Toronto Theatre Buzz

This is Progress

Messiah Complex

SummerWorks launches Progress; a new festival bringing international performances to Toronto

This week marks the opening of Toronto’s newest festival; Progress. Produced by the SummerWorks performance festival, Progress is dubbed an “international festival of performance and ideas”. The focus is global but the size is more manageable than its summer counterpart; the programme features roughly a dozen performances, workshops, talks and exhibits, hosted in a single venue; the new home of The Theatre Centre on Queen West. Continue reading This is Progress

Feature: Festival of New Formats (Comedy Bar)

Rapp Battlez - Mig

Experimental improv, sketch comedy and stand-up at Toronto’s Comedy Bar’s Festival of New Formats

Over the first week of January the Comedy Bar presented their annual Festival of New Formats; a 5-day event of free theatre where sketch troupes, improv teams and stand-up comics pitched their ideas for new shows to be showcased at what could be argued is one of Toronto’s foremost locations for improvisational and sketch comedy. Sadly, I was only able to see the final night of the festival, but if what I saw was anything to go by the Comedy Bar is sure to have some exciting new shows in the near future.

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Preview: TUDS – Toronto Urban Dance Culture Festival (Gadfly)

Toronto Urban Dance Culture Festival

TUDS – The Toronto Urban Dance Culture Festival celebrates the street dance scene in Toronto

It’s hard to find sometimes if you don’t know where to look for it, but Toronto’s street dance scene is as lively as it’s ever been. Popping into its fifth year, TUDS is Toronto’s own celebration of all things urban dance running from September 24-28. A festival with a full lineup of street and urban dance culture elements, TUDS has expanded to five days of impressive productions, intense battles, heart-pumping workshops and engaging open discussions.

Created and produced by GadflyTUDS has become an annual gathering of some of Canada’s forefront dance artists specializing in every variety of street dance you could want. The festival kicks off with Gadfly’s anniversary and a debate about urban dance and concludes with the Gadfly Awards, honouring Canada’s breakout urban dance artists, productions and industry trailblazers.

Continue reading Preview: TUDS – Toronto Urban Dance Culture Festival (Gadfly)

A Taste of Scotiabank Buskerfest 2014

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Street performances take over downtown Yonge Street at the Scotiabank Buskerfest supporting EPILEPSY Toronto

It’s been a whirlwind of a summer for Toronto, at least in terms of theatre festivals. With the Toronto Fringe Festival, Luminato and Summerworks just to name a few, there have been a lot of live performances bringing the city to life.

Unlike the other festivals, however, Scotiabank Buskerfest brings the performances to the streets of the city, namely Yonge Street between Carlton and Queen, between August 21st (today) and August 24th (Sunday). That’s right – Yonge Street, normally home to thousands of hurried urbanites, will instead be filled with live street performances for the next four days. It’s the biggest festival of its kind in North America, and the entire event is being held in support of EPILEPSY Toronto.

Even if you aren’t familiar with busking (I was a busking virgin before today, I’ll admit!), it’s definitely worth giving Scotiabank Buskerfest a visit or three. With talented performers from Toronto and all over the world, the streets are full of theatre, and you never know what you’ll witness!

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The Re-View Project (Linnea Swan) 2014 SummerWorks Feature

re-viewLinnea Swan is candid: her Re-View Project is not going as planned. This ambitious attempt to launch a critical conversation about criticism and its impact upon theatre artists, theatre festivals and theatre audiences is gasping for attention, swamped out by a million and one other SummerWorks projects. (On the night I stepped into her Re-View Booth, I was one of only three names on her four-hour appointment list.)

As she expressed it to me, her project is as much about conversations as about criticism: we already have plenty of forums for artists to talk to and about other artists, but how often do we hear laypeople talking about theatre? When we talk about “audience development”, are we talking about engaging these people in conversation, or just treating them as potential butts for our seats? Continue reading The Re-View Project (Linnea Swan) 2014 SummerWorks Feature