Features
iPhoto caption: Photos of Shalon T. Webber-Heffernan, Paul Couillard, and James Knott courtesy of 7a*11d.
The organizers of the 7a*11d festival want you to know that performance art is still ‘punk as hell’
"There’s something about being live, with a sweaty, stinking, gross, dirty body, that’s just — you’re in it," says collective member Shalon T. Webber-Heffernan. "There’s some kind of alchemy going on that’s addictive to me. I think 7a*11d is sort of the dealer, if you will! It’s keeping us all hooked onto this weird obsession."
iPhoto caption: Paul Gross in 'Waiting for Godot.' Photo by David Hou.
Why Paul Gross thinks Waiting for Godot is ‘one of the great achievements of human creativity’
“The audience is with you. You bring them in. There isn't a big division between the stage and the audience,” says Gross, currently playing Vladimir in Waiting for Godot at the Stratford Festival. “They’re the final piece of the storytelling. We need them to complete the circle.”
iPhoto caption: Shannon Taylor, Jasmine Case, and Zara Jestadt in 'Love Us Most.' Photo by Ann Baggley.
Q&A: Sara Farb takes a piercing look behind the curtain in her new play Love Us Most
"It's a fictional theatre company — and it's also very obviously a familiar rep theater company," says Farb. "I think it's audacious for Here For Now. I'm very grateful that they understand that it's a satirical and skewering look at something that so many of us have experienced or witnessed."
iPhoto caption: Members of the company of 'Play Dead.' Photo by Alexander Galliez.
Play Dead trades death-defying circus tricks for bigger emotional risks
“The idea of consequences in [Play Dead] can make someone think the show is a little dreary, but we think of it more as a surreal celebration of all the little things that make up life,” says performer and People Watching co-artistic director Jérémi Lévesque.