Have you seen the ads for the new Meta AI “Muse”? I’ve been bombarded with them lately. “It’ll help sort out your inbox and clear your schedule” the ads claim, “it’ll shop for you!” Hang on, shop for me? Like Aye Caesar? Yes, just like Carolyn Fe’s existential thriller, a fiction no longer. Truly a…
Who are you drawn to? Is it people who look like you, or think like you? What about someone who’s charming or vivacious? Or maybe you’re drawn to those you think you can fix, those with “natural deficiencies”? Erin Shields’s To A Flame looks at the perils of being drawn in by someone who might…
“You have to maintain a fine balance between hope and despair” The truth in these words reverberated through me long after they were said. They replayed over and over in my head as I drove home: isn’t this the emotional tightrope we all walk? And the tightrope feels like it’s getting thinner by the moment.…
Nighwood Theatre is kicking off their 26/27 season with Erin Shield’s To a Flame, in collaboration with 1S1 Theatre. Dawn Jani Birley, 1S1 Theatre’s founder, has not only been instrumental in this collaboration, but is also performing in To a Flame. I got to ask Dawn about the process of working with Nightwood Theatre, her…
What would you do if you went through one of the least creative times in your life? Kelly Taylor turned it into a solo show! Un (Capital F) Famous! is Kelly’s latest work which is coming to the Red Sandcastle Theatre this fall. I get to ask her about her inspiration for the show and…
Sasha Ivanochko’s Heaven was first performed 20 years ago. In celebration, she’s bringing it back to The Theatre Centre with a new cast. One of those performers is Jessie Garon, a dancer and choreographer who is not stranger to the Toronto dance scene. I got to talk to Jessie about what it’s like to bring…
William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a story artists return to time and time again; whether it’s performed on stage or film, heavily adapted (“The Lion King” is Hamlet and yes, I will die on that particular hill) or more like Kenneth Branagh’s 1996 feature film which has a 4 hour and 2 minute run time, we…
Rachel Cairns as performed her solo play Hypothetical Baby many times, with the titular baby always being quite hypothetical. Until recently! Now a mum, Cairns is doing a limited engagement of Hypothetical Baby at Here For Now Theatre. I get to ask her about that production, how her life has changed, and what’s next for…
Pastoral, noun: a literary work (such as a poem or play) dealing with shepherds or rural life in a usually artificial manner and typically drawing a contrast between the innocence and serenity of the simple life and the misery and corruption of city and especially court life. As You Like It is one of Shakespeare’s…
Every generation has it’s “where were you when?” moment. When JFK was assassinated, when John Lennon was killed, when the twin towers fell. I was in my sixth grade classroom, as my teacher leaned on the blackboard ledge and had to deliver the news to a group of 10 and 11 year olds that their…
