LOCAL SHOWS LIGHT THE WAY AT ARTISTS’ RODEO
One Yellow Rabbit’s 2018 High Performance Rodeo has attracted international talent from as far away as Australia, Italy and Ireland.
On the national front, artists from Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa brought their highprofile shows to the Rodeo to share space with shows that were conceived and created here in Calgary. The local shows are as diverse as they are exciting, but one thing they share in common is originality and creativity.
The motto of Calgary’s Inside Out Theatre is that theatre should be for everybody and every body. It is a company reaching out to and involving artists with disabilities, including Elaine Lee, who is the company’s current writer-in-residence.
Lee collaborated with Inside Out’s artistic director Col Cseke on a show called Make Love Not Art, which they wrote and now star in together.
Lee, who is a painter as well as a playwright, plays Dottie, the subject of a revealing photo exhibit. Cseke plays Phillip, the curator of the gallery where the exhibit is housed, and he is also Dottie’s biggest fan.
"The show is set in the gallery at midnight of the day the exhibit opened. It is the magic hour. The excitement of the success of the exhibit coupled with a few glasses of wine finds Dottie and Phillip in a heated argument about the purpose of art.
“They begin debating whether art should be provocative and disruptive or beautiful and comforting,” says Cseke, explaining the strong feelings these two people have about art suddenly swing into the feelings they have for each other.
“When Phillip describes the photos of Dottie as erotic, beautiful and stimulating, it’s not clear whether he is talking about the photos or about Dottie.”
The provocative photos of Lee’s tiny body are essential to the themes and impact of the play, so Inside Out turned to photographer Marie Snippa to take them.
Make Love Not Art runs in the Arts Commons Engineered Air Theatre Jan. 9 to 12 at 7:30 p.m. and is featured in conjunction with Toronto visual artist Steve Kean’s photo exhibit, Spina Bifida Front to Back.
“We’ve turned the lobby of the Engineered Theatre into a gallery for Steve’s remarkable photos,” says Cseke.
"For each of his subjects, he has taken two photos. The colour photo is ... face-on. The black-and-white photo is of the person’s nude back, something rarely seen in public.
Steve shows us that what is hidden from other people is actually as beautiful as what is presented in daily life.
“Front to Back combined with Make Love Not Art challenges our perceptions and concepts of beauty.”
WELCOME TO THE ARID FAR NORTH
In her new play, Extremophiles, actor and playwright Georgina Beaty is juggling science fact and science fiction.
It’s set in 2020 amid a global pregnancy epidemic. Margaret’s child is so unique that mother and baby are quarantined in Canada’s Far North. A young anthropologist, April, has received permission to observe and study Margaret’s child.
“The society that expelled Margaret considers the baby a contagion. April is intrigued by the birth and what it could mean,” says Beaty, who plays both women.
The child is revealed through the design of the show created by Caitlind r.c. Brown and Wayne Garrett.
“They have given me an amazingly beautiful set which is a surreal, gorgeous world and through it, we meet the child at the centre of the controversy.”
Beaty says the play is about “how human beings attempt to survive in extreme situations. Because April and her team of research scientists arrived with an airdrop of supplies, she and Margaret have tools from the normal society which they can use in their new, imposed society.”
Beaty admits there is a sense of the absurd to her play, but that "it is not pure science fiction. It’s just an extreme situation. There is a great deal of fact-based information about global warming viewed through a fictional exploration.
“It’s about how humans adapt and how they connect.”
In 2016 Beaty did a workshop production of Extremophiles at Toronto’s SummerWorks festival. “That was a wildly different production. It worked but when I teamed up with Downstage and director Ellen Close, the whole show and concept went in an entirely different direction.”
Beaty admits she’s working with some pretty heady themes but credits her dramaturge, playwright Karen Hines, with “keeping things light and darkly humorous despite the themes being unsettling.”
Extremophiles runs in the Studio at Vertigo at the base of the Calgary Tower Jan. 16-20 at various times. Check the festival website at hprodeo.ca.
COME SING A LUNAR TUNE OR TWO
Over the years, we’ve come to expect the unexpected from One Yellow Rabbit.
Kris Demeanor, who is one of the eight artists in the Rabbit’s newest creation Moon, Moon, No Moon Cabaret, says audiences will not be disappointed.
“Moon is a song cycle which features some of David Rhymer’s best work, so that says a great deal and the structure (director) Blake Brooker gave it links the songs.”
"He has turned the cabaret into a collage of experiences by tapping into legend, folklore and science.
“For centuries, the moon was this bright globe in the sky that controlled tides and dictated the natural cycles of animals and plants. The moon was intrinsi- cally linked to mankind’s survival, which explains why every ancient civilization had a moon god or goddess,” says Demeanor, building to the dramatic moment in mankind’s relationship with the moon.
Moon, Moon, No Moon is presented as a cabaret and Demeanor says to expect that there will be moments of absurdity, poignancy and humour.
“David’s 11 songs travel the complete emotional spectrum. The best way to describe the show is as a flow-through of songs interspersed with linking monologues.”
That’s the first half of the evening. The second half features some of the most memorable and popular songs from the Rabbit’s cannon.
It is this second half of Moon, Moon, No Moon where the Rabbit ensemble will be joined by special guests.
Bruce McCulloch will appear on Jan. 12 and 13 with Tim Williams joining in on Jan. 18, 19 and 20. Onalea Gilbertson will guest star the week of Jan. 22-28.
Moon, Moon, No Moon runs in the Arts Commons Big Secret Theatre at various times Jan. 9-27.
WALK A MILE IN HER SHOES
Denise Clarke is excited and humbled to be part of The Shoe Project, which plays in Studio Bell on Jan. 21 at 7:30 p.m.
She’s the performance coach for an exceptional evening of storytelling co-ordinated by Susan Poole, who created The Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto.
The Shoe Project will feature 12 women telling their stories about coming to Calgary. Some are immigrants, while others are refugees.
"These women are not per- formers. They are extraordinary people who have a story to tell. They are all intelligent, incredibly brave women who are willing to share their powerful stories in public.
“What they share in common is that they made a decision to make a new life in Calgary. They chose our city so their stories become our stories. Their stories are poignant, uplifting, inspiring, funny and heart-wrenching.”
Clarke says it was a humbling experience to work with these new immigrants from Africa, China, Syria, Tibet, Iran, Japan and Croatia.
“They worked once a week for 10 weeks with Bard Howard to polish their stories. Their dedication is inspiring,”
Tickets for The Shoe Project are $20. The Calgary show is sponsored by sisters Trudy, Katherine and Sue Govier in honour of their mother.