theatre, arts and culture in Edmonton
This week, I spoke with Lady Vanessa Cardona: poet, performer, artist and community builder. Her show, Three Ladies, is opening Fringe Theatre’s off-season. In Three Ladies, Lady Vanessa weaves together monologue, ceremony, poetry, hip-hop and traditional Colombian dance in a story of healing. She is…
NOTE: I decided to break this review into two parts: the first gives a spoiler-free overview of the show and the second discusses some very specific aspects of the story. If you haven’t seen the show and/or do not want it to get spoiled, stop…
We don’t often get to hear from the perspective of stage managers when talking about theatre, so this week I spoke with Millie Winzinowich, the apprentice stage manager for Workshop West’s new show, The Ballad of Peachtree Rose. We talk about what stage management even…
Shadow Theatre’s season opener will have you thinking about your experiences with roommates, past or present. This two-hander, written by New York playwright Jen Silverman, features Coralie Cairns and Nadien Chu as a pair of middle-aged women who become roommates in small town Iowa. Sharon…
Despite the kooky premise, there’s a lot to find familiar in Baroness Bianka’s Bloodsongs. Sure, most of us probably aren’t blood-addicted nurses descended from Eastern European nobility who can sniff out your blood type from 50 paces, but our host Bianka has a familiar tale…
Alberta’s new budget slashes funding for the arts and I went on a rant about it. Then I have a wonderful conversation with Gerry Morita, artistic director of Mile Zero Dance Society, about their upcoming season. Contemporary dance is fascinating both to experience and to…
Well, here we are: the federal election has come and gone and there sure wasn’t a wave of NDP support this time around. Quite the contrary – Alberta painted itself blue, again, except for a little island of orange in the very centre (again). This…
I can’t think of a better show to see this election season than Fight Night, an odd theatrical experiment by Belgian theatre company Ontroerend Goed, part of the Citadel’s Highwire Series. (OK, except maybe E Day.) Fight Night feels more like interactive performance art than…
This week is all about taking back the stage for the middle-aged ladies. First up is Kristin Johnston, who is starring in Northern Light Theatre’s season opener Baroness Bianka’s Bloodsongs. After that is Nancy McAlear, director of The Roommate, which is opening Shadow Theatre’s new…
Studio Theatre’s gritty, urban production of Richard III feels uncomfortably familiar to audiences in 2019. Director Max Rubin – who is an MFA directing candidate with the University of Alberta – has reimagined Shakespeare’s history of the rise of the infamous Richard III within the…