The details of the 2009 festival in Ottawa this June 3 – 13 were announced yesterday at a launch hosted by Senator William Rompkey in the Speakers Chambers on Parliament Hill. With a live performance by Brooke Johnson from the Trudeau Stories and speakers Artistic Director Ken Cameron, Managing Director Ann Connors, Board Member Marie Fraser, Artistic Director of the National Arts Centre English Theatre Peter Hinton and Chairman of the Downtown Rideau BIA Brian McQuade.
Senator Rompkey welcomed everyone to the Speakers Chambers and expressed his support of the festival. Ken Cameron announced ten mainstage productions, offering a wide range of contemporary English Canadian theatre including their first co-lingual piece commissioned for Ottawa artists the Rideau Project / Project Rideau by Théâtre la Catapulte. Brooke Johnson wowed those in attendance with a performance from the Trudeau Stories, a recollection of her 15-year friendship with Pierre Elliot Trudeau and their conversations on art, writing, theatre and politics. How fitting to have this performance on Parliament Hill and in a time where culture and politics do not necessarily mix.
"I am thrilled by the festival line-up we are able to offer to Ottawa audiences this year. Every one of these plays is thrilling, and each for a different reason. Some are sprawling, beautifully crafted feasts for the eyes, while others are intimate experiences on a nearly base stage in which the performer seems to be speaking to each individual audience member in turn. Taken together they showcase the breadth, possibility and excitement of what Canadian theatre can be." – Ken Cameron
Opening the festival is Nevermore: The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe in celebration of the 200th anniversary of Poe’s birth from Catalyst Theatre of Edmonton. Skydive by Realwheels of Vancouver, features both performers soaring above the stage floor for the entire play, defying both gravity and expectations. Returning to the Ottawa festival for its fourth time, The Old Trout Puppet Workshop of Calgary is bringing The Erotic Anguish of Don Juan created in Mexico.
In celebration of Canada’s Veterans, Jake’s Gift will be opening on the 65th anniversary of D-Day. Written and performed by Julia Mackey of Juno Productions from Vancouver, this one woman performance has Julia playing both an 80 year-old Veteran and an 11 year-old girl. A double bill from Theatre Jones Roy of Toronto, offering two versions of India…one from outside, and one from underneath in Letters to My Grandma and Pyaasa, Eternal Hydra, from Crow’s Theatre in Toronto, is a literary mystery of the highest order where each scene challenges what you thought you knew.
Fear of Flight of Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland features nine playwrights, fourteen actors and one a capella score. Fear of Flight is a smorgasbord of Canadian greats with Robert Chafe, Denise Clarke, Marie Clements, Bryden MacDonald, Daniel MacIvor, Berni Stapleton, Judith Thompson, Guillermo Verdecchia, David Yee, Jonathon Monro and Jillian Keiley all involved.
Every year Magnetic North showcases work by local theatre students to foster the development of emerging artists. This year, the Department of Theatre at the University of Ottawa will be performing Don’t Blame the Bedouins directed by Kevin Orr as part of the festival.
Peter Hinton, the Artistic Director of NAC English Theatre, joined festival Artistic Director Ken Cameron to announce a special joint presentation. Audiences can join Musical Director Greg Morrison and Writer Don McKellar, two of the minds behind the recent Fringe-to-Broadway hit The Drowsy Chaperone, in an afternoon choir practice where they can learn and sing along to the award winning songs. Peter Hinton will chat with McKellar and Morrison in a special Celebrity Hinterview during the festival in anticipation of The Drowsy Chaperone opening the NAC English Theatre’s 2009-10 season.
Portage
Other Magnetic Encounters events, which allow the audience to meet the artists, are PORTAGE where Terrance Houle and Trevor Freeman, clad in loin-cloth, moccasins and stereotypical fur trader outfits, portage between bodies of water – from the canal to the river and every public fountain in between. Z'S BY THE C allow Ottawa residences to playfully defy the division between public and private spaces through the intimate act of napping. Eric Moschopedis and Mia Rushton seek to legitimize public napping for everyone under the aegis of art.
Z's by the C
Festival favourite, Tea with the Artists will be returning again this year where Sarah Stanley interviews the creative minds behind Nevermore: The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe by Catalyst Theatre of Edmonton, Skydive by RealWheels of Vancouver, Letters to my Grandma and Pyaasa by Theatre Jones Roy of Toronto, Trudeau Stories by Theatre Passe Muraille of Toronto, Fear of Flight by Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland, and the Rideau Project / Projet Rideau by Theatre la Catapulte of Ottawa.
The Canadian War Museum will be co-hosting a special Witness to History where audiences can encounter a distinguished Canadian war Veteran after a performance of Jake’s Gift. New this year, Encounters will be adding live music to the mix with folk-rock ensemble The Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir featuring members of The Old Trout Puppet Workshop. Closing the festival will be another musical evening with members of Fear of Flight (and some of their friends).
Every night Club SAW will be turned into our Festival Bar. Co-hosted by some of the brightest movers and shakers in the Ottawa scene and featuring a variety of local artists, Club SAW will be the place to make friends, talk with festival artists and revel the night away.
NOW Passes on sale at early bird price MAY 1 Single Tickets go on sale and passes on sale at regular price JUNE 3-13 Magnetic North Theatre Festival JUNE 6 -10 Presenters Window JUNE 8-10 Industry Series JUNE 8 -12 Compass Points Student & Emerging Artist Symposium
