Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Land art - art nature - in situ - art environnementalr


Marc WALTER and the NCC presents for Fall Rhapsody 2008/
Marc WALTER et la CCN présentent, à l'occasion du lancement de Coloris Automnal 2008


Land art - art nature - in situ - art environnementalr With/avec Marc WALTER
Music/Musique : Dominique Saint-Pierre, Luis Abanto, Bob Libbey and Leo Brooks
Storytelling/Contes : Jacques Falquet, Steve Conty



Not a museum, not a gallery, but in situ art in a natural environment, in Old Chelsea on the Sugarbush Trail. The artworks are under way. The October 3rd and 4th openings happen in the darkness except for the works, which are lit. A dramatic and magical 1-hour walk with live music and storytelling.

Beware: it is free, but registration is required and limited. To register for the opening: 819-827-2020 or directly at the Old Chelsea NCC Visitors Centre.



Pas un musée, pas une galerie, mais de l'art in situ dans un environnement naturel, à Old Chelsea, sur le sentier de la sucrerie. Les oeuvres sont en cours de réalisation. Lee vernissages des 3 et 4 octobre ont lieu dans la noirceur, à part les oeuvres qui sont illuminées; une marche d’une heure dans une atmosphère dramatique et poétique avec musiciens et conteurs.

Attention, c'est gratuit, mais les inscriptions sont nécessaires et limitées; pour s’inscrire au vernissage : 819-827-2020 ou directement au Centre des Visiteurs de la CCN à Old Chelsea.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Alan Cumyn - Hooked by a book


In celebration of Raise-a-Reader Day, the Citizen invited a dozen celebrated authors to name the titles that made them lifelong readers by james macgowan (Photo: Pat McGrath, The Ottawa Citizen)

Alan Cumyn

Author of the Owen Skye books for kids -- The Secret Life of Owen Skye, After Sylvia and Dear Sylvia

Well, lots of books blew my socks off in the early days, but one that has stayed with me is Kenneth Grahame's brilliant The Wind in the Willows. When I first read it, at a tender age, I was completely engrossed in Mr. Toad's wonderfully improbable addiction to motorcars.

Now when I read it, I am slack-jawed with delight at Grahame's descriptions, as when Mole trots beside the river "as one trots, when very small, by the side of a man who holds one spell-bound by exciting stories; and when tired at last, he sat on the bank, while the river still chattered on to him, a babbling procession of the best stories in the world, sent from the heart of the earth to be told at last to the insatiable sea."


Hooked by a book Citizen Special Published: Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Bringing the Bard to life in Webisodes

Coming soon to a screen near you: Shakespeare. Sort of. On a very small screen. With a doo-wop trio.

On Monday, Ottawa's A Company of Fools launches Tempest in a Teapot -- its hilarious take on Shakespeare's romantic comedy The Tempest -- at its website (fools.ca) and on Facebook. It will be the first of 12 weekly webisodes, with each show archived for future viewing (a trailer is already online).

In case you missed the original production at the NAC's Fourth Stage last fall, the play, part spoof and part tribute to Shakespeare, includes a show-stopping song about abstinence, ample clowning, and, among its props, paper dolls. The often-ignored racism that colours his plays also gets a full airing. Somehow, the Fools manage to include enough of the original storyline that neither The Tempest nor Shakespeare's brilliance are ever entirely lost.

"We'd been kicking around the idea of shooting for television for a while, but it always seemed like a really big thing to do with a pilot and all the episodes," says the Fools' artistic director Scott Florence, who also directed the show. "And an indie film was out of range for cost."

So when a mutual friend who'd seen the stage play suggested that Florence meet with Ottawa webcaster Kevin Burton, owner of Nat Cap Production, Florence jumped at the chance.

Original cast members Margo MacDonald, Al Connors and Emmanuelle Zeesman appear in the Internet version, which was filmed in one marathon day late last year at the Ottawa School of Speech and Drama.

Florence says the Fools chose the webisode format with its classic cliffhanger appeal because "most Internet users don't want to sit in front of a screen for 11/2 hours. People want short, quick hits on the Internet."

Running the play on the Web will, Florence hopes, give the 18-year-old troupe exposure across the country as well as footage for promotional packages. It's also a chance to test drive a relatively unknown concept -- presenting a play in episodes on the Internet -- for a company that's never eschewed risk-taking including mounting a show in a van.

"We don't have a lot of money or time," says Florence, "and when you're creating shows, you want them to have a longer life than just a couple of weeks."

Patrick Langston, The Ottawa Citizen Published: Saturday, September 20, 2008
© The Ottawa Citizen 2008