Clay & Paper Theatre
The Blog
Night of Dread workshops begin Wednesday, October 3rd!
Oct 2nd
Night of Dread
Drop-In Community Workshops
Night of Dread is Clay & Paper Theatre’s invitation to the community to parade our private and collective fears through the darkened streets of Toronto. Night of Dread returns for its 13th year on Saturday, October 27th.
All are welcome to help us build imagery, masks, puppets and shrines for the event. Free! No experience necessary. We need many hands and many volunteers to make this year’s Night of Dread the most dreadful yet! Join us!
We also need Night of Dread volunteers for everything from setting up to wearing puppets to assisting in all kinds of ways…
Drop by or contact us for other ways you can be involved in Night of Dread!
Workshop Details:
October 3rd—21st
at the Clay & Paper Theatre Studio
35 Strachan Ave. (@ Ordnance St., 3 blocks south of King St. W., between Bathurst & Dufferin)
Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays 1:00pm—8:00pm
Sundays (October 13th & 20th only) 12:00pm—5:00pm
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October 22nd—26th
in Dufferin Grove Park
Dufferin St., south of Bloor St. W. (across from the Dufferin Mall parking lot)
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 1:00pm—8:00pm
Friday 10:00am—10:00pm
For more information: www.clayandpapertheatre.org · clayandpaper@sympatico.ca · 416.708.3332
Night of Dread Community Meeting tonight!
Sep 14th
When: Tonight! Friday, September 14th, 7:00 – 9:00pm
Where: Dufferin Grove Park – In the Rinkhouse (Dufferin St., south of Bloor, across from the Dufferin Mall parking lot)
Night of Dread is Clay & Paper Theatre’s annual invitation to the community to parade our private and collective fears through the darkened streets of Toronto.
Night of Dread returns for its 13th year on Saturday, October 27th, 2012.
Join us after Friday night’s community supper in the park to discuss this year’s Night of Dread, let us know how you’d like to be involved, sign up for workshops, and help us choose an image to express this year’s BIG Fear—that one big public issue that seems to burn through everyone’s consciousness—so that we can laugh at it, as well as ourselves. We want to laugh at all of our fears, real and imagined, palpable and paranoid.
We’re looking forward to having your input on how to make the 13th annual Night of Dread the most dreadful yet!
Summer Show Opens August 3rd!
Aug 1st
A History of Forgetting
Join Clay and Paper Theatre for its 16th sensational summer season in Dufferin Grove Park with A History of Forgetting, a play written by powerhouse public space pupeteers and longtime, notable collaborators, David Anderson (C&P Artistic Director) and Krista Dalby (Small Pond Arts).
Stimulating Toronto audiences once again with their giant, striking, memorable images, Clay and Paper Theatre encourages play-goers this year to forget… Everything.
Explore long discarded histories, forgotten people and, of course, lost love. With a baby as narrator (I’m a clean slate!), this Surrealist inspired journey embraces the omitted, the erased, the lost. A giant pair of blue hands, a seven foot tall face, melting clocks, a dancing key, the cave paintings of Lascaux and a slew of literary and historical characters parade across time and space and the green expanse of Dufferin Grove. What will you remember? What might you find? What will A History of Forgetting unlock for you?
And be sure to join Clay and Paper Theatre for some Memory Tea after the show – “Memory tea, steeped in the past, A recipe of things that didn’t last, By the pot or by the cup, Face yesteryear and drink it up.”
WARNING: No cats screeching the song “Memories” will be allowed in the park. This is a tasteful, family show. Thank you.
August 3rd to August 26th, 2012
Wednesday, Thursdays & Fridays at 7:00 PM
Saturdays & Sundays at 2:00 PM and 7:00 PM
Dufferin Grove Park
(South of Bloor, across from the Dufferin Mall parking lot)
Pay-What-You-Can, $10 suggested
For more information, please contact Clay and Paper Theatre directly at clayandpaper@sympatico.ca or 416.708.3332.
Clay & Paper Theatre welcomes Dianne Lee!
Apr 16th
We are pleased as punch to introduce Dianne Lee, who joins the company as our Administrative Assistant. As a talented ceramic artist and an adept arts administrator, she is no stranger to clay and paperwork (get it?) and will be whipping Clay & Paper Theatre into shape this season!
Reunited (and it feels so good)!
Apr 15th
Over the winter, Clay & Paper Theatre’s Artistic Director David Anderson was reunited with long-time co-conspirator Krista Dalby in Sheshatshui with ArtsCan Circle, where they had an amazing time making hand puppets and masks with local indigenous youth. They had the opportunity to create a shadow play based on Innu story teller Carolyn Andrews’ recounting of “Kautitikumat, The Caribou Hunters”. The piece was performed four times for all the other classes in the school on the last day of their visit. A personal highlight for David was “jamming with Mike Stevens, Fred the school security guard, who taught us his Innu songs, the vice-chief of the band, and the vice principal who all dropped in to our last afternoon class in the art room.”
Since returning from t
heir travels, Krista and David have been hard at work on their fifth writing collaboration, The History of Forgetting, slated for production this summer in Dufferin Grove Park. The History of Forgetting will ask us to examine that which we forget, sometimes willfully, sometimes unconsciously. It will ask us to remember the brilliance of our historical humanity and inhumanity and to question why we forget what we really know. Though more than two-years in the making, the show was partially inspired by work with Baycrest seniors, who reminded David of the depth of human memory. A divergence from the narrative theatre style typically employed by the company, this show will use poetry, song, theatrical vignette, and dance to evoke the wonder of our collective history.
Photos by Krista Dalby
Community Knowledge is Key
Apr 14th
Toronto Community Foundation, charged with the duty of connecting donors to community needs and opportunities, has identified Clay & Paper Theatre as one of the 150 best not-for-profit organizations in Toronto, and have invited us to create an online profile on their Community Knowledge Centre. Won’t you pay us a visit? Be sure to check back soon for updates!
David’s Kenyan Adventure
Apr 12th
Clay & Paper Theatre’s Founder and Artistic Director David Anderson recently traveled to Nairobi, where he taught workshops at the International School of Kenya, and spoke to a seminar of emerging Kenyan theatre artists. There, he was approached by the Puppetry Institute of Kenya, and the president of UMIMA Kenya, to launch a collaborative project, dubbed Architecture XX project, to create a new major work in puppetry to tour in Kenya, East Africa, and Canada.
Way to go, David!
Clay & Paper’s Gaslight Tour Residency
Apr 11th
We have some very exciting news to share! Clay & Paper Theatre will be bringing its unique brand of theatre to Collingwood as part of a three-year residency with the Gaslight Tour. The Gaslight Tour has sought out Clay & Paper Theatre in order to create theatre opportunities for youth and create a culture of community arts in Collingwood. Year one is set to bring a series of workshops that include: mask-making, giant-puppet making, shadow puppetry, outdoor theatre techniques, stilting, and puppetry 101 as well as a replication of our very own Day of Delight Festival, which will inaugurate the residency in Collingwood on May 26th, 2012!
We could use a hand!
Apr 10th
Now that the Clay & Paper Theatre administrative office has joined our many puppets in our new workshop space at 35 Strachan, we have a lot of work to do getting our puppets all settled in. We could use some help with cleaning, building shelves, and of course, dealing with our many high-maintenance puppets.
Won’t you drop-by to lend a hand on:
Tuesday, April 17th from 6 – 9 PM
Saturday, April 21st from 11 – 4 PM
Tuesday, April 24th from 6 – 9 PM
Saturday, April 28th from 11 – 4 PM
Saturday, April 21st from 11 – 4 PM
Tuesday, April 24th from 6 – 9 PM
Saturday, April 28th from 11 – 4 PM
For more info, contact Dianne at 416-708-3332 or clayandpaper@sympatico.ca
Photo: Dragon Dance Theatre‘s “Persephone entre duex Mondes”, France, 2006
Submissions Call: Day of Delight
Mar 14th
DEADLINE EXTENDED: Monday, April 16th, 2012 at 5 PM.
Sunday, June 17th, 2012 will mark Clay & Paper Theatre’s 10th annual Day of Delight in Toronto’s beautiful Dufferin Grove Park. This special tenth anniversary celebration of love, courtship and desire will highlight our most deeply-rooted devotions, perennial passions, and long-lasting loves.
We are seeking collaborators of all artistic disciplines to contribute works that respond to Day of Delight’s themes of Love, Courtship and Desire. Works of all artistic disciplines are encouraged. This includes theatre, music, dance, spectacle, poetry, performance art, installation, puppetry, participatory works… we dare you to surprise us!
Offerings can be large or small, new or old – but must be suitable for outdoor space and respond to the themes of love, courtship and desire. We have found that works of about 15 minutes in length seem to work best, whereas dialogue-driven works of a realistic nature seem to work the least. A modest honorarium will be offered to all participating individuals or groups. Please note that you are responsible for providing all requirements for your production, ie: cast, director, set pieces, etc., although we will provide whatever support we can.
BYOA (Bring your own Accessibility): Clay & Paper Theatre encourages applications that integrate accessibility solutions into the performance, such as someone performing in American Sign Language, featuring a wheelchair performer, or including integrated descriptive dialogue to increase accessibility for the blind or visually impaired. Use your imagination and BYOA!
PLEASE SUBMIT THE FOLLOWING FOR CONSIDERATION:
- ·A 250-500 word proposal outlining the project and its connection with Day of Delight’s theme, as well as a list of technical requirements, if applicable.
- ·A script (if applicable)
- ·Artist Statement (optional)
- ·CV’s for participating artists
- ·Support Material: A maximum of 10 images, 2 videos, and/or audio files (videos via link, CD or DVD)
PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR PROPOSAL ELECTRONICALLY TO:
clayandpaper@sympatico.ca
Or by mail:
Day of Delight Submissions
Clay & Paper Theatre
163 Concord Ave
Toronto, ON, M6H 2P2
Please feel free to contact us with any questions at clayandpaper@sympatico.ca or 416-708-3332. Only selected artists will be contacted.
. . . But wait, there’s more! Clay & Paper Theatre is embarking on a three year residency with Collingwood’s Gaslight Tour, where we will be presenting Day of Delight North on May 26th, 2012! We welcome those selected for Day of Delight (Dufferin Grove) for this additional performance opportunity in Collingwood. A secondary honorarium will be provided, including travel expenses.