Four shows from Vancouver announced!
In anticipation of Magnetic North Theatre Festival going to Vancouver in 2008, Artistic Director Mary Vingoe and the Festival’s Board of Directors made a special announcement on February 2, prior to the opening of the PuSh Assembly at The Dockside Lounge at Granville Island Hotel. Vancouverites were the first to hear that four productions in the Festival’s Fifth Anniversary Season this June 6-16 in Ottawa are from Vancouver. This is a very exciting ramp-up to a very exciting Festival.
“To have four productions from one city, any city, in the Magnetic North line-up is unprecedented” said Vingoe, “it’s a testament to just how strong the theatre scene in Vancouver has become in recent years. We can’t wait to bring the festival here in 2008”
After the fabulous production of Brilliant! In 2004, Mary Vingoe is thrilled to welcome back the Electric Company this time with co-producers The Only Animal with their production of The One that Got Away, written by Kendra Fanconi and directed by Kim Collier. Winner of four Jessie Richardson Awards in 2002 (Vancouver Professional Theatre Awards) for Best Production, Best Direction (Kim Collier), Best Costume Design, Significant Achievement in Ensemble Acting.
The One that Got Away tells the story “of a girl with a fish where her heart should be.” Rich in physical and visual imagery, this performance actually takes place in a swimming pool and is a ‘deep’ and heavily chlorinated experience. Celebrating the expertise both The Electric Company and The Only Animal bring to site specific work, The One That Got Away is the true story behind a dying man's life full of lies. It answers a quest for identity for a young girl who shares her body with strangers. A water chorus, a perambulating audience, a submerged set, a water soundscape and water videography are all elements of this fantastical tale of love and death. Many waters cannot quench love and neither can the floods drown it...
Copper Thunderbird will reunite playwright Marie Clements with director Peter Hinton and dramaturg Paula Danckert, who premiered Clements’ Burning Vision in Magnetic North’s inaugural season in 2003. This World Premiere is a National Arts Centre, urban ink co-production in collaboration with Playwrights Workshop Montreal and The Banff Centre for the Arts and stars Billy Merasty. Marie Clements has garnered numerous awards including the 2004 Canada- Japan Literary Award (Burning Vision) and Jessie Richardson/New Play Centre Award (The Unnatural and Accidental Women 1999). Burning Vision also received six Jessie nominations and was short listed for the 2004 Governor General's Literary Award and the George Ryga Literary Award.
Receiving a standing ovation for its reading at the 2006 PuSh Festival, Copper Thunderbird is a play on canvas, based on the life of Norval Morrisseau. Inside the power-lines which Norval Morrisseau boldly defined were the colours he experienced between his Ojibway cosmology, his life on the street, and his spiritual and philosophical transformations to become The Father of contemporary Native art and a Grand Shaman.
Making their first appearance at the Festival is Green Thumb Theatre with Cranked, written by Michael P. Northey and directed by Patrick McDonald, winner of three Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards for Outstanding Direction. The show’s acclaimed director, Patrick MacDonald, is an Ottawa native and past Artistic Director of the Great Canadian Theatre Company and its star, Kyle Cameron, is a graduate of Immaculata High School in Ottawa.
This newly commissioned play examines the rising epidemic of crystal meth use by teens. Using spoken word and hip-hop, Cranked offers a dramatic exploration of addiction and the drug culture. It is the story of Stan a.k.a. ‘definition’, a horror film buff who was a rising freestyle DJ when it all crashed. Now Stan has locked himself in his mom’s basement as he preps for an upcoming freestyle competition without the crystal meth habit that dominated his previous life. His memories of the films, the meth highs and the rush of music all collide as he struggles to recapture his life.
Among the highlights unveiled was Sexual Practices of the Japanese by Theatre Replacement, which premiered to great acclaim at the PuSh Festival in 2006. Written by Maiko Bae Yamamoto, James Long, Manami Hara and Hiro Kanagawa and directed by Maiko Bae Yamamoto and James Long, Sexual Practices will bring these two directors back to Magnetic North after performing in Adrift on the Nile with neworldtheatre in St. John’s, NL in 2006.
In a scintillating peek at the world of sexual stereotypes surrounding Japanese culture, Theatre Replacement’s trilogy of interweaving one-acts moves from a crowded commuter train to one of Tokyo's infamous love hotels. This wittily irreverent show touches on office politics, work parties and Seattle Mariners’ star out-fielder (and Japanese icon) Ichiro Suzuki.
Stay tuned for the complete Festival line-up being announced on March 20.
HOT TICKET: A theatrical mixer
Join Ottawa’s theatre community for a tempting teaser of tantalizing trivia and tasty Thai tidbits. Quizmaster Alan Neal from CBC Radio hosts this exceptional evening’s entertainment, which promises plenty of playful pastiche and parody and a quantity of questions quelling quintessential queries. Frolic freely with fast friends while feasting on fascinating factoids… participate or merely spectate: the choice is yours. We guarantee great gobs of guffaws and good-humoured glee. Brought to you by the Magnetic North Theatre Festival, the Ottawa Fringe Festival, and the Ottawa Theatre Awards Committee.
When: MONDAY, MARCH 5, 2007
Where: HOT PEPPERS RESTAURANT, 201 QUEEN ST. (upstairs)
Doors: 7:00pm Quiz Show: 8:00pm
Admission: FREE
Welcome: Everyone
Info: judi@magneticnorthfestival.ca
Don’t Forget!
The Art of Bowling: A Striking Challenge
On April 28th, lace up your shoes, and match your bowling prowess against the best and worst teams from Ottawa’s arts and business communities. Want something to talk about around the water cooler? Become a team captain, team player or arts patron for a tournament where the theatre community is the winner. The Striking Challenge is to raise $20,000 to support Magnetic North Theatre Festival’s superb programs and performances. Come and learn the Art of Bowling and enjoy an evening of great food, drinks, music, fantastic prizes and the joy of knowing that you made a difference!
To register a team, simply click here or contact Gayle Diguer. Thank you for participating and we look forward to seeing you there!
Date: Saturday, April 28
Time: 6:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Location: McArthur Lanes is located at 175 McArthur Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario and features 32 ten-pin lanes, digital scoring, cosmic bowling and a licensed restaurant.
Dates to Remember
March 5 HOT TICKET: A Theatrical Mixer
March 20 Media Launch in Ottawa
April 28 The Art of Bowling
June 6-16 Magnetic North Theatre Festival
June 9-13 Presenters Window
