THE 32^nd RHUBARB FESTIVAL

Toronto's Annual Convergence of Contemporary Performance

Feb 16-27, 2011, Festival Director Laura Nanni

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS FOR 2011

Produced by Buddies in Bad Times Theatre for over 30 years, the Rhubarb Festival has offered artists a critic-free environment to experiment with new explorations in performance. Rhubarb continuously reconsiders the possibilities for performance – how we create it, how we present it and how we experience it. It is an invitation for artists to take risks, investigate new directions and challenge conventions. It is an opportunity for adventurous audiences to journey off predictable paths. Rhubarb provides artists with a rare opportunity to present work to a large and enthusiastic audience. Many Rhubarb shows have gone on to be further developed and presented in Toronto, across Canada and internationally.

GENERAL CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

DEADLINE: 5PM, Tuesday August 17, 2010

Rhubarb seeks proposals for new, not previously produced performances (30 minutes or less) for the 32nd Annual Rhubarb Festival. Submissions are encouraged from both established and emerging artists working in the areas of contemporary theatre, performance art, dance, music, interdisciplinary and hybrid forms. Of particular interest are projects, approaches and ideas that are new territory for the artist and the medium.
Selected projects will be featured during the festival (Feb. 16-27, 2011) and will receive technical, production, administrative, promotional and artistic support. Invited companies will have the opportunity to access free rehearsal space leading up to Rhubarb. In addition to an honorarium, festival artists also receive an unlimited artist pass, allowing them to see work for free by local, national and international artists over the course of two weeks.

NEW TO RHUBARB THIS YEAR! TWO SPECIAL PROJECT CALLS:

SET IT OFF
DEADLINE: 5PM, Monday August 30, 2010

Building on the culture of club nights at Buddies, Rhubarb invites DJs and musicians who venture into new and experimental territory of music performance (especially those working in live mixing and sampling) to submit proposals. This may include DJs/ electronic artists collaborating with animators, new media artists, choreographers, etc. to create a short set. Other possibilities include musicians working with non-traditional equipment and instruments (i.e. kitchen appliances, video game consoles, found objects, bicycle powered amps, etc.). Of special interest are proposals that not only suggest experimentation with the instruments themselves, but also consider aspects of the music in relation to staging, conceptual meaning, story and/ or form.

MOBILE WORKS
DEADLINE: 5PM, Monday August 30, 2010

Taking the Rhubarb experience outside the walls of Buddies, the festival invites proposals for works that begin elsewhere and converge at Buddies (12 Alexander Street, Toronto). Performance interventions, performances on the subway, flash mobs, etc. that eventually end at Buddies are encouraged. Participatory projects and online performances that are developed in the lead up to Rhubarb and culminate in another form of presentation at Buddies are also welcome. The proposal should take into consideration not only the festival audiences but also the general public, unsuspecting and accidental audiences who may stumble upon or intersect with the work.

For further information
please contact: Laura Nanni: laura@buddiesinbadtimes.com or 416-975-9130 x58

Read more about the Submission Guidelines and Press Release below.

Press release (PDF) | Download Application Form (PDF)

QUEER PRIDE 2010

A FESTIVAL FOR THE COMMUNITY

JUNE 17 – JULY 4, 2010

Buddies in Bad Times Theatre,
12 Alexander St, Toronto, Canada.
Box Office 416-975-8555
www.buddiesinbadtimes.com

Festival Sponsor TD Canada Trust
Queer Media Partner XTRA
Buddies After-Hours Sponsor Cruiseline

COME SHOW YOUR QUEER PRIDE AT BUDDIES

Since 1979, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre has stood against the mainstream. We continue to uphold this proud tradition by offering you Queer Pride 2010, a community- driven festival of queer comedy, theatre, music and parties. Join us as we celebrate what Pride means to us.

For two weeks, Buddies throws open its doors in celebration of Toronto's richly diverse queer community. We welcome queers who crave adventures beyond the expected, artists who refuse to conform and communities who will not allow themselves to be censored. On the Buddies' stage, you will find a stellar line-up of some of Toronto's most exciting queer entertainers, musicians, and comedians.

At Buddies After-Hours, you will enjoy some of the best clubbing in the village.

So, come catch a show and dance until last call. Come queer, come straight. Come as you are. Wear your pride and feel the love at Buddies.

Read More:

Press Release: Buddies in Bad Times Theatre announces Queer Pride 2010 (PDF)

View the Schedule for Queer Pride

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For Immediate Release: May 13, 2010.

It is with great excitement that Buddies in Bad Times Theatre announces
its 2010- 2011 Season.

New Artistic Director Brendan Healy says: "When I accepted the position of Artistic Director, I was aware of the company's important legacy and its need for renewal. As a queer artist, I identify with dissenters and mavericks. I have always considered myself an outsider, which affords me a perspective that is apart from mainstream ideals of beauty, art and love. I rebel against moral and cultural clichés around consumer-driven lifestyles, sexuality and identity politics. My vision for a queer theatre is one that embraces this outsider status in order to challenge established notions of morality, human relations, history and politics. In this age of cultural homogenization when difference is erased and divergence is feared, the queer point of view is more necessary than ever. This, my first official season, represents a bold reassertion of Buddies' relevance as an artistic and political force in our city."

Buddies' proudly continues its commitment to new play development, gender parity and diversity with five works written by women, two by First Nations artists, five world premieres of original Canadian works, and the return of our ever-popular annual Rhubarb Festival with a new Festival Director, Laura Nanni.

Next season, Buddies will also extend its reach nationally with two of the company's most successful recent productions embarking on cross-country tours. Both Agokwe and The Silicone Diaries will return to Buddies as they begin to travel the country with stops in Vancouver, Ottawa and Montreal.

And last, but not least, Buddies will open its doors to an international perspective with the English-Canadian premiere of a major queer work from abroad. Sarah Kane's brilliant and controversial play Blasted will finally get a professional Canadian production, outside of Québec.

The 2010-11 Season engages with the broader world. It fearlessly tackles experiences of citizenship, racialization, religiosity, marginalization and social repression. It is a season that encompasses the full complexities of contemporary existence with quintessentially queer humour, intelligence and ferocity.

Come join Buddies in the theatrical expression and celebration of its uniquely queer point of view.

Read More:

Buddies in Bad Times Theatre announces its 2010- 2011 Season - Press Release (PDF)

View Current Season

SHUDDER

hum presents the Toronto premiere of

SHUDDER
Presented in co-production with
Théâtre La Chapelle with support from Studio 303 and in association with Buddies In Bad Times Theatre

April 29 - May 9, 2010


"brilliant and chilling" - Eye Weekly

"Hood rivets the eye, and her performances are like a primal scream."

- Paula Citron, Globe and Mail

Toronto, ON. Three figures - witnessed and witnessing - are bound, blurred and melded together to reveal a portrait of a dismantled family, its pigments violently peeled away and reapplied. Toronto choreographer Susanna Hood dreams the canvases of Francis Bacon to life. Shudder forges, with three performers, a work of missed connections that evokes sensuality, brutality and loneliness. Theirs is a grotesquely beautiful and disarmingly intimate encounter.

Shudder promises to be ground-breaking in the field of Canadian dance in the way that it rides a vibrant and volatile line between narrative and abstraction.

Show Information

Press release (PDF)

Media Gallery

BREAKFAST

From the company who brought you Clean Irene & Dirty Maxine

Independent Aunties
in Association with Buddies in Bad Times Theatre present BREAKFAST
Mar 17 - Apr 4, 2010

Created by the company
Written by Anna Chatterton and Evalyn Parry
Directed by Brendan Healy
Featuring Karin Randoja, with Evalyn Parry and Anna Chatterton
Set & Costume Design Julie Fox
Sound Design Richard Windeyer
Lighting Design Laird MacDonald

Show Information

Media Gallery

An Auction in Support of Buddies
Contemporary Art. Cultural Adventures. Cool Stuff.

BUDDIES ANNOUNCES ITS MOST SUCCESSFUL FUNDRAISING AUCTION TO DATE.

Buddies is pleased to announce that we exceeded our fundraising goals and brought in over $29,000 – the most the auction has ever raised! Equally important, everyone had a fun and memorable evening and the feedback we received from our donors, supporters and friends was overwhelmingly

Buddies would like to thank everyone who made this event possible, including our host Keith Cole, our auctioneer Charlene Nero, the incomparable R.M.Vaughan, our three visual art curators Sholem Krishtalka, Stephanie Rogerson and Ryan G. Hinds, our special guest hosts Ambrose Price, Ina Unt Ina, Nina Arsenault, Tawiah M’Carthy and Waawaate Fobister as well as all our donors and everyone who participated that night.

The Art Attack catalogue, including a linked Donor Directory, will remain on our website for the remainder of this season to thank the donors, artists and everyone who helped make Art Attack possible.

Press release (pdf) | More Information | Catalogue (pdf) | Auction Donors

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THE SILICON DIARIES

Toronto, November 2009. BUDDIES IN BAD TIMES THEATRE PRESENTS
The Silicone Diaries

Created and performed by Nina Arsenault
Directed by Brendan Healy
Dramaturgy by Judith Rudakoff
Stage Manager Laura Baxter
Set and Lighting Designer Trevor Schwellnus
Video Designer Nicolas A. Greenland
Sound Designer Richard Feren

Nov 14 – 21, 2009

Transsexual Nina Arsenault may be perceived as “fake”, but the sixty cosmetic
surgeries that transformed her from an awkward man into a 36D-26-40 bombshell are anything but. The Silicone Diaries is a full, frank and fierce exploration of the
contradictions associated with the quest for beauty, balanced by an intimate and
spiritual account of Arsenault’s adventures in plastic surgery. Buddies’ new Artistic
Director, Brendan Healy directs Arsenault as she draws battles lines, wrestles with the conventions of patriarchy, and comes to peace with her radical queer body.

***NINA ARSENAULT IS AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS, FOR ALL MEDIA.
PLEASE MAKE ALLOWANCES FOR ANY REHEARSAL CONFLICTS OR
PREPARATION TIME NEEDED FOR IN-PERSON APPEARANCES.***

Press release (PDF) | More Information

1. Nina Arsenault by Tony Fong 2. Nina Arsenault by David Hawe 3. Nina Arsenault by David Hawe 4. Nina Arsenault by David Hawe


Media Contact:
Shawn Hitchins
industry@buddiesinbadtimes.com
416-975-9130

AWARD-WINNING INDIE DIRECTOR TO LEAD BUDDIES IN BAD TIMES THEATRE

Toronto, September 16, 2009 – Brendan Healy, an acclaimed and award-winning theatre director and actor, has been named Artistic Director of Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, the Board of Directors announced today.

“Brendan Healy is a dynamic theatre artist with an equally dynamic vision for Buddies as it moves into its fourth decade,” said Paul Halferty, Chair of both the Board and the hiring committee. “As an artist, Brendan’s work has been recognized by his peers, critics and audiences for its quality, intelligence, and sophistication.”

Healy, age 34, is originally from Montreal where he began his career as an actor, appearing most-notably in Peter Hinton’s production of Girls!Girls!Girls! presented at the 2000 TransAmériques Festival. Since relocating to Toronto, Brendan has established himself as a central figure in the city’s independent theatre scene and his work has been presented across the country. Recent productions include Doug Wright’s I Am My Own Wife, Martin Crimp’s Fewer Emergencies, the multiple Dora-nominated Breakfast, Moliere’s Dying to be Sick and Wallace Shawn’s A Thought in Three Parts.

He has worked as an instructor and a director at Concordia University and the National Theatre School of Canada. Brendan is a graduate of the National Theatre School’s directing program, and has also trained with one of the pioneers of the American avant-garde, Anne Bogart and the SITI Company. He is a recipient of the Ken McDougall Award for emerging director and was recently awarded the 2009 Pauline McGibbon Award. Currently, Brendan is the associate artist at Crow’s Theatre. This season at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, he will be directing two shows: Nina Arsenault’s The Silicone Diaries and the Independent Aunties’ Breakfast.

“It will be a great honor to lead this organization into the next chapter of its development,” said Healy. “Looking back over the company’s incredible thirty-year history, I find not only an extraordinary group of artistic pioneers and mavericks fighting to create a place for the avant-garde in this city; I also encounter the story of an entire community struggling to find equality. It is an honour to take on this new role and ensure that Buddies maintains a powerful and resonant queer voice in our city and beyond. I am grateful to the Buddies’ board for giving me this opportunity to play a dynamic role in the company’s unfolding story.”

Healy will begin his full time tenure at the company this fall; former Artistic Director David Oiye programmed the 09/10 season and is currently directing Neon Nightz, opening September 24.

“On behalf of the Board, I want to thank Buddies staff and the overwhelming number of company supporters who demonstrated their tremendous commitment to the theatre this past season. This is a very exciting time for the company. Buddies is moving forward under strong artistic leadership, in a solid financial position,” said Board Chair Halferty.

Established in 1979, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is a Canadian, not-for-profit professional theatre company dedicated to the promotion of gay, lesbian and queer theatrical expression. During the past 30 years, it has evolved from a small, roaming troupe into the largest queer theatre company in the world. Buddies has made an unparalleled contribution to the acceptance and celebration of queer lives while supporting some of Canada’s most innovative and important cultural artists.

Press release (PDF)

Buddies in Bad Times Theatre Sweeps the General Theatre Division with 6 Dora Mavor Moore Awards For Waawaate Fobister’s Agokwe

Buddies in Bad Times Theatre proudly launched its 2008-2009 Season with the world premiere of Agokwe, a new work from 23-year-old Ojibwe artist, Waawaate Fobister, from the Grassy Narrows First Nation. Agokwe explores unrequited love between teenage boys from neighbouring reserves. They meet briefly at a post hockey-tournament party where they bashfully confess their desire for each other. However youth, distance and isolation strive to pull the threads apart when tragedy intervenes.

Agokwe began as a short monologue, performed as part of Buddies’ 2005/06 PrideCab, a collectively created, youth-driven cabaret created over 12 weeks and performed as part of Buddies’ Cultural Pride Festivities. During the 2006/07 Season, Agokwe was further developed as part of Buddies’ Young Creators Unit, during which Fobister was teamed up with award-winning director Ed Roy. The world premiere of Agokwe marked the first time that one of Buddies’ mainstage presentations has been entirely developed through all stages of Buddies’ Queer Youth Arts Programme.

Buddies In Bad Times Theatre congratulates the remarkable team that made Agokwe happen, including Andy Moro (Set and Projection Design), Lyon Smith (Sound Design), Marc Nadjiwan (Original Music), Tracy Lynne Cann (Stage Manager), Aiden Nagle (Technician), Evalyn Parry (Young Creators’ Unit Director), Chy Ryan Spain (Youth Programme Coordinator) and the entire Buddies staff. Buddies is currently working toward a Canadian tour of Agokwe in 2010/11.

Press release (PDF) | Show Information | More news about Agokwe

Media Gallery

BUDDIES CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS FOR THE 2010 RHUBARB FESTIVAL OF NEW WORKS

Buddies in Bad Times Theatre seeks submissions for
THE 31st RHUBARB FESTIVAL
Feb 10 - 28, 2010
Festival Director Erika Hennebury

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS FOR 2010
DEADLINE: 5PM, Friday July 31, 2009

For over 30 years The Rhubarb Festival has offered Toronto artists a critic-free environment to experiment with new theatrical explorations. First produced by Buddies in 1979, Rhubarb is more than a festival; it is a commentary on theatre - on how we create it, on how we present it, and on how we experience it. Here we allow the artist and the idea to be the centre of attention. The trappings of traditional theatre are purged in favour of a stripped-down approach, where inspiration and invention are genesis. Rhubarb encourages established artists to take new risks and emerging artists to explore the medium of performance creation in a safe, inspired space. Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is currently seeking submissions of new, original, contemporary theatre, performance and dance for our 31st Rhubarb Festival.

Read more in the Press Release below.

Press release (PDF) | Download Application Form (Word Doc)