Clay and Paper Theatre's "Night of Dread"

"Oh look, we can PARTICIPATE", exclaimed a young mom to her partner and children as they arrived at the launch point of Clay and Paper's annual "Night of Dread" event that began and ended at Dufferin Grove Park in Toronto. Volunteers helped the family outfit themselves with masks from the theatre's assembled accessories available for sign out. Participation proved to be but one of the extraordinary components of this community arts event.

Halloween has always seemed to me a bit of a difficult holiday in modern times. Most of us no longer believe in ghoulies and ghosties and things that go bump in the night. We feel guilty as parents about scaring our kids with superstition. Besides, aren't there enough horrors in the world? When we think "okay, let's dress up in more fanciful, happy clothes" we run into another set of dilemmas.

"A fairy princess?"

"No, no, too sexist! Gender stereo-typing, that will never do!"

"A belly-dancer? An Indian brave?"

"No, no! Cultural appropriation! What will the neighbours think!"

And what about the whole thing of "trick or treating"? In a time when so many children are overweight, we know the dangers of high carbohydrate loads on the whole system, not to mention tooth decay, do we want our kids super sugar-loaded. We fear for their safety on dark streets at night. It's just hard to celebrate the tradition anymore.

How do we update this late autumn holiday in a way that is meaningful to modern times without causing the wincing feeling that we are going against our core values or exposing our children to harms of various sorts? Clay and Paper Theatre has crafted an annual event that keeps the core components of Halloween, while avoiding all of the baggage. Their creativity has resulted in a new celebration in harmony with the season and our actual lives.

Halloween is a festival for a time when the days are becoming darker and primitive people might have worried that the sun was dying. It is a time of fears and shadows. Some of the oldest civilizations had traditions of building fires on hillsides to feed the sun and wearing disguises to fool malevolent spirits.

In our modern world there are shadows of fears that haunt all of us in our dark moments. Near the gardens in Dufferin Grove Park, Clay and Paper Theatre had set up a garden of fears. Economically (and humorously) using pizza boxes on sticks, they had emblazoned the boxes with modern fears: nuclear annihilation, global warming, bio-hazards, isolation, losing a home, bankruptcy, financial ruin, war... and so on. What a fantastic opportunity for family dialogue as people moved about the garden of fears and chose which fear to pluck from the garden and carry in the parade as representative of that individuals worst fear this year.

Masks were black and white papier mache creations that, to me, symbolized the dark and light in all of us, in the changing seasons and our world. Walking about among us as we selected our fears to carry and our black & white masks to wear (if we chose to wear a mask) were a collection of giant puppets representing some of our fears. I was struck in the gut by the representation of pollution. She was a giant blue puppet with a serenely beautiful appearing face and flowing blue silken fabric, horrendously littered with bits of plastic garbage bags and excretions of fast food containers, drink cups, plastic water bottles and straws. Some of the huge puppets were a bit more mysterious and we didn't quite know what they were representing until the end of the event.

A bugle call and drum roll signaled the assembly of the march and about 1,000 people or more set out following as we paraded our fears through the streets of Toronto. It was interesting to watch the faces of the people who came out of houses and stores to watch the passing march. Some were delighted and seemed to know what to expect. Others were extremely puzzled, even a little worried. It was a long enough route that children were wanting to be carried by the end of the journey so families with young kids are advised that a stroller or wagon will likely be required at some point in the trek.

Back at the Dufferin Grove Park we walked along a path of shrines. This lacked any explanation but it seemed to me that they were shrines erected to things lost in the past, a loved pet, a farm. Made from the simplest of materials they were reminiscent of Day of the Dead shrines built on grave sites.

We walked towards a bonfire in the middle of a circle of people. Here the fears we had carried through the dark night streets were burnt in a warming sacrificial fire. The crowd cheered the burning of the fears. The giant puppets representing major fears like "Corruption & Greed" "Nuclear Annihilation" were introduced as they did their final macabre dance around the fire. With a fanfare of humorously discordant circus music, the "Fear of the Year" was introduced. In this year's case that was "The fear of selfish leadership" represented here in Toronto appropriately by a giant gravy boat. The artistic reference was to our hapless Mayor Ford who promised to save billions from the city budget by cutting the "gravy" and then his hired consultants couldn't find any such gravy. His attempts to instead define libraries and culture as gravy have met strong citizen opposition. The gravy boat was taken on a last lurching voyage. The responsive creativity of the team at Clay and Paper Theatre added a last minute touch drawn from the latest headlines as a Margaret Delahunty lookalike pursued the gravy boat on it's final voyage to the fire. A great cheer rose up from the crowd as the final great fear went up in a tower of flame.

Death dancers waltzed around the bonfire as our fears burned. Only the fear of death which can never totally leave us remained alive. The figures of death beckoned to the crowd to come and dance with death. The message to my understanding was that only when we learn to dance with death are we truly alive. The circle of dark and light, yin and yang came into focus in this conclusion, sombre, meditative and graceful. Then exploded into light with fire twirlers and jugglers harking back to a primitive time where warmth and light drove away the terrors of winter and darkness.

What a wonderful achievement and gift to the people of Toronto. My one and only suggestion to the creative team is that they lost people at the conclusion due to the length of the march. It was a very cold night, so that was also a factor. Some great entertainment was available at the end and I would have liked to stay and dance but like many others I was freezing and very tired so we packed up at the conclusion of the fire twirlers.

Clay & Paper's Night of Dread Oct. 29

Night of Dread

Dufferin Grove Park
Saturday, October 29, 2011

4-6PM: Gathering

6PM: Parade

7:15PM - Fire Circle

Learn the fire circle chant:

"We laugh at fear, And we laugh at death, And we'll laugh at you, 'Til our very last breath, Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

8:30PM: Celebration with Lemon Bucket Orkestra

Dress Code: Black & White & Dreadful

Pay-What-You-Can/ $10 Suggested Donation

www.clayandpapertheatre.org

Sept 11 Burlesque fundraiser for Fringe Show "Infinitum"

ELEFANT II

On Saturday September 10th, The Cheshire Unicorn will be hosting a Burlesque and Fashion Show Fundraiser to help raise money for their upcoming production, Infinitum.

Along with inspirational BURLESQUE and AERIALS SILKS performances by their talented and sexy cast, attendees can witness and participate in an exciting INFINITY AUCTION and cutting-edge THAI TEXTILE FASHION SHOW, all bought directly from the seamstresses themselves. In addition, there is promises of CHEAP DRINKS, MUSIC and DANCING!

Special guest burlesque performers include: RED HERRING as well as BILLIE BLACK from Les Coquettes!

So come out and support local theatre—it will be a night you won’t want to miss.

$10 for admission.
Show starts 8PM sharp.
Happy hour from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm!
19+ only.

Annex Theatre - 730 Bathurst Street

Of interest to northern ON theatre artists and students

IMPACT THEATRE (Sioux Lookout)
is pleased to announce another great workshop in

Acting, Writing, and Directing for Film happening in Sioux Lookout, September 30-October 2, 2011.

We welcome all established and emerging artists between the ages of 13 to Adult within Northwestern Ontario to participate!

The goal of this workshop is to build the skills and regional connections needed to make a film adaptation of A ROUGH TRANSLATION- an original theatre production IMPACT Theatre created that addresses boundaries within dating relationships, identity and hope . To accomplish our goals we have invited the Actors Training Centre of Manitoba to provide intensive training related to acting, writing and directing for film. Our thanks to the Ontario Arts Council for the funding that has made this professional level workshop possible!

Mark these dates on your calendar!

Advanced Acting, Writing, & Directing for Film

Date: Sept 30 (6:30-9pm), Oct 1 (9-4), Oct 2 (9-4)

Instructors: Jeff Skinner & Nicholas Burns, Actors Training Centre of Manitoba

Location: Sioux Lookout, Queen Elizabeth High School (To be confirmed)

Who: Ages 13- Adult

Fee: Early Bird (by Sept 16): $50 Regular: $60

We we would be happy to provide billeting for out of town guests!

Just contact us to let us know what you need!

Workshop Description:

In this advanced level workshop participants will work with a professional film writer/editor to learn techniques to effectively tell a story through film. Using the story of A ROUGH TRANSLATION as a spring board for discussion participants will be introduced to different ways to address challenging subject matter and then given the opportunity to practice those techniques. With the coaching of a professional director and acting instructor participants will learn advanced acting techniques that bring a story to life ! Participants will have the chance to further their skills in the areas that interest them most including writing, storyboarding, acting, and directing. Through this workshop IMPACT Theatre hopes to connect with regional artists who might take part in the film adaptation of A ROUGH TRANSLATION, however all artists are welcome to attend.

* It is assumed that participants have some prior experience or training in acting, writing and/or film.

Artist Biographies:Jeff Skinner’s artistic career is very diverse and includes acting, writing, directing and producing in theatre, film and television. He has performed in over close to a hundred theatrical productions, films and television shows including The Big White with Robin Williams, Falcon Beach for Global and Scared Silent with Penelope Ann Miller. He is currently a partner in Two Lagoons Entertainment and enjoys sharing his skills and experience as an acting Instructor/Coach with the Actors Training Centre of Manitoba.

Nicholas Burns works as a freelance writer and artist creating storyboards using conventional and computer media. He has written many scripts for educational and mainstream comics, radio plays, short films, TV movies and feature films. He has storyboarded dozens of feature films, TV movies and music videos and has become well know in the industry as a “script doctor” with the ability to help writers and tell their stories. He has also written, produced and directed a mocumentary, Snoring, which was a winner at MocDocs and was broadcast nationally.

Register Early as Spaces are limited! See Attached Registration Form.

If you have any questions or want to learn more, contact:

Erin (EJ) Horvath, Director IMPACT Theatre
807-737-0019

impacttheatre@hotmail.ca

Stratford Festival announces Michael Langham Workshop

Call for submissions from Canadian directors for 2012

The Michael Langham Workshop
for Classical Direction
a director training program with emphasis on classical text

Michael Langham - Artistic Director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, 1956·1967
"Michael Langham was a cherished mentor and leacher, the intellectual architect of the
Stratford Shakespeare Festival and a master of his art. His visionary approach to
Shakespeare laid the foundation for the Festival's creative practice. The Michael
Langham Workshop for Classical Direction works to ensure that future generations of
artists have access to the same tools that Michael himself used to create rich and resonant
theatre; I am honoured that we can pass on his gifts to our country's finest emerging
directors."

Des McAnuff, Artistic Director, Stratford Shakespeare Festival

Des McAnuff, Artistic Director and Antoni Cimolino. General Director announce that the
Stratford Shakespeare Festival will continue to offer The Michael Langham Workshop
for Classical Direction in 20 12. The program is overseen by David Latham, Theatre
Training Consultant and Dean Gabourie, Assistant Artistic Director. The program's
inaugural year was 2010. Participants in 201 1 were:

• Eric Benson (Halifax) -1st yr
• Sharon Bajer (Winnipeg) - 2nd yr
• Dian Marie Bridge (Toronto) - 2nd yr
• Heather Davies (London) - 1 st yr
• Alan Dilworth (Toronto) - 1 st yr
• Varrick Grimes (Stratford) _1 st yr
• Thomas Morgan Jones (Toronto) - 2nd yr
• Rachel Peake (Vancouver) - lst yr
  
• Andrew Shaver (Montreal) - 1st yr
• Ral.:hel Slaven (Brooklyn) - 2nd yr
• Lezlie Wade (Niagara-on-thc-Lake) - 2nd yr

This call for submissions is for theatre directors, from emerging to mid-stages of careerbuilding,
who have some experience working with the classics, but not at a theatre of the
complexity and scope of the Festival. Their primary task will be assistant directing.
The Festival 's playbill includes a broad range of work from classics, musicals, contemporary
Canadian, British and American plays. Participants will be matched to one of these works. The
2012 season begins in February and ends in October. Assistant directors are usually required for 8- 16 weeks within that timeframe. See the 2012 press release:http://www.stratfordfestival.ca/education/training.aspx?id=5767

Selected participants will be given the opportunity to choose 12 minutes of classical text
presented over two Directors' Workshop Presentation evenings in the Studio Theatre in
October of 20 12. Resources include actors, rehearsal space, venue, costumes and set pieces from our warehouse, product ion support and formal feedback plus travel and an honorarium.
Participants will join in existing classes in text, voice, movement and other disciplines regularly
held by the Festival 's Theatre Training Department as well as specialized classes taught by the
Theatre Training Consultant, Festival coaches and invited instructors exploring specific text,
vocal and physical skills for use in the rehearsal process of a classical play.

The Stratford Shakespeare Festival is an institution rich in resources and hi story and this
program will include, as part of the networking component: tours, complimentary ti ckets to
shows, invitations to special events, access to archives and libraries, chats/dinners both formal
and informal with senior staff and guest directors.

Workshop participants will be paid a fee plus a travel and accommodation subsidy.
Please submit a resume, a letter of recommendation and a personal letter highlighting why
you would like to participate. Final matching of Assistant Directors to plays is entirely at the
discretion of the Festival creative team.

Please send your package by mail or email to:
Bonnie Green
Assistant Producer
Stratford Shakespeare Festival
Box 520, 55 Queen St
Stratford, ON Canada N5A 6V2
519-27 1-4040 ex 2290
bgreen@stratfordshakespearcfcstival .com

Submissions must be postmarked or emailed by August 15,2011 but we appreciate
receiving your submission ASAP.

Final decisions for 2012 will be made no later than December of2011.
This program is partially funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage.