"I was talking to someone about a white elephant table at a flea market or something," says local author Ryan Turner, "and what a white elephant table is, is a place where people go to find a mixture of different treasures. And The White Elephant Cabaret, the name had a mystique that I like."
He's speaking of his August 17 show at the North Street Church, which combines a number of local talents in different disciplines. It was sparked by a similar event held by Metamorphic Theatre in 2005 at the Khyber Club, where Turner read one of his short stories. He liked the way it brought the various arts audiences together, and saw potential in the idea.
"I'm sure it's done somewhere but it's just nothing I see very often," he says. "It seems like the arts are more divided now. I think the artists around here inspire one another and there's some crossover there, but in terms of performance I haven't had a lot of experience with crossing over."
Along with Heather Gibson of In the Dead of Winter and Metamorphic's Sam Madore, Turner started organizing his event in July. He's pulled together a terrific line-up, featuring singer-songwriters Catherine MacLellan, Don Brownrigg and Daniel Ledwell (usually of In-Flight Safety); spoken word from Tanya Davis, a short story from Turner and poetry from Sarah Mian, stand-up from Mark Little of Picnicface and Ledwell's brother Patrick (you might recognize him from CBC's Madly Off in All Directions) and a scene from Metamorphic.
"I thought it would be interesting to bring a different audience together," says Turner, who will put together another night in the future if this one goes well. "Maybe an audience that would be interested in theatre would get to check out music or stand-up comedy or whatever."
The night, which has a variety show format, will be hosted by Mainstreet's Stephanie Domet and costs $10 at the door, which opens at 7:30pm for an 8pm start.
Don't make me tap the sign
One of our favourite Simpsons episodes ever is "Lost Our Lisa," from 1998, when Lisa wants to see the Orb of Isis exhibit at the Springsonian museum, and it's the last day, and then Bart Krazy Glues some comedy props to his face so Marge has to take him to the doctor, leading Lisa to trick Homer into letting her take the bus. But she reads the schedule wrong and, with no help from her silent bus driver Larry, gets lost, resulting in the immortal line "I should've got off in Crackton."
Anyway the point of this is read your bus schedule right and get yourself down to the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia to see the Treasures of Ancient Egypt, which has been extended until September 9. Stay behind the velvet rope!
Poor's DGC riches
The Directors Guild of Canada has announced its annual awards for achievement in Canadian film and television and a few local connections reveal themselves on the list. Poor Boy's Game, the locally shot and set boxing drama, has nabbed a handful of noms, including Feature Film, Direction (for Clement Virgo), Production Design (Bill Fleming) and Sound Editing (Jane Tattersall, David Rose, Kathy Choi and Jean Bot). The Halifax-set CBC soap North/South picked up a Television Series—Drama nod for its fourth episode.
The DGC Awards will be handed out September 29 in Toronto. Watch this space for local winners.
Overbearing stage parents, here's one for you
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? is coming to Canada. Lucky us. And they're holding auditions in Halifax on August 20. For kids. Not to compete against the kids (although you can do that, smarty-pants, at canada.com/globaltv/globalshows/canadian5thgrader/
application.html). So if you'd like your child to go all Brain Age on some TV people, bring their fourth-grade 2007 report card in as proof to the Delta Halifax (1990 Barrington, 8th Floor, Baronet Room) starting at 8am. The first 300 kids are guaranteed an audition as long as their guardian fills out the form properly. Jeff Foxworthy will not be there. We're totally thinking of a redneck joke, but will refrain from making it in order to respect the integrity of this production.
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