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Urban Planner: April 27, 2009
Urban Planner is Torontoist’s daily guide to what’s on in Toronto, published every morning. If you have an event you’d like considered, email all of its details—as well as images, if you’ve got any—to [email protected].
WORDS: Tonight’s This Is Not A Reading Series celebrates the launch of editor and activist Rachel Epstein’s new anthology, “Who’s Your Daddy?”: And Other Writings on Queer Parenting. The book deals with topics such as Butch Moms, Drag Queen Dads, and the hetero-normative bias of children’s picture books. Writer and performer Mariko Tamaki will host “Who’s Your Daddy? A Queer Parents’ Cabaret,” and contributors to the collection will also be performing songs and skits with the theme of queer families. Gladstone Hotel Ballroom (1214 Queen Street West), doors open 7:30 p.m., event starts 8 p.m., $5 or FREE with book purchase.
MUSIC: Portland singer-songwriter M. Ward is in town to promote his sixth studio album, Hold Time, the anticipated follow-up to 2006’s Post-War. Tonight’s concert features guest performances by Lucinda Williams, Grandaddy’s Jason Lyrtle, and DeVotchKa’s Tom Hagerman. Actress Zooey Deschanel will also be present; she co-created the band She & Him with M. Ward after they sang a duet together for the set of the film The Go-Getter. Phoenix Theatre (410 Sherbourne Street), 8 p.m., $23.50.
READING: Founded seventeen years ago, First Draft Theatre Company continues to hold monthly readings that present new, original works of drama. Tonight’s reading comes from Michael Leo’s play, The Legend of Jack Sheppard, which is based on the exploits of the infamous British criminal and his friendship with the writer Daniel Defoe. The figure of Sheppard remains popular today, in part because he inspired the character of Captain MacHeath in John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera. Upstairs at the Epicure Café (502 Queen Street West), 7 p.m., P.W.Y.C.
LECTURE: Best-selling writer and spiritual guru Deepak Chopra talks about the various connections between mind, body, and spirit at Roy Thomson Hall tonight. Entitled “Explorations in Consciousness,” his talk draws from his work in mind-body medicine, which is influenced by the teachings of Vedanta as well as the field of quantum mechanics. Roy Thomson Hall (60 Simcoe Street) 8 p.m., tickets from $39.50 to $69.50.
ART: Just one week left to catch the Gardiner Museum’s exhibit on contemporary ceramist Leopold L. Foulem, “Récupération.” Foulem’s conceptual ceramics are by turns campy, playful, and irreverent. The exhibition features six series from his works over the last decade, including his creative “representations” of original Chinese, European, and pre-Columbian ceramics. The Gardiner Museum (111 Queen’s Park), 10 a.m.–6 p.m., $12 adults, $8 seniors, $6 students, FREE for children.