On Friday July 15^th, Ottawa will join in solidarity with theatre companies across the country in the simultaneous presentation of a staged reading of Catherine Frid’s Homegrown. With the support of the Great Canadian Theatre Company, this local presentation will take place at the Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre, with all proceeds being donated to Summerworks.

Originally produced by Toronto’s Aluna Theatre at the 2010 Summerworks Festival, Homegrown became one of the most talked about productions at the festival and of the Canadian Theatre season before it had even opened.

An exploration of Canadian justice system issues around the Toronto 18 terrorism case – Homegrown was criticized by the Prime Minister’s Office for purportedly showing terrorists in a positive light. Before having seen the script or the production, the Prime Minister’s Office said, “We are extremely disappointed that public money is being used to fund plays that glorify terrorism.” Weeks before the opening of SummerWorks 2011, Canadian Heritage pulled their annual funding from the festival. The reason being put forward by the Federal Government: it’s a simple example of the arts community feeling entitled to funding. The actual sequence of events, however, points clearly in the direction of punitive action, attempting to stifle conversation about essential Canadian issues.

“It’s important for the Ottawa community to take part in this national event,” says Gruppo Rubato Artistic Director Patrick Gauthier.  “Summerworks is an extremely important festival, allowing artists a venue to take artistic risks and develop new work before it gets picked up by presenters and agents across the country”

The reading, directed by Mi Casa Theatre co-Artistic Director Emily Pearlman, will also feature Ottawa artists Nick Di Gaetano, Todd Duckworth, Mary Ellis, Kris Joseph, and Greg Kramer.

“I think it’s fantastic that the theatre community is showing this support for the Festival,” said Michael Rubenfeld, Artistic Director of SummerWorks. “It shows what a valuable place it holds in both the Toronto and national arts scene. We’re very grateful.”

To donate to SummerWorks, please visit www.canadahelps.org. Proceeds from the Ottawa event will go the festival.

Please visit www.thewreckingball.ca for a complete list of companies involved across Canada.

SUMMERWORKS FESTIVAL FUNDRAISER
Homegrown
Written by Catherine Frid
Directed by Emily Pearlman
Featuring Nick Di Gaetano, Todd Duckworth, Mary Ellis, Kris Joseph, and Greg Kramer

Friday, July 15^th, 2011; 8:00 pm (doors at 7:30 pm)
Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre
Admission is by donation ($10 suggested)

Want more info?
COMPANIES INVOLVED: www.thewreckingball.ca
DONATE TO SUMMERWORKS:www.summerworks.ca/2011/do​nate.php
OPEN LETTER FROM MICHAEL HEALEY: www.thewreckingball.ca/blo​g/375/a-message-to-artisti​c-directors-of-canadian-th​eatres

PRESS: www.arts.nationalpost.com/​2011/07/07/homegrown-to-ha​ve-staged-readings-across-​the-country-in-support-of-​summerworks/
MEDIA CONTACT:
Patrick Gauthier
gauthier@rubato.ca

SUPPORTING LOCAL COMPANIES
A Company of Fools www.fools.ca
Evolution Theatre www.evolutiontheatre.ca
Great Canadian Theatre Company www.gctc.ca
Gruppo Rubato www.rubato.ca
Mi Casa Theatre www.micasatheatre.com
New Theatre of Ottawa www.newtheatreottawa.com

See you at the theatre!

Airport Security, the newest play by award-winning artist Patrick Gauthier, marks Gruppo Rubato’s return to the Ottawa stage. Presented at the Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre-Studio Theatre, 1233 Wellington St. West (at Holland Ave), the performance runs June 4-12, 2010, with a special preview performance on June 3rd. Can’t wait that long? Visit our website, www.rubato.ca, to catch the latest installment of our 4-part short film, Airport Security, before we open!

Airport Security exposes our fears and foibles of airport protocol in Rubato’s characteristic witty and political style.  Playing on our insecurities and overconfidence in a system destined to both convolute and demystify air travel, from shuttles to baggage carousels, departures to arrivals, Airport Security scans Canada’s growing obsession with “security.”

Written and directed by Patrick Gauthier (2010 winner of the Council for the Arts in Ottawa’s RBC Emerging Artist Award, Rideau Award-Emerging Artist nominee and director of the multiple award-winning production Countries Shaped Like Stars), the production features talented local actors Simon Bradshaw, Kris Joseph, Catriona Leger, Tania Levy and Kate Smith. Sarah Waghorn designs Costume and Props (having previously designed for Rubato’s productions of Listening and The Churchill Protocol). First time design collaborators are: John Doucet (Set), Pierre Ducharme (Lighting) and Original music by Ottawa newcomer, Ann Walton. Emily Pearlman (co-creator of Countries Shaped Like Stars by ¡Mi Casa! Theatre) is production Dramaturg.

Tickets are on sale now through the Great Canadian Theatre Company Box Office, in person or by phone (613-236-5196). Show times are 7:30 p.m. with a Pay-What-You-Can Matinee on June 6 at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 ($20 for students). For more information, visit our website at www.rubato.ca.

Gruppo Rubato was founded in 2002 by Patrick Gauthier and Tania Levy, and includes core members Kris Joseph and Gavriella Silverstone. Rubato presents challenging, contemporary, politically-charged Canadian theatre for a young, educated, urban audience. We are exclusively dedicated to the creation and presentation of new work, specializing in works by Ottawa artists.

Tickets are $25 (or $20 students), with a pay-what-you-can matinee on Sunday, June 6 at 2:30 pm.

AIRPORT SECURITY
at the Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre Studio Theatre
(1233 Wellington Street West)
June 3-12, 2010, 7:30 pm (pay-what-you-can matinee Sunday June 6 at 2:30 pm,  no show Monday)
$25/20 students
Call the GCTC Box Office: 613.236.5196

Click here to view the embedded video.

We’re starting off right with a staged reading our smash hit comedy The Man Who Went to Work One Day and Got Eaten by a Bear.  A sell-out at the 2006 Ottawa Fringe Festival, playwright Patrick Gauthier has updated the script (now with 50% more bear puns!) and reunited the original cast of Simon Bradshaw, Jordan Hancey, Kris Joseph, Tania Levy and Natalie Joy Quesnel for this special one night only event.

If that weren’t enough, A Grand Evening also marks the WORLD PREMEIRE of our short film Airport Security.  A major component of the Airport Security Project, this 20 minute film brings you deeper into the world of air travel – and of the play.  Why wait when you can attend our exclusive advance screening?

And A Grand Evening will wind up with a dance party hosted by DJ AL Connors, CHEAP drinks, and maybe a surprise or two.  Tickets are $15 (available at the door or in advance); the doors open at 7:00 pm and the art begins at 7:30!

Gruppo Rubato presents:
A GRAND EVENING (a fundraiser is support of Airport Security)
- A staged reading of The Man Who Went to Work One Day and Got Eaten by a Bear
- The WORLD PREMIERE screening of the Airport Security short film
- DJ AL Connors
- CHEAP drinks, prizes, and sur-prises!

Wednesday, March 31; 7:00 – 11:00 pm
Club SAW (67 Nicolas Street; corner of Daly/Nicolas)
Tickets are $15, and are available at the door or in advance.

For more information or to reserve tickets please email info@rubato.ca

Creation-company Gruppo Rubato was founded in 2002 by Patrick Gauthier and Tania Levy, and includes core members Kris Joseph and Gavriella Silverstone. We produce exclusively new works with an emphasis on Ottawa artists.  For more information visit our website at rubato.ca.

Admission to the reading (which includes “Airport Security” as well as excerpts from two other new works by Ottawa playwrights) is free, and it all takes place at the Great Canadian Theatre Company, 1233 Wellington Street, in Ottawa.

More on Airport Security:

As travelers, are we as safe as we are led to believe? Are we in as much danger as we are led to believe? While Orange Alerts, shoe bombs, and overzealous Homeland Security officers may allow Canadians to look down smugly on our neighbours to the south, we should neither forget, nor be blind to, our own growing obsession with “security.”

Airport Security is based conceptually around the idea of being lost: airports are remarkably similar, utilitarian places; in-between points on a longer journey, where the pageantry of security is on full display. Airports are places where we see how hard the government works to confirm that We Are Safe, and for the most part, succeeds. Yet airports are also places of mistrust. Proof of identity always at the ready, passengers must do all they can to blend in. Standing out at an airport – behaviourally, socially, or racially – is dangerous.  In Airport Security, you will experience the bleariness of excess travel – the out-of-place feeling brought about by hopping through time zones, and the excessive waiting under fluorescent lights and re-circulated air…

The festival bar is held at SAW Gallery, 67 Nicholas Street, in Ottawa.  The drinks start being poured at 9PM!