Social Media Week, February 13-17, 12 cities and globally on the interwebs

This whole Social Media Week thing has grown pretty big. Within a month or so from its announcement, the Toronto edition of this online/offline social media extravaganza got bigger (and better?), with multiple events happening every day of the week. Social media has been the hot topic of business and everyday culture for the last few years, and it is not surprising that initiatives like SMW create so much buzz. I haven’t been thinking about it much, until the lovely Twitter brought news of @MikeBloomberg officially declaring next week NYC’s Social Media Week, when I started to hope Mr Ford does something similar. While I am still hoping, it does feel a bit special that the good old TO is one of the 12 cities where SMW events are happening ‘in person’.

Digital Storytelling and Live Performance, Feb 13, 2pm @The Drake Underground (#SMWFreeFall on Twitter)

Well, yeah, we are hosting this one. But we still think you should come over for a number of reasons.

First of all, this event kickstarts FREE FALL ’12, our biennial festival of new work.

Secondly, you get to interact with FREE FALL artists presenting innovative online components as integral part of their artistic process: we’ve got Jonathan Goldsbie talk about the use of Twitter in his piece Route 510 Revisited;  Aislinn Rose will discuss The Brain, an online component to Liza Balkan’s Out The Window and Andrew Templeton will talk about online platforms and narratives intersecting with Radix Theatre’s Babylonia.

And finally, the event is happening at The Drake Underground, which is always a cool place to be. The event registration is now ‘sold out’ on SMW’s website, but we are sure to be able to squeeze you in if you show up – we hope you do!

There is a handful of SMW events this year that discuss social media and the arts. Praxis Theatre and Toronto Fringe are hosting a panel called Theatre and Online Interactivity on Feb 14 at 7pm. Read this post on Praxis blog to know more.

Posted: February 11th, 2012 under By Lilya, Theatre Centre Blog.
Comments: none

Happy new year to all – we hope everyone had a lovely holiday season!

I don’t have any brothers. But I have been thinking about brotherly (and sisterly) love, familial relationships, growing up and apart, growing up in the 80s, Jean-Claude Van Damme and other interesting things a lot recently – all because I have been looking forward to seeing Your Brother. Remember? and participating in the bizzare experiment Zachary and Gator Oberzan put together.

Your brother. Remember? by Zachary Oberzan plays January 26-28 at 8pm.

Your brother. Remember? uses scenes from Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Kickboxer, cult flick Faces of Death, home videos of Zachary and his brother Gator acting out parts of those films twenty years ago and them acting out the same bits now. Zachary is the sole performer on the stage, complementing the videos with commentary and singing. I am convinced I HAVE to see this show. Are you?

Here is what media and audiences thought of past performances of Your brother. Remember?:

• Goosebumps, one doesn’t receive a gift like that every day in theatre… Clumsy, honest and… unavoidable. (De Morgen, Belgium)
• Intellectually complex but emotionally simple, Your Brother. Remember? is a moving work of experimental drama. (newyorktheatrereview.blogspot.com)
• Your Brother. Remember? is a show that everyone should see – a touching, humorous, serious and twisted piece about brotherly love throughout life’s many battles. (Adresseavisen, Norway)

Tickets are available for sale now! Just call 416-538-0899 or buy from TOtix. Bring your sibling to get a 2-for-1 deal!

Posted: January 5th, 2012 under By Lilya, Coming Up..., January 2012 Newsletter, Theatre Centre Blog.
Comments: none

Yes, it is that time of year. The time of excessive sugar, excessive spending and squealing at the sight of sparkly plastic snowflakes. Here are a few things that have been happening with us this December:

1.We are in residency mode! Kitchenband Productions are in the space at the moment. We will take a peak at what they have been working on during our final Residency Showing on December 20 at 7 pm – all are welcome! View the invite here.

2. We have been following Toronto Budget Committee deputations on December 7 and 8 remotely – thanks to multiple Twitter correspondents and extensive reports by Torontoist: Day 1 and Day 2. Amazing to read some of the arguments and suggestions that deputants brought to help oppose cuts to the City’s essential services, including arts and culture funding.

3. Holiday music marathon - non-stop, with brief breaks for Regina Spektor. Battles JB vs MJ vs Mariah vs Hanky, the Christmas Poo – ongoing.

4. Holiday Office Decorating Party on December 3 complete with pizza, ginger bread cookies, candy cane, mulled cider and Franco handcrafting a garland out of a piece of ribbon and green and red shiny balls. Check out the photos!

Posted: December 8th, 2011 under By Lilya, Dec 2011 Newsletter, Theatre Centre Blog.
Comments: none

Twitter’s obsessive. Difficult to keep up with. Great for having conversations. Great for reading other people’s conversations. A universe with its own etiquette, but no order whatsoever. A great waster of time. A great source of useful and useless pieces of information. A collection of witticisms. A collection of absolutes. Here are some recent finds dug out from our Twitter feed:

Google Books launches in Canada.

PuSh Festival announces its 2012 lineup. (One of the shows presented at PuSh this year will be coming to The Theatre Centre right after – to be announced shortly!)

Canadian Theatre Opening Night Directory run by the Globe’s theatre critic J.Kelly Nestruck.

Ivor Tossel’s column on ‘hanging out with a dead cat in Parkdale’ in The Toronto Standard.

New favourite Twitter inhabitant we follow:

Posted: November 4th, 2011 under By Lilya, Theatre Centre Blog, Weeklies.
Comments: none

It seems that Halloween costume idea No 1 this year is Steve Jobs. Not sure how to react to it. Not sure how to react to Halloween, but here are some bits and bobs I thought I’d share to fit in with the spirit of the festival:

Torontoist’s Ghost Map of the city

Also from Torontoist: appropriately themed round-up of theatre pieces to “shock, titillate and unsettle”. I particularly like the ‘secret location’ trend that seems to be happening.

Trick or treating extravaganza in our own West Queen West on October 29.

And – for your viewing pleasure – a video of paranormal investigation of The Great Hall and The Theatre Centre. And I am definitely not saying that I believe those meters!

On to something different: yesterday I attended an interesting discussion on how the online media influence theatre criticism. The conversation featured 4 different perspectives: a critic from a national daily (J. Kelly Nestruck from The Globe), a critic from a Toronto weekly (Glenn Sumi of NOW Magazine), a representative of an independent theatre company that maintain a strong online voice and experiment with online media in their artistic work (Aislinn Rose of Praxis Theatre), and a creator and editor of an online theatre publication (Megan Mooney of MooneyOnTheatre), with moderator Michelle MacArthur and students from UofT theatre criticism course. Some very interesting and valid points made, great anecdotes shared, but the most exciting part for me was to watch the conversation go beyond the walls of Robert Gill Theatre, via Twitter, and see it continue in various forms a day after, when I am writing this post. Do check it out.

And since I mentioned Praxis Theatre, I thought I’d tell you that they are Occupying Bay Street next Friday, November 4th. In the true spirit of the times, and yes – on Bay Street – there will be a 1930s-themed party to celebrate the premiere of Jesus Chrysler and help support a theatre company with an active voice. I think you should be there. A little music video from 1930s about jelly, depression and unemployment to inspire (disclaimer – I do not like jelly and have never heard of the company the video is a commerical for):

Posted: October 28th, 2011 under By Lilya, October 2011, Theatre Centre Blog, Weeklies.
Comments: none