A Few Words on Auditioning | Theatre For Thought, April 19, 2011

joel fishbane

Excerpt from ‘A Few Words on Auditioning’ by joel fishbane for CharPo
“Auditioning is sort of like me hiring a lawyer after watching the way she washes my car.”

It’s important to remember that when you walk into an audition, nobody is waiting to see whether you know how to act. They already assume that you do. What they want to see is whether you are Right for the Part (or for their Theatre School). How do you prove you are Right for the Part? Sadly, this is a question with no answer. If you are auditioning for Hamlet, perhaps you can try to show you know a thing or two about being depressed in Denmark; but if you are auditioning for Theatre School, you’re not so lucky.

If you’ve recently loaned Danny Boyle money or plan on being the next James Franco, then you probably don’t have to worry about auditions. But in case your career path isn’t following this trajectory, it might be good to remember the following things: (…)

Continue reading at charpo.blogspot.com/…/

INVITATION to the English-speaking and Diversity cultural communities of Quebec

Agenda 21C – Culture today and tomorrow is a call to all communities to participate and get involved in the process to help Québec adopt an Agenda 21 for culture by 2011. Everyone’s contribution is needed to build bridges between culture and the economy, culture and the environment, and culture and society so we can all work together to plot the future of culture in Québec.

You are invited to a meeting with Agenda 21C Steering Committee Chair, Solange Drouin and Reisa Levine of Institute du Nouveau Monde on Tuesday, April 26, 2011 from 2 :00 PM – 5 :00 PM, to share your thoughts and opinions on how we can contribute our ideas to the development of a sustainable cultural sector in our province. This meeting will be held in the Grey Nuns Building of Concordia University located at 1185 Ste. Mathieu, (close to Rene Levesque) in room number GN-M100. (View MAP)

History

Development of Québec’s Agenda 21 for culture is an initiative by Ministère de la Culture, des Communications et de la Condition féminine (MCCCF). It is the core of the 2009–2013 Sustainable Development Action plan entitled « Notre culture au coeur du développement durable ». Agenda 21 for culture will be a frame of reference that will clarify the principles and objectives needed to fully integrate culture into the sustainable development of Québec society. This fundamental document will provide impetus as we renew our approach to culture. It will enable us to broaden our perspective and spotlight the overall role of culture as an economic lever, a catalyst for creativity, a factor of social cohesion, and a building block of our living environment. It will provide an opportunity to rethink how culture relates to all sectors of society and lay the foundation for a new chapter in Québec’s cultural policy.

Québec’s Agenda 21 for culture will allow us to:

• renew our understanding of the role of culture
• forge new ties among the various sectors of our society
• acknowledge culture as an essential dimension in the development of our society

Agenda 21 for culture will provide a framework of reference which will enable us to write a new chapter in cultural policy and should consider issues including:

• The economy: Strengthen ties between culture, creativity, and technology;
• The Society: Deepen the relationship between culture and education; culture, health, and social cohesion; and culture and intercultural dialogue;
• The environment: Acknowledge that our quality of life depends as much on a harmonious relationship with nature as with the built environment.

Please confirm your participation as soon as possible to qdf@quebecdrama.org, as space is limited and will be assigned on a first-come first served basis. Please note this meeting will be conducted in English, although those wishing to express themselves in French are welcome to do so.

For further information, please contact the Quebec Drama Federation (514) 875-8698, the English Language Arts Network (514) 935-3312 or Diversité artistique Montréal (514) 280-3581.

Benefit Concert: Du Jazz pour le Japon Montreal, May 22, 2011

Du Jazz pour le Japon Montréal is a benefit concert involving some of Montreal’s top Jazz musicians performing to assist in the disaster relief efforts benefiting the earthquake and tsunami victims in Japan.

The Jazz pour le Japon Montréal concert will feature such well-known Montreal Jazz artists such as:

Chet Doxas, Frank Lozano, Sonia Johnson, Steve Amirault, Gary Schwartz, LettinGO, Johanne Desforges, Mike Gauthier, Jean-Pierre Zanella and the list is still growing …

A Jazz pour le Japon Montréal CD of the Montreal Jazz artists original material will be available for purchase at the show as well as on iTunes. All funds raised from the concert and CD sales will go directly to the the International Red Cross in Japan.

Follow the Facebook page for updates.

 Rialto Theatre, 5723 Parc avenue corner Bernard, May 22 at 5pm-11:45

Take a peek at Festival TransAmériques’ Program running May 26 to June 11

FTA – Festival TransAmériques program now online at www.fta.qc.ca.
Amazing shows from Montreal and the globe, including Montreal choreographer Chanti Wadge, one of the 154 artists profiled on www.RAEV.ca as part of the Recognizing Artists: Enfin Visibles! project.

EQUUS Play by Peter Shaffer Directed by Paul Van Dyck, April 13-24 at Rialto Montreal

Produced by Village Scene Productions Village Scène

by Richard Burnett, April 7, 2011

Most folks know the play Equus because it starred that kid from Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe, stripping buck naked on stage in both London’s West End and on Broadway. All in the name of art, of course, for playwright Peter Shaffer’s famed 1973 play, which tells the psychodrama (inspired by a real-life incident) of psychiatrist Martin Dysart uncovering why 17-year-old Alan Strang – sexually obsessed with horses – deliberately blinded six horses.

Strang is portrayed in the Montreal production by local actor Bobby Lamont, who doesn’t have a problem stripping for the stage. “To be honest, I haven’t spent any time worrying about how my own particular naked body will look in the context of our production of Equus,” says the handsome Lamont.

Further reading in Hour

Kathleen Winter nominated for Orange Prize

Kathleen Winter, a longtime resident of St. John’s who now lives in Montreal, is nominated for the 2011 Orange Prize, a British award for female authors of fiction, for her book Annabel.

Excerpt from The Gazette, April 12, 2011

Two women in Canada have been shortlisted for the 2011 Orange Prize, a British award for female authors of fiction – including a former writer for the children’s TV show Sesame Street.

The six final candidates for the 16th annual Orange Prize were announced Tuesday.

Kathleen Winter, a longtime resident of St. John’s who now lives in Montreal, is nominated for Annabel.

(…) Emma Donoghue, an Irish writer now living in Canada, has been nominated for Room, a tale of a boy whose mother tells him on his fifth birthday, for the first time, that there’s a world outside the room in which they’ve been living.

Continue reading on http://www.montrealgazette.com/…/

Atwater Poetry Project with Gillian Jerome and John Steffler + poetry recording podcasts

Photo credit: Allyson Kukel

Gillian Jerome and John Steffler will be reading at the Atwater Library Auditorium
1200 Atwater Avenue

Thursday, April 14, 2011 at 7:00 pm

Gillian Jerome‘s first book of poems, Red Nest won the 2010 ReLit Poetry Prize and was short-listed for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. Her first book of non-fiction, Hope In Shadows, Stories and Photographs from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (with Brad Cran) won the 2008 City of Vancouver Book Award and was shortlisted for a BC Book Prize. She teaches literature at UBC, poetry to kids at inner-city schools, and workshops with Geist magazine, and edits poetry for Event Magazine.
Recently named to the shortlist of the prestigious Griffin prize, poet and novelist

JOHN STEFFLER has also won the Thomas Head Raddall award and the Books in Canada First Novel Award, and was shortlisted for the Governor-General’s Award for his novel The Afterlife of George Cartwright. His seven books of poetry include the acclaimed 1998 collection That Night We Were Ravenous, which won the Atlantic Poetry Prize. Steffler was Canada’s Parliamentary Poet Laureate from 2006 to 2008. Lookout, his latest collection, was published last spring by McClelland and Stewart.

If you’ve missed seeing poetry readings, you can listen to recordings on the Atwater website

THE BEND screening tomorrow – a film by a Concordia alumnus

THE BEND, a film written and directed by Jennifer Kierans, a graduate of Concordia’s MA program in creative writing, will open in Canadian theatres tomorrow, including the AMC Forum.

Jennifer Kierans is a screenwriter, director and producer whose short films have screened at festivals around the world including the Critic’s Week section at Cannes. THE BEND marks her feature film debut. Jennifer now lives in New York City where she is developing her next project entitled BLUE MOVIE.

 

CONTACT INFORMATION
3401 St-Antoine West, Montreal (Quebec) H3Z 1X1 Telephone: (514) 931-6180 x 2657 Fax: (514) 939-2034
www.filmoption.com

Actor Zach Braff, presents ‘The Cost of Living’ next week in Montreal

By Brendan Kelly, text from The Gazette: Show Biz Chez Nous

Zach Braff will be in town next Tuesday (April 12) to talk up the Montreal-shot film The High Cost of Living and he will also be on-hand for the local premiere of the film that night at the Imperial Cinema. Braff is most famous for starring in the long-running medical drama Scrubs, in which he played Dr. John Dorian, and for writing, directing and starring in the 2004 indie hit Garden State.

The High Cost of Living won the award for best first Canadian feature at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall and it also nabbed the prize for best screenplay at the Rendez-vous du cinema quebecois earlier this year. Written and directed by Montrealer Deborah Chow, it stars Braff, Isabelle Blais, Patrick Labbe, Julian Lo, Anick Lemay, Sean Lu and Aimee Lee.

It’s a dark drama about Henry (Braff) who, driving under the influence,  smashes his car into Nathalie (Blais), who is eight months pregnant, and then flees the scene of the accident. She loses the baby and just as her relationship is falling apart with her boyfriend Michel (Patrick Labbe), she meets Henry. They become close and, of course, she has no idea who he really is.

I met Braff last year and he had nothing but totally enthused things to say about Chow, her movie and our city,.

The High Cost of Living opens here April 22.

Election 2011 | Arts Vote Toolkit from the Canadian Arts Coalition #artsvotecan

(The following is reposted from a Canadian Arts Coalition mailout)

Election 2011: Arts Vote Toolkit

Hello,

As you know, a federal election has been called for Monday, May 2nd. A team of volunteers has assembled a toolkit to help keep the arts on the agenda. Feel free to use these resources and circulate them widely:

• The Arts: A story we all share – A document to share with candidates

• Talking with Candidates – Key questions and tips to use when candidates knock on your door

• #artsvotecan twitter hashtag – If you are tweeting about federal election arts issues, we ask that you consider using the hashtag #artsvotecan ? and tell everyone you know to do the same!

• Initiatives for Service Organizations – If you are planning events or messaging for the election we can help you connect and share resources with others.

• Social Media Primer – Wondering how to get involved in the social media universe? Here are some tips.

• Key Statistics on Arts and Culture – The arts have a big impact on our economy and our society. Here are some quick statistics to illustrate that impact.

• Dos and Don’ts for charities during an election campaign – Developed by Imagine Canada.

• Elections Canada – Information on where to vote, what you need to bring and who your local candidates are.

• Canadian Arts Coalition Facebook page – Join in on the discussion at: http://www.facebook.com/artscoalition.

The full toolkit is available on our website: www.canadianartscoalition.com.

What else has the Canadian Arts Coalition been up to?

Over the past twelve months, the Canadian Arts Coalition has made considerable progress. We’ve relaunched our website, presented recommendations to the Standing Committee on Finance, gained exposure for our goals in the media, and organized a highly successful Arts Day on Parliament Hill.

The work done to date – in particular the success of Arts Day – creates the momentum for the Coalition to continue advancing the shared goals of the arts community. Our priorities over the coming months include the federal election, developing a new proposal on cultural diplomacy and finding new ways to facilitate communications between the arts sector and MP’s in their ridings, among others.

Links:

Budget a ‘missed opportunity’: arts groups
Reception Warm for Arts Sector on Parliament Hill
Join the Canadian Arts Coalition

www.canadianartscoalition.ca