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NEWS & REVIEWS
2010
Congratulations to the 2009 Arts
Awards Winners.
The Awards Ceremony took place at the Centre
In The Square on
Front Row:
Azam
Fouk Aladeh of Multicultural Cinema Club Film Festivals (Festival or
Event); Meghan Bunce (Leading Edge); Majdi Bou-Matar IMPACT (Special
Jury); Ernest Daetwyler (Visual Arts); Judy Allred (Mentor), Paddy Gillard-Bentley
of Flush Ink Productions (Performing Arts), Jean Narveson (Open)
Back Row:
Cheryl Lescom (Music); Heather Majaury, IMPACT (Special
Jury); Boyd McDonald (Lifetime Achievement); Maxine Graham (Special
Jury); Jack Cole of The Old Chestnut Song Circle presents Folk Night at
the Registry (Festival or Event – Community Achievement); Charmian
Christie and Lisa O'Connell of Pat the Dog Playwright Development Centre
(Literary); Brad Cook (Leading Edge)
Missing:
Kathleen Bissett (Textile, Fibre, Quilting), Gerry Remers of Christie
Digital (Corporate Arts Supporter), New Hamburg Live! Festival of the Arts
(New Festival or Event)
|
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performing arts |
HEMMERICH FLANAGAN PERFORMING ARTS AWARD Flush Ink
Productions Flush Ink
Productions, challenging the boundaries of traditional theatre since 2006, has established four
unique projects; She Speaks, women’s work, women’s words; Unhinged,
Kitchener’s Festival of Site-Specific Theatre; Urban Scrawlers, promoting
playwright development; and its signature event, Asphalt Jungle Shorts. The Magnetic North
theatre festival winds up this weekend, with performances and events too
numerous to mention. But here's one of them: "One of the acts
participating in this year's program," I'm told, "is Flush Ink
Productions' Asphalt Jungle Shorts, a different kind of theatre that takes
place in a variety of locations during a walk through |
|
2009
COLIN
HUNTER
RECORD
STAFF
Call it theatre without a theatre.
Embracing the Shakespearean notion that
"All the world's a stage," a group of actors will soon hit the
streets of downtown
It's the fifth installment of the ever-growing
Asphalt Jungle Shorts series, an interactive theatrical event that requires the
audience to meander from one non-stage to the next.
Starting Thursday, the eight-night festival
will see a dozen actors scattered throughout downtown sites stage 15 short
plays. Some plays are barely a minute long; the biggest of the bunch is only 13
minutes.
The audience will know almost nothing about
the sites or the plays in advance, except that they'll meet at the Kava Bean
Commons shortly before showtime, ideally in comfy footwear. The element of
surprise is a key component in the success of Asphalt Jungle Shorts. A play
could suddenly begin unfolding on a fire escape, down a back alley, in a
storefront window or right beside you.
Occasionally, the city itself provides the
drama, such as when a pair of police officers arrested a belligerent man along
the walking route of Asphalt Jungle Shorts. The audience assumed it was a play
-- and they were quite enjoying its gritty realism -- until they were ushered
away.
"Not only (does the) city become a set,
but it becomes a character," says Paddy Gillard-Bentley, who founded
Asphalt Jungle Shorts nearly four years ago. "The lines of reality and
imagination are blurred."
Gillard-Bentley won't disclose the sites
chosen for this year's plays, except for one: the clock tower in Victoria Park.
Israeli playwright Yohanan Kaldi penned his play Towering Passion specifically
to be performed there.
Other sites are anybody's guess. They could be
anywhere. One play during a previous Asphalt Jungle Shorts unfolded a storey
beneath street level as the audience watched from directly above through a
large metal sidewalk grate.
To keep audiences guessing throughout the
evening, programs are only handed out at the end of each show.
Asphalt Jungle Shorts
Starts at Kava Bean Commons,
May 21-24, 27-30
Tickets are $15, and audiences are asked to
arrive 15 minutes prior to show time. For reservations and more information,
visit www.flushink.net or call
2008
|
Lost in the jungles
of |
|
Duncan
Ramsay |
|
This is, by far, the most difficult review I've ever had to
write. Not because I’m not capable of telling you exactly how wonderful
Asphalt Jungle was. Because I can. It’s just that I can't. I should explain. Asphalt Jungle Shorts III is, as theatre goes, a fairly unique
experience. Upon ordering your ticket, you are given three things: a time, a
location and advice to wear walking shoes. Beyond that, the production is a
mystery; you have no idea who the actors are, where the stage is, or even
what the basic plotline may be. From that first location, you find yourself whisked off into a
place where the lines between life and art begin to blur. Pieces of the play
can take place anywhere; on the street, in buildings, above you, below you,
even beside you as you wander through the heart of the city. You get this weird, As the production wends its way through the city, random
passersby will, unknowingly add their contributions to the production, subtly
changing it night after night. Even the gawkers who simply stop to stare add to the
production in their own way, because for this short time they are the stage;
a living, organic backdrop to a fiction that makes its home in reality. This then is why I must leave you so completely in the dark.
The heart of this play lies in its mystery, and to pass on even the smallest
portion of what is to come would break the spell that is so essential to the
evening. When the play first began, I had no idea I was in the centre
of the opening scene until a minute or so after it started, when I realized
that the first set of actors were chatting directly over my shoulder. These smooth segues between theatre and reality continued
throughout the night, and often the two meshed together in unexpected ways.
Over the course of the evening I heard civilians heckling the actors, saw a
teenage guy hand one of the lead actresses a condom (Yes, really) and watched
as various vendors hawked their wares to the audience. Asphalt Jungle is
appropriately named; you’re exploring through uncharted territory, and
anything could leap out of the bushes. Of course, I wouldn’t be doing my job as a reviewer if I
didn’t discuss the nuts-and-bolts of the play, and on this score, Asphalt
Jungle does fairly well. Acting ranges from solid to very good throughout the play,
with occasional hints of over-acting among some of the younger actors.
Particular highlights included Jennifer Cornish’s comedic acting, Katharine
Mills in her ongoing role and Kristopher Bowman in an episode of really well
executed physical comedy. One of the more interesting aspects of the play was that it brought
together a wide variety of playwrights and directors, and this is evident in
the eclectic nature of the various scenes, which range from pure drama to
physical comedy. The writing itself once again ranged from solid to excellent,
and surprisingly included a number of more experimental pieces, which worked
well within the slightly surreal atmosphere of the production. The writing was not without its problems however, most of
which stemmed from the setting of the play itself. Certain scenes that would pass without comment on a stage
seemed very written in the open air, mainly due to the contrast between the
theatricality of the writing and the reality of the setting. Most of these
scenes made up for this theatricality with their native wit, but I found the
second and third scenes particularly rankled. Thankfully though, they were short and lonely amidst the rest
of the play. I was also very impressed by the way certain directors (namely
Paddy Gillard-Bentley and Tracey Kenyon) made use of distance, angles and
pedestrian traffic to camouflage actors from the audience until their scene
was well under way, adding to the audience’s perplexity and enhancing segues
between scenes. I do wish I could have seen a bit more improvisation in the
dramatic scenes to better match certain heated dialogues to their very public
settings, but I think that this was more a symptom of the need to make sure
the audience heard, than any fault of the cast and crew. Overall, Asphalt Jungle was a well-executed and solid production
with wit, verve and a great deal of fun. So there you have it. I wish I could say more, but my hands
are tied by the nature of the production, and in the end it isn’t really
necessary. You should see Asphalt Jungle not because of its plotlines, but the
experience it creates. Maybe you’d like to know more, but you’ll just have to trust
me. Go. Lose yourself in the jungle. |
2007
ASPHALT JUNGLE TAKES IT TO THE
STREETS
The cast of Asphalt Jungle Shorts uses
the textures and venues of downtown
MATHEW McCARTHY, RECORD STAFF
COLIN HUNTER
RECORD STAFF
Where can you go to watch 15
unique plays all in one night?
It's a secret.
What plays can you see?
Can't say.
When can you see them?
OK, that part can be revealed.
Starting Wednesday and
continuing through Sept. 22, you can go . . . somewhere . . . in downtown
The secrecy is an important part
of the show, Asphalt Jungle Shorts.
The experimental theatre
project, now in its third production since last September, stages short plays
at secret locations around downtown
The audience walks from one
unusual venue to the next, thus turning the entire downtown into an impromptu
theatrical space.
To give away the plays and their
locations would spoil some of the fun.
What artistic director Paddy
Gillard-Bentley will divulge, however, is that the upcoming incarnation of
Asphalt Jungle Shorts is the most ambitious and surprising yet.
"It's such a different kind
of experience," she says.
"I want to make it the best
I can, and the way I can do that is keeping the mystery about it. I don't even
tell my closest friends what's going to happen."
Half the time, Gillard-Bentley
herself doesn't know what will happen. For instance, last year, audience
members assumed (incorrectly) that a police takedown was all part of the show.
In a sense, downtown itself
becomes a character in the short plays, and the actors must go with the flow
when downtown steals a scene.
The plays of have been staged in
back alleys, dumpsters, closed shops, hotels and City Hall.
This time, six directors and a
cast of 12 will perform the 15 new plays, which Bentley narrowed down from
nearly 300 submissions from playwrights around the world.
Among the directors are members
of Lost & Found Theatre Kathleen Sheehy, Gary Kirkham and Richard Quensel.
The audience will be guided from
one "stage" to the next by crew members, and Gillard-Bentley hopes it
will help people appreciate downtown Kitchener.
"I love downtown, and I
understand there's a need to reacquaint people with it."
For tickets and information on
where to start the theatrical adventure, call
Breathing new life in
city's 'energy block'
MARTIN DEGROOT
After
about 40 or 50 years to get it right, The Mackenzie King Square may finally be
receiving its makeover.
This
is the "take-off" season: Over the last couple of weeks there have
been various launch events in and around the square (also referred to as the
civic district) in
On
Sept. 6 the spotlight was on the district itself: This was the first public
presentation of a plan that proposes a major transformation of the block that
contains the greatest concentration of cultural and civic institutions in the
region: The Mackenzie King Square which is the area bounded by Queen, Ellen,
Frederick and Weber streets.
It
was a fairly low-key affair, with just a few invited guests -- some folks from
the neighbourhood, along with people associated with the various cultural
institutions involved, like the Kitchener Public Library, Centre in the Square,
Registry Theatre, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Grand Philharmonic Choir, and
Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery.
As
Centre in the Square general manager Jamie Grant explained in his remarks, back
in the 1950s and '60s there was a grand, integrated plan for the area. But that
vision was never fully realized.
The
proposal is to finish what was started 30, 40 and 50 years ago. The first step
in the planning process is an open, public invitation to "imagine the
possibilities."
Go
to the Kitchener Public Library, KWAG, Centre in the Square or City of
That
video is a link to another event that took place the following day: the
official public launch of a new local media project called CAFKA.TV.
The
"imagine the possibilities" trailer is a CAFKA.TV production.
CAFKA.TV
is the brainchild of the creative minds behind the Contemporary Art Forum,
Kitchener and Area, the region's biannual contemporary visual arts celebration.
Part
of the purpose is to spread the word near and far about CAFKA.07: Haptic, which
will have an official launch of its own on Thursday.
The
intention is also to supplement the limited coverage of local, national and
international contemporary art in the mainstream media with something fresh and
vital. But above all, if you click on CAFKA.TV you'll see the aim is to have
fun.
There
are some interesting synergies: CAFKA, building on a long-standing relationship
with KWAG, now involved with the entire civic district.
These
kinds of synergies were even more evident at an after-work season launch
reception at The Registry Theatre last Thursday.
Almost
all of the other civic district cultural organizations are involved in some
way: The KW Symphony, for instance, is part of a Classics at The Registry
series. KWS trumpeter Larry Larsen spoke about playing improvisational jazz
with references to paintings provided by KWAG behind him on the stage.
Through
The Registry, the connections extend to some of our most dynamic theatre arts
ensembles: Lost & Found Theatre (which will be presenting Some Assembly
Required on Oct. 25 through Nov. 3); the MT Space (Pinteresque/Exit Strategy,
Nov. 15-24); Poor Tom Productions (The Anorak, Nov. 28-Dec. 1). The
It
felt like a real celebration; there were very good energies in the room.
By
all accounts, the energy was also flowing at the gala launch of a new era for
the KW Symphony the following evening, the first regular season concert with
conductor Edwin Outwater. I couldn't make it to that one, so I'm relying the
Phil Bast's video coverage on www.therecord.com and Sandra Deefholts' review in
Saturday's paper.
What I did do, though,
is catch Asphalt Jungle Shorts III -- another presentation of a sequence of
short plays -- 17 of them altogether -- performed on-site in various downtown
locations.
The reference may be
somewhat out of place here, although there are people in the current production
connected to almost all the theatre groups mentioned above. But there is no
civic district location, and the stage is the very antithesis of the
world-class concert hall facilities at Centre in the Square: They are literally
"taking it to the streets" here.
The main reason I'm
mentioning it is that the run continues tomorrow through Saturday, so there are
four more opportunities to see it, and this is my only chance to say
"don't miss it."
The box office is in
the K-W Book Store (
Martin DeGroot is
executive director of the
2006
Arlene Thomas plays Gina in
The Orange Whistle, one of
the plays in Asphalt Jungle Shorts.
Colin Hunter
Downtown's a stage for 17 quirky
plays
|
As night falls on the city, 20
strangers gather outside an empty downtown parking garage. No one knows what to expect. A sign
duct-taped to the wall reads Please Take the Elevator to the Fifth Floor. The
strangers oblige. The door opens, revealing a
woman wearing a wide-brimmed hat seated behind a small table. She hands out
lanyards and tells the strangers to wear them around their necks. A card
dangling on each lanyard reads Asphalt Jungle Shorts. And it warns: Maybe
Bring an Umbrella -- a caveat worryingly similar to the one given to people
in the first few rows at Sea World. The strangers are ushered into a brightly
lit, echoey expanse of the garage. A man hands everyone a folding chair from
a blue van. In front of them, a young, lanky man tinkers under the hood of a
car. He mutters to himself. People whisper. When does the
show start? Is this part of the show?
A downtown church bell chimes eight times. Then: "I collect river
water," blurts the man who was handing out chairs. It is the first of many odd statements
made in many odd locations as part of a very odd theatre production. A young
woman in a Catholic schoolgirl uniform climbs over a concrete wall and asks:
"Would this be the nightmare camp?"
Moments later, the guy tinkering with the busted car admits he often
dreams that someone is trying to feed him poisoned sardines. And that all happens in just the first five
minutes of the two-hour theatrical experience. Asphalt Jungle Shorts is
theatre without a theatre. It's a roving production of 17 quirky,
site-specific plays in which the city itself is the stage. It is the
brainchild of Paddy Gillard-Bentley, a None of the plays is longer
than 20 minutes. One includes just one shouted word. The performances are strong and fittingly
cracked, handled by mainstays in local theatre like Kathleen Sheehy, Heather
Gurd and Gary Kirkham (in a particularly ludicrous role). The first play, The Orange
Whistle by Californian playwright Shirley King, is about a man stranded in a
parking garage -- hence the setting. When it concludes (with a hilariously
nightmarish twist), the audience is asked to follow the leader to the next
location. To reveal the locations would
sabotage the impromptu appeal of the production -- but all are within a few
blocks of the parking garage at Duke and Along with the 12 actors,
downtown The scripted and unscripted
elements compliment one another, creating a unique atmosphere that could
never be duplicated inside a theatre. As Shakespeare wrote,
"all the world's a stage." Asphalt Jungle breathes new life into
those words. |
|
ASPHALT
JUNGLE'S MOVING EXPERIENCE MARTIN DEGROOT
( There are so
many great things on the cultural calendar for the next few weeks that it's
hard to know where to begin: Opening night
of the 2006-07 Theatre & Company season on Thursday and Friday. Music in the
Park with the K-W Symphony in The weekend of
Sept. 23-24 looks especially rich, with the Cambridge Artist Studio Tour and Along with
these returns, a brand new cultural event has been generating some buzz: the
promotional material for Asphalt Jungle Shorts, a program of brief,
site-specific plays performed in unexpected locations throughout the
downtown, promises "theatre like The point of
departure for each performance is the Duke Street Parking Garage (the one
with the striking concrete helix between Queen and The prime
mover here is Asphalt Jungle
Shorts includes some 17 plays by 11 playwrights, led by six directors,
performed by 12 actors. The list of directors
includes many familiar names: Darlene Spencer, Heather Gurd, David Antscherl;
Kathleen Sheehy will act as well as direct; Gary Kirkham is acting, directing
and playwright for two of the offerings. Nicole Lee Quesnel is working as
stage manager. Part of the
motivation is to animate the city centre: Gillard-Bentley loves the genuine
urban feel of Although
Gillard-Bentley has lived in this area all her life and cannot imagine
working anywhere else, she has also been able to draw on an extensive network
of professional contacts and get artists from as far away as California,
Missouri and Ohio involved in the project. All this is being
done on a shoestring budget: A few business sponsors have come forward (most
notably Jump Logistics of Cambridge), but most of the startup funds have come
from the producer's own pocket. First and foremost, it is Gillard-Bentley's
energy and hard work that allowed this project to happen, along with the
dedication of the artists, who are all working on a profit-sharing
arrangement. It is also
important to acknowledge the role of the City of The key here
has been seasoned, knowledgeable city staff who are trusted with enough
discretionary power to allow them to take some risks. It is a practice that
has yielded the city and its citizens benefits of incalculable value over the
years through cultural endeavours such as the Registry Theatre, Globe
Studios, Open Ears, the Contemporary Art Forum, or the Tapestry celebrations
of diversity. This has been
a subtle, slow development of something that become part of the way the city
operates. It is something that might escape the notice of an observer like
Glen Murray, the former mayor of At the same
time there's Asphalt Jungle Shorts, along with scores of other, often equally
modest, but also equally creative, original, and therefore highly risky
endeavours that the city has helped make happen. And that is evidence that
can be cited to support the proposition that this community deserves, and
that The showtimes
for Asphalt Jungle Shorts: |
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