World Theatre Day (WTD) is little over a month away. The NYC WTD Coalition has been busy planning even more events than last year.
Theatrical Performances: Shows throughout the city where the international messages will be read and/or distributed. If you have a show running March 21 – 27, please let us know at info@nycwtd.com.
SPLAT Performances: Spontaneous, Public Large-scale Acts of Theatre Performances. In other words… Flash Mobs. Three really fun events, quick, easy, unique experiences and we need all the participants we can get.
NYC World Theatre Day Celebration: Party with friends and theatre artists from around the world, hear the International Message read by a NY theatre luminary, and watch footage from the NYC WTD Flash Mobs and from celebrations in other cities from around the world. On 3/27, 4:00pm – 7:00pm at Dixon Place.
NYC World Theatre Day Brunch Panel: hosted by hotINK at the Lark Play Development Center. To discuss international theatre and theatre internationally.
The NYC World Theatre Day blog: Beginning on March 1, 2011 the NYC World Theatre Day Blog will host local, national and international guest bloggers discussing theatre and the international theatre community.
FIND OUT MORE
To get involved, email info@nycwtd.com.
As details are announced, you can find out more at www.nycwtd.com.
Check out the blog at www.nycwtd.blogspot.com.
Follow us on Twitter @nycwtd
Friend us on Facebook
A Company of Fools will host our annual Ottawa Theatre Challenge on March 26th in celebration of World Theatre Day. Each year we gather theatre companies from the Ottawa area to participate in some friendly competition while we celebrate theatre, network, create new audiences, and give back to the community.
The Ottawa Theatre Challenge takes place on March 26 at 7:30 on the NAC Fourth Stage.
This post was submitted by A Company of Fools.
We in Queretaro, Mexico at La Fabrica are gearing up for the WTD11 celebrations by building on our last year’s first steps onto the WTD stage.
We are planning events on March 27 from 1pm-6pm, (local time), at La Fabrica in Queretaro, Mexico.
A new La Fabrica WTD11 Facebook page is coming out later today.
Here are some links to La Fabrica:
Twitter:@lafabricaorgmx
http://alonsobarrera.blogspot.com/
http://www.lafabrica.org.mx.
We are so excited to be participating in the fantastic event!
Cheers!
Susan Weiss
and
Alonso Barrera
This post was submitted by SUSAN WEISS.
Our first post of 2011!
For the past few weeks, our busy team of facilitators, graphic designers and webninjas have been working really hard to get the blog ready for March 27, 2011.
We still have a few things left to do, but we are looking forward to another amazing year of celebrating theatre.
The major change you’ll see on the blog this year is how you will be submitting your World Theatre Day events. We started to get a lot of spam on our Tumblr feed last year, so we’ve decided to scrap it (although it will remain in archives so you can see past year’s posts). This year, you can submit to us both your plans and your actual celebrations through our new Submissions page. It’s a really simple form for you to fill out, and you can also include a photo, and your location. Each post will be accompanied by a nifty map that will show you where in the world that post is from.
Other ways of connecting with us and other theatre artists from around the world:
- “Like” our Facebook page (last years, with more than 2,000 fans, somehow got deleted)
- Follow us on Twitter @WTD11
- Make a meme! Details about our exciting new 2011 meme will follow later in the week!
- Download our “How-To Toolkit,” which will help to give you ideas about how you can celebrate WTD11!
Oh–and check out our awesome new WTD11 Avatar, designed by David J. Loehr.
We’re looking forward to connecting with you more in the next few weeks!
–Rebecca
Well, WTD10 was over a week ago, and I feel like I’m just starting to recover, and be able to write about it, now.
This was our second year running the WTD blog, and I only have one word: amazing!
For those of us behind the scenes here at the blog, this year was quite different from last. First of all, it was a lot easier. Last year, all the work of setting things up (we have an excellent team of technical Ninjas, here) was pretty intense. Figuring out how we could link everything together, and, in particular, coming up with a method of allowing theatre artists to submit stuff without having to have someone on the computer all the time, was our greatest challenge.
For the most part, we worked most of those bugs out last year, and everything ran fairly smoothly this year. Here are some numbers for you:
Blog: Between Friday (the 26th) and Sunday (the 29th), the blog got about 4,000 hits. 2,500 of those were on actual World Theatre Day, but note that our blog is hosted in London, England.
Facebook: we currently have 2,069 fans. A few days before WTD, we had about 1,500 (note, also that this was brand-new this year: last year we had a group and a fan page called World Theatre Day 2009. The current page is simply World Theatre Day, and will continue for the forseeable future.), and some people put the word out to try to get it up to 2,000 before WTD. We didn’t quite succeed, but we came pretty close.
Twitter: Our WTD10 account has nearly 1,000 followers. The hashtag #WTD10 was used extensively! We were doing a lot of re-tweeting, and having fun watching the Twtiterfall.
Tumblr: We had a bit of a technical fail, here. The whole point of the Tumblr is so that people can send in their photos, text, and video, and no one needs to administrate it: it automatically gets posted. Good idea in theory, but our feed was overwhelmed, and it got pretty chocked. This is on our list of stuff to find a better solution for next year.
Over all, I heard a lot less of “What’s World Theatre Day?” from people this year. I still heard it some, but not nearly as much as last year. People were more aware of March 27 , and were able to plan accordingly. We made excellent forays into South America this year, with contributions and parties in Mexico and Basil, and also Asia, with a contribution from Singapore.
A big thank-you to everyone who participated and helped to spread the word. An even bigger thank you to the WTD facilitation team, who all do this for free, on the side of their own busy lives and jobs and creating theatre.
Here’s to #WTD11!!
Years ago I found a book called “Actors as Artists” by Jim McMullan & Dick Gautier, and gave it to my father who’s a painter. Filled with well-known actors who also paint, I thought the gift appropriate coming from his “actor-daughter”. The book revealed exciting artistic layers of those actors.
A similar opportunity presents itself with Art By Actors, an exhibition/auction at The Stanley Theatre by the Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance for World Theatre Day. It is part of the larger Stanley Art Auction.
Since I always loved drawing and painting, it seemed a natural choice for me to interview some of the actors who donated their work, for the World Theatre Day blog.
Cailin Stadnyk, a Vancouver actor who is currently in The Love List at The Stanley Theatre, was instantly humble in her response, denying she was a painter and had just taken on the project for fun. She didn’t feel she should be included here. I pressed further and she conceded.
TJ: “How did you decide on your subject matter, Cailin?”
CS: “I actually just “saw” it in my head. Our theme was supposed to be “what theatre means to us” and because I’m such a “words” person that’s all I saw. I wanted to use the words that came to mind but I wanted to do it in a more interesting way than just painting those words on the canvass. I picked the green because green is my favourite colour. I respond to green so I knew I had to use it as my base colour.
TJ: “What were you feeling as you did the piece and how do you compare it to acting?”
CS: “What I was feeling at first was fear. I thought…”oh god, why did I agree to do this. I’m going to be so bad.” But then I really started to enjoy the process and was quite proud of the end result. I would say that’s ALOT like the acting process. Funny enough, that’s pretty much exactly what I go through during a contract!!”
TJ: “Do you have a favourite artist?”
CS: “I do have a favourite painter… John William Waterhouse. His pieces are so romantic.”
Allan Gray, veteran actor of the Shaw and Stratford Festivals donated a drawing. Gray was humble in his response but I sensed a strong sense of peace regarding his artistic work.
TJ: “How did you become a painter/artist?”
AG: “I was always drawing and painting as a child – my dad was an artist of sorts – and I started taking classes in high school, then continued in University – as a minor subject. I went to Europe on a drawing tour with my art instructor at one point.”
TJ: “How do you compare acting to painting/drawing?”
AG: “Drawing is like a selfless meditation – acting is anxiety, ego and stress.”
TJ: “What is your preferred subject matter and medium?”
AG: “I work solely with pencil on rough paper or canvas. My colour- blindness made working in oils or pastels rather problematic. I do portraits and life-studies.”
TJ: “Who are your favourite painters, and mentor?”
AG: “My favourite painters are Gustave Caillebotte, Childe Hassam, Edward Hopper, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec,Winslow Homer and Auguste Renoir. My mentor was a terrific artist and teacher, Holly Middleton.
Renowned Canadian actor/director Gillian Barber, whose production of Footloose is currently running at Capilano U, has acted in over 50 plays and musicals across Canada. “A first-time artist, she started this project thinking about budget cuts and show cancellations, but got caught up in the joy of what theatre really is – a jumble of creative, colourful people, all thrown together to produce a piece of work.”
TJ: “What made you a painter?”
GB: “I really don’t paint except for my walls, but I was feeling passionate about funding cuts and wanted to paint something to pour my angst into.”
TJ: “How would you compare painting to acting?”
GB: “Painting is like the 17th time you have read the script to glean sub-textual layers – each one is a different colour, and the paint gets thicker and thicker….and doesn’t dry in time….just like it shouldn’t do on stage.
TJ: “What’s your preferred subject matter and medium?”
GB: “Abstract, oil, mixed medium…”
TJ: “Who’s your favourite painter?”
GB: “My favourite painter? Monet…love what his work makes me feel.”
Angela Brown, who is performing at the GVPTA World Theatre Day event March 28 at the WISE HALL, her original piece called Upaya, has been involved with drawing & painting for many years.
TJ: “How did you get into painting?”
AB: “I’ve always loved to draw. When I was in elementary school, I was the one who always had my work up on the wall. So I figured I must be an artist.”
TJ: “ How would you compare painting to acting?”
AB: “Painting and acting for me are all about being in the moment – movement of a thought, a gesture or a splash of colour. It all comes from the same place.”
TJ: “What’s your preferred subject matter and medium?”
AB: “Usually, it’s the human form but in an abstract sense…a leap for joy, the feel of an embrace. I like water colour because it’ s full of surprises.”
TJ: “Who is your favourite painter or mentor?”
AB: “ Van Gogh and Micki Maunsell.”
Thank you for letting us all into your artistic stories, and, also, thank you to all the artists/actors who contributed to the Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance “Art by Actors” exhibit. Vive Le Théâtre et Vive Les Arts!
Trilby Jeeves is an actor, writer, acting coach. She also teaches Buffoonery Acting Workshops, and is passionate about social media.
WEBSITE: http://www.buffooneryworkshops.com
TWITTER: http://www.twitter.com/tjbuffoonery
BLOG: http://www.trilbyjeeves.com
From Des McAnuff, the artistic director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival:
It has been my great privilege to work as a theatre director in countries around the globe – in Australia, in Europe, in Russia before the fall of the Berlin Wall and all over North America. Throughout those travels, and in my current position as Artistic Director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, North America’s largest classical repertory theatre, I continue to be awed by the extraordinary power of this art to engage the mind, fire the imagination and arouse the spirit.
Live performance is necessarily ephemeral: like life itself, it exists as an experience in the present moment, passing through our senses on its way into the “dark backward and abysm of time.” Yet its transitory nature also gives theatre an immediacy and an intensity that few other art forms can match. So potent is the electricity that flows through that live connection between artist and audience that it can change the way we think and feel about ourselves and the world we live in.
Theatre affords us insight and hope. It allows us direct access to the wisdom of the ages. It offers affirmation of our joys and consolation for our sorrows. It opens up avenues of exploration into our own souls, daring us to confront even the darkest truths about ourselves. Tyrone Guthrie called it the oldest social, moral, and political platform in the history of Western culture. And today we need it more than ever.
our website address is: http://www.stratfordshakespearefestival.com
we are on facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/StratfordFestival?v=wall
we can be found on twitter: stratfest
It’s March 27: World Theatre Day, 2010!
All over the world, theatre artists will be celebrating. You can follow the celebrations by following:
Our Tumblr Feed
WTD on Facebook
WTD on Twitter (hashtag #WTD10)
And, if you have written something about WTD, recorded audio or video, or taken photographs, please click here for submission information. Share your experiences with the world!
Happy World Theatre Day!
The Internationalists, a collective of directors from around the world and one of the founders of the NYC World Theatre Day Coalition, will also be hosting a ‘La Journée Mondiale du Théâtre’ event in Paris on 27 March from 17:00-19:00 at Le Cavern Club, 21 rue Dauphine, 75006 Paris.
Graphic by John Wise
We invite anyone to join us for drinks and conversation to celebrate the occasion. Dame Judi Dench’s message will be read in English, Spanish, Swedish, French, German, Dutch and Danish at 18:00, followed by Lynn Nottage’s US message, read by The Internationalists Artistic Director Doug Howe. You can find more information, in English and French, on facebook.
Regards,
Doug Howe
Artistic Director
The Internationalists
