news
Urban Planner: May 18, 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].
Anna Hardwick and John Cleland play a married couple grappling with the ghosts of their past relationships in Where’s My Money?, a dark comedy about lovers seeking redress for past indiscretions. Photo by Anna-Lea Boeki.
READING: Previewing their Thursday launch at the Toronto Reference Library, The Diaspora Dialogues will be treating passers-by on their lunch break to Readings by the Rock, showcasing a selection of writers from their new compilation, Writing the New Toronto. The book’s contributors hail from ethnically diverse backgrounds, and those scheduled to read include a Ph.D. in “regionalist and modernist aesthetics” (Leslie Shimotakahara), an actor and sketch comic (She Said What‘s Marni Van Dyk), and a teacher of fantasy and science fiction writing (Nalo Hopkinson). Bay Subway Cumberland exit (130 Cumberland Avenue), 12–1 p.m., FREE
LECTURE: TEDx GTA, a local affiliate of the popular lecture series TED Talks, is hosting their second “mindsharing” event on the topic of sustainability, Choices Today, Solutions Tomorrow. Speakers include Josephine Coomb (vice president of Bullfrog Power), Raine Maida (activist and lead singer for Our Lady Peace), and Greg Taylor (co-founder of the Steam Whistle Brewery). SHAMBA Space (48 Yonge Street, 18th floor), 5:30 p.m., $50 (includes dinner).
ART: Art Battle 6 will feature an evening of live competitive painting, as randomly selected entrants work against the clock (and possible hecklers) to produce a biddable artwork; at the end of the night, unsold pieces are ceremonially destroyed. Art Battle has already been profiled in Toronto Life, and as an added wrinkle for this sixth edition, the final round will feature nude models as the painters’ subjects. The Great Hall (1087 Queen Street West), doors at 7:30 p.m., $5 entry fee for painters, $10 for patrons.
THEATRE: Alley Co-Op’s production of John Patrick Shanley’s Where’s My Money? is darkly comic, very sexy, and brilliantly adapts their out-of-the-way Parkdale venue, including an art installation by Ulysses Castellanos on the way in. The show’s already gotten some rave reviews, particularly for the stellar cast, from which director David Ferry has coaxed some truly impressive performances. Pia Bowman Theatre (6 Noble Street), 8 p.m., $20.
LAUNCH: Shawn Micallef’s Psychogeography column in Eye Weekly has been taking readers on a meandering journey across Toronto for six years now, examining the city from a pedestrian’s point of view. Now, Micallef is releasing a compilation of his GTA explorations entitled Stroll: Psychogeographic Walking Tours of Toronto, published by Coach House Books (and written about by us yesterday). Tonight’s launch at Lula Lounge will feature Shawn in conversation with Eye Weekly‘s senior editor Edward Keenan; Keenan and his fellow Track Meet DJs will get the joint jumping after the chat has wrapped up. Lula Lounge (1585 Dundas Street West), doors at 8 p.m., FREE.
MUSIC: Members of Flash Lightnin’ and The Beauties (both bands are on the bill for the Toronto Island Festival in June), join forces for Hot Flashes, a night of Rolling Stones covers. The Dakota Tavern (249 Ossington Avenue), 10 p.m., PWYC.
This article originally said that Art Battle has “outgrown several venues”; in fact, it has never moved from the Great Hall.