INSIDE: - City Light News

More documents

Recommendations

Info

A new style of theatre coming to the stage Canadian playwright Ins Choi’s Subway Stations of the Cross will kick off a new season for Calgary’s Fire Exit Theatre in October. On the heels of his debut play Kim’s Convenience which has just opened Theatre Calgary’s 2013-14 season, Choi is probably one of the rare artists to have his own works performed back to back with two theatre companies in Calgary. Val Lieske, artistic director of Fire Exit Theatre, provided some information on Subway Stations of the Cross. It is a Classic play coming to Rosebud Rosebud, AB – It is often said that it takes a village to raise a child. Well, in Rosebud it takes a hamlet to create a play. Our Town, one of the greatest plays of all time, opened on the historic Opera House Stage in September and plays until October 19. Over 50 people from this ‘little hamlet with a big heart’ are busy rehearsing, designing and building it. The Pulitzer Prize-winning play, written by Thornton Wilder, is a timeless drama about life in the village of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire. It tells the story of two young neighbours, George Gibbs and Emily Webb, whose childhood friendship blossoms into romance, culminating in a rather chaotic marriage ceremony. Narrated by an all-knowing stage manager, the play chronicles the seemingly ordinary – but ultimately profound and universal – lives of the town’s residents, including Joe the newspaper boy, Howie the milkman, family physician Dr. Gibbs, young Wally Webb, temperamental choir conductor Simon Stinson and many others. Morris Ertman, Artistic Director of Rosebud Theatre and the director of this production has wanted to produce this play for some 35 years. “Our Town is a theatrical classic and one of the most beloved and most produced plays in North America,” he said. “This year, the play is 75 years old, and we at Rosebud Theatre are simply delighted that it is a big part of our own 30th Anniversary Season.” He added, “Rosebud is a place where life is chronicled. We live out the notion that art is an extension of life and life is a reflection of art, a perspective we share with Thornton Wilder. It’s as if this play was written for our stage and our stage was created to produce this play. There is a palpable air of excitement in the hamlet right now.” And there should be. The production is comprised of resident company members, apprentices from Rosebud School of the Arts (RSA), and guest artists from across the country. Our Town plays until October 19 on the Rosebud Opera House Stage. Adult/ Senior tickets range from $59 to $71 plus GST. Tickets include a buffet meal at the Rosebud Mercantile. Group rates available. To purchase tickets for this limited engagement, please contact the Rosebud Theatre Box Office at 1-800-267-7553 or www.rosebudtheatre.com. one-man performance but delivered in a multi-media format. The one character is a homeless man on a subway platform, using spoken words, poetry, music, and humour to bring God’s message to the public. Lieske first met Choi in 2010 when he came with a collective of artists from Toronto to perform a Christmas play called Two Thousand Candles with Fire Exit Theatre. One of the vignettes in that play featured a homeless man played by Choi. “He does this lovely, spoken word, poetry that was fantastic. And I fell in love with that character,” Lieske recalled. Talking with Choi afterwards she learned that he already had the idea of writing a longer piece for this character, “and that was sort of the end of that conversation.” Fast forward to 2013, Choi’s debut play Kim’s Convenience has been a hit and is touring the country. It “has become this phenomenon in Canada,” Lieske said. So right after Theatre Calgary had announced their new season and she knew that Kim’s Convenience was to be their opener, Lieske immediately contacted Choi and continued with the conversation back in 2010, congratulating and inviting him to be Fire Exit’s guest artist to kick off their new season. Choi was thrilled, for the timing was perfect. He would finish Theatre Calgary’s Playwright Ins Choi. run on a Sunday, and on Wednesday hop over to perform Subway Stations of the Cross at Fire Exit. “This is not your traditional, linear, multi-cast play that necessarily has a beginning, middle, and end. I think it’s a little more…organic maybe is the word,” Lieske said. A multi-media style of performance with spoken words, poetry and music could well appeal to today’s multi-tasking generation. That is the group theatres are always trying to attract. “By their very nature, the youngsters now are watching television, listening to music, and playing on their iPhone at the same time. That’s how they learn, that’s how they are entertained, that’s how they communicate and want to be communicated to,” Lieske noted. Other than just being passive viewers, audiences will be given a chance to interact with Choi in a talkback, Q and A session, at the end of every performance. Subway Stations of the Cross is a refreshing new style of performance to start Fire Exit Theatre’s new season. It runs from October 2 – 6, nightly at 7:30 at the Engineered Air Theatre, Epcor Centre for the Performing Arts. Saturday and Sunday additional matinee at 2 pm. Tickets online at www.fireexit.ca 18 — OCTOBER 2013, CITY LIGHT NEWS www.calgarychristian.com
Music Review Love & The Outcome Love & The Outcome The newest Canadian act to come out with a CD on a major Christian label isn’t really all that new. Late August saw the continent-wide release of Winnipeg’s Love & The Outcome on U.S. music giant, Word/Curb Records. But anyone closely following the Canadian Christian music scene will instantly recognize lead vocalist, Jodi King. For the past half-dozen years, the effervescent King had been gradually building a solo career, touring extensively in Canada, slowly establishing herself south side, and even travelling to Liberia, the Philippines and China. Past credits include The Acoustic and Street <strong>Light</strong>s EPs, her Little Smile album, and Listen To The Angels Christmas project. Readily available on YouTube are videos for previous singles like Live For You, as well as Breathing In, Breathing Out and Happy – where King is indeed happily surrounded by balloons reminiscent of Connie Scott on the cover of Heartbeat (1983). Yet with her guitar-playing husband, Chris Rademaker, constantly at her side, it became clear that King was not merely a solo act. “It just got to the point where I couldn’t imagine doing this without him,” King relates on the band’s website. The two had actually met while touring with Winnipeg native, Jon Buller. As a husband and wife duo, Love & The Outcome is patterned much along the lines of former Christian artists, Out Of The Grey. King remains up front as the lead vocalist. Meanwhile, Rademaker offers backing vocals and his guitar skills. All of the bass tracks on the CD were provided by him. The couple additionally collaborates as the primary songwriters. Yet before making it to the disc, all of the songs were further refined by some of the top names in the business. This includes Ed Cash, Jason Ingram and Seth Jones, along with producers Seth Mosely, Ben Glover, David Garcia and Jeff Pardo. Love & The Outcome delivers a polished pop sound with definite folk elements, including the use of mandolin. The lead single, He Is With Us, was released in May and climbed all the way to number 13 on Billboard’s Christian song chart in the U.S. – a considerable feat for these upstarts in the American market. Not surprisingly, the song has done even better at home in Canada. Making the national Christian radio charts for 18 consecutive weeks so far, it peaked at third spot in early August. But Love & The Outcome is certainly no one-hit reviewed by Peter Fleck wonder. All 11 tracks on the CD are amazingly catchy and well crafted. The potential for further radio success is enormous. The duo is also aptly named. It is love that brought the couple together. And many of the songs speak of God’s great love along with the outcome of that love. It begins with the opening tune, When We Love, which compellingly declares, “When we love someone/We’re the evidence, the evidence of You/When we love like You love/We can see You move/You’re alive in us.” On the official website, King explains, “We want to inspire people to follow Jesus.” The songs composed for the inaugural album are certainly doing a great job of that. Having previously appeared with Francesca Battistelli and The Afters, Love & The Outcome is currently on tour in the U.S. with NewSong. For these young Canadians, it’s all about love and the outcome sure looks promising. Available for $12.99 wherever Christian music is sold. www.calgarychristian.com CITY LIGHT NEWS, OCTOBER 2013 — 19
Page 1 and 2: • Over 28 years experience • Co
Page 3 and 4: News Briefs Burnt Thicket Theatre p
Page 5 and 6: Guest Column CLN is committed to ru
Page 7 and 8: Memoirs of a prairie boy by Stephen
Page 9 and 10: y Doris Fleck The only coffee house
Page 11 and 12: Laughing Matters by Phil Callaway W
Page 13 and 14: St. Mary’s launches liberal studi
Page 15 and 16: Accommodations Accommodation Ads ru
Page 17: A Long Awakening by Lindsey O’Con

INSIDE: - City Light News

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?