Tag Archives: Beyond

Classifieds/News items that are happening beyond Canada’s borders.

News: Theatre Junction GRAND AD Mark Lawes Appointed Paris Laureate

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Mark LawesTheatre Junction GRAND announced yesterday that its Artistic Director, Mark Lawes, has been appointed as a Laureate of the City of Paris and selected to participate in the Institut français artist-in-residence programme at the Récollets in Paris, France.

Mark was selected as one of 20 international artists, and one of six artists to work in performance art. The purpose of the programme is to host artists who have a specific project to develop in Paris to ensure the project is in harmony with Paris and its cultural environment. Mark will begin the three month residency this coming July where he will begin a new project exploring hybridity and the nomadic identity in the context of globalization.

Mark is the founding Artistic Director of Calgary’s Theatre Junction. Since 2005 and the reinvention of Theatre Junction GRAND, Mark has been working as a director/creator with an international multidisciplinary company of artists. For more information about Mark and Theatre Junction GRAND, visit www.theatrejunction.com.

Congratulations Mark!

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Call for Submissions (Alberta): Canadian High Schools at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

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Deadline to submit to Theatre Alberta: January 20th, 2012

Beaumont Composite High School cast of Suddenly Shakespeare

Beaumont Composite High School cast of "Suddenly Shakespeare"

In the last few years, The American High School Theatre Festival (AHSTF), which works in conjunction with the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, opened its program up to Canadian high schools. Local, regional and national theatre organizations as well as post-secondary theatre programs nominate top high school theatre programs to the AHSTF, which then invites selected schools to apply for potential participation in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Each nominated school invited to apply goes through an extensive application process before being considered to perform as part of the festival. Selected schools will have more than a year to plan and fundraise for this opportunity – which can be very costly. Several high schools from Alberta have previously participated in the program. The AHSTF does not allow schools to participate in consecutive years. If you would like Theatre Alberta to consider nominating a high school drama program to the AHSTF, let us know.

Please include:

  • Your name and contact info (if we need to follow up)
  • The name and contact info of the school including the name of the drama teacher whose program you’re forwarding for consideration
  • Your reasons for recommending the program (most important!)

Email the information to Julie at admin@theatrealberta.com.

You can learn more about the AHSTFA and the nomination criteria and process at www.ahstf.org. 

Some Alberta schools that have participated in this program and attended the Edinburgh Fringe in the past include: 
Lord Beaverbrook High School (Calgary)
Ecole Secondaire Beaumont Composite High School (Beaumont) (pre-festival) (post festival)
M.E. Lazerte and Ross Sheppard (Edmonton)
Notre Dame High School  (Red Deer)
Strathcona High School  (Edmonton)

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Obituary: Edmonton Theatre Icon John Neville 1925-2011

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John Neville has passed away at the age of 86.

The Stratford Festival announced that Neville, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, died in Toronto on Saturday, surrounded by his family.

John Neville’s name is intrinsically linked to Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre, as one of the pioneers of the regional along with Joe Shoctor and Margaret Mooney. He is well-known in British, Ontario and Nova Scotia theatre circles, and he achieved some celebrity via the X-Files and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988).

Here is a selection of obituaries from around the web marking Mr. Neville’s passing.

Liz Nicholls from the Edmonton Journal:

With the death of John Neville, at 86, this past weekend, Canadian theatre has lost one of its true luminaries and its real characters — and a man with an innate sense of what it means to connect to the place where you live, and change it.

 Michael Coveney from The Guardian:

Tall, handsome and authoritative on the stage… he was often thought of as the natural successor to John Gielgud.

Bruce Weber from the New York Times:

… Mr. Neville was an unlikely candidate to become a Shakespearean matinee idol, but in his early performing years that is exactly what he was. Slender, fluidly athletic and possessed of a voice known for its crisp diction and beautiful modulations, he appeared in the 1950s with London’s Old Vic Company in numerous Shakespearean roles.

Richard Ouzounian from the Toronto Star:

A study in contrasts, the honey-voiced thespian with the ramrod posture and patrician onstage air was actually the son of a British lorry driver.

Elissa Barnard from The Chronicle Herald:

John Neville got Neptune Theatre out of hot water and put himself in hot water with the province’s politicians.

Robert Cushman from the National Post:

Like many actors, he would talk about the neglected role of the actor in shaping theatrical policy and the necessity of bringing the theatre to the people and vice versa. Unlike many actors, at least at that time, he did something about it.

John Neville

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News: Samuel French to offer E-Plays

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Samuel French Inc.

Samuel French Inc.

Samuel French, Inc. is making its publications available as digital downloads. Samuel French is the world’s oldest and largest publisher of plays and musicals.

The publisher expects to have over 1,000 titles available for download by the end of the year in Apple’s iBookstore.

For those who do not have an Apple device, they expect to have ePlays available for Kindle, Nook, Sony eReader and other devices sometime in 2012. Electronic copies of play scripts (or ‘ePlays’) from Samuel French will sell for about $8.99. 

In a statement, Ken Dingledine, director of publications and operations, commented: “Being able to deliver an author’s content in an additional format will only enhance the reach of the creator’s work. We are witnessing a new generation of actors embracing technology in new ways we never could have imagined. We feel Samuel French has a responsibility to make our authors’ work accessible.”  

For more, visit samuelfrench.com

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Resource: Free Playscripts by Rich Orloff

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Hi, I’m Rich Orloff. My full-length plays, mostly comedies, have had over 100 productions in professional and community theaters in the USA and Europe. My ten-minute comedies and one-acts have had over 800 productions. I’ve recently completed a major renovation of my website, www.richorloff.com, which now includes information and excerpts of all of my plays, plus photos and quotes from my produced work (and lists of awards, too). I’ll be glad to send free perusal copies of my work to anyone connected with a theater group.

I’m confident you’ll find plays you’ll enjoy reading – and possibly producing. So if you’d like free perusal copies, just let me know. 3 script maximum, sent via e-mail. 

Some of the plays which might interest you include:

DOMESTIC TRANQUILITY (4 m., 2 w.)
A nice family living in a nice home in the nice 1950′s are threatened by three escaped convicts with bad table manners.
“a real crowd-pleaser that should find future life in regional theater” – Back Stage
“no bad language or violence, but it does have plenty of laughs” – Key West Citizen

SOMEONE’S KNOCKING (2+ w., 3+ m., 1+ either)
The life of a woman afraid of “out there” changes radically when Opportunity knocks – literally!
“this comedic gem with line after line of savory humor” – Back Stage
“a wacky, charming and terribly funny spoof of just about everything” – Vermont Times-Argus

SKIN DEEP (3 m., 2 w.)
When an Ohio couple inherit a clothing-optional resort, they discover parts of themselves never before exposed.
“a refreshing new comedy” – Show Business Weekly
“a lark of a romp. If you like to laugh, try SKIN DEEP” – Lively Arts

VERONICA’S POSITION (4 m., 2 w.)
In a posh D.C. hotel suite, Hollywood and Washington egos clash over politics, art and love.
“Orloff’s writing is sharp. More knowing than most of what passes for comedy” – Variety
“A Noel Coward-esque comedy. It works” – L.A. Times
“There is more to this piece than what commonly encounters in comedies” – Der Neue Merkur (Vienna)

BIG BOYS (1 m., 1 w.)
A grandiose, successful, amoral and happy boss hires a meek, moral and miserable new assistant.
“rip-roaringly funny” – NY Times
“as blisteringly funny a screwball comedy as you will find” – TimeOFF New Jersey

HA! (3+ m, 2+ w., 1+ either)
A trio of my most popular one-act comedies, which have had over 300 productions around the world
“a sparkling series of one-acts” – Milwaukee Express
“entertaining, light-hearted and fun” – Vermont Herald

ROMANTIC FOOLS
12 short comedies about dating, romance and relationships, designed for 1 m., 1 w… or up to 12 m., 12 w.
“a side-splitting new comedy” – Show Business Weekly
“a refreshing and witty take on romance” – Louisville Observer 

Note: Some of the plays are licensed by Playscripts, Inc., and some are licensed by the author.

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Call for Submissions (International): IUGTE Conference Scholarships

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International University Global Theatre Experience (IUGTE) and ArtUniverse have announced five scholarships for the December programme 2011:

International Physical Theatre Laboratory and the International Conference
“Theatre Between Tradition & Contemporaneity“.

The scholarship amount is 300 EUR and covers half of the participation fee.

To apply for the scholarship, candidates should send CV/resume with photo and a brief cover letter to iugte.projects@gmail.com
Performers of different genres and techniques, actors, dancers, directors and instructors from different countries are welcome to apply for participation.

The programme includes intensive practical training with the Russian theatre director and teacher Sergei Ostrenko, and workshops, presentations, lectures, performances, works-in-progress and discussions with performing arts experts and teachers from different countries. Participants can receive the Certificate of Participation.

The working language is English.

The Lab will take place at the 15th century castle, the international educational centre in Styria, Austria. (Nearest international airports – Graz and Vienna.) Accommodation and meals are organized for the group.

For more information, click on the following links:
Programme details
Conference information
YouTube video

Click here for more information on past events.

 

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