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Artword out
Looks like a case of business winning out over the arts. Artword Theatre , which has produced some enterprising work of its own and also nurtured lots of indie companies since it set up shop at 75 Portland , is losing the space to a development corporation that has been building condos in the area. But founders Ron Weihs and Judith Sandiford aren’t closing down the company. Enterprising artists, they’ll find a way to pursue their vision of how to run an arts organization. After all, Artword’s survived this long as a private company without any arts funding.
There are four more shows in the space before it closes in March: the current run of Theatre Gargantua ‘s e-Dentity , AfriCan Theatre Ensemble ‘s Market Of Tales , Pleiades Theatre ‘s The Amorous Servant and Weihs’s adaptation of Dostoevsky ‘s The Gambler , a co-pro involving Beggarly Productions , Alianak Productions and Artword.
Directors call
New Ideas , the Alumnae Theatre ‘s annual festival of new works and experimental theatre, has issued a call for directors for this season’s fest, March 8-25. Applicants should not be members of Canadian Actors Equity or ACTRA, since the company is non-professional. If you’re interested, you must attend a playwrights’ meet-and-greet November 16, 7 pm, at the theatre.
Directors must send a letter of intent by November 15 to New Ideas Festival, Call For Directors, Alumnae Theatre, 70 Berkeley, Toronto M5A 2W6, or to new.ideas. festival@gmail. com.
For more information about the function of the director in the festival, check out www.alumnaetheatre.com.
Stori time
Want to follow the development of a theatre piece? Joan M. Kivanda ‘s Stori Ya was workshopped in b current ‘s rock.paper.sistahz festival and then premiered as part of last August’s SummerWorks . Now it opens this year’s Hatch series of works in progress at Harbourfront , in a presentation by the Stori Ya Collective in association with Upstage Productions . Featuring the always watchable Rhoma Spencer , the solo piece deals with a woman determined to hold onto her house as she sorts out her disturbing history. See Openings for details.