Talk to Me by Cellar Door Project
Watch at folda.ca/livestream or the SpiderWebShow Facebook page
June 10 @ 9PM EDT (10PM ADT / 7PM MDT / 6PM PDT)
Part phone call, part talk radio show, Talk to Me is an original lo-fi radio play that explores intimacy, liveness, exposure and consent through broadcast. The show’s creators, the Kingston-based Cellar Door Project, will be broadcasting this performance live from Canada’s oldest radio station, CFRC 101.9FM.
Please note: this show contains offensive language and adult content. Listener discretion is advise.
“Talk to Me” is written by Sean Meldrum; dramaturged and directed by Wallis Caldoza; and produced by Mariah Horner.
“Talk to Me” stars Mariah Horner and Sean Meldrum and features Erica Hill, Simon Gagnon, Dhanish Chinniah, and Maleeka Thaker.
The ASL Interpreted visual version of “Talk to Me” stars Ebony Gooden and Landon Krentz and features Chris Dodd, Catherine Joell MacKinnon, Mathew Kuntz, and Natasha Bacchus. The ASL Interpreted visual version of “Talk to Me” is coordinated by Carmelle Cachero and Clayton Baraniuk with coaching by Sage Lovell. This show is available as an ASL performance and is low vision friendly. For more on our access plan click here.
Special thanks to Dinah Jansen, Dean Haydon, and CFRC 101.9FM, Bruce Kauffman, the FOLDA team, Madison Lymer, and Jesse MacMillan.This project is produced with CFRC 101.9FM and will be featured in the CFRC Shortwave Radio Theatre Festival this coming November. This project received financial support from the National Theatre School of Canada via the Art Apart program.
This project is produced with CFRC 101.9FM. This project received financial support from the National Theatre School of Canada via the Art Apart program.
Cabin Fever PROTOTYPE
Cabin Fever PROTOTYPE by Esmeralda Conde Ruiz
Presented in association with the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts
Cabin Fever PROTOTYPE is a new 24-hour audiovisual artwork in development by Esmeralda Conde Ruiz that uses Zoom as an instrument and a canvas for live digital performance. First conceived in early 2020 lockdown in London, UK, the work explores vulnerability and pandemic dreaming. You are invited to drift in and out of the Cabin Fever PROTOTYPE broadcast, even leave it playing as you sleep and begin to dream yourself.
Cabin Fever PROTOTYPE is composed for an ensemble of voices, domestic sounds and Zoom. Every hour in this durational PROTOTYPE performance singers softly share a real pandemic dream collected from around the world, punctuating long dreamlike silences in between. We hear a new language each hour as Conde Ruiz leads us on a journey through 24 of the world’s time zones visiting dreamers as they sleep. In this work the software itself becomes an active part of the ensemble as Conde Ruiz explores the sonic potential of the virtual space, creatively playing with the latency and parameters of the technology. Singers’ voices hover at the edge of distortion, as familiar noises from our homes join in the performance. The unexpected is embraced—whose voice will Zoom choose to highlight, whose will be suppressed or fractured?
For this PROTOTYPE performance, Conde Ruiz has collaborated with Counterpoint, the creative studio of Samuel Diggins and Tero Parviainan to replace the familiar Zoom grid with a generative digital mosaic of ever-changing colour. The colours seen will each represent a different group of singers in a different location around the world. Although we hear the singers’ voices, we never see them. We are kept suspended in a dream state, together but still apart.
To create the final work, due to premiere in Spring 2022, Esmeralda and team are inviting 2,500 singers from over 100 countries to participate in the 24-hour live online performance. The piece will travel around the globe in real-time, shifting time zones every hour as each group of singers shares one pandemic dream before the next group takes over, performing from another place entirely. As the baton is passed internationally between singers, the languages and sounds will change and singers will manually cover their cameras to create a mosaic of colour. Cabin Fever connects across cultures and borders and asks what the world’s collective subconscious shares whilst dreaming during the pandemic.
Credits:
Esmeralda Conde Ruiz, Artistic Concept, Music and Libretto
Counterpoint: Samuel Diggins & Tero Parviainen, Visual Development
Eira Szadurski, Chloë Richardson & Karen Sutton, Production
Performed by:
E Ensemble: Renata Adamcova, Vicky Annand, Alison Buckley, Madeleine Buckley, Nick Buckley, Christiane, Candis Litsey, Belén Durán, Allan Gardam, Noriko Gregory, Simon Hearn, Jane Higginbottom, Janie Lucchese, Alison Monaghan, Javier Navarro, Ulrike Siemann.
Walthamstow Voices Community Choir: Edenia Padayao, Mark Sapaen Watan, Averil Pooten Watan, Jane Bugnosen.
Cork School of Music: Ciara McCarthy, Vivienne Sayers, Ellen Bolger, Perseus O’Brien
The Dresden Philharmonic Choir.
And Richard Ng’ang’a, Janice Lyayuka, Amrita Ghosh, Kate Hamlin, Jonathan Hammonds, Erik Ostwald, Aino Liski, Anna Liski, Anja Liski , Trang Nguyen Lidgett, Everton L de Barros, Belinda Calaguas, Denis Khomyshin, Adel Alabd, Claudia, Harper, Ruby, Nina and Olivia
Pandemic dreams and libretto support from:
UCL Lockdown Dreams: Jake Clwyd Roberts, Sleep and Dream Database: Kelly Bulkeley, Ph.D., Pandemic Dreams Archive: Fabiane M. Borges, Lívia Diniz, Deirdre Leigh Barrett Ph.D., Syokau Mutonga, Levi Wataka, Amrita Ghosh, E Ensemble & the Cabin Fever Team
With thanks to:
Prof Gunter Berger, Maria Judge, Andy Ingamells, Klara Schneider, Chris Fite-Wassilak, Anne Tallentire, William Hammonds, Susie and Jonathan Hammonds, Anne Tanaka, Barbara Morgenstern, Javier Ruiz, James Naylor, Walthamstow Voices Community Choir, Levi Wataka, Yoshimi Gregory, Jono Palmer, Oliver Warren, Nina Klein, Simon Wilson, Angharad Cooper, Alison Furnham, Sarah Richards, Elaine Gibson-Bolton, Andre Cobb, Edward Smith, Claudia Kramer, Hannah Maley, Ilka Handreg, Kristina Kramer, Linus Bickmann, Georgina Riel-Waabishki Mukwa Kwe, Vasily Knyazev and the Kamchatka Philharmonic Choir the team at FOLDA and everyone who shared dreams online.
The Cabin Fever PROTOTYPE performance is presented by FOLDA with support from SPAIN arts and culture and the Embassy of Spain.
Presented in association with:
With support from:
Intercomplementary Elements
Intercomplementary Elements
By Erin Ball, Maxime Beauregard and collaborators
This Disability-led show is a testing phase for some of the accessibility elements of this queer circus love story incorporating aerial arts, clowning and dancing. We are striving for as much access as possible for audiences while respecting and prioritizing accessibility for the artists, creative team, and process.
ASL Interpretation 
Blind/Low Vision Friendly 
Relaxed Performance
Blind/Low Vision Friendly Zoom Watch Party: June 10 at 5:30pm join artist Kim Kilpatrick and other guests for a pre-show watch party and conversation for the Blind and Low Vision community. Watch the show together in zoom, and have a Q&A afterwards. To access the watch party, contact access@spiderwebshow.ca
For more information access supports visit our Accessibility page, email access@spiderwebshow.ca or call our Access team at 1-844-MY-FOLDA / 1-844-693-6532.
Credits
Collaborating Artist: Mance Granberg
Access Consultant: Amy Amantea
Artistic Coach: Meaghan Wegg
Clown Dramaturgy: Johnny Blazes
ASL Artist: Elizabeth Morris
Disability Dramaturg: Yousef Kadoura
Additional Information
Content Notice: Hospitals and the medical model of Disability will be mentioned. Overall we are striving to avoid trauma in this show and are celebrating love and Disability. If you need someone to connect with during the show, the access ushers will be available.
Relaxed Environment: It will be a relaxed environment with no flashing lights. You are welcome to move around, stim, make noise, take breaks, etc. There will be blankets and pillows and a low sensory break space.
Descriptions: The show is low vision friendly with open creative descriptions throughout. These have been created in a story-telling manner and woven into the show.
Touch Tour: There will be a touch tour at the start of the show as well as open pre-show notes.
Optional Movement Offering: In the hopes of creating more accessibility, we will offer a brief optional movement-based workshop. This could include exploring movement prompts at your seating space, on the stage, and/or engaging with the aerial apparatuses to get a better sense of what they are and how they work. Prompts will be shared that are within the theme of the explorations of the show. This will not be a circus lesson.
ASL: The show will have some projections as a backdrop of ASL artist, Elizabeth Morris. We are testing what this experience is like for the Deaf community. There will also be ASL interpretation for the sections of the show that do not have projections.
Captions: We will either have captions projected or the transcript will be available digitally prior to the show.
Access Table: We will offer an access table at the entrance to the performance space with items like earplugs, stim toys, sun glasses, water, name tags, menstrual products, etc.
Seating: Wheelchair seating, relaxed areas (pillows and blankets), chairs without armrests with space between chairs, seating for folks with service animals (and water bowls), a section reserved for Deaf and hard-of-hearing folks close to the interpreters, and access ushers will all be provided.
The Space: We hope to share access notes for the space prior to the event. For now, you can contact The Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts with any questions about their space.
Livestream: This event will be livestreamed. More details to come.
Feedback and Questions: If you have feedback or questions, please connect with us at the show or via email at kingstoncircusarts@gmail.com.
Photo by Chris Lagesten Photography
HAVEN by Murdoch Schon and Angelica Schwartz
Watch at folda.ca/livestream or the SpiderWebShow Facebook page
June 12 @ 9PM EDT (10PM ADT / 7PM MDT / 6PM PDT) and June 13 @ 7:30PM EDT (8:30PM ADT / 5:30PM MDT / 4:30PM PDT)
Two strangers, one shared meal and 6 unanswered questions waiting in sealed envelopes: HAVEN is a two-part theatrical experiment exploring how kindness and ritual can come together online.
In our noisy media-driven world we are inundated by comments and messages, often anonymous, that reveal judgmental and cruel opinions. Liked and shared posts signal what we accept and reject; creating algorithms that keep us in the bubbles of our own biases. Inspired by video sharing and chatting services HAVEN creates a digital space that explores generosity, vulnerability and connection.
Phase One:
Two strangers sit down and share a meal over Zoom. Over the course of the meal, they are prompted to ask their dining companion a series of questions. Without preparation or artifice, the participants are asked to bring themselves and their lived experiences to the table. The questions and spontaneous answers are punctuated by moments of pause, and reflection.
HAVEN: Phase One invites the audience to witness two strangers coming together to discover shared values, care and connection through this digital haven.
Phase Two:
Phase Two transforms the previous night’s dinner interaction into a script. Without having witnessed it the night before, two professional actors (themselves strangers) are asked to perform the conversation and ritual as honestly as they can while their lines are fed to them live through an earpiece. Each performer, without the context of body language or tone, must make spontaneous decisions about how they will embody the words of another.
HAVEN: Phase two invites the audience to a theatrical experiment that asks: Can connection, community and kindness be found in the anonymous words of strangers?
Haven has several prompts for its audience to reflect upon, we suggest bringing a candle and ignition source to enhance your experience.
Credits:
Created and directed by Murdoch Schon and Angelica Schwartz
Dramaturg: Rose Plotek
Winnipeg Technical Coordinator: Zoe Leclerc-Kennedy
Toronto Technical Coordinator: Elizabeth Richardson
Montreal Technical Coordinator: Angelica Schwartz
FOLDA Technical Coordinator: Ellen Brooker
Special thanks to: Sarah Garton Stanley, Michael Wheeler, Matjash Mrozewski, Schelby Jean-Baptiste, Alex Petrachuk, Jimmy Blais, Erin Meagan Schwartz, Emelia Hellman, Tanner Manson, Erin Mackey, Wahsonti:io Kirby, Tori Popp, Hannah Green, The National Theatre School of Canada.
Bios:
Murdoch Schon is a theatre maker, director and puppeteer. Winnipeg-born, they have been involved in the Montreal English theatre scene for almost a decade. Murdoch is fascinated by provocation, vulnerability, and the role of risk and failure in art making. They insist on the wondrous nature of theatre as a transformative space where rulers can fail, heroes can rise and monsters seem more familiar than angels.
Selected directing credits: it felt empty when the heart went at first but it is alright now by Lucy Kirkwood, The Dumb Waiter by Harold Pinter, Celestial Serendipity by Russell Wiitala, The Woods Witch by Murdoch Schon, and Little One by Hannah Moscovitch. Murdoch is a graduate of the National Theatre School’s Directing Program and has a BFA, Specialization in Theatre and Development, from Concordia University.
Angelica Schwartz is a director and collective creator born on Treat 1 Territory (Winnipeg, MB), where they founded the performing arts company Happy/Accidents. A recent graduate of The Directing Program at The National Theatre School, Schwartz is now based in Tiohtiá:ke (Montreal, QC). Drawing on their background in technical production and their passion for storytelling, Schwartz is devoted to creating an authentic connection between performer and spectator. Whether across distances through online platforms or in the intimacy of live, theatrical experiences, Schwartz is determined to create a sense of community in our highly digitalized era. Schwartz aims to trouble the public imagination in terms of identity, queerness, and bodies. In their work, society norms and pressures take a backseat to the complexity of the human condition. Schwartz is invested in highlighting the perspective of the Other, giving an alternative lens on how stories can be told.
Schwartz has had the pleasure to work with Jonathon Young, Jackie Maxwell, Marcus Youssef, Anita Rochon, and Chelsea Haberlin, among others. Schwartz is a Technical Production graduate of Studio 58 in Vancouver, BC
HAVEN was developed at The National Theatre School of Canada, as part of its Directing Program. This presentation is made possible with the support of TEC, NTS’ Theatre Engaging Communities fund.
TIP Innovation Residency
This year’s Thousand Islands Playhouse Innovation Resident in Governor General-winning playwright Nicolas Billon. Nicolas joined several playwrights for a 2-day virtual reality workshop with The Games Institute at The University of Waterloo and SpiderWebShow in Fall 2018. We left with some mind-opening questions about how the narrative and dramaturgy will work in the future using this medium. Nicolas will use the residency for time to both write and experiment with actors about these questions. We will talk about what he thought about and learned through this process in an open presentation at The Playhouse.
Search Party
Join local site-specific theatre makers Cellar Door Project for Search Party: a three-hour, immersive experience guiding participants on an adventure through Kingston’s downtown.
Search Party, is a special secret party that we’ll plan with you online. And yes, you can bring the kiddos, however they like to party. Part digital-scavenger-hunt part celebration-crawl, Search Party closes foldA on June 15th.
From now until then, we’ll get to know each other online and you’ll help us plan the perfect party. Through the online platform you prefer you’ll help us pick the music. Order food. Write the toast. Then, on the last day of foldA, we’ll hide the party somewhere in Kingston. And you have to find it. (We’ll make sure you do, it’s your party after all).
Planning is already underway with Cellar Door Project artists gathering local knowledge and preferences from Kingston residents. To help plan the party, follow us on instagram @ygksearchparty or join the FB group YGK Search Party.
CREDITS
Created by Mariah Horner, Laura Chaignon, and Taylor Norris
Tickets Pay What You Want – Suggested donation $5 for individuals, $15 for families
May I Take Your Arm
If we walk together, does the way we “see” our neighbourhood change?
May I Take Your Arm emerged from audio recorded walks between blind performer Alex Bulmer and storytellers who provided sighted guide. The artists ‘takes us by the arm’ to walk, listen, and share stories of place in this tactile performance installation. May I Take Your Arm is about interdependence, relationships between people, our relationship to the St. James Town and Cabbagetown neighbourhoods in Toronto, and the land upon which these neighbourhoods are settled.
May I Take Your Arm is a live performance; however, audience are invited to interact with the installations/within the environment 30 minutes prior to the performance.
CREDITS
Producer: Red Dress Productions
Co-Creators: Alex Bulmer, Anna Camilleri, and Tristan R Whiston
Performer: Alex Bulmer
Sound Designer and Editor: Tristan R Whiston
Environment/Installations Designer and Maker: Anna Camilleri
Live Video Animation: Katie Yealland
Storytellers: Henry Campos, Trisha Lamie, Silvia Marques, Benton McKnight, Vikesh Mehta, Zahra Naqvi, Dwayne
Shaw, and Ronnie Thompson
Graphic Designer: Tariq Sami
Sound Consultant and Technician: Charles Ketchabaw