Infinithéâtre Kafka Ape August 7-17 Gladstone Hotel

Infinithéâtre Kafka Ape August 7-17 Gladstone Hotel

 

Infinithéâtre’s Kafka’s Ape
runs August 7-17 at the Gladstone Hotel

Montreal’s Infinithéâtre presents
Kafka’s Ape
as part of SummerWorks

Based on Franz Kafka’s A Report to an Academy
Adapted and Directed by Guy Sprung

Starring Howard Rosenstein

TICKETS ON SALE NOW!

Toronto, August 1, 2014 – Montreal’s Infinithéâtre proudly presents the Toronto premiere of its critically acclaimed Kafka’s Ape as part of the Mainstage Series at the SummerWorks Performance Festival and runs August 7-17 at the Gladstone Hotel, a site-specific venue of SummerWorks.

“Howard Rosenstein knocks it out of the park in the title role. Bravo!” – Pat Donnelly of Montreal Gazette

Based on Franz Kafka’s short story A Report to an Academy (1917), and adapted by director Guy Sprung from the original German, Kafka’s Ape upends the notion of civilization and what it means to be human in a world of routinized inhumanity. An unnerving satire on “otherness” and the compounding growth of private military companies, Kafka’s Ape stars Howard Rosenstein as keynote speaker – and primate – Mr. Redpeter in a theatrical tour-de-force performance. Alexandra Montagnese enthrallingly plays the silent role of Mrs. Redpeter.

Franz Kafka (1883-1924) is widely celebrated as one of the most important writers of the 20th century. Written during the darkest hours of the Great War (whose centenary is being marked across the globe this summer), Kafka’s A Report to an Academy (Ein Bericht für eine Academie) is a tale of a captured simian turned into a celebrated variety show act. In Sprung’s scathing adaptation, Redpeter ends up as a distinguished member of the “private security industry,” one of the biggest growth industries of the 21st century. In place of the “report to an academy” of early 20th century scientists, Sprung presents “a keynote address” to the shareholders of a fictitious private military corporation, Graywater.

After his capture in the African jungle, the ape Redpeter realizes his only escape route is to become a walking, talking, spitting, hard-drinking member of the “Peace Industry,” the entrepreneurial world of mercenary soldiers. In his keynote address to Graywater’s annual general meeting detailing the journey of his enforced evolution from Apehood to Humanhood, Mr. Redpeter embodies the irony that he is perhaps now more animalistic and less human than he ever was as a “lower” primate.
“I deliberately don’t use the word ‘freedom’. ‘Freedom’ is a powerfully seductive word which your so-called civilized world uses very cleverly, very effectively, to entrap and occupy whole continents.” – Redpeter

Kafka’s central thesis in his satire on forced assimilation – that other animals have a dignity and a respect for Mother Nature and their own species that Homo sapiens have lost – has been nudged into the 21st century. “When Kafka first wrote this short story, millions of human beings were coerced into an orgy of killing each other, proving Homo sapiens to be vastly superior to gorillas and chimpanzees when it came to mass murder and genocide. Ironically, one of the largest of the private military corporations doing business with the American government today is called Academi, formerly known as Blackwater. In a sense, it still is a report to an Academy. Was Kafka able to see into the future?” queries Sprung.
Movement coaches Anana Rydvald and Zach Fraser (also Assistant Director) helped the actors find the “ape” in themselves. Sound Design and Video is by Nikita U, Creature Makeup Design by Vladamir Cara. An excerpt from the play can be found here: http://www.infinitheatre.com/kafkas-ape.html

Founded in 1988 as Theatre 1774, Infinithéâtre’s mission is to develop, produce and broker new Québec theatre that is as entertaining as it is relevant, beginning with the belief that live theatre is an essential part of society’s democratic discourse and that great theatre speaks to and about its own community. Artistic Director Guy Sprung is a Montreal director, writer and actor who has been practicing his craft for over 40 years. Mr. Sprung was the co-founder of Toronto’s Canadian Stage, a dream he and the late Bill Glassco, who was running CentreStage at the time, together made a reality. As Artistic Director of the other of Canadian Stage’s precursors, Toronto Free Theatre, one of Sprung’s legacies was the conception and founding of The Dream In High Park, Toronto’s annual pay-what-you-can outdoor Shakespearean festival. Rebranded for its 30th anniversary in 2012 as Shakespeare in High Park, this tremendously popular event continues to thrive.

About SummerWorks Performance Festival: As the largest juried performance festival in Canada featuring predominantly new Canadian work, SummerWorks programs a festival that uniquely reflects Toronto and Canada’s cultural zeitgeist. Since 1991, SummerWorks has continued to explore and respond to the needs and wants of audiences and the performance community. The festival has grown to become one of the country’s preeminent multidisciplinary hubs featuring a Music Series, Live art Series, SummerWorks Leadership Intensive Program (S.L.I.P.) and the National Series, showcasing works from across Canada. The festival adds new initiatives yearly, including performance based programs such as the Performance Bar. The 2014 SummerWorks Performance Festival runs August 7-17. Visit http://summerworks.ca/2014/ .

CaribbeanTales Film Festival

CaribbeanTales Film Festival

The 9th annual CaribbeanTales International Film Festival (CTFF), returns to Toronto beginningSeptember 3 – 13 with special community screenings on July 26 and August 30th. The festival showcases Caribbean films from 15 selected countries around the region with public, community and online screenings. This includes 10-feature length and 20 short films in competition for the CTFF Audience Prize, which will be announced on closing night – September 13. It will include an intensive four-day Market Incubator program as well as various networking sessions.

“As we continually grow in capacity and impact, the Canadian arm of CaribbeanTales is proud to present our flagship event for the ninth consecutive year” says founder and filmmaker Frances-Anne Solomon.  Presently, she is directing her attention working internationally with CTFF and its companies to educate, produce, distribute, markets and exhibits Caribbean-themed films and events for audiences everywhere.

This year’s event welcomes Malinda Francis as the new CTFF director. One of her main goals is to build community partnerships to bring access of Caribbean film throughout Toronto. The festival launches this summer with two special community screenings on July 26 and August 30. “This summer we have formed a new relationship with Scotiabank Toronto Kiddie Carnival with carnival-themed films and we continue to work with West Side Arts Hub in the North End of the city,” said Francis.

This year’s festival aims to embody Caribbean culture through the lens of filmmakers. CTFF Programming Committee member, filmmaker and Trinidad & Tobago native, Christopher Pinheiro, describes Caribbean film as “channeling our inner story-tellers into film, video and new media to re-vision old and new tales of the Caribbean for worldwide audiences.”

The fest kicks off with a delicious Caribbean reception on Tuesday September 3, in association with theConsulate General of the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago in Toronto at the Royal Cinema, 608 College Street. The evening will include the World Premiere of The Glamour Boyz Again! Sparrow (Geoffrey Dunn, Trinidad and Tobago, 2014, English, PG). The feature-length documentary reveals a remarkable acoustic performance by two of Calypso’s most venerated figures, the Mighty Sparrow and Lord Superior, which was filmed during the production of Calypso Dreams in 2002 on the rooftop of the Hilton Hotel overlooking Port of Spain. The film will include reminiscences by both Sparrow and Superior, whose friendship dates back more than 55 years, to the mid-1950s. Sparrow’s execution at the Hilton is arguably his best-rendered acoustic performance ever recorded. The session will be intercut with previously recorded interviews of Sparrow and Superior at separate venues.

From September 4 – 7, the festival hosts the Market Incubator, which gives selected filmmakers an opportunity to hone their creative and business skills, through workshops and one‐on‐one mentoring by world-class specialists. It will culminate in a pitching session in front of international funders and buyers at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. The fest also organizes a number of intimate events at the University of Toronto with many opportunities to network informally with international industry players.

Festival screenings run from September 8, 10, 12 & 13 at The Royal Cinema, 608 College Street. The films will screen Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m., and Saturday at 3:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m., and 9:30 p.m.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.caribbeantales-events.com.  Tickets also may be purchased one hour before each screening at The Royal Cinema, 608 College Street.  Please check with the schedule before purchasing.

  • Opening Night Reception and Film: $25 Early Bird till August 15th  $45 at the door while tickets are available
  • Regular Programs: $10
  • Festival Pass (10 Screenings): $80

COMMUNITY SCREENINGS:
The free screenings confirmed to date are:

SATURDAY JULY 26
Carnivalesque – CTFF Partnership with Scotiabank Toronto Kiddie Carnival – Family Afternoon Community Screening

1 p.m. – 4 p.m., Malvern Public Library – 30 Sewells Road
NOTE: Please check www.caribbeantales-events.com for any updated information.

 

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