Pride Month
Toronto’s flagship LGBT fest has become too big for just one week. This year, Pride Toronto is packing the whole month of June with parties, screenings, panels, and arts and culture programming that celebrates sexual diversity. The grand finale, of course, is the trifecta of glamorous processions: the Trans* Pride March (July 1), the Dyke March (July 2) and the Pride Parade (July 3). June 1 to July 3. Prices vary. Various locations, 416-927-7433.
Griffin Session Toronto Craft Beer Festival Beer: you want it, this fest has it. The single-day event, part of Ontario Craft Beer Week, will feature 26 of the province’s finest breweries, along with food, live music and booze classes for budding beer snobs. Guests can vote for their favourite of the day’s custom brews, and the winner will show up on LCBO shelves. The Society of Beer Drinking Ladies hosts a women-only event from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; all genders welcome after 5 p.m. June 11. $50–$120. Yonge-Dundas Square, 1 Dundas St. E., 705-646-0706.
Helen Macdonald on Kes British filmmaker Ken Loach solidified his status as one of the greats in 1969 with Kes, a drama about a working-class boy who forms a bond with his pet falcon. In TIFF’s Books on Film series, author Helen Macdonald examines the film in relation to her celebrated memoir, H is for Hawk. June 27. $35. TIFF Bell Lightbox, 350 King St. W., 416-599-8433.
Making a Murderer’s Dean Strang and Jerry Buting After bingeing all ten hours of Making a Murderer, most viewers—whether they believed Steven Avery to be a devious murderer, the victim of a crooked legal system or both—were uniformly disgusted. Count
Dean Strang and Jerry Buting, Avery’s defence lawyers, among the outraged. In this speaking tour, they discuss developments in the Avery case, answer burning audience questions and propose ways to improve the American criminal justice system. June 11. $39.50–$59.50. Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, 1 Front St. E., 1-855-872-7669.
The Second City Guide to the Symphony Ever since John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera, classical music has been ripe for satire. Back by popular demand, this Second City show injects a dose of wit into Mozart, Mahler and musical history through symphonic sketch comedy. Whose Line Is It Anyway? jokester Colin Mochrie stars, while the Toronto Symphony Orchestra provides the soundtrack. June 23 and 24. $35.50–$107. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St., 416-872-4255.
Steve Martin and Lawren Harris When he’s not cranking out Pink Panther and Cheaper by the Dozen sequels, Steve Martin is an ardent champion of Group of Seven member Lawren Harris. To mark the opening of The Idea of North: The Paintings of Lawren Harris, an exhibition he cocurated, the erstwhile Wild and Crazy Guy will sit down with the AGO’s Andrew Hunter for a discussion of the painter’s legacy. June 22. $30. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St., 416-872-4255.