Recent Blog Posts - Ephemeral Pleasures

Curio Shoppe – disturbing and virtual
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When we started to think about how the pandemic precautions and customs would affect our autumn traditions, some people thought about Thanksgiving, and how they could find safer alternatives to the sense of joy and connection they found in sharing a big meal with family and friends. Some people t...
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Horizon Lab: Where are your stories?
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I went to the theatre tonight.  Six months ago that would not have been unusual.  But this is 2020.  Tonight I went to the Citadel Theatre with my mask on, gave my name to the front-of-house staff instead of handing them a paper ticket, and I was back.  I saw some familiar (covered) faces in [...
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How DO you solve a problem like Maria? Straight Edge Theatre has a new answer
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How DO you solve a problem like Maria?  Straight Edge Theatre has a new answer
In this surreal time of isolation, fakenews and fakeshows, the Straight Edge Theatre team is bringing to the Fringe that Never Was another of their brilliant and uncomfortable musical productions in Nun F*cks Given.  Or they would be if the Fringe that Never Was, was.  With book and lyrics by Ste...
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The Garneau Block: Local, timely, and delightful!
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Video is not typically ephemeral, but this one is.  If you’re intrigued by my description, check it out before tomorrow, May 3rd, at noon MDT.  That’s … hmm … 15 hours from now.  If I type fast. The Garneau Block Act 1  #CanadaPerforms I have a ticket on the shelf by my ke...
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Fictions in a pandemic reality
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In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, I remember thinking that I might be less anxious if I hadn’t watched or read some effective disaster-fiction.  I had watched the first season or two of Walking Dead, where clean attractive suburban neighbourhoods with empty streets would be unexpe...
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Bed and Breakfast in a small town
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Bed and Breakfast in a small town
Chris Pereira and Mat Hulshof in Bed and Breakfast.  Photo by Epic Photogs.  I watched a play a week ago and I can’t stop thinking about it.  It made me happy and it made me feel seen. Bed and Breakfast, playing at Roxy on Gateway until December 8th (a week today), is a Theatre Network [...
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Mr Burns: a post electric play
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Mr Burns: a post electric play
Patrick Howarth as storyteller Gibson, Jake Tkaczyk listening. Photo provided by production. Set &  costume design Brianna Kolybaba, lighting design Tessa Stamp. It’s hard to tell you about Mr Burns: A Post Electric Play because you haven’t seen it yet.  What I really want is to t...
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Be Our Guest: Beauty and the Beast
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Be Our Guest:  Beauty and the Beast
Karen Schenk of Iconium Media captures the delightful “Be Our Guest!” Jenn Bewick as Chip, Rachel Love Haverkamp as Babette, Ruth Wong-Miller as Belle, Trevor Warden as Lumiere, and ensemble members.   Since 2015, Foote in the Door Productions has brought eight musical theatre mainsta...
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Two samples of local history, the macabre and the hopeful
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Already this theatre season, several great productions have been seen on Edmonton stages.  The Colour Purple at the Citadel was a powerful tale of resilience, with really great music and an inspiring performance from Tara Jackson.  Silent Sky at Walterdale was based on the true story of early-20t...
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My Pride weekend entertainment, ephemeral and re-playable
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This month marks the 20th anniversary of the Stonewall Inn uprising, one of the milestones in LGBTQ+ activism against injustice.  And in honour of that, there are lots of LGBTQ+ cultural events and celebrations.  This weekend I watched and enjoyed four pieces that are making me think about LGBTQ+...
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A Little Night Music
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A Little Night Music
The other night, before the wildfire smoke blew in to town, I was walking in my neighbourhood in the evening about how lucky I am to be living at this latitude, with the magical long twilights as we approach the summer solstice.  The long light warm evenings feel rich with extra opportunity.  And...
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Trevor Schmidt’s Robot Girls, and other stories
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My calendar was full for a while working on Cabaret for ELOPE Musical Theatre (timely and chilling and also entertaining), but now I have a little more time for watching theatre as well as helping to make it. Two weeks ago I attended the monthly Script Salon organized by Alberta Playwrights Netwo...
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Betrayal, by Harold Pinter
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Betrayal runs in reverse order – scenes from the end of an affair to its start several years earlier.  I didn’t know very much else about it beforehand, but that bit helped.   In the first scene, Elena Porter’s character Emma and Chris W Cook’s character Jerry are meeting ...
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Shadow Theatre’s Lungs
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Shadow Theatre’s Lungs
Photo of Elena Porter and Jake Tkaczyk by Marc J Chalifoux Photography The play I saw last weekend, Small Mouth Sounds, was like an exercise in telling a story on stage after removing almost all of the spoken words.  All the other parts of how a story is supported on stage, the costumes, the prop...
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Theatre out of the theatre
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I attended three performances last week, none of them in conventional theatre spaces.  And I attended a rehearsal in a living room, for an indie production that may culminate in workshop/performance in equally unconventional space. There is something truly inspiring and welcoming about using foun...
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