Full Description for THE 31ST RHUBARB FESTIVAL

Buddies in Bad Times Theatre presents
THE 31ST RHUBARB FESTIVAL
Festival Director Erika Hennebury
Associate Curator Alex Wolfson

February 10 - 28, 2010
Passes now on sale 416-975-8555

Nothing ventured, nothing gained: an idiom which less and less describes our current cultural reality. In a world gripped by economic fear and obsessed with safety and security, art is often perceived as a threat. At Rhubarb, we embrace this position. Art is a threat. Art is disruptive, risky and dangerous. It is also what shapes our world.

This is evident in the current global proliferation of diverse and idiosyncratic forms of self-expression and public performance. All the world is not so much a stage as it is a big crazy open mic party and everyone is invited. Go online and you can watch legions of people - fat, skinny, gay, straight, young, old, talented and untalented, the world's social misfits of all ages, shapes, colours, genders and sizes - reenacting the entirety of Beyonce's Single Ladies in a glorious act of rebellion/devotion. It's a complex and beautiful paradox, which invokes a hysterical feeling of revolution and of love.

Evident throughout this year's Rhubarb offerings are a few common threads which reflect this paradox; reenactments, recreations and reinterpretations that walk a fine line between satire and tribute, simultaneously ironic and sincere, a compulsive obsession with dominant culture and the desire to both become it and destroy it. This year's Rhubarb artists are bold, uncompromising and riotous in every way.

For more than 30 years, the Rhubarb Festival has offered adventure-loving audiences fresh live experiments in contemporary performance. At Rhubarb, we allow the artist and the idea to be the centre. Here, inspiration, innovation and, above all, risk are paramount. This year we offer you a fearless, defiant and celebratory reshaping of our world.

I invite you to join us for Buddies' annual celebration of risk, riot and rejuvenation.

- Erika Hennebury, Festival Director

ABOUT RHUBARB
First produced by Buddies in 1979, Rhubarb is more than a new play festival; it is a singular site for adventure-loving audiences to experience contemporary theatre in its most unrestrained state. At Rhubarb, we allow the artist and the idea to be the centre. Here, inspiration and innovation are paramount. Over almost 30 years Rhubarb has seen exciting new work by a host of groundbreaking Canadian artists such as Daniel MacIvor, Daniel Brooks, Guillermo Verdecchia, Don McKellar, Diane Flacks, Gavin Crawford, Sonja Mills, Darren O'Donnell, Sky Gilbert, Damien Atkins, Atom Egoyan, Jacob Wren, Ann-Marie MacDonald (and many more).

How It Works
Evening Passes are available for only $17 and allows you unlimited access to anything happening in one night. $25 gets you an unlimited Week Pass so you can come and go, take your time and catch every show at your own pace. A limited number of Festival Passes are available for only $60 (on sale now). Our Festival Pass gives you unlimited access to any performance on any night of the entire festival and comes with a copy of Rhubarb-o-Rama, edited by Franco Boni and featuring a rare collection of short plays from Rhubarbs past by luminaries such as Jacob Wren, Darren O'Donnell and Daniel MacIvor, among others.

TICKETS
Evening Pass $17, Week Pass $25, Festival Pass $60
Call or visit the Box Office 416-975-8555
Buddies In Bad Times Theatre, Toronto ON
www.artsexy.ca

Supported by Festival Sponsor TD CANADA TRUST, Media Sponsor NOW Magazine and Canadian Heritage.

Press Releases for THE 31ST RHUBARB FESTIVAL

• Press release for THE 31ST RHUBARB FESTIVAL