The 34th Rhubarb Festival is on....

For two weeks, over 100 local and international artists transform Buddies in Bad Times Theatre into a hotbed of creativity and experimentation, sharing new ideas in contemporary theatre, performance art, dance, and music with adventure-loving audiences. This year's Festival Director Laura Nanni brings you some great entertainment and thought provoking theatre. Here are a few stills from some of the highlighted shows this year.  

Fay Slift and the Three Bears
 Ladybear Extraordinaire Fay Slift stars as Goldilocks in a high-drag, choose-your-own-adventure take on this familiar fairy tale.

created and performed by Trixie & Beever with John Paul Kane and Kaleb Robertson | directed by Lindsay Barton | choreographer / outside eye Kitty Neptune | costume design Atom Cianfarani | make up design and photography David Hawe | set and prop design Nina Bunjevac.

 And Dirty Plotz  a one-night only event TONIGHT.  An ensemble of female performers take on the historical exclusion and erasure of women in art and social justice movements.

curated and hosted by Alex Tigchelaar | featuring Jess Dobkin, Christine Pountney, Keisha Scott, Laura Kane, Hoa Nguyen and Zoe Whittall | choreography by Cat Nimmo

 

 Also, Graceful Rebellions is on this weekend.
 Meet Laily, Wazma, and Zenat. Each have a story to tell. Each suffer for joys divine and destructive and all have much to lose. Can an Afghan woman gain power under the rule of man?

written and performed by Shaista Latif | directed by Evalyn Parry | YCU Director Evalyn Parry
image by Kai Wa Yapp

You should also check out All The Ladies. This visceral dance performance builds and deconstructs ideas of femininity inside the frame of an all-female fight club.

choreography by Sasha Kleinplatz | interpreters Kelly Keenan, Rosie Cantin and Angie Cheng

Disco Hospital where you can experience a new queer shamanism in this performance ritual that combines therapeutic touch and sonic therapy. Participants are invited to bring an offering in exchange for this experience. Disco Hospital  is part of the one-to-one series which are held off-site at 519.

artist and clinical sonician Andrew Zealley.

These are just a few of the shows and events going on at Buddies over the next two weeks.  Be sure to check out the whole first week schedule here, and next week's schedule here.  Rhubarb is not like other festivals. There are plenty of different ways to see performances, you rarely see only one show, you’re travelling from place to place, and you often end up seeing something you never expected. Here’s a handy cheat sheet to help you decide what you want to see, and explain how you go about seeing it – all of the headings refer to the colour-coded bars you see in the show descriptions

Week One & Week Two Programs. These 12 shows run for an entire week, Wednesday to Sunday evenings, in one of the two performance spaces at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. At any given point, there are shows happening in both spaces, so when you arrive at the theatre pick the show you want to see first, and 30 minutes later when it’s done you can either stay where you are or move to the other space for your next performance. A $20 Evening Pass gets you in to the entire night of programming.

Special Presentations. These shows are special events that happen after the regular program for one or two nights only. Admission to Special Presentations is included in your Evening Pass.

Mobile Works. These are special performances designed for public spaces, and happen in various locations around the city. The location of each performance is included in its show listing above, and some of them either travel or take place outside so remember to bundle up. All Mobile Works presentations are free.

The One-To-One Performance Series. These are intimate performance designed for a single performer and one audience member at a time  – they all take place offsite at The 519 Church Street Community Centre. When booking your ticket, think of it like making an appointment: you can call ahead to our box office to schedule your personal time with an artist, or you can drop in to The 519 and see what’s available (a certain number of tickets for every performance will be held for drop-ins). Tickets are Pay-What-You-Can.

Young Creators Unit. These are 30 minute solo performances from four emerging voices that have been mentored through our Queer youth Arts Program. Performances take place every Saturday and Sunday beginning at 6PM. Each weekend features two different artists and your ticket gets you in to both performances. Tickets are Pay-What-You-Can.

Finally, a special note. The Faroe Islands will also be taking place offsite at The 519. While not a One-To-One performance, it is staged in an intimate environment for 10-15 people per show. Tickets to this Special Presentation are Pay-What-You-Can.

SummerWorks call for submissions

Open for submissions


We are pleased to announce that Summerworks has officially opened submissions for the 2013 SummerWorks Performance Festival.  Currently SummerWorks is accepting submissions for both the Theatre Series (formerly Local Series) and the National Series. The call for submissions for the Live Art Series will be open in the new year.

NATIONAL SERIES
The National Series provides the opportunity for independent artists from outside Ontario to showcase their work in Toronto. The Festival will cover successful applicants travel, accommodation and shipping costs. Companies are responsible for production costs with some negotiated assistance from the Festival. Download the application package by CLICKING HERE. This year, artists are required to submit their work online as well as in hard copy.

Deadline for submissions are January 7th, 2013.

THEATRE SERIES
The Theatre Series is now open for submissions. Download the application package by CLICKING HERE. This year, artists are required to submit their work online as well as in hard copy. Please note that SummerWorks welcomes National and International applicants for the Theatre Series, though successful applicants are required to cover their own travel and accommodation expenses.

Deadline for submissions are February 1st 2013


Good luck to all applicants.

Preview: InspiraTO Festival

Every minute counts! InspiraTO is back and it’s bigger and better than ever. Canada’s largest ten-minute play festival launches its 7th successful season June 1-10, 2012 at Toronto’s Alumnae Theatre. InspiraTO 2012 is primed to produce its largest collection of plays to date: 24 fascinating and provocative ten-minute plays, created and brought to life by an incredibly talented slate of up-and-coming emerging artists. Tickets are only $12 each ($38 for the 4-show Festival Pass) available via TicketPeak or at the Alumnae Theatre Box Office one hour before each show.
InspiraTO’s theme this year is VISION – explored through a series of 4 shows (6 ten-minute plays per show) each with their own unique perspective. The redEye show: Visions with passion - plays that deal with our deep longings, and push our idea of obsession and desire. The yellowEye show: Visions that alert - plays that challenge the status quo, re-examine the way we live, and challenge our world view. The blueEye show: Visions with mystery - plays that make you think, and don't give you black and white answers. The whiteEye show: New voices - showcasing plays from InspiraTO's Playwrights' Mentoring Project. InspiraTO 2012 also features a series of fascinating after-show Talkbacks for all four series.
Each year, the InspiraTO Festival showcases the best ten-minute plays, as selected by a jury of experienced actors, directors, producers and other members of the theatrical community. For the 2012 Festival there were 311 submissions from Canada and around the world. Once the plays are on stage, your opinions become a key element of the InspiraTO Festival – audiences vote for their favourite plays and the top two from each colour group are showcased at the final Sunday matinee performance (June 10).
 Returning to InspiraTO this year is the Ten Day Playwriting Contest, which offers audience members the opportunity to write their own ten-minute play over the ten days of the Festival. The play must be on the theme of Vision, along with two elements that will be only be revealed when the contest opens at the start of the Festival. The winning audience playwright will receive a $250 prize plus a staged reading of their work during the final performance on June 10.
Dedicated to producing high quality short plays and making theatre more accessible for both artists and audiences, the InspiraTO Festival was launched in 2006 by founding Artistic Director Dominik Loncar. In 2008, Lumir Hladik joined the Festival as Associate Artistic Director to create a unified set design and lend his visual arts expertise. Since 2010 InspiraTO has been proud to partner with Pat the Dog, Ontario's playwright centre, helping emerging and established playwrights across the province. The InspiraTO Festival has produced 82 original ten-minute plays, showcasing over 190 actors and 80 directors. For more information about InspiraTO and this year’s plays, please visit www.inspiratofestival.ca!