Palace of the End, Judith Thompson's most recent play, is not only her most political work, it is also her best. As most auditioning actors in this country have discovered, Thompson's greatest strength has always been her monologues, and in this piece, she uses that strength to its full advantage. In fact, she dispenses with character interaction altogether and breaks her show into three long monologues, each spoken by someone who has been greatly......

Torontoist is one of fourteen cities in the worldwide Gothamist network. Once a week, the editors of each site—from LAist to Londonist—compile some of their most interesting posts into a brief blurb. It's Elsewhere In The Ist-A-Verse, and it appears, across the network, every Sunday. Austinist attended a town hall meeting about proposed noise ordinances that could undermine the city's future as the Live Music Capital of the World, and lamented the possible loss of......

Photo by marco 2000. On Monday night, the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) hosted a members-only event to provide an inside look at its ongoing renovations before it shuts its doors to the public for its last phase (to be completed sometime in 2008). Dubbed “Transformation AGO,” and overseen by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry, the AGO is one of the final buildings to be completed as part of Toronto’s “Cultural Renaissance". Perhaps people are feeling......

Project manager for the Art Gallery of Ontario's Frank Gehry-designed transformation Mike Mahoney stands on the site of the Galleria Italia, a 450-foot-long sculpture promenade rising above Dundas. Enclosed by moulded glass hanging from swooping beams of Douglas fir, this will become one of the city's most iconic architectural features and a postcard favourite. Photo by Miles Storey......

There are many ways to chart a city's history. One can dig into the city archives, flip through photographs or listen to its citizens tell their stories about its daily life. The evolution of a city can also be traced through a vehicle that drives people crazy when it originally appears, but forms a valuable record when seen with distance: advertising. Old ads are a valuable tool in looking at elements such as neighbourhood socio-economic......

Somehow, the world of -ists managed to make it through the week despite news that Jen & Vince broke up. Chicagoist had fall on their mind as they made squash and fudge, read "House of Leaves" and ">tried to figure out what's next for the Cubs. Not fall related, but still of utmost concern, the whole skinny black pants thing. Torontoist fought off an evil scourge of raccoons and went to go see who would......

Torontoist visits the site of a new Frank Gehry structure, stalks "the elusive Bahamas streetcar", and watches Tom Green get surgery. Phillyist rejoices in the Phillies' wild card chances, mourns the injuries sustained by Eagles defensive end Jevon Kearse, and goes pirate on our asses. SFist notes that Guns and Roses were in town, that San Franciscans are taking over reality TV, and that the San Francisco Chronicle's skills of original nomenclature could use some......

Does this city ever get enough of Frank Gehry? After all, there is such thing as too much Gehry (Re: the future of the AGO...) The question becomes, when will the Gehry love bucket overflow and flood Toronto, killing everything in its path? The AGO's expected opening is in 2008. But alas, just as the Gehry Exhibit at U of T comes to a close, the film Sketches of Frank Ghery opens. (I should......

Oh man! This week’s big news in films comes from a crazy place called Vancouver??? We know! Torontoist have never heard of it either, but apparently it’s in Canada! Wild! So anyway, it’s clearly going to be an exciting place to be come September, as the famous for being terrible German director Uwe Boll wants to have a fight with YOU. Yes, you! As long as in the year of 2005 you’ve written two articles......

Little known fact... Frank Gehry hates using computers. He never used one, and likely never will. Gehry Partners LLP, however, has pioneered the use of computers in architecture and design. Nothing built by Gehry Partners LLP over the past fifteenish years would have been possible without their methods and technology. The AGO featured some of the latter a little while ago with the exhibit of Ghery Partners LLP's (huge) working models. But the true......

Houstonist reports on cross-dressing thieves and undressing educators this week. A Peeping Tom defends himself with a papaya and an outraged onlooker asks Ken Lay, "TATER TOTS OR FRIES?" Also, FEMA wants it's money back. LAist are a bug bunch of geeks. They're Star Trek geeks, David Duchovny geeks and Frank Gehry geeks. During their Cochella preview their readers reveal themselves to be Depeche Mode geeks. Seattlest saw their basketball team preparing to leave for......

Frank Gehry's return to Toronto touches on a few of the neuroses that makes this city unique. There's the dynamic of the successful Canadian, going abroad to conquer the world and returning to his humble origins. In Gehry's case redesigning the first art gallery he visited and one just a few blocks away from where he lived with his grandmother. There were no hard questions from the audience, when Gehry gave a press conference at......

A wood to-scale model of the Gehry version of AGO. Like it or lump it, Toronto-born architect Frank Gehry's AGO is calling. For Gehry non-fans, the redesign represents the typical over-the-top, singular view that Gehry is famous for. His AGO - while consciously not affecting the skyline - does change the make-up of the area without much public consult. For instance, the above Transformation Model shows the Ark-like extension over the sidewalk. This, as......