What might we see through the eyes of a child? ChildSight tries to answer that question by pairing selected artwork with audio commentary from children who participate in the Kaleidoscope in-school art program. The opening reception on Thursday, March 21st also includes awards presentations, drinks, and, of course, a chance to check out the show itself.
Think you have what it takes to sing like an opera star? Test your talents today with soprano and artist educator Kyra Millan, as she leads a unique interactive concert, courtesy of the Canadian Opera Company. Warm up with some fun vocal exercises, then learn and sing the Papageno-Papagena duet from Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Millan will also perform The Girl in 14G, as well as excerpts from The Tales of Hoffmann and La fille du régiment, so you can see how the real pros do it.
The WordStage reading series returns to celebrate more of Toronto’s established and up-and-coming writers of poetry, prose, and drama. Tonight’s stellar lineup consists of Marcia Johnson, Cris Costa, Stephen Humphrey, as well as Michael Scott and David Proctor of Wooden Rocket Press.
The next best thing to eating chocolate is making your own, which you can do tonight, courtesy of Chocolate Tales. Learn a brief history of chocolate and how it goes from bean to the bar. Then, roll up your sleeves and be led through a tutorial on making bonbons, truffles, soufflés, and more. Everyone goes home with a gift wrapped package of their creations.
Avery Edison hosts tonight's edition of The Joke Club. Photo by Pat Dryburgh.
And now for an event that is exactly what it sounds like: The Joke Club. Join sketch comedians David Dineen-Porter, Zabrina Chevannes, Canadian Comedy Award winner Steven Patrick Adams, and Nick Flanagan for a night of laughs. Hosted by Twitter sensation and peculiar Brit, Avery Edison.
Bret "The Hitman" Hart performing at last year's Sketch Comedy Festival.
This year’s edition of the Sketch Comedy Festival boasts headliners including Eugene Mirman (March 9), Bruce McCulloch (March 11), and Michael Ian Black (March 12). There are also visiting troupes from Winnipeg (Hot Thespian Action), Montreal (Uncalled For), and Vancouver (Peter ‘n Chris), plus a wide variety of local outfits. It’ll all wrap with a closing show featuring the Sketchersons, joined by special guest host and wrestling legend Bret “The Hitman” Hart.
Sketchfest runs at The Randolph Theatre, Lower Ossington Theatre, and Comedy Bar.
Hart is on the sidelines recovering from knee surgery; The Honky Tonk Man has been announced as the new host for Sunday night.
Lovers of photography and the city can rejoice at a new photo extravaganza: the Toronto Urban Photography Festival. This gigantic event features no less than 10 exhibitions, a variety of talks on the subject of urban photography, and a number of photo walks, so you too can get in on the practice of creating urban art. The exhibition also features the Disposable Camera Project, which places many disposable cameras around the city, leaving it up to whoever finds them to take a picture in the moment. And then you might possibly see the results in the festival.
Guillaume Côté and Elena Lobsanova star in Romeo and Juliet. Photo by Bruce Zinger.
Due to popular demand, The National Ballet of Canada has brought Romeo and Juliet back to the stage for a short run. Russian choreographer Alexei Ratmansky gives new life to Shakespeare’s story of star crossed lovers, set to the romantic Prokofiev score.
fu-GEN Theatre Company presents the Canadian premiere of Lauren Yee’s cheeky and insightful play, Ching Chong Chinaman. The ultra-assimilated Wong family don’t quite fit the Asian-American stereotype: teenaged Upton ignores chores and homework to play video games, and his sister Desi’s math scores are less than stellar. Upton’s solution to both problems? Hire an Asian indentured servant with an American dream. Starring Zoe Doyle, Brenda Kamino, Oliver Koomsatira, Richard Lee, Jane Luk, and John Ng.
Joe Cobden and Michelle Monteith turn their flashlights to dark corners of suburban life in Little One. Photo by Nir Bareket.
One of Canada’s most acclaimed and prolific young playwrights, Hannah Moscovitch, has her own mini festival at Tarragon Theatre this season. It started with This is War in January, and continues into March with three one-act plays, all concerning children. Two of those three plays form the double bill now on: Little One and Other People’s Children. (We’ve got a full review right here.) Later this month Other People’s Children will continue, paired with another one-act piece called In This World.
The cast of Laws of Motion. Photo by Lindsay Anne Black.
The Canadian premiere of Ashlin Halfnight’s Laws of Motion, about an accident that sparks a chain reaction of events, boasts a powerhouse ensemble assembled by Small Elephant Co-Op and director Chris Stanton, and is staged in a second-floor jam shop in Leslieville.
The show has now been extended to March 23—but they absolutely have to close after that.
The Second City cast take a minute to check their Twitters.
If there’s one thing that’s particularly impressive about Second City’s new mainstage show, The Meme-ing of Life, it’s how well balanced it is.
As the title implies, Meme-ing is nominally a show about the internet, and certainly there is a fair bit of internet-centric humour. (One sketch, about a boy who falls into a YouTube-induced coma that can only be cured by reading, is particularly on point.) That said, it isn’t just a series of jokes about cat videos. Instead, it’s a well-thought-out show that manages to offer something for pretty much everyone, without stretching itself too thin.
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