Play Reading Series

Long live the mighty plays! 
And their creators!

This year, not only will we have public readings of previously unproduced, newly revised and/or unpublished playscripts (there's a mouthful!) BUT we're excited to host readings by Hali-companies who will offer a sneak peek at their upcoming projects. 
 
The plays will be at various stages of development, created by emerging and established theatre makers from near and far. Be part of one of the first audiences to experience the newest plays and works-in-progress, then stay to contribute your thoughts in a post-reading discussion with the writers and actors.

Also check out our Late Night Series at Menz & Mollyz Bar, Thursdays at 10 pm. Details here: Late Night Reading Series

THE FINE PRINT: 
Doors open half hour before start time.
Location is TNS Living Room, unless noted otherwise.
Admission is by donation. $10 is suggested but we accept more, or less, depending on your ability to pay. 
Snacks and beverages available by suggested donation
Readings followed by a facilitated discussion. Please plan to stay and share!

Friday, October 2nd, 7:30 pm  Sharon Pollock reads

Selected Works
co-presented with Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centre (PARC)

LOCATION: The Waiting Room, 6040 Almon St

Join us to hear one of Canada's exceptional artists read excerpts from her work... and enjoy time in the room together.

Sharon Pollock has worked as an actor, director, playwright, dramaturge, artistic director and administrator, with stage plays produced throughout Canada and abroad. She is the recipient of numerous awards recognizing excellence in drama, including, two Governor General’s Drama Awards (“Blood Relations” and “Doc”) The Canada Australian Literary Award for her body of work, a Japan Foundation Award, The National Theatre School of Canada’s Gascon Thomas Award, and was recently made an Officer of The Order of Canada. Since 2006 she has served as Dramaturg and Librettist with The Atlantic Ballet Company of Canada, most recently on their national touring production of Ghosts of Violence.Pollock has led numerous playwriting and theatre workshops at various institutions, online at Frank Moher’s http//e-script.wa and on a personal mentorship basis. Since 2006, and in addition to her on-going theatre work, she has served as Dramaturg and Librettist with the Atlantic Ballet Company of Canada.

Also check out Sharon's workshops Boot Camp for Playwrights and Just for You and her contribution as a panelist in Selling Art or Selling Out panel discussion.

Sharon's participation in the Live-in Festival has been supported by Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centre, The Halliburton, Playwrights Guild of Canada and Fountain School of Performing Arts.

Monday, October 5th, 7:30 pm  DOUBLE BILL

Kind of a Little Cancer: A Biography by Luciana Silvestre Fernandes

Kind of a Little Cancer is a biographical story. Witnessing Brazil's tragic world cup loss while in Brazil, and finding out about a sneaky little tumour, make for quite the eventful summer. This is the story of how a pragmatic and rumoured-to-be heartless 24-old navigates through doctor hunting, international medical systems, paper-work madness, E.I., and this "emotion" thing, to, at last, get a bad-ass scar. Join her, as she tries adulting on the long road to becoming a true bureaucracy survivor.

Luciana is a Halifax based theatre artist, who came all the way from Brazil to settle in winterland.A Dalhousie graduate, Luciana is often found directing, occasionally acting, writing or doing whatever needs to be done so the show can go on. That includes performing, stage managing, choreographing, directing and creating/writing with Hali-companies including Taboo, Child’s Play, Villain’s, Doppler Effect and for various Atlantic Fringe shows. She was writer for Grumble (Child’s Play) as well as director. Kind of a Little Cancer is her first solo show.

Lily of the Valley by Aisha Sommer Zaman

While tests, crushes and finding someone to buy booze for them is what concerns most teens Caius’ age, turning tricks, addiction and abuse are what consume his day. When his peers retreat to the safety of their families every night, Caius has nowhere to return to. Along with his unlikely group of allies, Caius explores love, lust, sanity, and addiction while trying to reshape his understanding of what it means to have a home in this fresh take on the traditional coming-of-age story. 

Aisha Sommer Zaman is a twenty-something-minus-the-something-year-oldmplaywright who has excitedly joined Halifax’s theatre scene in recent years. She has written several well-received pieces for Halifax’s Queer Acts Theatre Festival, some of which were inspired by work she did at DaPoPo’s own “Acting OUT” youth ensemble. When she’s not exploring all the colourful theatre Halifax has to offer, she spends her time studying languages she’s too shy to use with native speakers and trying to remember whether or not she watered her citronella plant.

Thursday, October 8th, 7:30 pm VILLAINS THEATRE reads

The Blazing World a new adaptation of Margaret Cavendish's original by Colleen MacIsaac 

A visionary proto-science fiction epic written in 1666 by philosopher, scientist, and playwright Margaret Cavendish. This modern reimagining by Colleen MacIsaac and The Villain's Theatre sets this dark and labyrinthine tale in our own blazing world, ravaged by the increasingly dire effects of climate change. Come join the Villains in our first experiments into exploring this imaginative sci-fi odyssey, inspired by one of the most unique female philosopher-poets in western history, with projections by Michael Lake.

The Villain’s Theatre, formerly known as Vile Passéist Theatre, is a Halifax-based theatre company. Inspired by the forgotten works of the Renaissance dramatists, we look to stage the compelling and revelatory plays of the past as well as drawing inspiration from them to create new works.villainstheatre.com 

Tuesday, October 13th, 7:30 pm - Script Reading

KAMP, a new musical, by Jamie Bradley & Garry Williams
 KAMP is an unlikely, historically-inspired musical about the transformative power of art. Imprisoned in the "gay" isolation block of a Nazi death camp, a group of prisoners transcend the horrors of forced labour, torture and humiliation to produce an explosive cabaret night. Written by Jamie Bradley and Garry Williams, the creation of this piece has been supported by Arts Nova Scotia and the Playwrights' Atlantic Resource Centre (PARC).

Hear the script reading on Tuesday and come back Friday, October 16th, 8 pm for the Concert Version with music. For more details, look under Performances

Garry Williams has been DaPoPo's Artistic Director since its inception in 2004. A Merritt nominated actor and composer, he has collaborated with a multitude of artists & companies in Europe, the USA and across Canada. Recent theatrical forays have included Two Planks' production of Miracle Man/Dustbowl Joan, Kim Parkhill's A Good Death, LunaSea's Ibsen's Bites, Opening Night at Festival Antigonish, and One Light's Chess With the Doomesday Machine. Last year his play Jesus Is A Faggot played at the Dublin International Gay Theatre Festival. He plays the piano with some skill, believes in the value of artistic creation in the community, and knows far too many show tunes.

Jamie Bradley is a multi-media actor, puppeteer and improviser, who started his writing career with comedy sketches and plays for CBC Radio and three Atlantic Fringe Festival hits (also over thirty dinner theatre scripts). His larger productions include Jamboree, the inaugural musical of Summerside, PEI's the Harbourfront Theatre and 2012's Titanic: The Fated Voyage.  His latest projects are a play about two aging friends entitled Sherlock & John: The Forgotten Case and a new musical called KAMP. Also in the works is a puppet and mask adaptation of The Island of Doctor Moreau. This year, the Tantramar Heritage Trust in Sackville, New Brunswick has contracted Jamie to write a First World War touring play called Before the Leaves Turn; after which, he will be creating a family musical for Christmas 2016. He lives in his native Halifax with his wife, three children and forty-seven fountain pens. 

Thursday, October 15th, 7:30 pm  

Agency by Eva Barrie

Set in present-day Berlin and 1980s Divided Berlin, Agency investigates the relationship between the communist vs. post-Wall generation while exploring intimacy in lonely human-beings.  After spending her life haunted by her father’s mysterious disappearance at the hands of the Stasi, Hannah finally has the opportunity to set the record the straight: she finds the man who spied on her father.  Demanding answers and getting far more than she bargained for, Hannah takes a trip into the past.


Originally from Okotoks, Alberta, Eva Barrie is a Toronto-based director, actor and creator and has created art in Germany, India, Italy, Poland, Canada and the United States.She is a graduate of Ryerson University’s Performance Acting Program and has trained with Anne Bogart’s SITI Company in Saratoga Springs, NY and New York City, NY. Last fall she was the Co-Program Director of Nightwood Theatre’s Young Innovators Lab, a lab celebrating alternative theatre-making. Her writing has been supported by the Ontario Arts Council and she was lucky to have her play Olga read at Tarragon Theatre’s “Rehearsal Hall” (director: Andrea Donaldson).  This one’s for mum and dad.  

Monday, October 19th, 7:30 pm ZUPPA THEATRE reads

The Library of Missing People by Kate Cayley (in collaboration with Zuppa Theatre Co.)

A mix of ghost story, fictional “history,” fantasy, and meditation on how we remember, and invent, absent loved ones. What happens to your life if you suddenly leave it? How do the people left behind create stories that explain a disappearance? What if there was a library that archived the vanished—all of them? Zuppa will enter a second phase of work on The Library of Missing People in November 2015 and the play is scheduled to premiere in the fall of 2016 in Halifax. 

Zuppa Theatre Co. is an ensemble theatre company based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The company is driven by a core group of artists developing original performances in collaboration with like-minded individuals from related disciplines. Every Zuppa Theatre Co. show is a ride through wild visions, genres, familiar stories and the unknown; the experiences, thoughts and inclinations of the lead artists determine the landscape. The company has developed a unique collaborative process that favours the intuitive over the formulaic and thrives on the play between the imagined and the real. At the heart of each show is the restless spirit of the actor. Zuppa Theatre Co. is Ben Stone, Susan Leblanc, Alex McLean (Artistic Directors), and Stewart Legere (Artistic Associate). www.zuppatheatre.com

Tuesday, October 20th, 7:30 pm 

Untitled  by Vijay Padaki
co-presented with Halifax Theatre for Young People

An original play from Bangalore Little Theatre that recognizes the triumph of a transgender person against heavy odds. It is a common phenomenon in many cultures to prefer a boy child. The girl child is not only unwanted, but often killed either as a fetus or as a newborn. In the play the protagonist has the dual disadvantage of being born as a girl child and later being discovered to be transgender. The play moves between two time frames, twenty years apart, between the family that has the unwanted child and the present circumstances of the grown and transformed transgender. 

www.halifaxtheatreforyoungpeople.com

The play has been acclaimed widely as not only a compelling story in itself, but a powerful statement advocating  human rights and inclusiveness in society. The play is derived from the field work experiences of the author, who is also a management professional devoting his time to the needs of large social-development programs in India and several developing countries.

Vijay Padaki is a theatre educator based in Bangalore, but has worn two caps all his life. One of them is in management, with a special interest in organization and institutional development. The other cap is in the theatre, especially in writing and training. Vijay joined Bangalore Little Theatre in 1960, the year of its inception. He has written over 40 original plays in English. In addition, he has adapted or translated several other play scripts.

Vijay Padaki comes to Nova Scotia via a collaboration between Tessa Mendel, Debbie Castle (People Development Ltd.), and DaPoPo and will be sharing his wisdom in a number of NS venues during October.


Thursday, October 22nd, 7:30 pm VOCALYPSE reads  

Escape to Freedom by Sandy Moore
Sandy Moore's Escape to Freedom is a new opera based on the true story of Wolfville, Nova Scotia native, Mona Parsons, the only woman to have been incarcerated in a nazi concentration camp.   The opera is infused with fictionalized scenes (based  on   fact) covering Mona  Parson’s  arrest  in  December  of   1941, the interrogation,  the resulting  trial,  and  her sentence to life imprisonment at hard labour.  Other scenes include 3 1/2 years of  deprivation  in  various prisons  in Germany,  her escape from the POW camp in Vechta, an encounter with a dying German Soldier discovered in a foxhole, and her rescue by a Canadian soldier.

Vocalypse creates, commissions, and presents unique and exciting musical events which expand the boundaries of contemporary classical and improvisational vocal music. All musical genres are fair game for the Vocalypse imagination, but the emphasis is on contemporary classical and experimental forms, including opera, new art songs, notated music, graphic scores, spoken word, and free jazz. www.vocalypse.ca


Sunday, October 25th, 4:00 pm  

Insomniac Society by Stacey Lane
LOCATION: TNS Living Room, 2353 Agricola St
Reading facilitated by Dave Steele, read by students from the Halifax Grammar School

Nightmare-prone Margaret has a solution to the soul-crushing loneliness that teenage insomniacs face when they are confined to their bedrooms for nights that seem like they will never end. She has created the Insomniac Society, an internet chat room where the sleepless can share their frustrations until their alarms go off.  Members-to-be must pass Margaret’s test to prove that they are who they claim and must adhere to her tyrannically strict rules. When Margaret finds herself completely alone one bleak restless night, the solitude is too much for her. She lets a suspicious character join.

Stacey Lane’s plays have been performed at over five-hundred-fifty theatres on six continents. Her scripts are published with Dramatic Publishing, Playscripts Inc., Pioneer, Smith and Kraus, Heuer, Brooklyn, Eldridge, Next Stage Press, Manhattan Theatre Source, JAC Publishing, Seraphemera Books, San Luis Obispo Little Theatre, Sterling, Freshwater, Poydras Review, The Quotable, Euphony, Germ Magazine, Mock Turtle Zine, Indian Ink, The Other Otter, Furious Gazelle, Monologue Database, Actor Point, Canyon Voices, Whoopee Magazine, Steel Bananas and Scene4.  She is the recipient of the Wurlitzer Foundation Grant and the Montgomery County Arts & Cultural District’s Literary Fellowship. www.StaceyLaneInk.com

Monday, October 26th, 7:30 pm Guillermo Verdecchia reads


The Art of Building a Bunker  co-created by Guillermo Verdecchia & Adam Lazarus 
The funny, awful story of Elvis,  an overly senstive misanthrope made to undergo sensitivity training. A tour de force performance featuring: Portuguese chicken, ethnic and racial masquerade, classic Canadian rock inspired by Ayn Rand, and learning to paddle the Canoe of Oneself Down the River of Inclusivity. A controversial hit at Summerworks, Factory Theatre and Vancouver's Revolver Fest.

Guillermo Verdecchia is a multiple award-winning theatre artist. He is Head of New Play Development at Toronto's Soulpepper Theatre, co-creator with Adam Lazarus of The Art of Building a Bunker, and a cyrpto-geographer. He teaches at the University of Toronto, at the Soulpepper Academy, and has been Artist-in-Residence at the Universitiy of Guelph, Memorial University, Ca' Foscari in Venice, and Picador Professor at the University of Leipzig. He loves prosecco, the work of Caryl Churchill, and that one album by Radio Tarifa. He sleeps much of the night and dreams of going south in the winter. 

 

Late Night Reading Series

Finally, something for the night owls! For the first time ever, we're doing late night readings. In a licensed establishment. You see where we're going with this?

Every Thursday at 10 pm, we'll be in the Rainbow Room at Menz & Mollyz Bar, reading some hot-off-the-presses (and some decidedly just hot) playscripts. Sex, love, betrayal, illusion and disillusion, with an occasional raunch-factor thrown in... grab a friend and cozy in.

LOCATION for LATE NIGHT: MENZ & MOLLYZ BAR, 2182 Gottingen Street

Thursday, October 8th, 10 pm   
DOUBLE BILL of SHORTER PLAYS

The Line of the Heart by Trevor Poole

A waitress serves a mysterious woman in a cafe. Magic happens when the waitress tries her best to serve this woman.  A surreal relationship develops between them that challenges their notions of love and illusion.

Trevor Poole is a Halifax native who enjoys creating magic and performance art for the theatre; he has performed multiple runs of a extended sold out show and received reviews in The Chronicle Herald, and The Coast, and he is working on fresh material for a near-future release (stay tuned); he comes from a background in graphic design and art, and has found another kind of creative family having been invited to design posters and programs for a theatre festival audience for the DaPoPo Theatre. He is actively writing and creating performance art with his friend Zach Faye, and they will be artists in residence for the 2015 DaPoPo Live-In.

Existential Magic Eight Ball by Jeremy Kehoe

A frosty hit-man shoved off the straight-and-narrow path struggles to withstand the heat of coming face-to-face with an innocent man convicted of one of his crimes. Will he do the right thing and confess? The right thing to do: that’s one of those long, tall, bony questions with lots of thick branches and deep-ass roots.

Jeremy Kehoe hears voices. These voices call him to create characters and place them on a quest. These characters heckle and haunt him – bantering and bickering and thrusting and parrying – until their voices muffle from roars to murmurs at the words “End Play”. Audiences have listened to Jeremy’s voices in theaters across the United States – from Los Angeles to New York. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild and Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights and a former newspaper editor and reporter, where he earned awards from the NAACP and the New England Press Association. As a freelance writer he has published articles in newspapers including the Houston Chronicle, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Philadelphia Inquirer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Sacramento News & Review. Jeremy also strangled himself with a necktie as a PR executive for 10 years until the oxygen drained from his brain.

Thursday, October 15th, 10 pm

Family Play by Matt Fox

What is family? Is there such a thing as a 'normal' family? Family Play takes the idea of how a family should be structured and turns it on its head. Told through the eyes of a worldly-wise 8 year old, Family Play reveals the comedy and tragedy associated with all human relationships. Never shy to deconstruct a dramatic world, Matt Fox deals with the real and surreal in equal measure to reveal the subjectivity of truth behind all family units.

Matt Fox is a UK playwright, librettist & producer whose work has been performed throughout the UK, US and Australia. His best known piece of work is Swindon: the Opera, which was written with internationally acclaimed composer Betty Roe MBE, and performed in July 2012. His play 'To Sleep'was staged in the West End in September 2013 and toured the UK & Australia in 2014/15. Matt’s work is published by Roister Doister Publishing and Off The Wall Plays in the UK, and JD Drama Publishing in the USA.

Thursday, October 22nd, 10 pm

Ingrown (working title) by Ira Henderson
A domestic drama about the lies we tell ourselves about the secrets we keep from others, and the ways in which past traumas can leave us at once callous and tender.  A husband, wife, and foster son circle, shun, and seek each other out, in order to obscure and reveal different aspects of themselves from and to each other.  The play explores the emotional and social contortions resulting from repressed sexuality, addiction, depression, dysfunction, and hidden histories.  Oh, and it’s a birthday party.

Ira is a local artist who studied at King’s, Dal, and Capilano Universities. He has been acting in Halifax for over a decade, and has also written and directed theatre and film.  He is grateful to DaPoPo for giving him an opportunity to share this new work by including it in the awesomeness that is the Live In!

Thursday, October 29th, 10 pm 

Tunnel of Love by Kevin Hartford

An atypical boy-meets-girl story, Tunnel of Love is a dark comedy about Claire and Frank, two strangers who meet under unusual circumstances - a car accident that kills them both. Claire refuses to believe her life is over, while Frank is all too eager to leave his behind. We join the two reluctant travel companions as they make their way toward the light, a journey that will force them to deal with each other as they try to sort out their own complicated feelings. Are they headed toward heaven? Or are they trapped in hell?

Kevin Hartford has been a contributor to the Halifax alt-weekly The Coast for three years. His short fiction has appeared in the Feathertale Review and the Dalhousie Review.   



 

Performances

We're all about the work, but there comes a time when it needs an audience. And we do love a good show, no matter what stage it is in.

The Live-In performance series offers artists a chance to show their work in the form of workshop productions, works-in-progress showings, musical extravaganzas and more...

THE FINE PRINT:
Seating for performances at the Living Room is limited. 
Reservations highly recommended unless otherwise noted. Email dapopolivein@gmail.com and specify the show in the subject line. Include performance date, number of seats, your name and phone number in the body of the reservation email. 

Admission for most performances, unless otherwise specified, is $10 suggested donation. Cash only please.

October 2 & 3, 9:00 pm  + October 4, 2:00 pm

I’m Doing This for You a solo by Haley McGee
LOCATION: The Waiting Room, 6040 Almon Street

Haley McGee, writer, performer; Mitchell Cushman, director; Deborah Pearson, dramaturge; Derrick Chua/Never Mind the Noise, producer

A solo by internationally-acclaimed "fearless, raw young talent" Haley McGee blending storytelling, live art, clown and improvisation. I'm Doing This for You is the story of a woman making a big romantic gesture for a man. He's an aspiring stand-up comedian. Today is his 30th birthday. The audience is her gift to him. It's a surprise. The performance explores the extremes a person will go to in the name of eradicating her loneliness and the ways in which we write and re-write our own romantic narratives. It will be daring and uncomfortable and funny and a little bit sad. 

We will sing. And eat cake. And go home.

Haley McGee is a Toronto based actor and writer. She has toured her award-winning solo show Oh My Irma to Edinburgh, London, Berlin, Amsterdam, NYC, Finland, Mongolia and Kosovo. OH MY IRMA debuted in Toronto at Passe Muraille. Recent acting credits include Infinity (Volcano/Tarragon), The Other Place (Canadian Stage), Helen Lawrence (Canadian Stage/Arts Club/International Tour), Dead Metaphor (Off-Mirvish/Cnd Rep), Moss Park (Passe Muraille/Green Thumb), Having Hope at Home and Early August (Blyth), The Story (Theatre Columbus). As a writer most recently she wrote and performed The Public Servant with Jennifer Brewin, Sarah McVie and Amy Rutherford, commission by Theatre Columbus (GCTC/MagNorth/Common Boots).  Her new solo, I’m Doing This for You will premiere in Berlin this November; she developed this piece at the Battersea Arts Centre in London UK, the National Theatre School of Canada and through Theatre Passe Muraille’s Buzz Festival. Haley has been selected to develop projects at the Banff Playwrights Colony, The Stratford Festival’s Writers Retreat and the Tarragon Theatre Playwrights Unit. Haley was a member of The Second City Conservatory and she holds a BFA in Acting from Ryerson University. 

Mitchell Cushman is a director, playwright, producer and founding Artistic Director of Outside the March. He is also the Co-Creator of BRANTWOOD, Canada’s largest immersive musical theatre experience. As a director, Mitchell’s work has been seen on stages as large as the Royal Alexander Theatre, in spaces as intimate as a kindergarten classroom, and in locales as remote as Whitehorse and Munich. Favourite directing credits include: Mr. Burns, Vitals, Passion Play, Terminus, Mr. Marmalade (Outside the March); Possible Worlds (Stratford); New Jerusalem (Harold Green); I, Claudia, The Last of Romeo and Juliet, Possible Worlds (Talk is Free); Oh My Irma (Edmonton Fringe). He has received numerous distinctions for his theatre work, including two Dora Awards for Outstanding Independent Production, the Siminovitch protégé award, the Ken McDougal Award, and the Toronto Theatre Critics’ awards for Best Production and Best Director (Terminus). Mitchell is a graduate of the University of Alberta’s MFA Directing program.

Friday, October 9, 8 pm
HITS (Halifax Independent Theatre Sings)

LOCATION: 1313 Hollis St, Halifax

Thanks to popular demand, HITS is back for a second year of vocal delight. Join some of Halifax’s most exciting theatre companies as they embrace their inner musical selves in a very outward manner, including: Vocalypse, TheatreSpeak, Taboo, DaPoPo... more to be announced!

Friday, October 16th, 8:00 pm - Concert Version
KAMP: The Musical by Garry Williams & Jamie Bradley
LOCATION: TNS Living Room, 2353 Agricola St
Imprisoned in the isolation block of a Nazi death camp, the homosexuals in Block 14 transcend the horrors of forced labour by staging a musical cabaret night. Based on historical events, KAMP explores a few weeks in the lives of a handful of extraordinary men whose wit, humour, and passion allowed them to find humanity in the grim reality of prosecution, torture, and utter desolation. 

Be the first to hear the songs from this new full-length musical based on real events in Sachsenhausen during the holocaust. This tuneful homage to 1940s popular song, "degenerate" music is a must for queer history buffs, musical theatre lovers, and anyone who wants to enjoy a soulful, entertaining musical night out.

October 28, 8 pm: Final Presentation

DOCTOR POTATO CHIPS: 

a 4-session participatory writing project 

Audiences Welcome

with Writer : STEPH BERNTSON Music Director: DEVIN SHAEL 
Actor 1: GARRY WILLIAMS Actor 2: ANDREW CHANDLER Actor 3: GABRIELLE SHAW

When he was six, Karl Marx got his beard caught in a sewer grate. He had been pressing his ears to the ground, listening for dinosaur stampedes.

“KARL MARX!” His mother shouted. “Get your head off the pavement!”

But the beard was strong and willful. It looped around the grate edges and locked.”

In four kinetic workshops, the audience reacts to and helps a collection of stories -- DOCTOR POTATO CHIPS: Disquiets about Capital -- turn into live folk show.

Live music jams! Participatory Drafting! Secret Ballots! Mad Libs! Folking Democracy! Come to any or all four. PWYC admission.

Oct 9 - Empathizing with Absurdity (Drafting character)

Oct 11 - Popular Poetics: Lyric as Link – (Drafting lyric w/ melody snippets including “The Giant: A Protest Song for Children”)

Oct 18- Surprise Folk (Drafting music/score inc. “The Giant: A Protest Song for Children”)

Oct 28 -  Compiling workshop (words + music highlights!) 

Steph Berntson (Stephbot Bebop) makes live art. Most recently: original texts DOCTOR POTATO CHIPS (Lab Cab Festival) w/ collaborator Devin Shael Fox and addicts|prophets|titans|spooks (DANGERLOVE reading series); conceptual artmaking for the public space project #MARACLE (Ontario Arts Council/Mammalian); and performing/noisemaking in "kväll" (Anders Hillborg – Walter Hall Electroacoustic Festival). Steph was a co-creator of the inaugural DaPoPo project in 2004 and returned in 2006. She is currently writing about cultural cyborgs. Find her at: stephbot.com and outmannedoutgunned.ca.

October 30 & 31, 8 pm

THE FEAR PROJECT or So… What About Fear? by Kristi Anderson and Garry Williams

A workshop production of a new music theatre creation by DaPoPo Theatre. Kristi Anderson and Garry Williams explore personal and cultural fears from June bugs, clowns, and terrorism to gentrification, anal sex, and the utter meaninglessness of existence. FEAR features original songs by Anderson and Williams, workshop directed by Guillermo Verdecchia. The creation of this piece has been supported by Arts Nova Scotia.

Kristi Anderson has been a core member of DaPoPo Theatre since 2009.  She is a professional theatre artist based in Halifax, Nova Scotia where she works as an actor, singer, coordinator and private voice teacher. Selected theatre credits include The Roaring Girl (Vile Passeist Theatre); Café DaPoPo, The Drinking Game, A Very Cratchit Christmas, The Halifax Hearings, Julius Caesar, RUR (DaPoPo Theatre); Out of Lunenburg (Glen Haven Productions); Munscha Meeyah (Festival Antigonish); ; Into The Woods (Saints Alive! Theatre); The Devil’s Disciple (Neptune); The Greeks, The Boyfriend, Victoria Symphony: The Music of Broadway (CCPA); The Tempest (PITP); The Mikado (G & S Society of Nova Scotia), Fiddler on the Roof, Annie Get Your Gun (Garnet and Gold). Kristi is a graduate of The Canadian College of Performing Arts and has a Bachelor of Music in Voice from Mount Allison University. She is a co-creator and performer of A Little Cabaret, with Garry Williams and Zach Faye.

Garry Williams has been DaPoPo's Artistic Director since its inception in 2004. A Merritt nominated actor and composer, he has collaborated with a multitude of artists & companies in Europe, the USA and across Canada. Recent theatrical forays have included Two Planks' production of Miracle Man/Dustbowl Joan, Kim Parkhill's A Good Death, LunaSea's Ibsen's Bites, Opening Night at Festival Antigonish, and One Light's Chess With the Doomesday Machine. Last year his play Jesus Is A Faggot played at the Dublin International Gay Theatre Festival. He plays the piano with some skill, believes in the value of artistic creation in the community, and knows far too many show tunes.