NOW Toronto's Shantal Otchere reports on how the Shaw Festival is overseeing a $25 bus shuttle connecting downtown Toronto to Niagara-on-the-Lake, for festival attendees.

If you bring them they will come ( Read more... )

NOW Toronto's Steve Fisher reports on the closure, at the end of this month, of Toronto's Storefront Theatre, located on Bloor just west of Ossington. A nice venue that hosted shows I enjoyed, apparently the theatre's hold on its property was too tenuous to justify staying there. I hope they can find a place in this neighbourhood to stay.

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The Globe and Mail carries Martin Knelman's report observing the major issues facing Toronto's city-owned theatres. These problems sound dishearteningly structural, not just contingent on bad luck.

Clyde Wagner, Luminato’s executive producer, is leaving the arts festival to take charge of the three theatres owned by the City of Toronto - the Sony ( Read more... )

There is humour to Tricia Wood's Torontoist article on the absurdity of Toronto transit politics, but I wonder. Theatre reviewers who see this, how would you rate this ongoing drama?

I’m starting to think the Scarborough transit extension plan has the City stuck inside an absurdist play. Every time we’ve convinced ourselves we know what we are ( Read more... )

• blogTO notes Mississauga's new waterfront park.
• Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly talks about the glamour and otherwise of the writer's life.
• The Dragon's Gaze reports on a study of Epsilon Eridani.
• Language Hat describes a fascinating-sounding book untranslated into English, "Oğuz Atay’s experimental, linguistically complex novel of ideas Tutunamayanlar ( Read more... )

Every summer for at least the past two decades, the Confederation Centre of the Arts has hosted a noontime musical show in its outdoor amphitheatre presented by its Young Company. This year it was The Voices of Canada.


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The Long River Presbyterian Church, built in 1874 on the western end of the Island's North Shore for a Scottish Presbyterian community, would have decayed into ruin if not for the chance of L.M. Montgomery having attended service there on numerous occasions, when she was with her family in the area. The church was moved to Avonlea Village, where it ( Read more... )

I learned of the existence of Les Mouches Fantastiques, a zine published in Montréal between 1918 and 1920 that was about as out and proud as a zine could be at that time, via a column last year by Daily Xtra's historian Michael Lyons.

In the autumn of 1917, a young woman named Elsie Alice Gidlow (later known as Elsa) was living with her large ( Read more... )

Torontoist's Erin Sylvester reports on a person who was a major player in mid-20th century Toronto theatre.

Summer is a great season for theatre in the city. There are outdoor arts festivals and shows inside, if you prefer to escape the heat and bugs. While Toronto has a vibrant theatre scene today, its history is impressive as well ( Read more... )