script tease project
For a great many of us today has been difficult to stomach and we may be feeling especially demoralized, disheartened, hopeless and anxious for a potentially dreary and potentially oppressive future. I know I’m certainly feeling a bit of all those things, but I am also feeling determined, determined to forge ahead despite who the Prime Minister happens to be and what his Majority Government values or doesn’t value. I choose to celebrate Canada’s bright, vibrant, beautiful culture and I choose to support its unique and versatile artists. At times like this, more than ever perhaps, I want to be reminded of what it is that I stand for, to have some hope for the future to cling onto and I want to laugh.
The best place I think to find all this would be at the Bread and Circus Theatre tomorrow for the National Theatre of the World’s Carnegie Hall Show RetroSpectacular Fundraiser Spectacular. The Canadian Comedy Award winning Carnegie Hall Show delights audiences every week at the Bread and Circus with the Improv talents of Matt Baram, Ron Pederson, Naomi Snieckus and Chris Gibbs who harken back to the winsome days of Eisenhower and Diefenbaker and give us a retrospective of the Greatest Improvised Scenes of all time! There is also a sing-along, a live improvised radio play, old timey jokes and a cool bartender. This evening is not just any rendition of The Carnegie Hall Show either, it is extra special because it is a fundraiser for their exciting new up-and-coming Script Tease Project at the Theatre Passe Muraille. The National Theatre of the World have been continually generous in their support for independent theatre companies and in raising money for humanitarian causes as well, so I would strongly encourage you to support them tomorrow at the Bread and Circus Theatre.
The line-up for tomorrow includes such special guests as esteemed improviser Paul Bates (from TV’s Dan for Mayor), Jackie English and “her dancing gal pals,” Nicholas Lemon and The Actors Academy for the Puppetry Arts, Elliott Loran, Jordan Boyes and a song from Suzy McNeil. There will also be a silent auction filled with lots of great items (including, I’m sure, some of The National Theatre of the World’s swanky merchandise) and a 50/50 draw. Tickets are just $10.00 and if you’re feeling especially generous, you can donate to the cause here. Tomorrow, let’s all stand up together and laugh in the face of the next four years, with vodka, political incorrectness and maybe a fake moustache!
If you still feel like burning some emotional steam next Monday, I suggest heading over to Comedy Bar at 6:00pm and taking part in The National Theatre of the World’s drop-in Workshop Improv classes with the cast of the National Theatre of the World’s newest venture, The Soaps: a live Improvised Soap Opera which unfolds there every Monday at 9pm. The drop in classes are also only $10.00 and everyone of all experience levels with the theatricals and the improvisationals is welcome.
The schedule for these workshops is as follows:
May 9th, 2011: With Jen Goodhue (Second City, Comedy Inc, Monkey Toast) “Slow Down, Buster!”
May 16th, 2011: With Jan Caruana (Bad Dog Theatre, Monkey Toast, Show Stopping Number, Canadian Comedy Award Winner) I Yell at You While You Do Scene Work!
May 23rd– TBA
May 30th– Aurora Browne (Second City, Comedy Inc, Monkey Toast) Stop Asking So Many Damn Questions!
My point is, the more fun you’re having, the more you’ll feel like you’re living in the Canada you grew up in, the happier and more inspired you will be to keep making art, believing in art, patronizing art and standing up for art. Have fun with the National Theatre of the World this week. It’s the patriotic thing to do.
OH! There is also this!
