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Spotlight On...
 Naomi Iizuka and 36 Views
Connecting the lives of artists and academics, dealers and journalists, Naomi Iizuka’s 2001 play 36 Views is an examination of the dynamic opposition within those different spheres. Incorporating Eastern theatrical techniques, Iizuka tells a highly contemporary story in a traditional way, subverting the typical perceptions of East and West.
 John Mighton on Half Life
There is an elegance to John Mighton's theatrical writing that betrays his daily profession: mathematics. In fact, John Mighton is a playwright, mathematician, and educator. Accomplished and innovative within these forms, Mighton is an adjunct professor at U of T, founder of the math tutoring program JUMP, as well as a two-time GG winner for drama, three Doras, one Chalmers, and the 2005 Siminovitch Award for playwrighting. His latest play Half Life is currently being remounted at CanStage...
 Gina Wilkinson:
Confessions of a Playwright
I
have spent more than twenty years with other people’s words in my
mouth; taking them in like fuel and running on the life they give. Sometimes,
I have been a pack-horse with a burden. Sometimes, gloriously, I have been
plucked up and carried along, bouncing and singing on the engine of language.
I love words. All actors do. We live or die by them.
And lo, it came to pass, that I wrote down some of my own words. And lo,
some folks at CanStage, whose judgement (up 'til now) I could happily
vouch for, told me that my odd little rows of vowels and consonants
did indeed
constitute a PLAY...
Jason Sherman
and The Wrecking Ball
The Wrecking Ball is a new project headed up by Toronto theatre
artists Jason Sherman, Ross Manson, Andrew Soren and Lara Azzopardi.
The idea behind the project is to create a Cabaret-style format
of relevant, political theatre. The first Wrecking Ball was a sold-out
success, with more then a hundred people turned away at the door...
 Daniel Brooks
and Rick Miller - Bigger Than Jesus
Bigger
Than Jesus, the new creation by Rick Miller and Daniel Brooks, produced
by Necessary Angel Theatre Company,
is billed as being a "Multimedia Mass for the modern age.""Bigger
Than Jesus is a search for meaning not only in those words of the
Catholic Mass, but also why people celebrate Mass to begin with." "And
it’s also to atone for the sins of Christianity as well," concludes
Brooks jokingly....
 Jacob Richmond
and Michael Kessler on Small Returns
Director Michael Kessler
and playwright Jacob Richmond talk about their latest play
together at Theatre Passe Muraille, Small Returns, featuring
Jordan Pettle, Deborah Hay, Randy Hughson, Tom Barnett, John Cleland
and Rosemary Dunsmore. As I sit down with them, it’s clear that these
guys have chemistry...
 Sean Reycraft with Naomi Skwarna
Sean Reycraft knows how to make a marriage work. His newest play One
Good Marriage is being remounted this October at Toronto’s Theatre
Passe Muraille after a successful run earlier this year. Equal parts
wry wit and sad truth, Reycraft doesn’t shy away from the disasters
that can occur between two people. Here, Naomi Skwarna talks with Reycraft
about his play – and finds out what it just might mean.
 Morris Panych talks to Kim
Blackwell about Vigil
When
you talk to Morris Panych you feel as if you have to be very ready --
because Morris is a busy man, to say the least. The phone is ringing
as I wait on the line for Panych to pick up the other end, the other
end being his home in Vancouver. After three rings the phone is grabbed
from it cradle and a man’s voice impatiently says, “hello.” And
so begins a conversation with Morris Panych about his play Vigil.
 Darren
O’Donnell and ‘pppeeeaaaccceee’
Darren
O’Donnell is a Toronto playwright who is as thoughtful and
provocative in conversation as the theatre he produces. Here, TheatreBooks
gets some insight into one of his latest works, pppeeeaaaccceee,
a spiritual and political rumination in O’Donnell’s signature
style, as well as what he thinks about theatre, politics and life.
 Florence Gibson & Home is My Road
Florence Gibson's first play, Belle,
was a beautiful, harrowing look at how black women were left behind during early
sufferage movements. It earned her rave reviews, and, maybe more importantly, full
houses during both its first run in 2000, and the remount in 2001. Her newest offering, which closes Factory Theatre's season, is the brave new work
Home is My Road, a play about international adoption in Romania...
 Lynda Hill on Alphonse
Lynda Hill is co-directing Theatre Direct's latest production, Alphonse,
in a new English-language translation. TheatreBooks sat down with Lynda to talk about
the play, frontier theatre, and staying away from plays that smell like health-class.
(October 2002.)
 Morris Panych and Ken McDonald on Girl in the Goldfish Bowl
Playwright Morris Panych and his partner, designer Ken MacDonald,
have been a vibrant part of the Canadian theatre community for twenty years. Their
new show, Girl In The Goldfish Bowl, opens this week at Tarragon Theatre.
The show debuted at Granville Island Stage, under the direction of Patrick McDonald,
this spring. More on the show, new challenges, and
the luxury of doing two different productions of the same play. (Summer 2002.)
Daniel MacIvor by Leonard McHardy
At only 39 years of age, Daniel MacIvor has created a body of work as playwright,
actor and director in both theatre and film that distinguishes him as one of Canada's
true "creative geniuses". His commitment to, and his belief in, the pure
act of creation is evident throughout his work. It is that belief that prompted Daniel
along with his producer Sherrie Johnson to form their company da da kamera in 1986. More...
David Mamet by Tom Donaghy
When people ask me what David Mamet is like I say, "Shy." It is perhaps
not the first word that springs to mind for many, but that's how I see him: like
a gentleman farmer, reserved but benevolent. In fact, I believe he still lives part
time on what was a farm. And when he crosses my mind this is where I place him, in
a corner surrounded by his books, more Chekhovian than Runyonesque. More...
In Memoriam: Timothy Findley
Timothy Findley's work was recognized by awards, prizes and accolades at home
and around the world. He will be remembered through his work for PEN as a champion
of human rights, and as a generous, loving man. More.
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