Torontoist » “Day Off”

Passion Play‘s Journey Through Time

Steve Fisher — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 15:30:39 +0000

At four hours long, this sprawling, religious epic makes demands of its audiences—but it's worth the trouble.

There are a lot of chefs in the kitchen for the Canadian premiere of Sarah Ruhl’s Passion Play, a triptych set in three time periods that tells the stories of amateur actors (played by real actors) involved in staging performances of the story of Christ. Three different Toronto independent theatre companies, all with reputations for innovative staging and creation in their past work, each tackle one of the three acts. Ordinarily, such a complicated arrangement would be to a show’s detriment, but not in this case. While you need to be prepared for a marathon of theatre (the show runs four hours, incluing two intermissions), you’re certainly going to get your money’s worth.

Luminato 2013: A Literary Picnic

Peter Goffin — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:00:02 +0000

Sixty acclaimed authors will gather in Trinity Bellwoods Park to read from their work and talk with fans.

“A cross between Woodstock and the Algonquin Round Table,” is what Michael Redhill called it. Dorothy Parker grinding out an electric cover of “The Star Spangled Banner”? Well, not quite. Rather, Redhill, the literary curator for Luminato 2013, was describing A Literary Picnic, the annual festival’s celebration of storytelling, creativity, and the written word.

A Guide to the 2013 Toronto Jazz Festival

Tracey Nolan — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:45:41 +0000

The 2013 Toronto Jazz Festival features international legends and local favourites. Plus, the first night is free.

The 2013 Toronto Jazz Festival descends on the city this Friday with a huge “free for all” event. That means all of Friday’s programming at every Jazz Festival venue is, yes, completely free of charge. There will be concerts from local favourites Molly Johnson and Mary Margaret O’Hara, plus a show by Smokey Robinson and Martha Reeves, who will be launching the fest from its epicentre, Nathan Phillips Square.

Here’s a rundown of some of the shows worth checking out on Friday—and during the rest of the festival, when you’ll actually have to pay.

Scadding Court’s Swimming Pool is Now a Fishing Hole

Chris Dart — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:45:41 +0000

Each year, Scadding Court Community Centre fills its swimming pool with fish, so urban families can have a taste of the wild.

Folks who are planning on having a swim in the pool at Scadding Court Community Centre over the next few days may find themselves a little disappointed. Those who want to go fishing, however, will probably be ecstatic.

For the rest of the week, the Community Centre will be holding its annual Gone Fishin’ event, meaning its indoor pool will be an indoor fish pond. The pool has been drained, dechlorinated, and refilled with 2,000 rainbow trout, to be caught by local children and families.

Film Friday: I Know Robot Karate

Christopher Bird — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:00:13 +0000

The coolest movie opening this week is Be Kind Rewind, which is a treasure trove of Things White People Like, as it stars Jack Black and his black friend played by Mos Def, and is directed by Michel Gondry, and has lots of irony, seeing as how it is about a couple of people who erase all the videotapes in their video store and then make their own mocking versions of the movies they erased. In all seriousness, though, it looks pretty funny, so possibly people who are not white will like it as well!
Also opening this week: Vantage Point, which is more or less like Rashomon except with lots more explosions and terrorists and a shadowy conspiracy and also Forest Whitaker. (Forest Whitaker, we are told, is not the one exploding. Which is too bad, because that would be kind of cool to see.)
Charlie Bartlett is getting a lot of flak for imitating portions of (depending on who’s complaining) Rushmore, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and/or Pump Up The Volume. Adam Nayman at Eye hated it with burning fiery passion. But it does star Robert Downey Jr. as a drunk, and for that sort of ballsy move, it’s probably worthy of consideration.
Caramel (“it’s like Beauty Shop, but in Lebanon”) starts its exclusive run at the Cumberland. Critics are divided on this one to an extent, with some saying it’s a touching portrayal of female life in an unfamiliar setting, and others saying “it’s like Beauty Shop, but in Lebanon.”
Notable at the reps this week: the Bloor is screening Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade back-to-back twice this week, and has a Bogart night next Thursday with Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon. The Royal spends the week screening a pair of cool-looking war documentaries: War Dance and Taxi To The Dark Side.
Finally, CINSSU’s Free Friday Films this week presents a troika of cult awesomeness: Labyrinth, The Thing, and The Warriors. David Bowie, shapechanging monster things in the Antarctic and an unstoppable gangbanger army all in one night? We can dig it.

Two Nights At UTM

David Topping — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 16:00:00 +0000

Good news for our Mississauguaguaguanian readers: UTM, as part of its fourtieth anniversary, is hosting “Flicks on the Field,” two free family-friendly outdoor movies shown on a big screen with (and it’s good that they note this as far as outdoor screenings go) “professional projection and sound.” Hopefully no one in the audience will hold it against them that the traditional gift for fourtieth anniversaries is rubies, not film screenings.
Both “Flicks” screenings will take place on the lawn in front of South Building, beginning with tonight’s better-than-you’d-expect Night at the Museum, at about 9 p.m. Even better, though, is the September 12 screening: the excellent Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, a film made before, amazingly, everyone but its fourth-year students were born. The films have rain date of August 14 and September 19, respectively.
No word yet on what the downtown U of T film screening will be, but it’ll be hard not to beat last year’s pick, Mean Girls.
Photo of UTM’s pond—on the opposite side of the South Building, and one of the campus’s coolest features—by igormazic.