, it became clear that history—personal history, political history, local history—was going to be a major theme in this year’s festival. Both The Department of Public Memory and The Little G8 That Could explore the history of two communities—Toronto and Huntsville, ON, respectively, and the direct impact of governmental initiatives and policy on both. In creating their pieces, both Maggie and Dan went straight to the heart of the communities, gathering thoughts, impressions and opinions from the residents themselves.

We were curious to find out more about the artists’ relationships to the places they visited, their own memories, and what they’ve learned about community so far.

Maggie, you’ve traveled to a number of different and diverse Toronto communities for this piece, some which may not have been places you frequent. Dan, you’re from Huntsville, but you live in Toronto. In researching for/creating your pieces, did you consider yourself outsiders? Why or why not? How were you received in the communities you visited? Was the reaction to you always the same, or did it vary?

Maggie: Toronto is often described as a city of neighbourhoods. As downtown-west residents we’re very aware of our outsider position when we travel to other parts of the city to speak with people about services they value. The surprising thing, though, is that, so far, response to our project has been the same wherever we go. People are friendly, willing to talk and very generous with their time. We still get nervous each time we head out to a new site but return again and again feeling really good about the conversations we’ve had.

Maggie Hutcheson

Dan: Yes and No. I don’t feel like an outsider because I grew up [in Huntsville], and I continue to have a presence there through my work, and because I spend a good deal of time there. Having said that, I don’t live there full time so I have a certain sensitivity when it comes to what I can say about the place. I consider it my home, and when people ask me where I’m from, I automatically respond Huntsville without really thinking about it. For most of the people that I have encountered during this project, it wasn’t really an issue where I’m from because it was never really a question. Most knew me, or had heard about me, and knew that I am from Huntsville. Now that I’ve made this piece about Muskoka, which could be seen as critical of some of the things that happened in the lead up to the G8, I’m interested to see if it does become an issue. I’m wondering if people will bring that up. There’s been a lot of interest in the piece, and people asking if I’ll do it in Huntsville, and I want to, but at the same time, I’m nervous how people will react. It’s more immediate for that audience, and I have a long history with many of them. So I guess it’s complicated.

The importance or emotional attachment to place feels like a running thread through both of your pieces. What is the first place you remember being especially important or meaningful to you? Can you describe it?

Maggie: I grew up in an old house that had a narrow little set of stairs from the kitchen to the second floor. I loved bringing paper, pens, books, toys into that staircase and setting up on the third or fourth stair up. It was cosy and dimly lit. I spent a lot of hours dreaming there.

Dan: There are lots, but one of the most special places for me was summer camp. I went to a place called Big Doe Camp which is north of Huntsville, just outside a little town called Burks Falls. It was an all boys’ camp with wooden cabins, canoe trips and all kinds of activities. It wasn’t fancy, things were run down a bit, but that’s what was great about it. We celebrated its roughness. Cabins were haunted, names written all over the walls, the canoes and sailboats had been patched with fibre glass too many times to count. It was a place that felt like it was from a different time, with these crazy traditions like the portage race where people ran a kilometre with a canoe on their head. The director was a guy named Aubrey Rhamey. He was old school, really tough and stern. He was close to eighty when I went there, and was still doing one armed push ups and giving people hell. He taught us lessons about helping each other, and getting the most for you money (I remember straightening rusty nails for him to be reused). When he died, the camp kind of died with him. They sold off the cabins and the equipment. The property is still there with the main lodge and one of the log cabins. I’ve thought of going to check it out, but I can’t bring myself to. I guess I want to keep it the way I remember it.

Now that you’ve seen and talked to members of the community about spaces, what are some words you would use to describe your ideal community space? What would the building look like? What would people do there?

Maggie: What I love about my work with Department of Public Memory is that we get to learn about the specific and different elements of each service we research. Each has its own very distinct feel and that’s what we want to illustrate when we eventually make our site-specific memorials. So I can’t describe an ideal community space based on this work. But I can say that my own ideal space would involve a lot of meaningful conversation amongst strangers. Toronto doesn’t tend to be good at this and I crave it.

Dan: It’s really different for different communities. I guess that’s the big thing which is that a space should be in service of what happens in it. I think that gets overlooked in how we envision a lot of community and public spaces. We want to see things that last, so we invest in buildings, and hope that things will happen in those buildings. Sometimes they do, and sometimes they don’t. I think maybe sometimes it’s a way for us to feel like we have contributed something great without having to make the long term commitment of engaging with the place and the people. To build a community space takes years and years of commitment and work, and a willingness to put yourself in the shit of the community and deal with it. It’s not for everyone. It’s hard to make that commitment, but when I see people that do it, it’s magic, and it seems to work seamlessly with that community.

Dan Watson

Rachel is one of this year’s Festival Interns. Catch The Little G8 That Could Wed-Sun at 8:00 PM during Week One (Feb 8-12). Join The Department of Public Memory on a mobile mission on either Saturday, Feb 11th at 2:00 PM or Wed, Feb 15th at 5:30 PM (locations listed on Rhubarb’s website http://buddiesinbadtimes.com/festival.cfm?id=13) or at their Annual General Meeting on Sunday, Feb 19th at 3:00PM in the Buddies Cabaret.

Morsels: Trust My Gut - a high-camp, soap-operatic surgery

2012-02-01T17:12:00.001-05:00

Marisa Hoicka as Uncle Wink and Johnny Forever work with themes of love and labour through drag aesthetics in their performance, Trust My Gut.

Documentation was film at FADO's 2011 Emerging Artists Series.

Hoicka and Forever will find humour in tender and confidential moments on the Mezzanine in the Cabaret but you only have two chances to see it! Trust My Gut happens on opening night of Week 1 (Wed, Feb 8) and Week 2 (Wed. Feb 15) of the festival.

Stay late and party with us on the 8th for Rhubarb Festival’s Kick Off Bash at 10pm and on the 15th for Tom & Gary’s Decentralized Dance Party converging at Buddies at 10pm.

Check out more on Trust My Gut here.

First Encounters: One-to-One Performance at the 519, Part One

2012-01-28T11:26:00.000-05:00

This installment of First Encounters is a little bit different. Instead of having two artists interview one another, we're doing something that we like to call a domino interview. One artist poses a question to another artist who answers it and poses a question to another artist who answers it and... you get the gist. This week, we hear from Melissa D'Agostino, Jona-nah, Claude Wittmann, Evan Vipond and Heather Hermant.

Melissa D'Agostino

In her piece, all the things we should have said that we never said, Melissa will be reliving conversations from audience members' pasts.

Heather Hermant to Melissa D'Agostino: If someone has a long list of conversations she wants to have with you, what advice would you give her to help choose?

Melissa: I would tell her to use the ancient instinct game as seen on many a sitcom:

Step One: Call a friend.

Step Two: Have her friend make the decision for her.
Step Three: Witness how, magically, she gets fully behind the conversation she truly wants to have. The heart wants what it wants.

If she's still unclear as to how to proceed after Step 3, I would encourage her to put all the types of conversations in a hat, pull one out, and let the fates decide.

And if by this point there is still a question of which discussion to dive into, I would pass along this song by the Lovin' Spoonful. If this doesn't drive her madly into making a decision -- I don't know what will!

Can't wait to start talking!

Jonah-nah

In Crossways, Jonah-nah will be taking audience members on a walk through the Village.

Melissa D'Agostino to Jonah-nah: What song best reflects your artistic approach?

Jona-nah: 'Many Moons' by Janelle Monae.

Ill make it rain ain't a thing and ill make it fall
Lets put it all in your hand and the voice leading up
And when the truth goes vain, the shouts splatter
And when we're growing down, instead of growing up
Tell me are you fool enough to reach for love

Settle up, settle down, hood rat, crack whore
Care free, nightclub, closet drunk, bathtub, outkast,
Weirdo, step child, freak show, black girl, bad hair,
Broad nose, cold stare, tight squeeze, Broadway, tuxedo
Holiday, creative block, love song, stupid words, erase song
Gun shots, porn channels, dead men walking with a dirty mouth,
Spoiled milk, stale bread, welfare bubonic plague, ...,
Breast cancer, common cold, HIV, lost hope, overweight,
Self-esteem, misfit, broken dream, fish tank, small bowl,
Cyber-girl, joint control, microphone, one stage, tom boy,
Outrage, street fight, bloody war, instigators, third floor,
Broken heart, STD, quarantine, paraplegic, coke head,
Final chapter, death bed, plastic sweat, metal skin,
Metallic ears, manikin, care free, nightclub, closet drunk, bathtub,
White house, scarecrow, dirty lies, my regards..

Claude Wittmann
Part of Claude's piece Betterave Rouge/Red Beet involves Claude and Claude's audience member feeding one another portions of beets.

Jona-nah to Claude Wittmann: I'm curious about the parallels between beets and gender, both of which can come with a lasting stain or imprint, are multilayered and have a rich depth of tonal values. To me, it feels like there a number of ways, symbolically and historically, in which beets and gender seem to work in parallel. Can you elaborate on the relationship between beets and gender in your work?

Claude Wittman: January 18: i know that there is a relationship between gender and beets, but i do not know what it is. beets are beautifully red, they are part of my everyday diet, i love them, i eat them raw and sometimes i cook them and that way they deliver immense amounts of comfort. beets lift my shy liver energy. they bring warmth. sometimes too much in my gut. my grand-mother drank beet juice every day after she had surgery to remove her cancerous uterus. my mother drinks beet juice every day. i did not like beets at all when i was a kid. beet salad would make me very cranky. but, as i had to to finish my plate, i would start with the salad and then eat the foods that i liked.

January 21: beets. their juice does not stain permanently but it colors our pee and our stools. sometimes, for a fraction of a second, i think that i am bleeding from my kidneys when i look at the the colour of my pee. then, i remember that something from the outside world has gone through me. beet juice is blood with lots of oxygen.

what about gender? i still do not know. maybe beets are a food that i have consciously chosen as nourishing as opposed to other foods that feel more like hurting or killing me. am i trying to find a gender that will be nourishing? that will be uplifting instead of repressing? does not sound right. beets feel more like a transition, an in between, something in between dirt/death - and blood/life. something for a passing through.

beet red liver oxygen mother grand-mother no yes choice nourishment choice blood pee gender. hmm, pee and gender.

addendum January 22nd: i have just read in the newspaper that municipalities use a mixture of sugar beet juice and brine to keep roads from icing when the temperature goes under minus 8 degrees celsius.

Evan Vipond
In Gender Me, audience members become stylists as they choose what Evan gets to wear.

Claude Wittmann to Evan Vipond: "If I say 'body, memory, death and gender...' what do you say?"

Evan: From birth, we are gendered based on the interpretation of our bodies. We are taught, and learn to embody this gender. Our bodies memorize the script, the actions and reactions, until our gender becomes second nature, trapped in our bodies until death. But, what if we can change the memories in our bodies? Can we transform and transcend gender?

Evan included a couple photos in his response. Check them out here and here.

Heather Hermant

Heather's "Aujourdhuy 15e septembre 1738..." explores the story of Esther Brandeau, who became the first "known" Jewish person to arrive in Canada after working as a young man in Europe for five years. Esther was outed, interrogated and later deported after she refused to convert to Christianity.

Evan Vipond to Heather Hermant: Does our current political climate inform your historically-based work?

Heather: Absolutely. I don’t see the past as distinct from the present, nor time as a linear progression. I experience bodies as historical records, and that’s what I’m trying to highlight with my piece. I was drawn to this story because it was the first time I read a so-called “piece of the past” and felt a whole multitude of resonances of recognition for myself. That personal resonance is the entry point. So telling “historical tales” in the present is also about the teller.

As for the present political climate, I can’t see an 18th century historical tale of a gender and “race” transgressor, who undergoes attempts at normalization for the sake of empire, as separate from the ways in which immigration policy here today is racialized, and the ways in which it forces folks to perform their queerness in very prescribed, readable ways in order to gain entry, all in the context of ongoing indigenous sovereignty struggles. So the “past” is always present, and the present “out there” is always present right here in the performance space.

I’ve just read Julia Paoli’s curatorial essay about “The Rest is Real", video works by Aleesa Cohene, who reconfigures history in amazing ways. Paoli quotes Helen Molesworth on the relationship of the past and the future: “To articulate the past historically does not mean to recognize ‘the way it was’, but might mean instead to present it as crucial for recalibrating the effects of the new.” These are the kind of things that I wonder about all the time.

I’ve long wondered why the story I’m working with is not broadly known. I also know that the reason I’m able to work with it in a way that honours my whole self is because people before me have opened the discursive space for me to be able to do so. Documentation of “the past”—even if in the form of a harsh colonial record—allows us to see where we are and why.

Morsels: Keith Hennessy- Performance and (free!) Workshop

2012-01-27T12:30:00.000-05:00

Dance and performance artist Keith Hennessy will be here during Week 2 of Rhubarb to present his internationally acclaimed CROTCH, and to facilitate a free 2-day workshop, Performing (queer) Failure, presented in association with Hub 14.

Keith works within tensions of intimacy, spectacle, rhetoric, ritual, the personal and social, and failure. Working in relationship to queer - as perspective, practice, tactic, handicap and identity - participants will spend two days investigating failure. Acknowledging and then exploiting the gap between ideal and real.

“We’ll move, talk, improvise, scheme and make stuff for each others' delight and provocation.”

We are thrilled to offer this workshop for free, but space is limited. All dance, performance, visual and conceptual artists are welcome to apply. Send a brief paragraph (maximum 1-page) introducing your work, experience and any questions or ambitions you are currently exploring to laura@buddiesinbadtimes.com - applications are due Tuesday, January 31.

Connecting with his investigation into failure, recently Keith has been busy with collaborations and residencies across the globe to create Turbulence (a dance about the economy). The piece is a bodily response to economic crisis and an experiment not only in performance, but also in developing alternative modes of producing performance. This video gives a taste of what was accomplished from only a series of short residencies.

More rants, raves, reflections and revisions on Keith’s blog

A little more on Joseph Beuys

Some suggested reading from Keith:

Performance Theatre and the Poetics of Failure by Sara Jane Bailes
The Queer Art of Failure by Jack Halberstam
Institute of Failure

Also, if failure's your thing revisit Sarah Garton Stanley's PERFROMANCE ORDER FORM on the Rhubarb blog.

First Encounters: Adam Lazarus with Nika Mistruzzi & Aurora Stewart de Pena

2012-01-25T12:08:00.004-05:00

Throughout the next few weeks, we’ll be posting a series of interviews between artists who we felt shared something in common but might have initially been unfamiliar with one another. Welcome to First Encounters!

Today, Bleed’s Adam Lazarus and the ladies of Birdtown & Swanville (Settlers) talk about collaboration, being vulnerable and the stuff of their childhood nightmares.

Adam: I used to have nightmares stemming from Return to Oz where my friends and family turned into rock people, would grow 20 feet and be forced into child labour making wire hangers. I think the wire hanger thing was from the movie Mommy Dearest… Anyhoo, they say that media can have an effect on the youth. Maybe even fucks us up. Um, obviously, right? Thoughts?

Aurora: Of course. I used to have horrible nightmares about the monsters from the Muppets. Also because of the Muppets, I thought that dogs didn't talk or play the piano around me because I was doing something that made them feel they couldn't be themselves. That I was offending them into silence and barking. That being said, the media provides a useful guide for social interaction and hairstyling. I wouldn't know anything, otherwise.

Nika Mistruzzi and Aurora Stewart de Pena

Nika: I wasn't really allowed to watch TV as a kid, but I did have a recurring nightmare about a giant bird that would swoop in my window, steal my family and leave me behind. Regardless of access to the media, fear is inherent; it must just take form within the limits of our imagination. That is what our play is about!

Now I hate that my dreams take the form of movies - with wide-angle shots and close ups and such. Unless of course it's a dream about Billy Madison or something. Underrated movie.

Adam: Where do you start when you begin a new project? Collaborators, form, content, a dream in this case…? How do you know, or rather, when do you know, that an idea is worth pursuing?

Aurora: I think we pursue almost every idea we have. Personally, I am terrified that I'll run out. I think Nika is more considered.

Nika: I think that usually we don't even realize we have started working on something until much of it has been formed by just hanging out and talking about things that fascinate us both - like for instance, WWE wrestling and pioneers....

Adam: Best part of the creation process, and the worst part? (Or highlights/lowlights)

Aurora: My favourite part is when I'm alone writing in my apartment with lots of clementines and Kraft Singles at my disposal. That's when I feel like I'm really on to something, something good. Before anybody ever sees it. After that I have a nervous bile taste in my throat until we close. My other favourite part is when Nika and I and our collaborators have meetings where we discuss all of the hilarious things we won't do, like having an entire play scored by fart noises.

Nika: There are so many bests. The worst is the stress of worry I suppose. Luckily the bests always outweigh the worsts when it comes to making things you love with people you love.

Birdtown & Swanville: Do you encourage students from your workshops to come and see your work? Why? Why not?

Adam: I love students seeing my work. I think it’s important for both them and myself. In a class, students are asked to be vulnerable and open and that is a very difficult demand. They open up to me and I should do the same in front of them. Good show, bad show, average show, I'm working it out, just like they are. Only difference is a few more years of experience.

Also, a practical application of a method is exciting for a student to see. Sometimes grasping a concept like bouffon or character can be confusing if you're only learning it in the confines of a class. These concepts take on new meaning in the realm of professional theatre.

It's so different being a teacher and being an artist. Both are extraordinarily difficult.

Birdtown & Swanville: Do you think there is contentment in loneliness? Are people who are relentlessly self-sufficient that way because they don't trust other people to take care of them?

Adam: With regards to me, I am not a content man when I'm lonely. I'm quite melancholy. That being said, I need my lonely times. I appreciate the dark. Perhaps not while I'm in it, but I don't think I would be challenged without them.

I have no idea why people are the way they are, but I do like showing a slice of human trauma on a stage. We're all fucked up, let's celebrate! We do things for all sorts of reasons, and there is never a clear reason why. Humans are very complicated. I don't think relentless self-sufficiency is mutually connected with a lack of trust. I think self-sufficient people are independent and exciting and great collaborators. I think people who don't trust other people are assholes, are hard to work with, and even harder to have dinner with. I think people's stories are fascinating. Also, that an audience judges a story is fascinating; specifically, what an audience determines as appropriate. I monitor my judgment and tolerance a lot lately. I try not to say that so and so did this and that because of this and that which is why they act like this or that. It takes all kinds. No one is normal.

Adam Lazarus and Phil Luzi

At the core, this is what Bleed is about. ‘Normal Norman’ is about to do something quite awful. You'll want to label him as nuts, stupid, fucked, or inappropriate, and you're right and you're wrong. He is all those things and just a guy who wants to die the way he wants to die. He's the captain of his own ship. He takes the reigns and is happier for it. Norman is the lucky one.

Made to Order

2012-01-21T09:10:00.001-05:00

PERFORMANCE ORDER #1: I'll Have What They're Having

“The Made to Order dance project is built around my ongoing search for people to describe their ideas for dance pieces; but here, the visions become reality.” – Lady Janitor (AKA Eroca Nicols)

Made to Order works like this: stop by the Made to Order Cafe, in the Buddies Ante Chamber to complete and submit an order form. Indicate your preferences regarding as many variables in a dance as possible (for example, music, site, lighting, costumes, mood, movement quality, etc). It's your chance to place an order for your dream performance: however sweet, sour or salty you'd like it. Then, each Saturday night at 10 pm, Lady Janitor and crew will follow the recipe, make the dance, and present the finished product as live improvisation in the Chamber.

The Made to Order Cafe will be open for business from 7-8 daily in the Buddies Ante Chamber throughout Rhubarb.

Here we've adapted the Eroca's order form for Rhubarb artists to dream up some performances. It's called PERFORMANCE ORDER FORM and we'll be filling them regularly leading up to and throughout the festival and you might just see them performed too!

Today's order was taken from Sarah Garton Stanley of The Failure Show or: A Thirteen-Point Manifesto for the Consideration of Failure

PERFORMANCE ORDER FORM
Filled by: SARAH GARTON STANLEY

What do you want the dance/performance to be about?

Failure

Describe the movement and sound of the dance/performance.

A lot of words. A Bit of Silence. Laughing and scratching.

What should it look like?

Like Detroit on a rainy afternoon.

Costumes?

Intermittently.

Site/Setting?

A think-tank.

Lighting?

Yes.

Any thoughts on Music (a particular piece of music, or genre)?

Sigur Ros and something else.

Is there a mood or theme you would like the piece to communicate/explore?

Holding Failure.

How many performers?

Any other ideas or thoughts to share?

There will be dancing.

Morsels: Decentralized Dance Party!

2012-01-20T10:48:00.002-05:00

Toronto welcomes back Tom and Gary's Decentralized Dance Party as part of 2012 Rhubarb Mobile Works series. Mobile Works infiltrates public spaces with performance, and this year features a mad open-source dance party. On Wednesday February 15, we'll start dancing at a secret meeting meeting spot (revealed day of right here on the blog) and continue the party at Buddies late into the night. So what is a Decentralized Dance Party? Basically, it is a party in a public space, with the sound provided on boomboxes carried by participants. The sound originates from a transmitter in the DJ's roving backpack, and partiers are decked out with costumes, props, portable light and sound equipment. But Tom and Gary describe it much better:

What do you need for the Decentralized Dance Party?
Just the drive to reach your own Party Potential.
Read Tom and Gary's Party Manifesto to seal the deal.

What does Rhubarb need for a Decentralized Dance Party?
BOOMBOXES

How many?
LOTS

Rhubarb needs all boombox donations, loans or leads.
Any FM portable radio will work.
It needs to be battery operated.
If the battery ports are corroded, we don't care.
We want it anyway.
Give it up.
rhubarb.boombox@gmail.com

Morsels: Introducing One-to-One Performance

2012-01-18T12:03:00.000-05:00

New to the festival this year is the One-to-One Performance Series, performances designed for one performer and one audience member at a time.

Our friends at The 519 Church Street Community Centre, where these special performances will be taking place, shared this link with us: a profile on intimate theatre and performance for one happening around the globe. We thought it was a great intro to this type of work. Have a listen.

Curious? Adventurous? We hope so. You can experience the one-to-one performances at Rhubarb February 10th-12th. You'll find a wide selection of intimate works that involve ritual, participation and sensory play.

Welcome to the 33rd Rhubarb Festival

2012-01-16T14:55:00.002-05:00

Welcome! I'm thrilled to be able to share with you the programming for the 33rd Rhubarb Festival: a year of unparalleled raw, radical, performance. From now until the end of February, with the help of Rhubarb interns Kari Pederson and Rachel Steinberg, we'll be taking over the Buddies' blog to connect you with the festival artists and projects; giving you a taste for what's to come as well as a little insight into what's happening behind the scenes.

One of the special things about Rhubarb is the range of work you are able to experience back-to-back in one night. Below are some videos featuring artists who will be presented during week 1 of the festival: Justin Vivian Bond and Yamantaka//Sonic Titan. They are two very different sounds and aesthetics, that both exemplify the energy and attitude vibrating under this year’s festival.

Cabaret superstar and performance legend Justin Vivian Bond last graced our stage over a decade ago as part of the performance duo Kiki and Herb.

We're pleased to have Justin return to perform new work from the Dendrophile album and readings from Justin's book Tango.

Yamantaka//Sonic Titan will bring together elements of Noh-opera, anime and industrial rock for their new work, 33 (nice timing for our 33rd festival). This ambitious new Canadian group is already making waves internationally. Here's a look at some of their earlier work to get you warmed-up:

Countdown to Rhubarb = 24 days.

-- Laura Nanni, Rhubarb Festival Director

2012 Rhubarb application deadlines are right around the corner

2011-08-25T14:40:00.000-04:00

Applications to the 33rd Rhubarb Festival are due next Friday, September 2.
More info is available here, and you can download the application here - or visit buddiesinbadtimes.com for everything all in one place.

TOP 5: Femmes de Feu

2011-02-24T15:49:00.000-05:00

TOP 5 PLACES TO CLEAR MY HEAD
from Holly Treddenick of Femmes de Feu - their show Airship runs until Saturday at Rhubarb

1. Puttering around my house on the phone with my friend Maria

2. Dangling in the air from my ankles at FACT in the early morning (Fighting Arts Collective Toronto, 927 Dupont)

3. In my bed, under the covers, snuggled with my cats

4. Anywhere on my bike, but especially Toronto Island

5. The south west corner of the bar at La Palette with a glass of good earthy wine.

IN CONVERSATION: bluemouth inc.

2011-02-23T16:29:00.000-05:00

After an amazing first week, The Rhubarb Festival is back for Week 2 - the fun begins tonight with a whole new line-up of daring, innovative performance events (the full schedule is available on our website).

Come tonight for the shows, or join us afterwards in the Buddies Cabaret as we celebrate the kick off of Week 2 with a special presentation of The Centre for Sleep and Dreams Studies - part of the Set it Off Series, Rhubarb’s new platform for experimentations in music and unconventional takes on the DJ Set.

Today on the blog, Praxis Theatre (Jesus Chrysler) talk to Richard Windeyer and Ciara Adams of bluemouth inc. and poet a.rawlings about The Centre for Sleep and Dream Studies.

PRAXIS: The Centre for Sleep and Dreams is actually the second sleep-themed collaboration between the particular artists involved in this project. In 2006 you all worked on an adaptation of a.rawlings Wide slumber for lepidopterists as part of HATCH. How has working on that piece informed this work?

Ciara Adams: That's an interesting question, because I think that it is largely because of that earlier collaboration, that the three of us decided we wanted to continue exploring our work together, and more specifically sonic improvisation. a.rawlings developed this fantastic idea, which was an extension of her research for WSFL, and cleverly formed it into the first incarnation of The Centre for Sleep and Dream Studies, then she invited Richard and I to help her present it at the Scream Literary Festival, this experience re-ignited a spark in all of us.

Richard Windeyer: Slow evolution....oil tanker speed.

a.rawlings: Slowvolution... Welcome to the Centre for Sleep and Dream Studies. Well, come to the Centre for Sleep and Dream Studies. Come to the Centre. Come to the scent. Whale, elk. Hum. Welcome. Sent her for sleep and dreams. Come. Leavened reams. Studs. To the studies for sleep and leap and leap and ease. Studies will the four. Leap. Hand aims. Hum. He's welcome. Well, come. Come to the scent. To the scent. The centre. Scent her. Scent her cum. Well, come to the Centre for Sleep and Sleep and Sleep and Sleep and Sleep and Sleep and Sleep and hum.

PRAXIS: You tried out The Centre for Sleep and Dreams at Levack Block on Ossington this summer. How'd it go? What did you learn from it? What will be different this time around in the Rhubarb version?

CA: I was so moved by the one-on-one interview's that I was conducting as the "doctor", and so inspired by the live mixing with Richard and a.rawlings, that I felt there was a need to explore the possibilities further. It also seemed like a natural fit to so many of the aspects of performance that bluemouth inc. is currently playing with, so it seemed a natural next step to find an opportunity to explore the themes, ideas, and concept further. I think we are still working out exactly what that is, for this current version of the piece, as we collectively collaborate and consider the intimacy of the audience's experience.

RW: Levack Block was a bizarre experience. The bar (where I was stationed) was crammed full of people in full-on after-party mode. I couldn't really hear anything coming out of my gear and whatever was happening in the back room with Ciara and Angela was a virtual mystery to me. It was more like two disparate pieces happening simultaneously - intimate confession in the back room, deaf DJ tweaking recklessly about in the front room. In retrospect, an absolutely brilliant scenario for a performance.

AR: As host of the Levack Block evening, I permeated the membrane separating the raucous cacophony of Richard's party and the surreal tête-à-tête of Ciara's interview. It was fascinating to move between a highly social, loud, public space and an intimate, quiet, private encounter. Each audience member who participated in both rooms underwent a kind of metamorphosis, carrying the residue of their previous location into the next. The combination of let-loose joie de vivre and deep soul-searching made for fertile audience-performer collaboration. This time, I feel as though we're working to expand or establish more the possibilities of each environment, and to consider more fully how they dialogue with each other and how to pump up what experience we offer everyone participating (including ourselves!).

PRAXIS: The five core members of bluemouth inc. have training and experience in practically every artistic discipline. How the heck do you figure out where to start? Do you work from ideas and then figure out how to express them through various mediums - or does someone present a concept within their discipline and then you find ways to expand and relate it to other forms? Or a combo of the two? Are there consistent elements to your process or is it a new way of working each time?

CA: This is a great question, all of the above? Though each project is different, and I can only speak to my experience in the collective (which began in 2003), we always begin with a theme or concept, usually something we all agree we want to explore further, and in recent years, yes, I would say we have developed a more specific working style, largely due to the fact that we live in Toronto, New York and Montreal, so you can imagine the importance of video conferencing, and web development whether it be wikidot.com, drop box, google calender, facebook or whiteboard. We tend to let things take the space they need, and I think we are all pretty comfortable with "not knowing" for long periods. We also like to say we are interdisciplinary, rather than multidisciplinary which I think implies that for the most part we all move from one art form into another, rather than compartmentalizing things, and everyone can comment on, or help develop everything, this takes a little getting used for collaborators. As you know we do not work with a director or a playwright. I think the not having a director thing really throws people sometimes, and they say "But who am I meant to talk to?", "Who has the answers?", "Who's the decider?", to which we answer "Welcome to bluemouth inc."

We also say that often with the best ideas you cannot remember where it came from in the end, as it as been touched by many influences, morphed and changed by the collective experience as it becomes simply by bluemouth inc.

RW: These days the process usually starts like a pot luck family reunion. We stand around getting re-acquainted and look at what we all prepared and brought. Then we realize there is no main course, so then we try to figure that out and make what goes best with what everyone brought. Takes a long time and there's usually a lot of feeling lost, feeling ignored, feeling stuck - all of which gets passed around from one member to the next. Everyone oscillates between collective brainstorming and retreating into their areas of expertise. The most important thing to do is also the hardest thing to do - to create and maintain a rich, creative environment in which everyone in the room is optimized for creativity and innovation. Brainstorming, map-making, question-asking, formal transpositions, chance operations, cross-disciplinary translation exercises, dramaturgy (of the creative process itself) and end-of-process test audiences are some of the most valuable tools. This kind of work is a discipline - with time and effort you develop personal tools that enable you to push past the surface of ideas.

AR: I can't answer about a consistency in process as this is my second time in direct collaboration with bluemouth-identified collective members. But I can say that there's a perky enthusiasm and curiosity that runs as an undercurrent through creation/development. Posing questions becomes a way to open windows into a netherspace that surges and crackles between brains. And sometimes, practical constraints (the play-space, an event's duration) will prove conducive to structure the project or to offer unexpected directions to explore. Mostly, it's a jubilant network of everythingalltogetheratoncenow!

A note from Buddies

2011-02-23T11:55:00.000-05:00

It has come to our attention that the image used in our Rhubarb marketing materials is offensive and hurtful to several members of our community. This is obviously of great concern to us.

In selecting the image, we realized that it was provocative. After careful deliberation within the company, we concluded that the artist’s intent was clear, that the image successfully critiqued what it represented, and that it embodied the spirit of transgressive defiance and resistance around concepts of identity that Rhubarb and Buddies are known for.

However, we also acknowledge that in selecting images that are as confrontational as this one, it is incumbent upon us to provide the appropriate context for the image to be understood. It is evident that we have failed to do so. For this, we apologize.

To discover more about Anna Jane McIntyre, the Rhubarb artist featured on our marketing materials, and to find out about the themes of her work, we suggest that you visit her website. She also has a blog, and you can also find her on the Creative Caribbean Network, Saatchi Online and Absolute Arts.

To know that people may not feel welcomed at the festival is absolutely disheartening to us. We are deeply grateful for the community’s honesty and openness with their feedback about this image.

Yours,

Brendan Healy

Artistic Director

Laura Nanni

Rhubarb Festival Director

Erika Hennebury

Producer

Shawn Daudlin

General Manager

TOP 5: Small Wooden Shoe

2011-02-22T12:28:00.000-05:00

TOP 5 PLACES IN TORONTO TO START A REVOLUTION

from Small Wooden Shoe, whose Upper Toronto Community Consultation and Working Dinner caps off the final day of the 32nd Rhubarb this Sunday - come early to catch the culmination of two Mobile Works (Maggie Flynn's News Commutes and Erin Brubacher's Dear Neighbour: Homecoming) and an open discussion with Glasgow-based performance artist Adrian Howells, addressing topics of intimacy, vulnerability and risk as it relates to artist, participant and audience.

1. City Hall

This is the obvious one. A key revolutionary doctrine is that if you cut off the head, you will slay the beast. A well-timed strike at City Hall, ideally when the Chief of Police is presenting to the council, offers an excellent opportunity to sow chaos in the mechanisms of power. You can capture the people running the show and then take advantage of the confusion to put your dastardly plan into action.

Beware! This is not a place you can fortify and hold. Though the high tower and broad open Nathan Phillips Square might seem to provide an excellent field of view for lookouts, remember that the entire north side of the building is a windowless blind spot. It offers far too easy an approach for the police forces that are located just a few blocks away.

2. CN Tower

Now this is a place you can fortify. The key to defending a fortified position with a small group is tight control of how the enemy can move into your space. With limited entrance and egress, the top of the CN Tower provides an excellent opportunity for a small well-equipped force to take and hold. Simply disabling the elevators leads to a situation where opposing forces must climb a marathon number of stairs to reach you. The elevation and telecommunications infrastructure make it easy to make your message seen and heard. Hang a banner and start broadcasting 24/7!

Resupply is an issue, though some of that is mitigated if you can secure the restaurant's larder. Ultimately, this is a symbolic position. If you do not have compatriots on the ground ready to go when things kick off, your isolated occupation will quickly come to an end.

3. The Annex

When Napoleon III became Emperor, he hired Georges-Eugène Haussmann to remake Paris into a city that would be spatially less susceptible to unrest. Haussmann widened narrow medieval streets into broad boulevards that would be hard to barricade and easy to cover with artillery and rifle fire. Tehran was built along similar lines, while Cairo was not; a fact which Egypt's protestors put to good use.

The narrow residential streets of the Annex offer similar opportunities for mob assembly away from the watchful eyes of the state, along with maze-like alleyways for escape and ambush. Because of the relatively affluent residents, the Man is unlikely to deploy tanks and bulldozers to level the area, until the full extent of your plans have become apparent and it is too late.

4. The R. C. Harris Water Treatment Plant

Who says a revolution needs to be ugly and violent? The R. C. Harris Water Treatment Plant is rightly known as the Purification Palace. Its stately clean architecture offers a dignified backdrop from which to make your demands. The fact that it ensures the potability of 45% of the city's water supply allows you to threaten without making a threat. For decades, evil masterminds have dreamed of lacing a city's water with LSD. Perhaps you can be the first to actually do it.

The downside of choosing this location is that you are easy to find and there isn't much of anywhere to run. Besides, sales of bottled water have been on the rise for years. How can you free people's minds if they never take a sip?

5. The Subway Tunnels

To truly get under the skin of the city, consider the subway system. Here is a place from which to strike hard and fade away into the night. Force the other side to re-ennact the motion-detector scene from Aliens. You can play the alien.

DEAR NEIGHBOUR: a note from Erin Brubacher

2011-02-19T14:28:00.000-05:00

A note from Mobile Works artist Erin Brubacher. You can mark a spot on her map of Toronto in the Buddies Ante Chamber until Sunday, or catch the culminating presentation of Dear Neighbour: Homecoming on the final day of the festival.

Dear Neighbour,

I would like your help in relearning and connecting with this city. Mark a place of significance on the map of Toronto; you’ll find the invitation in Buddies’ Ante Chamber...

Dear Neighbour is an ongoing invitation-based project. The experiments involve taking time, meeting strangers and the city, interrupting the everyday, and elements of chance built in.

An earlier chapter of this project was Bicycle Derive. In July 2010 I followed strangers in Amsterdam by bicycle, selecting them by chance, based on the colours that they were wearing. When each person stopped and got off her/his bike, I approached her/him with an invitation letter in a small envelope. From that geographic point, the spot where I gave the invitation, I waited for the first cyclist I saw wearing the next colour on my list. So, beginning from my own place of residence, I followed a "neighbour" who led me somewhere. I followed and approached the next "neighbour" based on where the previous "neighbour" had lead me. So each invited person determined the subsequent invitation. I didn’t want to choose where I went. I wanted to escape my own habits, judgements and tastes.

Here’s a map of the places where I was led:

The encounters I had with people were extra-ordinary. They interrupted the process of everyday public life by establishing contact outside of the acknowledged and anticipated contexts for interaction between strangers who share a city...

For Dear Neighbour: Homecoming, the locations of my encounters with strangers and the city will be chosen by you, members of the Rhubarb audience. This performance will conclude with a sort of lecture-performance where I’ll share where I’ve been and what I collect because of where you lead me... Sunday Feb 27th at 4pm. You’re invited.

To contribute to the process, first mark the map.

IN CONVERSATION: Praxis Theatre

2011-02-18T19:55:00.000-05:00

bluemouth inc. (Centre for Sleep and Dream Studies) interviews Praxis Theatre (Jesus Chrysler) about local politics, Canadian history, texting in the theatre, and that car called Jesus Chrysler...

Margaret Evans as Jim Watts in Section 98 at HATCH

bluemouth: Under strong leadership, PRAXIS has carved a name for itself in Toronto, as a community leader, constantly gathering and reporting creative and political information. I have found myself more than once, clicking over to a link sent to me by PRAXIS Artistic Producer Aislinn Rose on Facebook and enjoy these updates. This kind of journalistic approach must be a lot of work, I wonder how the company manages to keep this ball in the air and how does this day-to-day “open source” idea effect your work creatively?

Michael Wheeler: When Simon and I were in high school we started our own newspaper (The Underground), which ended up replacing Malvern Collegiate's official newspaper (also called The Undergound) for the 95-96 academic year. That was also the year the school was the only high school in the TDSB to completely shut down for a day of action to protest Rae government tuition increases.

Key to our strategy on that day was a number of actors storming the office with a barrage of questions to distract staff while Simon accessed the PA room at a pre-established time and activated a Rage Against The Machine/Public Enemy mixtape that I had left cued up (to PE’s SHUT EM DOWN) earlier in the morning after doing the announcements. At least ½ the school actually got on a bus or took the TTC downtown to join the few university students protesting a tuition hike that would not impact them personally. [Insert your own analogy about washed up high school sports players trying to re-live their golden years here.]

Aislinn Rose: I love Mike's answer. Sadly, I was more of the goody goody in high school, supposedly trying to make change from the inside by chairing the Mayor's Youth Advisory Committee and putting on plays to raise money to build a youth drop-in centre. But I grew up with politics in my home, and though those politics were on the wrong side of the left/right debate at that time (those who know me, know of my shady past campaigning for Perrin Beatty, and working as a political staffer to a Harris Cabinet Minister), I got really interested in current events and social policy in Canada from a young age.

It was great to meet other theatre artists who were interested in uniting their art with their political and social aims, and to try to discover ways of achieving that without becoming particularly partisan. So, reading the news, and staying on top of issues that are important to me, I do that kind of obsessively for the fun of it. Twitter is the biggest distraction to a solid day's work though, because if you're paying any attention to that, you're catching news stories within 5 seconds of them being posted.

Simon Rice: The mixing of theatre and politics has been a natural fit for Mike, Aislinn and myself, as we all love theatre as well as having a passion for politics and social justice issues. I also have a passion for journalism and am currently finishing a post graduate diploma in journalism.

Thinking about the roots of our current theatre project, it comes from the tradition of the American Public Theatre of the 1930's, where amongst other things existed a project called The Living Newspaper, which tackled prescient social and political issues of the day. It was written by journalists and performed by actors and musicians. This was a time when the theatre was perhaps, (at least in recent history) most relevant to the community. While Jesus Chrysler, isn't in the same theatrical style as The Living Newspaper, its main character Jim Watts, came from the same theatrical tradition.

bluemouth: I had the privilege of attending your HATCH performance for Section 98 (a much earlier incarnation of Jesus Chrysler), and found the history fascinating, although I know Jesus Chrysler is a long way from what it was in this earlier stage of development. Many of the themes in Jesus Chrysler were echoed this past June during the G20. Have you found that the more you focus on our own history and stories, the more connections the company finds to current events?

Margaret Evans as Jim Watts in Jesus Chrysler at Lab Cab

MW: We are going to announce the details about this soon, but Praxis is about to start work on a piece that is very specifically about what happened at the G20 in Toronto last summer.

Certainly such shocking disregard for civil and democratic rights in Canada occurring in the middle of creating a piece that considers the history of civil rights here has been odd… It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to see parallels with the Harper and Bennett governments and their disregard for the rights of Canadian citizens whom they disapprove(d) of.

AR: Agreed. I also think that the greater focus of human stories we can relate to increases the ability of the audience to understand why these issues are important... why we should care. Surprisingly, the history around Section 98 of the Criminal Code of Canada isn't as effective as telling the story of an actual human person. Who knew. Don't get me wrong though, personally I'm still really interested in that history, and in the dry transcripts of governmental inquiries... but it's been a great lesson to learn that sometimes I just really like things that are incredibly dull and boring to everyone else.

bluemouth: I enjoyed Margaret Evans performance as Jim Watt’s very much in Section 98, and I am looking forward to seeing her in Jesus Chrysler. Jim Watts certainly was a woman before her time, and it is exciting and refreshing to see a piece centered around a woman who must be viewed very differently today, than she would have been in the 1930’s. This must also present quite specific considerations for a director. How have you approached this as the director?

MW: Ummm, to be honest between playwright Tara Beagan and performer Margaret Evans I feel like the people responsible for this file have a handle on it. As a director, mostly I have been staying out of their way and trying to ensure the story is clear. It’s true that some people would have viewed Jim differently now, but possibly less than we might think.

bluemouth: You mention on the PRAXIS website that when deciding on a playwright “we talked a lot about avoiding a ‘bio pic’. What was it like for the creative process to have playwright Tara Beagan to join the project when she did? And why did Tara rename the piece Jesus Chrysler during your July 2010 workshop?

MW: I don’t know why Tara renamed the show, but I think it was a good idea to do something that made it her own. The practical connection is that Jim Watts owned a Chrysler, which her early theatrical collaborators, The Progressive Arts Club, used to tour South-Western Ontario with a variety of agitprop in the early 30s. They called the car Jesus Chrysler.

In terms of adding Tara to the process, in hindsight the pre-Jesus Chrysler iterations of this project were more akin to ‘staged dramaturgy’. Tara is writing a play informed by this dramaturgy.

She was absolutely the first person I wanted to approach when we decided to begin working with a playwright, as we had worked together on The Fort at York with Crate Productions, which she wrote and co-directed. I was confident already having taken a stab at Canadian history once together in a contemporary non-linear fashion, that Tara would be able to take the story and the theatricality of how we told it to places we would never be able to make it to on our own.

Margaret Evans as Jim Watts in Tim Buck 2 (centre) at The Toronto Fringe

bluemouth: When I attended the HATCH performance, PRAXIS was really experimenting with live audience interaction via texting. I enjoyed hearing Aislinn sum up what had been sent her way during the performance, and wondered how far the company might be willing to take such digital interaction with an audience. Do you think that PRAXIS would go as far as allowing the fate or narrative of a piece to be determined by the audience during a performance? If so, what kinds of ideas have you come up with so far that would allow for this? This is an interesting question to us, as bluemouth inc. is always experimenting with the audience/performer/piece relationship.

MW: I felt like we were really on to something at HATCH with the instant feedback thing as a workshop tool for shows in development. It is really valuable to get feedback about how an audience is understanding/feeling about a show in real time.

I am also interested in work that is impacted in a more direct way through interaction with the audience. As digital tools become more advanced and pervasive the opportunities for this sort of work will probably multiply. Our HATCH system essentially merged the internet and the fact that most people can text with a cellphone. Much more than that will be possible soon. Maybe Praxis and bluemouth should talk more about this? I would love to make a show that actually turned out a different way each performance and that wasn’t just improvised nonsense.

AR: I would love to see Praxis continue to experiment with different kinds of communication technology and how it can interact with performance, but it needs to be for the right story. As Mike mentioned earlier, a lot of our earlier work with the different iterations of this project felt like staged dramaturgy, which has ultimately been completely necessary to the development process. One of the big things we learned during HATCH was what NOT to do with texting, but it has definitely got us talking about how we can improve upon our ideas in a later project... if the project is right.

SR: In the "wiki-age" the idea of allowing for more direct interaction with the audience is an interesting one. A kind of democratization of the theatre, which in some respects has been traditionally quite dictatorial. But this is not without it's problems. Of course you want to listen to your audience, but you also don't want your audience to take on the form of a focus group. So this needs to be explored with care. We probably don't want our plays to be like choose your own adventure books. The ideal model probably is more of a discussion between the audience and the artists, and from that tension something new can be created. Just as democracy is about much more than holding an election, any movement towards democratizing the process of making theatre, cannot simply be about voting for one plot turn or another.

IN CONVERSATION: Alicia Grant

2011-02-17T12:33:00.000-05:00

Alex Napier of Guns asks Stay Here Don't Go's Alicia Grant about her big balls, sweaty dance moves, Zen meditations and rock star ambitions...

Alex Napier: You talk about Stay Here, Don’t Go as being fueled by a willingness to be uncomfortable, and yet there is a tremendous amount of pleasure in even your show blurb (haha, ‘blurb’). Can you talk about the role discomfort plays in your process for this work?

Alicia Grant: I often feel uncomfortable when I dive deep and stop hiding from things. It feels vulnerable. It's staring at all of my neuroses, insecurities and self-judgments. Discomfort in this process has been pushing things further than we want to go. Endurance. We keep going when we're tired, keep making jokes even if they're lame and we keep digging through the memories we wished we'd forgotten for good. The next part of the process is showing people this! Ahh! It's like showing our period underwear to the audience.

AN: Your title is an imperative: who are you talking to?

AG: I'm talking to myself. And I'm talking to my collaborator. And I'm talking to the audience. Mostly it's that Zenbuddhayogameditationzazen thing of staying present to the people and circumstances around me as they transform and not wishing for something else.

AN: Who are you working with on this piece & how are you working with them?

AG: I'm working with Andrea Spaziani on this piece. She is a dear friend, and we have been dancing and laughing together for a long time. She has really good jokes. We start each rehearsal with a 45-minute dynamic meditation technique that I read about in a book by Osho, the controversial Indian mystic. It's pretty cathartic. We clear ourselves of our blocks and judgments and then we dive in. We talk about our feelings, our messiness, the history of all time and outer space. We've been working from the inside out and it's been pretty scary. It's been a lot about trust - trust in each other, trust in our bodies, trust in ourselves. We've discovered things like: emotional osmosis, bravery, boundaries of self-generated bullshit, infinity points and adult allergies. WHOA!

Andrea Spaziani and Alicia Grant at the opening night of Rhubarb

AN: What is music? Is music an important part of your practice?

AG: Music is the combinations of rhythm and sounds that make me want to put my hands up, make me want to get down low, make my eyes brim with tears and make my heart swell with nostalgia. I tried to get some music-crushes to work with me on this project. But timing didn't allow it. So I was left with some headbanging and an ipod. Which is as true to my real life as it gets.

I like to listen to music really loud and dance really hard. To remind myself about the joy of dancing, I committed to go out dancing each week for the month of January. My friends Norah Franklin, Chelsea Omel and Laura Merdsoy joined me. I then remembered what it's like to love that beat, lose my shit and practice that feeling of being uncomfortable when I feel dumb, feel like I'm too much or when I feel like my moves aren't so hot.

AN: What will it look like when you achieve your rock-star ambitions?

AG: Probably pretty sweaty with some heavy breathing. If I had balls, it would be a "balls to the wall" kind of thing.

WELCOME TO RHUBARB: a message from Laura Nanni

2011-02-16T17:27:00.000-05:00

For 32 years, Rhubarb has brought new work to Toronto audiences. This year, with a spirit of defiance, critique and playful optimism, the work at the festival responds to the immediate pressures of our changing world.

We have witnessed global political and social climates become increasingly divisive. There is a shift towards extremism and away from acceptance. There is growing pessimism, fear and antagonism expressed between geographic, political and social groups. The state of our own city echoes this. What we need is to come together and bridge the divides.

Rhubarb responds to this with convergence and intersection. Here, boundaries are pushed and complex issues are considered. Here, dissident voices are given a platform. Here, difference is embraced and celebrated. Artists of different traditions and mediums come together to find new methods of creation. This year’s work explores the complexities of citizenship, personal identity and community building.

For the first time in the festival’s history, artists meet audiences on sidewalks, streets and subways to transform the urban landscape and play with our expectations of what is possible in public spaces. Toronto acts as a source of inspiration as artists take back and re-imagine our city with you.

You are an integral part of this process of convergence. Together, we will discover new possibilities for performance, for our city and for the world in which we live.

We hope to see you here.

-Laura Nanni, Festival Director

Be sure to join us tonight as we open the 32^nd Rhubarb Festival. Whether you’re starting at the theatre, or catching one of the three mobile works that hit the streets tonight (News Commutes at Union Station, Intersection Project at Yonge & Bloor or k[NO]w places at Yonge & Dundas), everything converges at Buddies. Then we'll celebrate into the wee hours with our Festival Kick-Off Bash featuring DJ Blackcat and interactive visuals from Ben Chaisson.

SUNDAY SOCIALS: Rhubarb gets political

2011-02-15T16:07:00.000-05:00

The 32nd Rhubarb Festival opens tomorrow night! Before things get underway we wanted to remind you of a new initiative for this year’s festival – Sunday Socials: two affably social days of politically-minded performances and events, featuring some of the best, most subversive, and most engaging performers from Toronto and beyond.

This week, LA-based performance collective My Barbarian is bringing Post-Living Ante Action Theatre to Toronto. In collaboration with local artists Nisha Ahuja, Waawaate Fobister, Ryan G. Hinds, Richard Lee, Jocelyne Tremblay, Natalyn Tremblay and Rehaset Yohanes, My Barbarian brings their notorious, original performance form – developed by the company – to Canada for the very first time.

Also this week, two events curated by Festival Director Laura Nanni: Toronto Show & Tell and Let’s Get it Together! At 7pm a show and tell with your neighbours, friends, local favourites and celebrities – including Atom Egoyan, Lex Vaughn, Darren O’Donnell and the Torontonians, Elley-Ray Hennessy, Patricia Wilson and more – sharing the objects, stories and ideas that make Toronto special. Immediately afterwards, at 8pm, Let’s Get it Together! – a community think-tank and town hall, addressing the shift to the right politically in Toronto and beyond. An opportunity to voice opinions, have conversation and brainstorm around what we can creatively do as concerned citizens.

Montréal’s 2Fik brings two performances to Rhubarb: collaborating with British art star Oreet Ashery and avant-garde musician Debashis Sinha on Semitic Score and a one-man, gender-bending recreation of de La Tour’s Baroque masterpiece ‘Cheat with the Aces of Clubs’ in Live Photo.

Toronto’s own rAiz’n Ensemble present the fifth iteration of their collectively devised examination of the cult of beauty with The Beauty Project: the male gaze, as well as solo shows from members of Buddies' Young Creators' Unit - Meg Gennings' The Lovely Babe and Olive-or-Oliver's AFFIRMATION: A Sex Show in Six Movements.

Hope to see you there!

IN CONVERSATION: Anna Jane McIntyre

2011-02-14T12:43:00.001-05:00

Montreal's Anna Jane McIntyre, whose spectacular solo piece And Then There Were 4... plays in Week 2, talks language, philosophy and camp with Ecce Homo's Alistair Newton (Of A Monstrous Child: a gaga musical - this Saturday at 10pm for one night only).

Alistair Newton: Your artist statements are so vivid and poetic. What role does language play in your work?

Anna Jane McIntyre: Well! Aren't you lovely!! Language, language, language. Do you mean spoken language or any sort of language? I don't think I trust language much. It can give the impression that someone is communicating clearly, but there can so easily be miscommunication. Especially when people speak the same root language and have different cultures. The difference in language and meaning are invisible then, and communication can be so skewed. In my visual work I often use written language, and I am not sure if that is some control issue of planting an idea in the viewers mind. In And then there were 4... there is very little spoken language. It is mostly driven by other languages, behavioural, proximity, the visuals of object placement and movement and colour. It's sort of a collage of recognizable behaviours crammed together with a story feeling linking them, or maybe they are just united by their timeframe. I guess the language used seems surreal. I believe in the sense of nonsense, that inuitional knowing that can be grasped and sometimes not held onto. You know and then you don't. Mmmm that said, I love playing with words. I love reading and writing and listening, I don't do the first 2 enough.

AN: We seem to share an interest in camp. What role, if any, does camp play in your work? (Gene Simmons once said that, “it doesn't have to have good taste, it just has to taste good.")

AJM: Oh! Hmmmm, by my own definition, I don't think I use camp. I think of camp as being emotionally removed from the experience while you are in it. You are aware of what you are doing and the effect it's going to have. I am not making fun. I am embarrassingly earnest. My work is more a form of exorcism. I am not emotionally removed. I am hoping I don't cry after each performance! I'd love to hear how you use camp, how do you define it in your productions? I definitely use ideas of kitsch. I have an infinite fondness for cheap glamour. Probably because I can't afford the good stuff!! Hee hee, nah, I am happy with my cubic zirconium and rhinestones and sequins and glitter. I play with ideas of what is feminine with it, since often I equate my understanding of being feminine to being in drag. I was always a "tomboy" and femininity seemed always mysterious, embarrassing, unreachable and not for me. I was mistaken for being a boy into my teens. It took me forever to use any makeup. Now that I am older, I play with my appearance.

AN: Is your artistic output ruled by a specific philosophy or set of politics? If so, what are some of the artistic, intellectual and philosophical sources that have influenced you?

AJM: O yes. Most definitely. I have a very specific philosophy and that is..... trust & respect your artistic ideas & process, don't half-step in seeing them through. Welcome failure. Assess failure. Accept and work with your contradictions. Be generous. draw from all parts of your life experience. Don't protect yourself. Draw always. Don't leave home without a sketchbook. Do not analyse your work until it is done. That may sound like not much, but if you really commit to the idea it can be something. It means that I am often learning about a new medium to fulfill a project's requirements, which is how I ended up using performance, learning to weld, learning to work with wood, learning to sew, learning to box, weight lifting etc. It can also mean that my ideas are steeped in a fog of personal language that may not communicate so efficiently.

I am influenced by too-many-things. First and foremost my parents have had a huge influence on my approach to things, which is very much a) follow your curiosity and b) do-it-yourself. I think your philosophies are expressed in every single thing you do, so I don't know if I have separate life/art philosophies. I doubt it. I grew up surrounded with an amazingly varied, sometimes eccentric, collection of books that range from how to build your own house to the history of tea and boxing to African and Inuit art to how to be a naturalist, how to be a spy, erotic piercings etc. I also drank a lot of tea. I cannot downplay the influences of a constant intake of caffeine since I was about 6 since I'm sure this affects you. To be more specific about how my ideas on art have evolved, here is a list:

Claes Oldenburg's 1961 I am for an art, Store Days text.
Louise Bourgeois's drawings and explanatory words in her book, Drawings and Observations
Sol Lewitt's Sentences on Conceptual Art.
Alexander Calder's La Cirque Calder
Artists whose words rattle & echo endlessly in my noggin and whose ideas affect my perception of the world include: C.S. Lewis, Beatrix Potter, Joseph Campbell, Maya Angelou, Stanley Kunitz, Langston Hughes, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Fay Weldon, David Hockney.

This influences list could go on forever!! But I think that is a good start.

photos of Anna Jane McIntyre by Eliane Excoffier

IN CONVERSATION: Alicia Grant and Alex Napier

2011-02-12T16:57:00.001-05:00

Alicia Grant (Stay Here, Don't Go) talks to Alex Napier (Guns) about all kinds of violence and what it feels like to carry a little red suitcase full of guns.

Alicia Grant: Have you ever held a gun?

Alex Napier: Yes. But I’ve never shot one. There’s been a lot of talk about going to the shooting range, but it’s expensive, and I suppose I have some fear feelings.

AG: Who are your collaborators and how are you working with them?

AN: I am working with Philip McKee, Hannah Cheesman and Liz Peterson. I wrote some text and Philip is directing Liz and Hannah are performing it. Every day we wheel a little red suitcase filled with guns into a hot upstairs room in a church. And then we all play with guns for a while, getting to know what they can do. Often we’re pretty worried that someone is going to walk in on us and be like “guns!?!?”. It hasn’t happened yet. Hannah and Liz are both wonderful at making a revolver look like a weird sculpture from the ancient past.

AG: What do you think the relationship is between women, violence and partying?

AN: This is a difficult question, and I do not have the answer to it, but it certainly brings up some pretty strong associations for me so I’ll talk through those. Partying typically involves some degree of letting go, becoming vulnerable, and in this world there are few spaces where it is wholly safe for people — especially women, queer people — to do that. It is more vulnerable to be dancing, laughing, closed eyed than to be still, alert. I wonder what kind of experiences you had in your January dance-a-thon? I have done most of my life’s partying thus far in queer spaces, and have felt mostly pretty safe. Once I went to a Richmond Street club (because, what’s it like?) and literally men try to touch your vagina on the dance floor! Which to me is a violence, but to a lot of the women there it was just a Saturday. And to be sure, intoxication increases propensity towards violence, and decreases the ability to discern it.

I think a lot of violence against women is the threat that’s in the air – the understanding that women aren’t safe. Do you know the TTC’s Request Stop Program? Women traveling alone after 9pm can request to exit a bus between regular stops. They announce it constantly on the subway. I think it’s terrible; the gender specification makes the statement that only women are subject to night violence (so not true), while reifying the danger itself. Like, yelling “AT NIGHT THE MEN WILL RAPE YOU, WE WANT TO HELP!”, doesn’t help. Just increases fear, which increases vulnerability. And that kind of reminds me of the partying contract, a bit.
AG: How do you think we arm ourselves in everyday life?

AN: Prejudices and quick judgments. A downward gaze, a quick pace. Jokes. Being well slept and well fed. Self-medication. Packing a book. A warm coat and hat.

AG: Where does science fiction come in?

AN: Well, I’ll admit I was having a bit of fun with that description. And by fun I mean I’d written about five completely different versions of the show and was pretty confused about what we were doing. But now I’m CLEAR, and I can say that the world of our show is just a little bit different from the one we live in, in a way that could be perceived as a future or alternate reality.

AG: How do you work this genre into the confines of the theatre?

AN: Oh I think science fiction is perfectly suited to theatre. What it does is ask and allow people to imagine change, so all it requires is imagination. And, after all, a playwright invented the word robot. But I guess robots aren’t sci fi anymore, so many old science fiction tropes are just reality now. Have you ever been inside a Victoria’s Secret? It’s really weird.

Alex Napier's Guns runs Wed-Sat in week 2 of the festival; Alicia Grant's Stay Here, Don't Go starts in just a few days as part of week 1. Click the links for full programming info.

TOP 5: The Young Creators' Unit

2011-02-11T16:37:00.002-05:00

Top 5 Places in Toronto to Bury Treasure

1. Honest Ed's, because who can find anything in there?

2. Underneath the picnic table you ate Chippy's and drank tallboys at in Trinity Bellwoods Park.

3. In the CP24 truck on the side of the CTV Building.

4. In the alley behind Thymeless Reggae Bar.

5. NW corner of Dundas and Yonge. If you hear "JESUS!" you're getting warmer.

Catch the Young Creators' Unit presentations every Saturday and Sunday at the Rhubarb Festival - Meg Gennings' The Lovely Babe and Olive-or-Oliver's AFFIRMATION: A Sex Show in Six Movements play in Week 1; Andrew Robinson's Divorce Play: Russian Doll and Evan Vipond's The Border play in Week 2. Click the links for full programming info.

Middle photo of CP24 truck taken by stevenharris and used under a creative commons license.

PART 2: r'Aizin Ensemble & Nobody's Business

2011-02-10T17:25:00.000-05:00

Previously on the Buddies' blog: members of b current's r'Aizin ensemble told Nobody's Business Theatre about the male gaze, board games and where they got their ideas from.

And now the thrilling conclusion, where Johnnie Walker and Morgan Norwich have the table turned on them:

bcurrent: What was the creative process like working as an ensemble? And how did this differ from working individually? What were the challenges?

Johnnie Walker: It's been a much sillier process than what we've been used to in the past. For one thing, it's obviously involved playing Dream Phone a fair bit. And it's also involved a lot of people coming over to mine and Adam's apartment for pancakes or stew or a bottle of wine, which has been quite lovely. Our mission statement for this show is that it be fun to make, fun to perform, and fun to watch, and I think that, so far, we've succeeded. It doesn't feel so much like working on this ensemble theatre piece as doing a middle school science project with a bunch of your friends.

bcurrent: Where did the idea for using this (girls') dating board-game come from? Where can we buy this game?

JW: Morgan and I are actually co-owners of a pretty sweet collection of girlie games (aka Heteronormative Reification Games) including Dream Phone, Girl Talk, and Perfect Wedding that we inherited from a good friend when he moved to China. For years, we've been bringing them out at parties, or having girlie games nights where we would play the games and watch Teen Witch or The Craft. The thing about these games that fascinates us is that while they're terrible in so many ways--they basically train girls to compete with each other ruthlessly for their ability to find a man and marry him the fastest, hopefully screwing over their girlfriends in the process--they're also pretty addictive and tremendous fun to play.

There were a few ideas tossed around about doing a project based on Dream Phone, which we feel is the most iconic game: a documentary to track down where all the Dream Phone boys are now; a new version of the game featuring the real names and phone numbers of all our Toronto crushes. But we're not really filmmakers or game-designers, so we made a play instead. As for getting yourself a copy of Dream Phone, I'd recommend checking out eBay or Value Village. Don't be fooled by a recent update of the game with cellphones in which the goal is to co-operatively plan a party. These games are only fun when they are mean.

Morgan Norwich: Way more fun. In fact, a little while ago there was sort of a girlie game resurgence and I found a new game called Girl Talk Jenga at Toys R Us. Girl Talk Jenga is just Jenga except it's painted pink and is kinda mashed-up with the old game Girl Talk, which was a Truth-or-Dare style game that made you do really gross things like eat a spoonful of cinnamon and then reveal embarrassing secrets about yourself. Which sounds amazing, right? So I shelled out the $25 for it and brought it home for us to play, but it turns out the Girl Talk aspect of it has been reinvented to have a more...positive impact on girls, I guess? Now the Truth questions are things like, "What's your favourite website?" and "What do you like most about yourself?" and the Dares have been eliminated completely.

Turns out Self Esteem Jenga is way less fun than making your friends degrade themselves. So we fixed Girl Talk Jenga. We had a party where guests were encouraged to write better Truth of Dares on the Jenga blocks with a Sharpie marker, and now when we play it we get Dares like "Put your mouth on something alive" and Truths like "What do you hate most about your best friend?" Way. More. Fun.

bcurrent: Morgan, what was it like being the sole woman in an ensemble full of men?

MN: It's something that's become fairly old-hat for me ever since I started emceeing shows for the all-male burlesque troupe Boylesque TO. I'm used to being one of the guys, albeit one of a particular type of guy who likes to wear lipstick and glitter. I think my role in the ensemble has been to offer a female perspective and to be an undeniable female presence. It was really important to me with this project that it be clear that we are taking the piss out of these strange female rites of passage, not taking the piss out of women. And while I don't want to say exactly what my role in the performance is, cuz it'll ruin the surprise, I can pretty confidently say that I am bringing an undeniable female presence to this slumber party, and showing these guys that the games they so longed to play and the "girl stuff" they so wanted to do were really just plain nasty.

bcurrent: What was it like working with these men using images traditionally associated with young women?

MN: It's been really fun seeing how the guys imagine and embody what goes on at a tween girls' sleepover. I have lots of memories-- horrible, hilarious memories-- of going through all that stuff that I've shared with the guys. For example, an old diary of mine full of "spells" my friends and I planned to perform has been excellent source material. And actually watching the guys take all these girlie games and images and ideas and make them their own has given me a fun perspective on it all-- the idea that there are these boys who actually envied and wanted to experience all the ugly stuff I was going through as a teen girl.

bcurrent: Who do you have a crush on?

JW: Not to toot our own horn, but I kinda have a crush on everyone in our show. It's like a Who's Who of Cute. Or should that be a Who Who Who's Who's Who of Cute?

MN: There are a lot of crush-worthy artists in Rhubarb this year. I have a monster crush on that Henry Adam Svec who's doing that CFL folk music piece. Dreamy.

You can catch the r'Aizin Ensemble's The Beauty Project: the male gaze and Nobody's Busniess' Who Who Who's Got A Crush on You (A Slumber Party for Boys) at the 32nd Rhubarb Festival - click the links for full programming info.

CONVERSATION: Nobody's Business and the r'Aizin Ensemble

2011-02-09T14:03:00.000-05:00

A 2-parter with the folks from Nobody's Business (Who Who Who’s Got A Crush on You?) swapping slumber party stories with the r'Aizin Ensemble (The Beauty Project: the male gaze) Today: Nobody's Business talk to rAiz'n Ensemble members Maxine Marcellin and Navneet Rai.

The rest of the interview, where Johnnie Walker and Morgan Norwich from Nobody’s Business have the tables turned on them, will be on the blog tomorrow.

Nobody's Business: What's your collective process like? we watch a lot of youtube videos--do you?

Maxine Marcellin: We start with an idea or a concept and then expand upon it through improvisation and writing. For the first few of our devised pieces, we thought we all had to contribute – equally and in the same way – and so we wasted a lot of time and energy attempting to fulfill the ideals for a democratic writing process, if for no other reason than to spare people’s feelings. What we eventually realized was that writing is not everyone’s strength. Some people are stronger at the improv’ing/creating sessions, and some people are strong at directing/shaping of the whole process. While we still see the value in having more then one person look at a particular script, it does not need to have all 6-8 of our hands on it.

As for youtube videos, invariably we have used them as jumping-off tools for our beauty/body themes. I’m sure it would come as no surprise how many bitch’n’ho videos one can find on youtube.

Navneet Rai: The rAiz'n ensemble's collective process starts from an idea or a topic that the women would like to explore through improvisation and movement. We try to bring in objects to work off of, like toys or make-up; something that is relevant to the topic of exploration. Also, a member of the ensemble will volunteer to be the outside-eye to guide the rest of us through the process of creation.

It depends on what a lot is; I might watch at least three to four videos in a day and these are usually posted by others on their facebook.

NB: Our show is inspired by Dream Phone and other girlie board games. What do you guys think about these games and the messages they send young women about beauty and self-worth? Did you guys play these types of games?

MM: I personally never played this game – never previously had heard of Dream Phone!!! – but I wanted to have all those sorts of items. My mom, on the other hand did not want me to have them. However, at school, I did engage in endless games of TRUE LOVE (as Navneet reminded me of) and dreamed of one day getting a Barbie doll. Maybe this will finally be my year. Fingers crossed…

But seriously, with regard to what type of message these games send to young women, I seriously think it is a 2-hit theory: you’ve gotta have the outside stimulus/stimuli combined with the emotional state (whether that be a personality driven pre-disposition and/or familial influences e.g. mom, dad, sis, bro). So no offense to my mom, but she and my dad raised me with such positive body/beauty images, that I really don’t think she had to worry about me playing a silly game like Dream Phone or having a Barbie. Or 12.

NR: I remember seeing commercials for Dream Phone when I was a kid and thought it was inappropriate to have such a game, but I was also about five years old when I became aware of the game. Games like Dream Phone do continue to build on the idea that a woman's worth is dependent on how men view them and they’re of worth if a man likes them. However, it is for fun, right? Who wouldn't want to know who has a crush on them?

I have to admit that I have engaged in games at middle school and high school with friends that surround this idea of having a crush, such as TRUE LOVE and F.L.A.M.E.S (Friends.Lovers.Affair.Marriage.Enemies.Soulmates)

NB: Exactly how many generations do you have going on in this show? Have you found that different age groups have different ideas about beauty?

MM: Generation-wise, we technically are all within a generation of each other however there’s as much as 10-12 years between some of us. However, I would say that one cannot assume that someone in her 20’s is less secure about her body than is someone in her 30’s, simply by virtue of her age. It’s more about life experience, and in that we have found most of the difference. Generally speaking, as women of colour – of any age – we tend to have more in common in terms of what we are up against with regards to the media- and society-mandated euro-centric measures of beauty.

NR: The production of The Beauty Project: the male gaze doesn't touch upon different generations of women's ideas regarding beauty, but highlights men's views on beauty and how we as women understand how men perceive us and notions of beauty. With my experience of working with women of all ages, some of their views depend on how they are affected by media and their culture. I know a lot of older women who don't care about getting botox, but they need to wear something as simple as lipstick to give their complexions some life and they like how they look. I would say that the older women that I work with seem fairly confident with their beauty. I also believe that younger girls definitely work to look sexy and sexually appealing for themselves and for men with their fashion choices and make-up.

NB: Is the male gaze necessarily a bad thing? When can it be good, if it can?

MM: The male gaze is mos def not a bad thing; it is in fact key. We need it in order to gauge how others (men and women) perceive us, which is actually incredibly important to how we comport ourselves in our everyday lives. It is then up to us to decide what to do with that information. Do we suffer under it, rise above it, or incorporate it constructively into our lives?

NR:The male gaze is not necessarily a bad thing. It can be good if there isn't judgment, comparing women and their attractiveness, which sometimes is hard I think even for women. Both sexes judge women’s appearances of who is prettier, beautiful et cetera, but standards seem to be set by how a man views a woman. And, if the male gaze is honest and the man is honestly appreciating a woman's beauty without desires, leering or objectification it can be good.

NB: If your cast were having a sleepover with our cast, what board game would we play, what movie would we watch, and what movie star would we try to make ourselves over as?

MM: I have a feeling we would start the night out with a rip-roaring game of Dirty Minds. I am convinced that festivities would then devolve into a few raucous rounds of ‘I Never…’ Movies? That’s easy. We would watch Mommy Dearest. Who doesn’t love a little bit of Faye Dunaway masquerading as Joan Crawford to scare the bejeezus out of us – especially so close to bedtime? And then we would end the night making ourselves over into Borat. I mean, with Borat, the sky’s the limit…

NR: If our casts were to have a sleepover we would play Taboo and Pictionary. We would watch maybe something from the 80s like Breakfast Club and if we were to make ourselves over I think we would make ourselves over as Marlene Dietrich and maybe Fred Astaire.

MEET THE ARTIST: 2Fik

2011-02-06T17:58:00.001-05:00

Montreal's 2Fik is coming to week 1 of Rhubarb as part of our new Sunday Socials, a mix of politically-minded performances and events.

My work as a multidisciplinary artist takes different shapes, from photography to live performances, i always aim to question my identities. In fact, we all have various identities depending on the situation and the way the society sees us.
In "a semitic score" i play with the muslim man identity, the one that can be seen as a radical or even an extremist. The context is here to recall that muslim and jewish has the same origin. They're both semites. This performance is as violent as delightful in the sense that it brings down each and every prejudice that we may have about religion. We're back in the same mold. We're all human after all...

Then, the "live photo" will be a way to show my other part. The dramatic-visual-gender-bending side of my person. I will be shooting a piece from a painting from de La Tour and will have to change physically to play different characters.

In the end, i disguise myself to show more of me, of my questioning and self-analysis.

2Fik's Semitic Score/Live Photo is being presented in partnership with FADO Performance Art Centre - for programming info visit the Buddies website or go to 2Fik's Vimeo page to see more amazing videos

CONVERSATION: Nicolas Billon and Erin Brandenburg

2011-02-04T15:38:00.000-05:00

Rhubarb artists and theatre-creators-about-town Erin Brandenburg (Detroit Time Machine) and Nicolas Billon (Godwin’s Law) chat about their collaborators, instruments and what goes on in the comment section

Nicolas Billon: So, DETROIT TIME MACHINE. What's the fascination with Detroit? Did you grow up near there?

Erin Brandenburg: I grew up just south of Detroit, close to Windsor, ON. You could actually see the Detroit skyline from my grandparent’s farm. Growing up we went to Detroit to shop, to go to Tigers games, and would always take our relatives from Toronto on a drive through some of the more interesting neighbourhoods to freak them out. It's a fascinating city - it was basically the silicon valley of the 1920's there was so much innovation and creation happening there. The architecture is amazing. Once upon a time there were jobs for everyone, but since the decline of the auto industry the city has basically emptied out with most people moving into the suburbs leaving vacant neighbourhoods and skyscrapers. The city is in a rough spot. There are a lot of people trying to change things, but there's lots of problems. What has happened to Detroit could be the future for good or for bad for a lot of North American cities.

NB: I noticed that you're working with a number of collaborators from REESOR and/or PELEE, including your very talented husband Andrew. What do you enjoy most about repeat collaborators? Do you ever worry you'll get too comfortable?

EB: The best thing about repeat collaboration is that you have a short hand for working. We know each other, we get along well with each other and we trust each other. I'm also lucky to have found a group of really talented folks that are willing to work with me - it's hard to give that up. Getting too comfortable is a risk, you can fall into bad habits, or try and repeat the thing that worked well the last time. What is great is when we can push each other as artists, inspire each other to keep trying new things and take risks, and sometimes that can only happen when there is a great deal of trust.

NB: From the description, I can't quite tell if its a performance piece, a concert, or theatre... Is there a narrative/story in the traditional sense of the word?

EB: Not really a narrative . . . no. This is a bit of an experiment for us, for me especially. I'm used to telling stories with a script, with words, characters, actions, etc. With this project we decided to use music, movement and images and see what we could get across. There are some words in the songs, but they don't necessarily tell a story. You have to piece that together. DTM is first of all a band, so this project is basically a musical performance in the middle of an art installation, if that makes sense. We're telling a story, just not in a traditional narrative sense.

NB: Iner Souster's creations – I still remember the instruments from Pelee, I think it was – are fascinating, and his use of metal/scrap parts seems a natural fit for a play about Detroit. How did you meet him?

EB: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away . . . called Parkdale. It was a great situation where we had seen his instruments in galleries around the neighbourhood and thought they might work really well for the music we were doing with Reesor. It was about making do with what you have, and his instruments are made from recycled materials, things he finds, machinery parts. They don't always stay in tune, but they make really cool sounds, so the musicians have to learn how to play each instrument. It restricts you but it can also make you more creative. We asked if we could use his instruments in the show and I think he was flattered that someone wanted them as instruments, not just as art pieces and he said yes and we've been working together ever since. All the music from DTM was composed by Andrew, Brian and Iner in Iner's gallery, The Sixth. The walls of the gallery are lined with Iner's instruments so they are reverberate and make the room sound really great. The songs are played on Iner's instruments with the exception of a piano and a few guitars to fill out the sound.

NB: Any plans for the show after Rhubarb?

EB: Oh my yes. DTM has recorded enough new tracks to fill several albums. I think the plan is to release volumes 1, 2 and 3 sometime in the next year. Watch for it. The band is also open to recording commercial jingles and or television theme songs, if anyone is interested. DTM may also make an appearance in Kitchenband's new project called Boblo that we're working on in Residency at The Theatre Centre, but that's not confirmed.

And now Erin interviews Nicolas…

EB: According to Wikipedia, Godwin's Law states: "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches." Love that. Is the inappropriate mentioning of Nazi's in online discussion a game ender for you? Have we compared enough opponents to Hitler that the barb has lost its sting, or do we just need to be a little more creative with our words?

NB: What mostly drives me crazy is that's it meant to end the discussion, as in, "How can I argue with you since you're clearly evil / a fascist / unreasonable. But it's a form of demagoguery, of arguing emotionally as opposed to rationally. Facts don't matter if you're labeled a Nazi or Hitler.

It's the double-edged sword of the Internet: it's a free forum of debate, but that doesn't mean that everyone involved in the debate is interested in the free exchange of ideas: their arguments aren't arguments at all but simply a verbal form of bullying. All too often conversation threads are plagued with comparisons to Nazis, or, often, racial / gender / homosexual slurs.

EB: Has the current political situation in Canada or in Toronto been good fodder for your work?

NB: I don't know. It's been good fodder for my cynicism, which is probably channeled into my work -- but I'm not sure if that's a healthy thing or not. I think it's easy to point to something and say, "Hey, that's a problem, that's terrible!" but quite another to go, "Here's the problem, and here's what I'm doing to fix it."

At the risk of contradicting myself, I think my job is to nudge, not push; my work doesn't profess to offer a solution to anything. Writing is my version of "what I'm doing to fix it," you know? That's why I try to balance arguments, to find the shadings in things; I'm not sure anything is absolutely Manichean, absolutely black and white. Who needs that? There’s too much of it as it is.

EB: I see from your show description that your piece deals with challenging a woman's religious faith. What role does faith (religious, faith in humanity, or other kinds) play in your own work, in your decision to be an artist in Canada?

NB: Hmm. Well, for starters, I'm not sure I chose to be an artist so much as it chose me. I tried to do other things, but nothing gives me the same pleasure. Now, I'm not sure I'd say my piece challenges a woman's religious faith – I think it's more accurate to say that I'm challenging this specific woman's interpretation of her faith, and the extremes to which she goes to impose her faith on others.

Extremism is terrifying, I think, because it's non-negotiable. It's not interested in truth, it's interested only in confirming its own truth. It only asks questions to which it already has the answer.

Religion was fairly abstract to me growing up, in the sense that it didn't interest me at all. People do.

EB: Your second question - right back at you. I see you are working with some wonderful repeat collaborators yourself for this project, Claire Calnan and Ravi Jain both worked on Greenland. I'm a big fan of both of them. What do you enjoy the most about working with people you've worked with before? Any dangers?

NB: There's a shorthand that develops between long-time collaborators, and that's certainly true with Ravi. This is the second time Claire and I work together, and that shorthand is developing. It's fun. I'm a big fan of them too.

This shorthand, obviously, is one of the best things about working together. The danger, I think, is feeling too comfortable in that, and repeating things -- especially things that have worked in the past. But certainly with Ravi and Claire, I think we're aware of that, so we push each other constantly. It's not always pleasant, but it's important.

EB: If you had a Detroit Time Machine, where would you go?

NB: I'd be curious to see Montreal in the late-40's, early-50's – an exciting period in its history.

MEET THE ARTISTS: out of line theatre (Winnipeg)

2011-02-02T12:17:00.001-05:00

Hello Toronto! Hello Buddies! Hello Rhubarb!

Maybe you've seen one of our little Rhubarb shows? In 2008's Obscene, Ian castrated himself writhing in eggs and ketchup ... and in 2009's Le Petit Mort, Mia found naked naked naked nakedness with a garden gnome ...

We're baaaa-aaack! And this time Tom Cruise & Madonna are coming with us.

Yeah, that’s right! It is time for us to be fame-us!!!

Last year, we - out of line theatre - Mia & Ian – devoted ourselves to the cult of celebrity.

Ian became possessed by Tom Cruise.

Mia communed with Madonna.

And then we mashed 'em up! Imagine – Tom Cruise and Madonna together? Yeah, we know – CRAZY! These two larger then life EGO’s made their way into a studio that was smaller than a celebrity walk-in closet and …

KABLAM!!!

The fame fight was on!

Tom Cruise threatened Madonna with his bat. Madonna spooked Tom Cruise with gay dancers. Tom Cruise opened a bar called “Elefant Dix.” Madonna got stoned. Peanut butter sandwiches and potato chips hit the fan. And, yes, there was even an awards show.

The result? Time 2B Fame Us: Identity Theft in Duet, a 90-minute fame monster that premiered in Winnipeg in December 2010.

Now a new celebrity mission! Engineer a 25-minute version to bring to Rhubarb! Sound like a mission impossible? Do not panic. Madonna and Tom Cruise have got their people on it.

We – Ian & Mia - have been working our asses off! And, boy, Madonna and Tom Cruise have been at each other’s throats! Pulling one big DIVA fit after another. Talk about control freaks!!!

Fear not, these two Hollywooders mean business … so we will deliver some dazzling dysfunction …. a cascade of fame … inspired by the waning star power of M & T … MT MT MT MT (do you hear empty?)

So love 'em AND hate 'em! We will tear our fame selves apart for you.

Find out more about out of line theatre on their website, and full programming info for time 2b fame us on the Buddies website.

CONVERSATION: Henry Adam Svec and Samuel Morgenstein

2011-01-28T12:22:00.002-05:00

Rhubarb artists Henry Adam Svec (On Livingston’s Method) and MiMo's Samuel Morgenstein (And Sheep Were Scared…) discuss their work with music, new collaborations, storytelling and the status quo…

Henry Svec: How does your piece approach music? Is the work discovered in the process of performance or will you bring in finished compositions?

Samuel Morgenstein: Our piece is a collection of ideas revolving around a central concept. We collectively know where the piece should go and where it will end. Over time, we discover how the journey will unfurl. This discovery happens during rehearsals and quite possibly during the actual performance as well. MiMo rarely performs 'finished compositions', rather we keep notes of concepts and ideas that are turned into performances.

HS: So is the collaborative process part of the work itself? I mean, is it important for you guys to foreground the organic/improvisatory aspect of your performance, or is it more about the signal/"output"?

SM: The journey is as important as the final destination. Although we predetermine what sounds will be occurring in the piece, what instruments or objects will be played, and what mood or textures we are attempting to achieve, ultimately improvisation and chance occurrence dictate how these elements will interact. This is what makes a MiMo performance exciting for both the listener and the performer.

HS: Sounds exciting! So I wonder which aspects of your process you think of in political terms? (Your website mentions the "status quo.") Which status quo do you see your work in relation to, and how do you define yourselves against it? Do you mean the status quo in music?

SM: We are referring to the status quo in music. We challenge the mundane nature of most pop music while exploring the musical potential of objects not classified as 'instruments'. Although some of our compositions do reflect upon political figures or events (our piece Truth Persists is an homage to Mahatma Gandhi and was performed on his birthday several years ago), we do not consider ourselves overtly political.

HS: Field recording is also something that I'm interested in. Will the field recordings that you've made be sources for MiMo's Rhubarb work? What kinds of things/performances did you record on your trip?

SM: Both Matt Miller and I have traveled extensively compiling field recordings and collecting instruments. These recordings feature local musicians in India and Morocco, for instance, and also document the sound of trains, chanting, outdoor markets, and anything that sounds distinctive. We have an extensive archive of recordings that we draw upon. For our Rhubarb performance, we may utilize some prerecorded water sounds.

HS: For your performance at Rhubarb, MiMo is working with iNSiDEaMiND and video artist Ben Chaisson. How's that going? Do you have different ways of working when it's just you versus when it's a collaboration with other artists or groups?

SM: MiMo often performs with guest soloists to add another melodic component to our performances. Working with iNSiDEaMiND is a completely different experience as they are a well-defined creative entity with a well-honed performance style. Working together transports both groups to a different place. Like all great collaborations, it is necessary to leave the egos behind in order to allow all the artists room for their ideas. Having the opportunity to work with Ben Chaisson is exciting as we love the integration of visual and musical stimulation. Multimedia performances can have a very powerful effect on both the audience and the performer.

And now Samuel interviews Henry…

SM: Do you define yourself as a Musician, a Playwright, an Author, or none of the above?

HS: Maybe just as a storyteller? But I'd probably never say, "I am a storyteller." I usually just say "song collector" or "folklorist."

SM: What was your inspiration for the CFL project?

Henry Adam Svec - photo by Riley Smith

HS: I like Canadian football. I think that the game itself -- the rules, the ball, the field, the number of downs, all considered together -- is one of the great Canadian artworks. I played in high school and at Mount Allison University when I was in my first year there, so I have been aware of some of the songs and customs that the players have been passing down. When it recently occurred to me that someone should document this living tradition (because this moment coincided with my discovery that a man in the 1970s had tried to do just that), I got down to work. Composer WL Altman helped me to transcribe and decipher many of the songs. At Rhubarb, I will be more interested in exploring ethnographic methods.

SM: What's your next project going to be?

HS: I'm currently following the footsteps, literally, of the Canadian folklorist Edith Fowke. I'm retracing her field expeditions throughout Ontario and a few other parts of Canada, in order to collect modern but organic variations of the songs Fowke herself captured in her day. I have been surprised by just how far away some of the songs have gotten from their original sources. Anyways, I am building an online archive and releasing an album, and I will do a short lecture and performance tour, maybe, in the fall. The names of some of the performers I have encountered and recorded so far are Laura Barrett, Geoff Berner, Chris Eaton, Al Tuck, Andrew Penner, Tara Beagan, Wax Mannequin, Andrew Sisk, Henry Thomas, Jenny Omnichord, Olenka Krakus, Ron Leary, Andy Magoffin, Andrew Vincent, and Mathias Kom. But I'm not finished yet -- I still need to go to Oakville to seek out singers in that area. The album might be two CDs.

SM: What artists or artistic works inspire you?

HS: William Faulkner's novels are the best, I think. And I often find myself going back to Bob Dylan, Elizabeth Smart, and Harold Adams Innis. Infinite Jest recently kicked my ass. There isn't much theatre to see in London, Ontario, but the music scene is really good -- Olenka and the Autumn Lovers, Bryan Pole, and Handsome Dan and his Gallimaufry are a few of my local favourites. And all the folksinging people I met on my recent field-recording trips were inspiring in an in-your-gut kind of way.

SM: Is it insanity to pursue a PhD?

HS: Yeah, sometimes I think so. But my peers and professors at Western have all been amazing. And I've been able to research subjects that I am interested in telling stories about. For me, it has been a good "day job" (although, check back when I run out of funding!). On the other hand, there are lots of other ways to learn and study, obviously, so I don't know. I'm not sure I would recommend it.

You can find more info on The CFL Sessions here, or visit the Buddies website for details of Henry's show On Livingston's Method. Samuel can be found online at mimomusic.com and full details of his Rhubarb show, And Sheep Are Scared are on-line here.

OUT AND ABOUT: Rhubarb Artists in the City

2011-01-27T10:18:00.000-05:00

Some of the amazing artists at this year's Rhubarb are super-hard at work, with other shows in theatres around Toronto.

Claire Calnan, Nicolas Billon and Ravi Jain from Godwin's Law are bringing back their Summerworks hit GREENLAND to the Tarragon January 27 and 28, with The Bauty Project: the male gaze's Jajube Mandiela in the cast
Ben Chaisson (who is collaborating with MiMo and iNSiDEaMiND on And Sheep Are Scared...) is designing the spooky projections for THE MILL (Part 4): Ash at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts
Jesus Chrysler's Christine Horne is busy talking about the theatre school experience over on the Praxis Theatre Blog
And Native Earth Performing Arts - who is partnering with Buddies to bring My Barbarian's Post-Living Ante-Action Theatre (PoLAAT) to the festival is presenting the new works festival Weesagechak at The Theatre Centre

And in other very exciting news - the full and final schedule for Rhubarb is now in a downloadable, printer friendly form (click here to view). This has info on all the shows and events at Rhubarb, including a newly added screening of Bruce LaBruce's A Weekend in Alphaville.

INTERVIEW: Life & Limb

2011-01-22T16:40:00.000-05:00

New to the festival this year, Mobile Works take Rhubarb out in to the city - Life & Limb had a chat about their Mobile Works show k[NO]w places, private behavior, and how performances and audiences can change when you put them in a public space.

What creative process did you undergo to develop k[NO]w places?

The individual members of the collective formed after collaborating during a workshop, directed by Guillermo Gómez-Peña and Roberto Sifuentes of La Pocha Nostra, in June of 2010. They have carried on the collective collaboration process, inspired by the methodology of La Pocha Nostra, to develop k[NO]w places. The Pocha process is image based and centered upon exploring issues of embodiment, particularly as it connects to the borders of our identity. It is through imagery that our script develops, rather than the other way around. These tenants form the core of our process.

What challenges does a mobile performance piece pose?

The primary challenge is unpredictability. The unknown and often unsuspecting audiences members can often (re)direct the energy and even the trajectory of a performance. The inverted performance of spectatorship during a mobile performance can produce beautiful moments of improvisation; it can also produce anxiety since there is pressure upon the performers to keep the passerby engaged enough to stop and watch the performance. In addition, the weather, especially in February, can provide undesired challenges for performers; it can also influence the very presence of an audience.

Why have you chosen to explore the boundaries between public and private in your performance?

It was important for us to bring private acts into public spaces because there is a sort of blind faith most of us have in the scripts of public urban spaces, which, by virtue of being social spaces, condition how we function in them; there is an assumption that this conditioning is beyond our control. What happens when we take strategic control of this space? What happens when we explore other modes of being in public? We felt that the most obvious way to explore that is to invert the public by juxtaposing it against the private. The purpose is to democratize, even if it is for a movement, this social space that many of us take for granted.

What expectations do you have from your audience?

We hope that our performance is provoking enough for audiences to identify and question their own behaviour in public spaces; to reflect upon and engage in other ways of relating to public spaces; and to make conscious the implicit and often arbitrary borders we place between modes of being. In simpler terms, we want the boundaries between the interior and the exterior to be explicit and, in turn, to be questioned.

What inspired some of the images that are present in this performance?

Ultimately, our personal negotiations through public/private space have inspired our personas. These include: the voyeur, which sits at the border of public/private divide; an embodiment of violence, as it relates to the privatization of femininity and masculinity upon the queer male body; the masquerade of beauty and the vanity which conditions our movements; the performance of war upon the body; and the public scripts we perform at our most intimate moments. These personas, in a number of ways, give the audience a public glimpse into the private lives of the performers.

Visit the Life & Limb website or find programming info for k[NO]w places and other Rhubarb details online here.

TOP 5: Alicia Grant

2011-01-21T12:43:00.000-05:00

Alicia Grant's Top 5 Places in Toronto to See the Sky

Are you sick of looking at your shoes all the time? Do you want to forget about buildings for 30 seconds? You can feel all cosmic, right here in the centre of Toronto.

We asked Rhubarb artist Alicia Grant (Stay Here, Don't Go) to provide us with a fun way to view the city. Here's what she came back with - The Top 5 Places in Toronto to See the Sky.

1. Dovercourt House

Bloor + Dovercourt - 3rd Floor Studio

2. No Frills Parking Lot

Dundas + Lansdowne

3. The Beach

Queen + Woodbine

4. Roof of Kensington Market Parking Garage

Dundas + Spadina

5. Strange New Park

Queen + Dufferin

Alicia Grant's Stay Here, Don't Go is part of Rhubarb Week 1, February 16 - 20. Full programming details on-line here.

MEET NOBODY'S BUSINESS: Johnnie Walker and Morgan Norwich

2011-01-19T19:07:00.003-05:00

Rhubarb artists Nobody's Business are gettin' busy this winter and we're glad it's at Buddies.

You can see them in an independent presentation of Redheaded Stepchild & A Maude-Lynne Evening, the return of 2 of their sell-out hits opening tomorrow night! Then come back in week two of Rhubarb for their cozy, sexy and playful Who Who Who's Got a Crush on You? (A Slumber Party for Boys).

Morgan Norwich and Johnnie Walker - photo by Greg Wong

From the Artists:

Redheaded Stepchild & A Maude-Lynne Evening are two of the most successful shows Nobody's Business Theatre has ever produced, and it's really exciting to be able to present them together as a double-bill.

Both projects were developed concurrently, and although they are very different, we always think of them as companion pieces, in a way. One is about a precocious twelve year old ginger kid who gets targeted for bullying because of his hair colour (and swishy demeanor), and one is about a pretty bonkers twenty-five year old Emily Brontë nut who simultaneously obsesses over the past, and fuels her obsession through cutting-edge technology (and songs!). But they have more in common than you might think. Both protagonists are outcasts and weirdoes who aren't afraid to be who they are, and like what they like. We hope the audience gets a kick out of seeing the two shows back to back and making connections between them.

Who Who Who's Got a Crush on You? (A Slumber Party for Boys) is a completely different kettle of fish. For one thing, it's a collectively-devised (a first for Nobody's Business Theatre), and we've got an awesome group of young artists to collaborate with. Our Rhubarb piece exists in an imaginary world where little boys can play "just for girls" games like DreamPhone, and if they win, they really do get the guy. One of our biggest goals for the project is that it's fun in every way: fun to make, fun to perform, fun to watch. Maybe that should go into our company mandate!"

Jordan Tannahill, Johnnie Walker and Adam Bourret - photo by Greg Wong

Find full programming details for Who Who Who's Got a Crush on You (A Slumber Party for Boys) online here. For tickets to Readheaded Stepchild & A Maude Lynn Evening, visit the Nobody's Business website.

TOP 5: Life of a Craphead

2011-01-16T11:05:00.002-05:00

Life of A Craphead presents

Top 5 Places to Feel Depressed About Yourself in Toronto

1. McDonald's parking lot, at Bathurst and Dundas, facing the fence.

2. Looking at the prices of half-opened Fancy Feast in the pet food aisle at the Bargain Store at Bloor and Lansdowne.

3. Receiving gifts from a GoodLife fitness promoter on the street.

4. The food court at Toronto Western Hospital, first floor.

5. At Turtle Island City Dump, when you see companies you pay extra to be environmentally friendly, that claim they recycle used diapers, just dump them in with the regular garbage. Stop them!

Conceptual comedians Life of A Craphead, Amy Lam and Jon McCurley, will perform Please Copy Us Forever as part of Rhubarb’s Mobile Works.

You can visit them at Double Double Land or find Rhubarb programming details here.

CONVERSATION: Jordan Tannahill and Sean Macmahon

2011-01-14T11:18:00.006-05:00

Jordan Tannahill of Suburban Beast - Bravisolvia - and Sean Macmahon from emergency exit - RUN LIKE HELL (vagy menj a Pokolba) - ask each other about their new projects, what keeps them coming back to Rhubarb, and what goes into the perfect sandwich.

Sean Macmahon: What excites you most about multi disciplinary work?

Jordan Tannahill: Hopefully it can be the best of multiple worlds.

SM: Any personal connection to Bravislovia?

JT: It’s entirely personal. It’s an imaginary country I invented at the age of ten and essentially lived in until I went to university.

SM: Some of your collaborators went to Ryerson. How did you all meet? Did you go to rye high as well?... (if you did, i'd love to hear your thoughts.)

JT: Yup, in fact I’m a newly minted grad of Rye High’s Film Production program. My collaborator Samuel Lebel-Wong, a wonderful filmmaker and producer who has shot all of the ‘live-films’ I’ve created through Suburban Beast (Insurgency, Post Eden, and now Bravislovia), was a classmate of mine. And, while they went through Ryerson’s Technical Theatre program, I actually met and began working with Suburban Beast’s producer Paul Beauchamp and production manager Rebecca Powell when we were all in high school together in Ottawa. In fact, I’ve know Paul since we were in Grade 7... so the connection goes back a long ways!

SM: What’s your favorite sandwich? (being, of course, the perfect food.)

JT: I eat a tuna fish sandwich with baby spinach on a toasted muesli bagel for lunch every day. It’s very specific and has to be done just right. I’m wholly unoriginal when it comes to lunch.

Jordan Tannhill in Bravislovia

SM: Does Suburban Beast work primarily with new media, or do you experiment with old equipment.

JT: Actually, Bravislovia will be the second show of ours in which an old-school, overhead projector plays a starring role.

SM: Have you had much success with funding bodies in order to get the work out?

JT: I’ve been pretty fortunate in that regard.

SM: Have you produced work outside of Toronto and where do you think your work would be best received?

JT: Being from Ottawa, I produced all my early work there while I have produced all of my Suburban Beast productions in Toronto. After she saw Insurgency at least year’s Rhubarb, my mom told me she still liked the play I wrote ‘about memories’ when I was thirteen the best. So, I guess if you’re considering my early, pre-university output I’ve been rapturously received in some circles in Ottawa (namely around the vicinity of Duff crescent)... but like most artists I dream about testing my work in New York, London, Edinburgh, and Berlin. Hopefully I’ll get the chance in the next few years.

SM: What is it about microphones?

JT: When you’re in front of an audience, it’s most natural for humans to use microphones. We trust and accept that; it eliminates the artifice of projecting. I’m fascinated how the amplified voice can be extraordinarily intimate but at the same time distant. It belongs to a specific aesthetic and, luckily, it works for what I’m doing.

SM: Which, if any, companies or bands or artists influence the work, feel or aesthetic of Suburban Beast?

JT: Here are the first fifteen that come to mind: Temporary Distortion, Forced Entertainment, Crystal Pite, Small Wooden Shoe, Matthew Barney, Pierre Huyghe, Ryan Trecartin, Marina Abramovic, Daniel Barrow, Federico Fellini, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Terence Davies, Alexander Carson, Margaux Williamson, and Pina Bausch.

SM: What do you like most about Darren O'Donnell? What do you like least about Darren O’Donnell?

JT: When I was a pimply-faced 18-year old just barely into my second month in Toronto, Darren invited me to a dinner party at his place and taught me the proper way to pronounce ‘Goethe’. I think that pretty much summarizes what I love most about him: he’ll make a stranger feel at home and they’ll leave a little feeling bit smarter than when they arrived. My least favorite thing about Darren is how infrequently I see him.

And now Jordan interviews Sean…

JT: What are you running like hell from?

SM: Kevin came up with the name when he was abroad so it might be a little unfair for me to pilot the answer. However, as with in the past, we work from the outside in. often a name comes first and then the rest sort of gets filled in. you’re in a room, a ball gets introduced and then it’s up to you what to do with the object. In the end, I suppose, there are a number of things to run from.

JT: emergency exit is a collaborative effort between you and Kevin Rees. Who is Kevin and how did you come to work together?

SM: Kevin and I first worked together doing a reconstruction of measure for measure called me@sure 3.1. Following that and some other projects, we formed emergency exit as a creative experiment to see what it would be like if we eliminated some cooks in the kitchen (so to speak). Kevin’s from Ontario and a heck of a guy.

JT: How has that relationship changed over the years?

SM: Simply we’ve both gotten older. We’ve lived lives both together and apart. Made friends gave us a charge in, say 2003 is different then what would charge us now. Distance has been a factor for us. When there’s only two of you, the ball can drop pretty quickly.

JT: I notice you have a current manifesto and a retired manifesto dated 2001-2005. Why the change and how do they differ from one another? Also... when's the new one coming out?

SM: The manifesto needs the biggest spring clean since the big dig in Boston. The changes to it are pleasant reminders to us that we always have full creative control. With that said, when IS the new one coming out? Tomorrow sounds good, I’ll talk to Kevin.

JT: You came to Toronto in 1995 on a fine arts scholarship and have consistently blurred the lines between visual and performance arts since. Do you feel more at home in a gallery or a theatre, or does that vary from project to project?

SM: It varies from project to project. (sight specific work excites us and yet we’ve never incorporated it into emergency exit, only outside projects.) As for the fine arts background, I suppose that informs me as an artist, or moreover as a jack of all... personally, I feel more at home at home.

JT: The 8th tenant of your manifesto states: '...a third eye may be brought into the process for one session in the final pre-public week to give feedback and make practical suggestions.' Who have these third-eyes been in the past? Which artists or friends do you trust most with your work?

SM: I think Stephen O’Connell/ bluemouth inc, David Duclos, Franco Boni, David Oiye, Tina Rasmussen and some others. We trust pretty much any artists with the work and are completely receptive to criticism. There was, however, a panel in Tehran that wasn’t shit hot on all the work and we had to make some last minute changes.

JT: Rhubarb has consistently been a home for emergency exit's work. What is it about this festival that draws you back year after year?

SM: Rhubarb was responsive and completely open to our initial application when we formed the company. If you read the proposal, you’d be able to see that level of trust is overwhelming... programming-wise, suicidal.

JT: If you had to learn one thing from another artist in this year's festival, what would that be?

SM: bread from scratch

JT: When does art suck?

SM: That’s a really difficult question.

JT: When were you last truly excited or moved by a performance?

SM: I get most of my excitement in live performance more in the arena of music... gigs, concerts etc. I’ve been moved by dance, experimental and conventional theatre. Most recently I’d say War Horse in London.

Click the links to find full programming details for Bravislovia and RUN LIKE HELL (vagy menj a Pokolba) at Rhubarb.

MEET THE ARTISTS: Intersection Project & My Barbarian

2011-01-12T16:07:00.003-05:00

Meet Toronto’s own INTERSECTION PROJECT

“Intersection Project is the first Mobile Works piece in the festival, a new initiative this year that infiltrates public space with performance. These works will be as much for accidental audiences that stumble upon the piece as it is for the Rhubarb community. This group, led by Priscilla Guy and Kate Nankervis, has been organizing large-scale public performances around Toronto since the fall of last year. Each time they perform, they engage different sites, changing the way we see our surroundings. The video of them in Queen’s Park made me think instantly of the G20 protests, and I think it's a great example of the dualities present in this year’s programming. It can be seen as a critique of what’s happening politically and socially in our city right now, as well as an optimistic and playful celebration.”

– Laura

Visit Intersection Project's website or find them at Rhubarb here.

---

Rhubarb Welcomes Visiting Guest Artists, LA-Performance Collective My Barbarian

This year, Sundays at Rhubarb are a little different. Sunday Socials will feature a mix of politically-minded performances and events. One of these is a public presentation of My Barbarian's Post-Living Ante-Action Theater, (PoLAAT) created with local artists.

PoLAAT, an original performance form developed by the company, which evolves from their own interdisciplinary practice as well as two avant-garde collectives of the 1960's: New York's Living Theatre and Munich's Action-Theater. The performance will also draw on current events and political situations. This is the Canadian premiere, following Post-Living Ante-Action Theater projects in New York and Cairo.

PoLAAT is co-presented with the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery in partnership with b current, Cahoots Theatre Company, fu-GEN Theatre, Native Earth Performing Arts and The Graduate Centre for Study of Drama at U of T

Check out their website or find them at Rhubarb here

HEY FRIENDS: Laura Nanni speaks

2011-01-12T15:46:00.004-05:00

Hey friends,

Welcome to YYZ Buddies and the 32nd Annual Rhubarb Festival!

The work in this year's Rhubarb responds to the immediate pressures of our changing city by providing a platform for divergent voices and creating a much needed space to come together for action, reflection and exchange.

With help from Cole J Alvis and Laurel Green, Rhubarb’s Artistic Associates, we’ll use YYZ Buddies to profile our artists, performances and special events, but more importantly, as a site for discussion with you leading up to the Festival.

I look forward to introducing you to some of the most exciting artists from our city and beyond. I know they’ll want to get to know you too.

Cheers,

Laura

Rhubarb Festival Director

RHUBARB: see what's in store

2011-01-11T14:46:00.002-05:00

Just in time for The Rhubarb festival, the blog is back!

Programming for the 32nd Rhubarb festival is now on-line at the Buddies website. Festival Director Laura Nanni’s inaugural line-up includes sacrilegious celebrity impersonations, utopian science fiction, mass pop-up performances in secret spots around the city, and all kinds of glorious transgressions.

RHUBARB'S NEW TWO-WEEK FORMAT

Mainstage Evenings: Wed-Sat, beginning at 8pm - different programming each night

Sunday Socials: an affably social day of politically-minded performances and events - PWYC

Mobile Works: artists infiltrate the streets of Toronto with surprising performances designed for public spaces - FREE

YYZ Buddies is the home for a whole bunch of cool Rhubarb extras, including videos, artist interviews and other special goodies, so keep checking back.

PRIDE: Our Main Squeeze

2010-07-02T11:53:00.000-04:00

Buddies' trusty bookkeeper Leila and her husband Andrew run an awesome health food store called Sunshine Natural Foods on College St at Dovercourt across from the West End YMCA. On Pride day they'll be set up in front of Buddies selling 100%natural juices and popsicles.

Leila says: "What I love about Buddies is that Pride happens year-round here. It is all around us - in the unique events that happen there, the incredible shows and the amazing people who work there who make it all happen. It is an all-the-time, never-stops place to experience Queer Pride whenever we want, and the best place to be, and the centre of the community, during our city's Pride festivities. I love Buddies!"

REEL: Dead Sexy Boys

2010-06-14T14:14:00.000-04:00

This Saturday - June 19th - Canada's only all-male burlesque troupe presents Dead Sexy, a stripped down, tongue-in-cheek eulogy to the Church Street that once was. Come celebrate the glory (hole) days with a lot of nearly nude dudes!

RSVP to the facebook event here

LIVRE DE VISAGE: Link it up

2010-05-31T11:45:00.002-04:00

Buddies launches it's Queer Pride Festival with an amazing line-up of acts and special events. Here are the various links to the individually posted events on facebook.

Do not miss an intimate evening with one of Canada's fastest rising musical talents as Buddies welcomes Jeffery Straker in concert with Katey Morely.The world's leading Celine Dion impersonator, Laura Landauer brings music, glitz and glamour to Buddies with A New Gay. Comedy lovers will love two supereb line-ups: Bitch Salad Gives Back hosted by Andrew Johnston, and Homo Night in Canada hosted by the B-Girlz. BoylesqueTO, Canada's only all-male burlesque troupe, celebrates the glory hole days of Church Street with Dead Sexy. Dawn Whitwell and Mae Martin combine their comedic geniuses and bring you Proud Larrys. Listen to three of Toronto's hottest indie bands rock it late into the early morning at Smack.

FLICKS: Inside Out at Buddies

2010-05-26T14:55:00.003-04:00

Beer + popcorn + movies + parties @ Buddies = Inside Out

Tonight is the annual notoriouis Local Heroes party
featuring Dance Yourself to Death and Diamond Rings with DJ team DEAD WRONG TEENZ: DJs Elle Nino and Sammy (YES YES Y'ALL)
Doors open at 10pm: DEETS

FRIDAY
Live Film! Jack Smith

SKOOL: Nina U

2010-04-01T17:45:00.001-04:00

Check out this video of Nina's lecture. Werk! I love the comments at the end. Yes, she is a warrior! If Nina taught full-time, I'm sure enrolment would go through the roof and there would be a waiting list for her class.

iSPY: Workin' the corner

2010-03-29T15:44:00.004-04:00

AND NO ONE TALKS

TO THE BOY IN THE BOX

WHEN THE WOLF CRIED FOX

TO THE BOY IN THE BOX

Yes Corey Hart, that boy in the box is Healy, looking all dapper and dreamy on every corner of this city. So dreamy, I bet some T.O. twink has pinned this full-page spread to their vision board - YYZBuddies salutes you and your vision board!

For the paperless peeps, check out the full Xtra article and photos by David Hawe here.

And just for fun... here is vintage Corey Hart

BUZZ: Breakfast... yes please!

2010-03-23T16:42:00.003-04:00

The reviews are starting to pour in for Breakfast and YYZBuddies is ecstatic about the response.

Christopher Hoile, Eye Magazine, wrote:

“With Breakfast, Independent Aunties have reached a new level of sophistication that only enhances their characteristically absurdist, satirical humour, not to mention a further exploration of what theatre can do. I can’t wait to see what they do next.”

Read the full Eye Review here.

Fingers crossed for Thursday when, all the rest should come out.

SEE THIS SHOW!

BUZZ: Yes it is confirmed.

2010-03-16T12:47:00.003-04:00

Found Image

At the Real Live Girl fundraiser, Healy gave the audience members a sneak peek of the 2010-11 season. Healy announced Buddies' first national tour of Agokwe and the Canadian English premiere of Sarah Kane's controversial play Blasted.

Today in The Star, Richard Ouzounian picked up on this announcement:

"Originally produced in 1995 in London, the script caused tremendous outrage for its scenes of anal rape and cannibalism, with one critic denouncing it as "this disgusting feast of filth." Nice to know that Healy isn't planning to offer us a kinder, gentler Buddies. Let one theatre in this city be unafraid to stretch the boundaries and tear the envelope."

Woot! We cannot wait to announce the 2010-11 season. Next season is truly inspiring and will reflect a renewed engagement with Buddies' social and political roots. The season will assert Buddies as the queer centre for controversial and dangerous work, work that pushes theatre and society forward.

STAY TUNED!!

PHEW: Rhubarb Now Out Of Season

2010-03-02T11:46:00.003-05:00

To say that the theatre is quiet, would be a huge understatement. Rhubarb is over for another year and the staff here is on recovery mode. Thank you to all the artists, patrons, and technicians who made this festival super sucessful.

Ashley Botting at Panic Manual equated the festival to a tapas of presentations:

"I thought I’d only see gay people talking about the experience of being gay, but I saw much more at The Rhubarb Festival. The great thing about it is that the shows are short enough to leave you wanting more, or make you glad to leave. Either way, it’s a unique theatrical experience, and worth, in the very least, a little taste."

Nestruck gave us a good o' tweet after Neil Medlyn's Performance:

Leanne Milech from Mooney On Theatre said:

"The last time I saw art this edgy was in L.A., and I have been a lonely, wandering, wistful little Toronto girl in search of inspiring, truly original theatre ever since my time in Cali. Well, I’ve found it at Rhubarb, where nothing seems too offbeat to be seen in public. As my date for the evening said, “This is way better than T.V.” And that is something to cheer for."

Till next year!

BRAIN FOOD: What We're Listening To

2010-03-02T11:16:00.002-05:00

One of the office's favorite podcasts is This American Life. On this week's episode there was a repeat of a 2002 episode. 81 Words examines the story of how the American Psychiatric Association decided in 1973 that homosexuality was no longer a mental illness. It's touching and informative: just how we like it. Stream online or download the weekly podcast off of iTunes for free. Seriously. Listen to 81 Words here.

iSpy: Pony Da Look

2010-03-01T11:36:00.001-05:00

YZZ Photographer Kai Yapp snapped these pix of Pony Da Look who performed at the Week 3 Rhubarb bash.

TESTIFY: Damien Atkins, our buddy.

2010-03-01T11:15:00.002-05:00

Damien Atkins remounts his Dora Award winning musical Real Live Girl, for one night only, in support of Buddies.

Damien speaks to the influence and importance of Buddies.

"When Brendan [Brendan Healy Buddies AD] asked me if I would be interested in reviving Real Live Girl for one night only, as a benefit for Buddies, I jumped at the chance. When I first moved to Toronto, I felt pretty lost. Buddies represented a safe place for me as both a young artist and a young gay man. Buddies was one of the first theatres to take me seriously, to be interested in the stories I wanted to tell. I feel so unbelievably fortunate to live in a city that is home to North America's largest queer theatre. And doing Real Live Girl is a great way to celebrate it. It's a theatre that gives young people a place to feel safe and special, that gives us all a place to hear our own stories. Please come and support Buddies - we're going to make it a great night!"

Also, check out Xtra's coverage of RLG here.

And, TorontoStage's video interview with Atkins here.

Real Live Girl, March 5 2010. $100 ($80 charitable tax receipts available upon request). Tickets available now through Buddies' Box Office 416.975.855. More info here.

EXCHANGE: Devon Elke + Karen Bernard

2010-02-24T18:54:00.011-05:00

The following is an exchange of emails between Karen Bernard and Devon Elke, both artists are performing in the final week of Rhubarb.

DE: Can you tell me about your encounter or relationship with Swimming Pool / Ozon that made you want to use it as a point of reference in this piece?

KB: I was in a three week residency at Wassard Elea in Ascea, Italy. I had taken movies with me to entertain myself at night. One of them was the Swimming Pool. I related to the main female character, an English mystery writer who goes to France to write—and how an erotic thriller enfolds. I have been creating a parallel abstracted and distilled personal drama. The video images I use come from my travels over the last two years. How about yourself?

DE: I was searching for a source for this project and my partner suggested Gertrude Stein and I uncovered Tender Buttons. As for this particular text, I've spent an over-abundance of time watching, studying, practicing what some might call 'living room drama'. I hoped that Tender Buttons would keep me grounded in a pursuit of something different: a structural or instinctual logic rather than representational.

You mentioned a residency at Wassard Elea and your website categorizes Ouette as 'in progress' ... can you tell me a little bit about the stages of building your work? Has anyone inspired or influenced your process of creation?

KB: My work grows from where I am at in my life—often related to family issues, the negotiation of being an artist, body image, sexuality and mortality. These are recurring themes. The work is always physically driven, but often in conjunction with conversation, visual elements, nostalgia and humor. I decided to play down the fourth wall, not be a funny character -- but retain levity, and explore independence, solitude, sexuality and mortality. In a way I have left my family behind -- as the kids are grown and my husband and I allow a freedom of independence.

The work is built intuitively: there is no game plan. It keeps building upon itself: often music inspires dance, and in this case, I have really enjoyed videoing and editing images and sound. Working with video is satisfying the visual artist side of me, although I have often seen myself as a moving sculpture. I have been inspired by Joseph Beuys, Gilbert and George, and Cindy Sherman. I would like to know more about what you meant by "living room drama" and "structural or instinctual logic rather than representational."

DE: The "living room drama"—for me—is a tradition in Canadian theatre where the goal is verisimilitude; using affective memory to represent "reality". Narrative provides the driving logic. The very essence of the style is to keep the choices (the construction of reality) hidden. And this theatre, therefore, denies its very political role in reinforcing limiting, constrictive ideologies.

And so how to create performance that allows the spectator to assign their own meaning? A theatrical experience that appeals to more than conscious intellect? Inspired by what Stein accomplished in Tender Buttons, I am searching for a process that relies less on the ego and instead utilizes formal experiments with tempo, pattern, level, repetition, etc. as the building blocks of creation.

You've said that you look for natural or clichéd movements that become abstracted by repetition. Did Swimming Pool provide any movement motifs that found way into your piece?

KB: Yes…"Sarah,” the English writer, was shut down physically , prim and proper, but steaming underneath. I have added gestures embodying this feeling—in particular from a dance sequence that happens in the movie.

BG

ECOUTER: Karen Bernard on Evi-dance

2010-02-22T12:47:00.005-05:00

Karen Bernard appeared on CIUT's Evi-dance this weekend and gave an in depth look at her influences and her inspiration for Ouette | o'et.

"I've been doing a lot of travelling in the last couple years, and so the piece is really about independence, being independent; my reflections and the way I'm travelling. The Swimming Pool, which I had seen on one of my residencies, is a about an English woman writer who goes to France, to write, to have some solitude and to create, but she gets involved in a very erotic thriller drama. I've always been connected to travel, and so that's where I started. I parallel my own personal story, very fragmented, but inspired by this movie."

Listen to the full interview HERE. (Interview starts at the 00:03:00 mark.)

Evi-dance radio is live to air Sunday's @ 9am, CIUT 89.5 FM. Ouette | o'et runs Feb 24-28, The Chamber 9:30pm

CAPTURED: Betty Burke

2010-02-19T08:30:00.000-05:00

YZZ Buddies Photographer Kai Yapp captured indie super-band Betty Burke (Maggie MacDonald & Shaun Brodie of the Hidden Cameras, Holly Andruchuk and special guests) at the Week 2 kick off bash.

BUZZ: A Bailwinian Future

2010-02-18T18:28:00.003-05:00

Software designer and hair model Jeremy Bailey had a moment of sheer awkward brilliance last night. During a Q&A following his presentation The Future Of Theatre an audience member asked, "If the future of theatre is through computers, what about the trained theatre actors?" Jeremy swiftly quipped, "What about them? I have no respect for training. I want to be onstage. I have no training."

Bailey's presentation is genius. He applies a rudimentary understanding of theatre with brilliant software design skills to reinterpret and predict the future of theatre. Think karaoke Shakespeare meets wii controller meets geometric shapes. Hilarious.

Check out this video of Bailey testing the eye motion detectors.

FYI Jeremy syncs his performance to twitter: www.twitter.com/futureoftheatre. For real.

ALERT: TANNAHOTTIE

2010-02-18T08:32:00.005-05:00

WHAAT? Holy Hotness. Jordan Tannahill (Jannahot that's right YYZBuddies coined it) talks about his tween insurgency with Chandler Levack in this week's issue of EYE magazine.

Jannahot dishes about his company Suburban Beast, frat boys, and tween actors. At the end of the article he cracks this wicked blow-line:

“There’s this funny thing about working with underage actors, you have to deal with their parents. The show right after ours at Buddies is Les Petit Mort, based on this short story by George Bataille. There’s live scat onstage, vagina play, lots of boobs. So we have to usher these kids out. It’s like, ‘Okay kids — great job on the show. Now run, run, run! Get out quick!’”

See Jannahot's Insurgency which runs until Feb 21.

Check out Levack's full article here.

EXCLUSIVE: Benjamin Gillespie + Karen Bernard

2010-02-17T16:18:00.009-05:00

Body of Water/Body of Sex

Rhubarb intern Benjamin Gillespie talks to New York City Dancer and New Dance Alliance Artistic Director Karen Bernard about Ouette | o’et.

BG: What was it about the swimming pool that struck you so that you wanted to create a piece about its protagonist?

KB: I was more struck by the protagonist — I related to her. I was on a residency in Italy and had taken some movies with me for evening entertainment. The protagonist is also on her own residency in the French country side to work on a book. I related to her to her up tightness and the unfolding of her sexual desires and finally empowerment. A body of water is also a metaphor for sexuality and possible fear -- The pool is at the heart of the story.

BG: How and where do space and sexual desire converge for you in the piece--do you look for strong contrasts here? Is this related to your long background in space being affiliated with performance, even as a child?

KB: I never thought about it this way — are you sure you aren't a therapist? The spaces were a vehicle to create suspenseful ambiance — having different spaces allows me to create different physical expression. I imagine also that the spaces could have a feeling of claustrophobia — adding to the air of suspense. But you are giving me something to think about because I did not set out know what this was about. I was inspired by the movie and it has been through making the piece that I am finding myself in it.

BG: Technology and performance--do you often search for quotidian gestures in your pieces?

KB: I am drawn to finding natural movements that are heightened by timing and repetition and [these movements] can often begin to look abstract. I often also go for cliché gestures and stylized dance movements and do the same thing.

BG: Do you have a specific fantasy that you explore as 'Karen' in the piece, as opposed to your channeling of the film's character?

KB: The performance is in the end personal: I see my own emotional landscape parallel to the protagonist …

BG: Where does dance meet theatre meet film for you? Elements from all of these areas converge in your piece it seems--Do you feel more comfortable under the rubric of "performance" as opposed to being defined by disciplinary boundaries?

KB: My goal is to have all three elements work together — like a four star meal. It is so difficult to categorize yourself. I seem to change depending on what presenter, residency, or grant that I apply for. I actually like being in the dance discipline so that I can challenge all the ballerinas. One of the videos has me sitting at a pool. When I first set this up, I set up a blue yoga mat to give an illusion that I was sitting by the pool. Soon after I was in a residency at White Oak that had an outdoor pool [and] voila: hence [came] the pool video. In the next version, which you have not seen (that will be presented at Rhubarb) I have video images of religious artifacts. This was inspired in a residency in Bogliasco, Italy. I found a small gallery underneath the St. Lorenzo Church. When I first came upon it, I did not have my video camera with me. I had decided to take a break about seeing things through the lens of a camera. But I was really intrigued by the shadows and macabre beauty of these artifacts so I went back the next day. I was allowed to video but the gallery was about to close for three hours. I quickly videoed as much as I could but knew I had to go back and I did. Most of the time I was in this cavernous space — alone — I already felt I was in performance — so theatrical.

Ouette | o’et runs Feb 24-28, 9:30pm, The Chamber. For more information about Karen Bernard’s work and company visit New Dance Alliance

WERK: Round 2!

2010-02-17T15:49:00.003-05:00

This week features some of Canada’s most fearless and brilliant artists. Don’t miss it! Here is this week's Rhubarb line-up:

Rae Sp oon’s beautiful solo show, Hunting!, a chronicle of growing up trans in Pentecostal Calgary, with songs, stories and animations.

Media artist Jeremy Bailey with his solution to the modern dilemma or theatre, with Shakespeare karaoke, goateed weeping avatars and more with The Future of Theatre.

Lindsey Clark and Aubrey Laufer explore distance, love and longing with catchy electronic pop songs, cats in human form and sequined moustaches in Moustaches &Lipstick.

Jordan Tannahill’s company, Suburban Beast, investigates the question “What would you die for?” in collaboration with five 11-year-old performers in Insurgency.

Jonathan Heppner and Sasha Kovacs bring you a glorious tribute to the bygone era of lace and leather, denim and hairspray with Headbangers.

Out Of Line Theatre puts their sloppy spin on George Battaille’s morbidly erotic short story The Dead Man in Le Petit Mort.

The incomparable d’bi.young with the first play in her new trilogy, She, inspired by celebrity obsession and female pop stars like Rihanna.

iSPY: Erika's Intervention

2010-02-17T13:46:00.014-05:00

Dear Hennebury:

We, your co-workers here at Buddies, have come together today to tell you that we are concerned for you. Your self prescribed organic remedies and potions have turned your office into a Shoppers Drug Mart aisle. Yesterday I asked you how you were and you responded, "Have you seen my Optimum card?" An hour ago you spritzed me with an with an organic facial refresher. Yes, it was relaxing and I do feel refreshed, but I believe this is a slippery slope that will only end up with us sharing lemon lozenges and ear candles. You know my extension number if you need to talk.

TUBE: Love Love Love

2010-02-16T12:14:00.006-05:00

Photo by Paula Wilson

This Wednesday d'bi young debuts her new work "she." "she" examines celebrity obsession in biomyth-monodrama, a form that combines dub poetry and theatre, and uses a personal experience broadened through verse.

For those who are not familiar with young's awesome stage presence check out this TEDx video.

i can love you courageously

what's next is a courageous love

me loving you relentlessly

me loving you with integrity

because this love our love can be a healing love