The Upstage Interview: Manon Manavit of Theatre_Business

Maybe if theatre students are less afraid to use business concepts, they might be more successful.

Upstage contributor Stephanie Breton spoke with Manon Manavit Assistant Director of Theatre__Business: Fill Us In. Concordia University Theatre students attempt to connect with their Business student co-tenants when they find themselves sharing the same building (The John Molson School of Business). Their struggle plays out against the backdrop of Canada’s fierce debate about public funding for the Arts. Below is an abridged version edited by Estelle Rosen, CharPo Editor-in-chief.

UPSTAGE

Why the underscore in the title instead of a slash?

MANAVIT

Because we’re not sure yet whether it’ll be a slash. We want it open ended for a lot of reasons. We’re not sure what the outcome will be. We have the show but in terms of the kind of dialogue we hope to create, we’re very excited for that blank to get filled in.

The Sunday Read: First Person: Cameryn Moore on Phone Whore, slut (r)evolution and power / play

Are you out there? This is Cameryn...

Challenging oneself by "using" the audience

by Cameryn Moore

The first iteration of my first solo show Phone Whore was not a monologue; it was a dialogue between me and a recorded voice, that of an invisible interviewer for a would-be documentary. That character was represented in the performance space by a prop video camera on a tripod, just standing there in the center aisle. That voice asked me questions, and I answered them.

EVENT: The Gondoliers

Theatre for Thought, February 4, 2012

Londa Larmond, Arlene Duncan
(Photographer: Joanna Akyol)

CAROLINE CHANGES THE THEATRE

joel fishbane

Early last year, a panel of experts sat down for New York Magazine and debated which musical should be named the greatest of all time. I won’t quibble with the merit of the question or the result (a three-way tie for Gypsy, Sweeney Todd and – really, guys? - Guys and Dolls). What was more interesting was the process. Each expert made a list of 36 musicals. When the lists were compared, they struck away any show that only had one vote. This left 23 musicals in consideration. Of that list, only one show had made it onto everyone’s list.

That show – Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori’s eclectic show, Caroline, or Change – is having its Canadian premiere right now and you’re running out of chances to catch it. A co-production between Acting Up Stage Company and Obsidian Theatre, the show is one of the most unique, not just in the canon of American musicals, but in the history of the modern stage. 

Review: In Absentia

Paul Hopkins, Jilian Fargay, Jade Hassouné

(photo: lucetg.com)

Who says absence makes the heart grow fonder?

In Absentia at the Centaur Theatre

By Richard Burnett

Hopes were high for Centaur Theatre’s world premiere of In Absentia by Calgary-born Morris Panych, the celebrated playwright and director who has won two Canadian Governor General’s Literary Awards for Drama. 

But rest assured, Panych will not win a third for In Absentia.

The Friday Five, February 3, 2012

Five Reasons Why The Friday Five Is Always Five

by Kyle Gatehouse of Matt and Kyle and Matt

1. A regular room has six surfaces, the ceiling, the floor and four walls. The stage of a theatre has only five, the ceiling, the floor and three walls, the fourth wall has been removed to allow the audience to experience the magic of theatre. Whenever you say "five" to anyone, this is immediately what they think about, so it was a no-brainer to have a list about theatre be comprised of five walls, oops I mean five entries (sorry I accidentally wrote "five walls").

2. It was almost called "The Friday Six", but everyone was worried that it might be misinterpreted as a blog about Satan, since six is the first of his three numbers (the other two are also six, his number is six six six or 666 or six6six). 

Charpo's Real Theatre!, February 3, 2012

Review: Tough!

Kirsten Rasmussen gets Tough

Fringe darling workshops a solo show

by Sarah Deshaies

A one-two punch of quirky characters duke it out in Tough, Montreal Improv and Fringe darling Kirsten Rasmussen’s new solo work at Theatre Ste. Catherine.

Two personae are toughing it out in two different arenas of life: Amanda Paine as a fledgling fighter in the boxing arena and gym, and Lucy Diamond as a singer on the stage of the Swan Song, a small-time club. They’re surrounded by other characters populating this vaudeville-ian world including the golly-gee boxing coach James Carter, the Swan Song’s hapless bartender and owner Al, and Amanda’s boxing foe, Stacy Fingers, the formidable “two-time city champion.” 

CPM's Picture (Video) of the Week, February 2, 2012

Chekhov's masterpiece, Three Sisters

closing this weekend at Dawson College

(Read our review)

Beyond Our Fourth Wall, February 1, 2012

Remount of an unforgettable piece by Denis Marleau, A/D Ubu Theatre,  presented ten years ago. Accurately described as technological phantasmagoria.

Les Aveugles

Feb. 22-Mar.11 Musée D’art Contemporain de Montréal

(photo credit: Stéphanie Jasmin)

Theatre…en français

by Estelle Rosen

Where the title tells you all...and not much!

Caligula (Remix) 

Feb. 15-17

Gésu 

Focus on  moments from classic Cyrano de Bergerac.

Pour en finir avec Cyrano

Feb. 17-Apr. 21

Maison de la Culture

Shadow and light are in a constant battle.

L’Oratorio de Noel by Michel Tremblay

Feb. 15-Mar.24

Cie Jean-Duceppe