World Theatre Day 2013

"Today, actors and theatre companies have difficulties finding public theatres, stages, and spectators..."

Well, with crisis comes opportunity; what better time than now to make all of our voices heard, to make all of our hearts speak loud and true?

"...how far more penetrating to the soul is what the eyes can see and the ears can hear, than the words they read in a book."

(Extracts from Dario Fo's World Theatre Day Message 2013)

Click here to view the full message in English as read by Julian Sands.

Meanwhile, in Canada, here's what's gracing Toronto stages this week:

WorkHouse theatre's brand new play Gwen Powers by the supremely talented Michael Goldlist;
This, by Melissa James Gibson is on at Canadian Stage's Berkeley Street Theatre;
Theatre Smith-Gilmour brings Faulkner's As I Lay Dying to life at the Passe Muraille;
Lauren Yee's Ching Chong Chinaman is FuGen theatre's latest production at the Aki Studio Theatre.

Hope to see you all there, a happy and fortuitous World Theatre Day to you all,

– The Empty Room 

In Like A Lion...

It is a busy time for us here at The Empty Room; lots of planning is under way for our soon-to-be announced project scheduled for November. Want to hear more? Here's a clue: we're teaming up with the Royal Canadian Legion for this one...

Haven't figured it out? Follow us on Twitter ( @TheEmptyRoom ) and keep an eye out for more hints. Guess correctly before the official announcement and there could be a pair of free tickets in it for you!

Meanwhile in Toronto, here's what's whetting our creative whistles in this week:

Michel Nadeau's And Slowly Beauty... (Belfry / NAC)
Bahia Watson & Liz Paul's Pomme is French for Apple (Yonge Centre)
Martin Sherman's Bent (Hart House)
Ashlin Halfnight's Laws of Motion

Do you have a show you're working on in Toronto? Let us know and we'll put up a link.

Until next time, 

The Empty Room.

Rumblings in the darkness...

We have been quiet of late in the realms of social media, scribbling away on our own, immersing ourselves in theatre, music, art, and planning, ever planning for the next series of projects.

What is in store for 2013, you may ask? Well, the Born Free* project has been ticking away in our minds and on our notepads, with the next stage of development itching to be brought back on its feet later this year, plus we have an exciting new project on the cards for November, but that is all we can say of that for the moment...

More insights into the weird & wild workings of The Empty Room's members to come soon, in the meantime, here's what we're looking forward to in Toronto theatres this week:

Half-Pint Theatre's A Night of Shanley
Nightwood Theatre's The Penelopiad
The Quickening Theatre's The De Chardin Project
Obsidian/Atomic 3D/TPM's Shakespeare's Nigga

Cheers,

– The Empty Room

Open Rehearsal

Tomorrow it all begins again. We're very excited to be hosting our first open rehearsal of this project – 8pm at the Ernest Balmer Studio in the Distillery District. If you would like to attend, please drop us a line via the contacts page on our website – (click here) – please note, this is not a performance, merely a chance to share some of the ideas and scenes we've been working on, and invite responses and discussion from friends & supporters.
Cheers!
– The Empty Room

Gracious thanks!

To our wonderful supporters:
Thank you, thank you, thank you! It is due to the generosity of people like yourselves that this project is able to happen, and will continue to happen into the future. A big shout out to Gordon Frank, Rosemary Reilly, Sarah Nesbitt, Marnie Fiddis, Glen Simpson, Amar Wala, Aleks Blumentals, the Marta Resource Centre for Women, Magda Olchawska, 'Let-Me-Fall', Kelsey Johnson, Courtney Simpson, Taryn Jorgensen, Jesse Nerenberg, Alexandria Novokowsky, Loretta Semple, Kamini Murthy & Adam West! (Along with all those anonymous contributors out there – you know who you are!)

A big thank you

Thanks to everyone who came out to our Launch Party on Saturday night, especially to the wonderful artists and musicians who made the evening such a pleasure to be a part of.

A big shout out to The Rivoli for having us there – look forward to more events at this awesome venue, we're excited to start planning our next adventure with them!

Those who came will have heard about our current Indiegogo campaign – we're raising funds to put our new project, Born Free*, into development. Please help us out be spreading the link or donating as little $1 to help make this project happen.

With love,

The Empty Room

Launch Party at The Rivoli!

It's confirmed: the Official Launch Party for Born Free* will be on Saturday April 21st 2012 at The Rivoli – 334 Queen St. West, Toronto.

Come on down for an evening of Comedy, Music, Magic, and Revelry – hosted by none other than the legendary Nick Hamilton. Featuring comedy from Sex T-Rex & Jessica Beaulieu; music from Jamie Mac Band, The Night Knights, Meghan Greeley, & Shaun Benson; magic from James "The Illushionist" Hawksley; and topped off with the cherry that is Jonah Greenbaum-Shinder, who will spin the coolest of grooves to dance the night away to.

And if that's not enough, watch this space – we have even more acts to be announced soon!

– The Empty Room