The Art of Not Picking A Lane
Both jobs require strong communication and storytelling. Both fill me with a sense of meaning in a difficult world, and the more I dissect them, the less I am able to find where one ends and the other begins.
Views from the Stage: It Ironically Looks Like Real Life
Theatre artist Brenda Kamino reminisces on her career and her success as an advocate for Non Traditional Casting in this special edition Artist Perspective for the 2021 Toronto Fringe.
Settlers and Indians
It was summer of 1982, and my parents had enrolled me in Camp Cabot, a day camp run by the St. John’s YMCA. Every morning I, along with the sixty other campers and a dozen teenage counsellors, travelled on rickety school buses to reach the campsite, a vast, wooded area a few kilometres outside the … Continued
It’s a Beautiful Day for Brunch and to Arrest the Cops That Killed Breonna Taylor
Carly Anna Billings and Patrick Teed describe the inspiration for their upcoming Hamilton Fringe show on toxic wokeness and its implications within an anti-Black world.
Tales from a Disabled Theatre School Grad
The assumption was that a disabled person can’t be a physically strong or attractive individual… the assertion was repeated so much that I internalized it: I reduced myself to just an actor who, due to my disability, could only play “bit” roles or disabled characters.
Octopus and Jameson: The View from Haeundae Beach
Canadian actor Alex Weiner reflects on his time in South Busan for the 2014 Busan International Film Festival, a period of his life punctuated by Jameson, lavish parties, and, yes, octopus.
Faking orgasms and making eye contact: exploring intimacy in the digital theatre space
No one talks about vaginismus, a medical condition that makes penetrative sex extremely painful. No one talks about it on stage, either. Rebecca Orstroff details her experience doing both—over Zoom.
An unexpected light: from the big stage to the small screen
How creating for young audiences returned hope I’m standing in the middle of the magnificent Royal Alexandra Theatre, looking out at 1, 244 red velvet seats spread three-tiers high. It’s breathtaking. A chance to perform centre stage here is always both exhilarating and terrifying. I’m a standby in the Toronto Company of Come From Away. … Continued
A Path in the Right Direction: Stepping into New Shoes as a Multifaceted Artist
At the time, the title of “Director” terrified me for many reasons—I knew that it required a lot of work to lead a production, but I wasn’t really sure what the job requirements were, especially when pulling double-duty as an actor and director.
Two letters to Sarah Kane on the anniversary of her death
It feels strange to say I miss you – it feels stranger to say I don’t.
The Other Pocket: The Origins of The Hands of Hypatia
Ever since I was young, when I’ve felt overwhelmed by the perils of day-to-day life, I’ve imagined myself as a spaceman in my own ship. I drift through the cosmos and land on a bioluminescent planet whose only source of light comes from the natural vegetation. There I sit and look up at the stars.
Essential Work
The live performance of Quiver seems a distant memory, a relic of the less suffocating weeks of COVID-19 restrictions. Almost like a miracle, Quiver was performed in the brief moment of time when it was possible.
Theatre These Days
It felt liberating. To stop trying to adapt. To just let go. But, of course, it also feels like a betrayal.
Turning the Wheel: Leaving the Full-Time Theatre Life
Ali Joy Richardson is a writer, teacher, theatre director, and future therapist. She is also very tall.
Rolling Thunder
In 1987 I was hired by the Rolling Thunder Theatre Company for a ten-week contract. Brainstorm with the cast, write and direct a new play, then wave bon voyage as the Thunder van ambled off for ten months of touring.
I’ve Got the Time
I had just been complaining that I never have enough time to do shrooms.