CanStage_BMO

The BMO Lab in Creative Research in the Arts, Performance, Emerging Technologies and AI in partnership with Canadian Stage is excited to announce that they have selected director Bronwen Sharp for their 2021-22 artist in residence program. Sharp will collaborate with Lab instructors and learn about the technologies and approaches being used in the Lab and explore their application for theatre and performance.

In the winter and spring, Sharp will attend and participate in the CDTPS’s Theatre and Emerging Technologies course and will also participate in a workshop production applying the technologies and performance modalities explored during her residency. The workshop production will be an adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, directed by German director and actor Johanna Schall, which will have two showings at Canadian Stage’s Berkeley Street Theatre — dates to be announced. 

 The deadline to apply is July 9, 2021. Full details at the Canadian Stage website. 

For the second year in a row, Canadian Stage and the BMO Lab in Creative Research in the Arts, Performance, Emerging Technologies and Artificial Intelligence at the Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, University of Toronto are partnering to host two paid professional artist residencies for the 21.22 Season. 

Salary will be jointly paid by Canadian Stage and the BMO Lab, with each recipient receiving a total of $10,000 (CAD). 

About the BMO Lab Residency 

The BMO Lab residency is a unique paid opportunity for one professional actor and one professional director who will immerse themselves with the Lab’s technologies and research possibilities for application to live theatre performance.?The aim of this residency is to provide the resident artists with access to an educational space experimenting in the application of technology to live performance, and to work deeply with students and educators on the practical creation of new experiments in performance. Through this residency, artists will gain valuable skills and knowledge to inform and support their existing artistic practice, while providing valuable insight for the students and course facilitators to the application of new technologies from their own experiences in the professional industry. 

Expectations of Residency (September 2021-April 2022) 

For this year’s BMO Lab Residency Program, we will be selecting one Resident with a focus on Directing, and one resident with a focus on Acting and Performance. 

In the fall, Residents will collaborate with Lab instructors. Residents will be introduced to technologies and approaches that we are using in the Lab, and will participate in collaborative experimental exploration of the possibilities that these provide for theatre and performance. 

In the winter / spring, applicants will attend and participate in the DRA 3907H Course “Theatre and Emerging Technologies” (January 10th/April 8th 2022, Tuesday 3 to 6 pm). See link here for course description. 

In addition, resident artists will participate in the BMO Lab’s workshop production of an adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, directed by celebrated German director and actor Johanna Schall. This experimental version of Brecht’s satire will put into application many of the technologies and performance modalities explored as part of the residency. This workshop production will have two public showings at Canadian Stage’s Berkeley Street Theatre.

Resident artists will be expected to: 

• Participate and support course activities (including serving as performance for student projects as needed)
• Read the assigned texts and participate in discussions 
• Attend rehearsals outside of classes times as needed
• Participate in class projects as performers
• Participate as either a performer or as an assistant director in the BMO Lab’s adaptation of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui

 The deadline to apply is July 9, 2021. Learn more on the Canadian Stage website. 

WOULD YOU WEAR THESE?

Hi! My name is Sébastien Heins, and I’m one of your BMO Lab Residents! After several incredible months with David, Pia, Rick, Maev, and Ryan in the lab, I wanted to share some new tools I think could be useful to artists — and hopefully have a bit of fun.

One of my favourite videogames growing up was Ratchet & Clank on Playstation 2. In it, an over-confident green man named Captain Qwark did commercials for ridiculous gadgets ranging from the dangerous Crotchitizer to the Personal Hygenator.
In the spirit of fun, I thought I’d share some “products” based on the explorations and new tech we’ve been experimenting with in the BMO Lab.

If you actually see some use in these weird wares, let us know with a comment or an email saying, “I’d buy that for a dollar!” The goal is to get your feedback on these early-stage tools, and determine whether these are things that you’d want to make your artistic process more magical, less expensive, less stressful, and dare I say…more fun?

Here we go…

BRANDOOS™The ScriptAssist Smartglasses

You’re an actor in the early days of rehearsal, and you want to get on your feet and start really exploring the script with your scene partners. Problem is, you’re insecure about your lines, your script is still in your hands, you can’t play with props, nor really get your eyes off the page without stopping the flow of a scene. Yeah yeah, you’ll memorize your script in time, but right now, how can you make the most of your 3 weeks of rehearsals?

Enter BRANDOOS

Named after the legendary actor who wrote his lines on his props, sets, and even fellow actors, BRANDOO smartglasses feed you all your lines like they’d appear in your head: as thoughts. Keep your head off the page and on your scene partner, as you pull lines out of thin air. Your lines come naturally to you, and instead of being rehearsed, you come across as instinctual, surprising, and off the cuff. 

• Upload the script to’em
• Put’em on
• Read’em in rehearsal

Artists gain:

• Better rehearsals: Run scenes hands-free from Day 1.
• Focus your attention on your scene partner.
• Learn your lines in your body in rehearsal.
• Give performances that are more instinctual, not pre-meditated.
• Have more fun.

Artists avoid:

• Paper-bound rehearsals
• looking up and down
• memory-activity rehearsals
• over-thinking lines
• playing the end of the scene
• pre-planning monologues and thoughts.

BRANDOOS: Brilliant from the Beginning.

Would you buy those for a dollar? Comment or email us at david.rokeby@utoronto.ca or sebastienheins@gmail.com . We’ll respond with thanks!