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Culture Stage

Palace celebration

Small Wooden Shoe, whose productions are never predictable black-box shows, opens a season that includes vaudeville and music hall revues as well as podcasts.

It begins with The Fun Palace Radio Variety Show, the first of a series of three monthly events both at the Junction City Music Hall (2907 Dundas West) and the Monarch Tavern (12 Clinton), the former on Thursday night (October 2) and the latter Friday night and Saturday matinee (October 3 and 4).

The core group of performers includes company head and host Jacob Zimmer, along with Becky Johnson, Chris Stanton, Susanna Fournier, Richard Feren, Chris Earle and Amy Lam.

The October presentations draw on theatre, comedy, civic politics, science, literature and indie music. You can catch the cast of Concord Floral as well as Jessica Moss, Lucy Hill, David Hulchanski, Dr. Tanya Suvendrini Lena, Emily M. Keeler, Isla Craig, Thom Gill and others.

The Fun Palace Players offer a dramatic reading of the internet (!) and the first three chapters of Zimmer’s The Mysterious Death Of W.B., a detective story about a missing philosopher set during the Second World War.

Oh, and some speeches that people wish Olivia Chow would give.

See listing.

Fringe calls

Though summer’s just over, it’s not too early to think about next year’s Fringe Festival (July 1-12).

Applications are now open for the Fringe lottery. Companies chosen in the non-juried selection process get 100 per cent of the box office revenue at the festival, and being part of the Fringe allows you to present an indie show for far less than if you were self-producing.

The close-off date is November 3. A lottery party will be held November 21 at the Tranzac Club.

The one exception to the non-juried show selection among the general Fringe productions is the winner of the new play contest, sponsored by Exclamation Foundation.

The chosen script receives a free slot in the festival, a cash prize, consultation with producer Marcello Cabezas of macIDeas and a free ad in the Fringe program. Playwrights who place second and third are awarded cash prizes.

Among past winners are Ins Choi (Kim’s Convenience), Kat Sandler (Help Yourself) and Alexander Offord (Potosi).

Deadline for applications is October 24.

For more information on the lottery, see fringetoronto.com. If you have questions about the new play contest, contact creation@fringetoronto.com.

Boat rows to Mumbai

Speaking of the Fringe, did you catch one of the hits of last year’s fest, Three Men In A Boat?

Cheered by audiences and reviewers, it was one of our favourite productions at the festival.

The show, adapted from Jerome K. Jerome’s travelogue by Mark Brownell, directed by Sue Miner and presented by Pea Green Theatre Group, has been invited to the Literature Live Festival in Mumbai. The annual fest, celebrating international writers, books and performances, is hosted by the TATA National Centre of Performing Arts, the equivalent of Canada’s National Arts Centre.

Building a Piece

The annual Piece Of Mine Festival, which highlights works in development by emerging and established black playwrights, returns October 7 to 12 with traditional text-based shows as well as works that draw on hip-hop, spoken word, dance and live music.

Among those participating this year are d’by.young anitafrika, Dian Marie Bridge, Najla Edwards, Abreheit Gebretsadik, Amanda Nicholls and Chevy X.

Each evening concludes with an audience discussion intended to give feedback to the artists.

A percentage of the fest’s tickets are given to youth groups and other organizations.

See listing and pieceofminefest.com.

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