We’re all in the same boat, and as Leonard Cohen says, “everybody knows”.
If you’ve tuned into the news about cyberspace over the last couple of years, you realize we’re all being tracked, tagged, and titillated/distracted just enough to maintain the status quo. You’re still free to dismiss this as conspiracy but everyone knows that under the scrutiny of the puppeteers gerrymandering the Harpers, Obamas, Camerons and Merkels of the world, people displaying political agency outside the true party line are summarily placed in the ‘radical’ category and subjected to extraordinary surveillance and harassment.
Imagine all the news or scholarship, cartoons or rants about cyber surveillance, censorship and the military industrial complex/security apparatus, hacking, wikileaks, and paranoia — I’m dedicated to absorbing every crumb.
As dramaturg for Foreign Radical I have licence to listen to Glenn Greenwaldtalk about Edward Snowdon (“research”), try to wrap my head around how one enters a trap door in a computer program and snatches material (“working!”), read Jason Ng’s book “Blocked on Weibo” and watch videos on Egyptian graffiti (“really, working”). The trick is to avoid following only the conversations or intellectual paths I agree with.
How soon until we think of privacy as just a product, rather than a right?
I’ve been thinking a lot about this idea since starting research on Foreign Radical. And I’ve been thinking more about it since seeing a photo of Obama in his privacy tent recently. When he’s on the road, the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility is set up in his hotel room, a special shield against the prying eyes and ears of oppressive regimes, allies, media and, probably, staff — all of whom have books to write upon leaving the White House.
I just got back from New York after two great weeks working on the creation Duets for Onewith writer / performer Tanya Marquardt and director Mallory Catlett.
Tanya sent me an email in late 2011 asking if I’d like to collaborate on writing a 10-minute libretto for an opera. At the time, she was doing her MFA in memoir writing at Hunter College in New York. The college’s opera program had sent out a call for writers to serve something up for student composers.
Theatre Conspiracy is thrilled to launch an Indiegogo campaign for Extraction.
Extraction is Conspiracy’s most ambitious production to date.
An exciting and challenging project, Extraction has thus far involved research in Beijing and Fort McMurray, and working with an international cast and talented local theatre makers. We mounted a work-in-progress presentation in July at Your Kontinent: Richmond International Film & New Media Festival, and now we're working towards the premiere at The Cultch in March 2013.
If you have been following Progress Lab's Obstructions series, you've had a taste of the companies in Progress Lab at their craftiest. Over a one-year period, a group of Vancouver theatre companies challenge each other to create work built around custom-designed limitations. The result is unlike anything you’ve seen from that company before.
On July 28, following a performance of Radix's farcical feast in carrot kingdom at PL1422, Tim Carlson took the hotseat and received Theatre Conspiracy’s obstructions with measured calm.
Conspiracy must now devise a theatre piece that meets the following criteria:
After three weeks of creative jamming, the Extraction company is on the boards with a first-draft documentary show about traffic nightmares, diplomatic intrigue, oil politics and translation problems.
How much tar sand does it take to make contemporary theatre? If we don’t use too much tar sand can we call it ethical theatre? Or is it just dirty theatre no matter how you slice it?
These are a few questions being considered as Theatre Conspiracy begins creative sessions for Extraction after two years of research and planning. Our cast and team of theatre artists are in residence at The Cultch in Vancouver for the next few weeks to experiment before a work-in-progress presentation at Your Kontinent: Richmond International Film & Media Arts Festival on July 21.
Commissioned by Theatre Conspiracy and a sold-out success at Club PuSh 2011, The Meal returns for a four-day run at Pacific Theatre, April 11-14. 2012. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST CONCERTS OF 2011!
Four singers swig wine and break bread while anxiously awaiting a late guest of honour. It’s the Last Supper – in a funky, theatrical new song cycle inspired by the Gospels of John, Thomas, Judas and Mary Magdalene, and Luis Bunuel’s provocative film The Exterminating Angel. Fresh from its debut at the PuSh Festival, this encore performance features musicians from a host of Vancouver’s top indie bands.
Job Description Provide practical and organizational support to the director, actors, designers, stage crew and technicians throughout the workshop and performances of Extraction (July 2 to 22, 2012).
May lead to work in the production of Extraction (Feb.11 to March 10, 2013), and touring opportunities.
Theatre Conspiracy was presented with the annual Rio Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award on March 13 at The Cultch in Vancouver. The $60,000 prize will support Theatre Conspiracy’s production of Extraction, which will be presented March 5-9, 2013 as part of The Cultch’s 2012/2013 season.
Through the biographies of four performers, the bilingual, documentary-style play looks at lives transformed by the rapid growth of Beijing and Ft. McMurray, Chinese investment in Alberta’s tar sands and the evolution of Canada/China relations.
Theatre Conspiracy is looking for an assistant stage manager to work with the company on Extraction. The successful candidate will have an interest in documentary theatre, experience or training in stage management or theatre tech, be fluent in Mandarin, have a good knowledge of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland, have a drivers’ license and access to a vehicle, and be available for flexible hours during the Extraction workshop period, July 2-22, 2012.
Club PuSh 2012 was a fantastic presentation of contemporary performance. Thanks to everyone who came out and kudos to all of the acts who made it such a fabulous couple of weeks!
The Secret Spaces fundraising dinner at Scott Hawthorn's loft in Gastown on December 1, 2011 was a fabulous night for all. Great food, drink and company, not to mention the digs. Worth seeing for the bathroom door alone. Thanks to Scott for being a wonderful host and sharing his space with Conspiracy.
