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Urban Planner: March 22, 2010
Urban Planner is Torontoist’s guide to what’s on in Toronto, published every weekday morning, and in a weekend edition Friday afternoons. 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].
Actor/dancer Marika Schwandt in front of the Walnut Studio Loft where she performs in the multidisciplinary work How We Forgot Here. Photo courtesy of The Movement Project.
THEATRE: After having lived in Toronto for a few years, it’s hard to remember a time when this thriving metropolis wasn’t the centre of our world. How We Forgot Here, a remounting of a play workshopped last year by The Movement Project, explores the experience of migrating to and settling in Toronto. The show weaves through questions of ancestry and cultural allegiance while working within a framework of a plane ride: audience members go through boarding procedures, security checks, and even in-flight meals. The Movement Project—which consists of poet and music composer Gein Wong, actor and dancer Marika Schwandt, and filmmaker Malinda Francis—was founded in 2007 to give a voice to people who have come to Toronto and Canada through migration. Tonight’s performance is pay-what-you-can, but the rest of the shows this week range from fifteen dollars (in advance from the Toronto Women’s Bookstore) to twenty dollars (at the door). Walnut Studio Loft (83 Walnut Avenue), 8 p.m., pay-what-you-can (preview performance).
WORDS: It’s hard getting out from underneath the shadow of a literary giant. Despite the challenge, Joe Hill, son of Stephen King (you know, director of Maximum Overdrive, sometimes writer)—will be passing through Toronto signing books in support of his latest thriller, Horns. Hill has already published several popular works, including the 2005 short story collection 20th Century Ghosts, 2007’s horror novel Heart-Shaped Box, and the comic book series Locke & Key. Horns is about a man who wakes up one morning with a massive hangover, a freshly sprouted pair of horns on his head, and some nifty powers to go with them. Toronto Public Library, Lillian H. Smith Library, The Merril Collection (239 College Street), 7 p.m., FREE.
ACTIVISM: Today marks the first ever World Water Week at the University of Toronto, where students and other Torontonians can gather to raise awareness of the global water crisis. The campus-wide event is led by the University of Toronto Medical Society, in collaboration with the Centre of International Health and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. There will be several events happening throughout the week to raise awareness and funds; today’s events include a an attempt to set a Guiness World Record for the longest ever toilet queue, and a walk to symbolize the long journey that many people must take to fetch water for their homes. All of the proceeds raised from the week’s events will go to WaterCan and their Clean Water For Schools program. University of Toronto, St. George Campus, Sidney Smith Hall lobby (Toilet Queue), and Medical Sciences Building (Walk for Water); 11:50 a.m.–12:15 p.m. (Toilet Queue), 12–1 p.m. (Walk for Water); FREE.
WORDS: Given its close proximity to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), the Gladstone Hotel is a fitting place to host the launch for a book about mental illness. Bitter Medicine: A Graphic Memoir of Mental Illness, co-authored by brothers Clem and Olivier Martini, tells the story of the Martini’s family struggle with schizophrenia through striking illustrations. The launch will include an exhibition of Olivier Martini’s artwork, a screening of the 1989 documentary Shattered Dreams, followed by a reading from Bitter Medicine and a Q&A with the authors. Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen Street West), 7 p.m., FREE (donations accepted for Schizophrenia Society of Canada).
Due to an editing error, this post originally attributed a number of projects to Joe Hill that actually should be credited to his father, Stephen King.