Our good friends at the Toronto SummerWorks Festival are preparing for round 2 of their Performance Gallery (Inside the Box) initiative, opening August 6th at the Gladstone Hotel on Queen Street out in the Smoke. If you’re a theatre maker interested in brief, site-specific work, this is something to look at…
What would you do in a completely empty hotel room or the hallway in between? What is the importance of the audience to this piece? Does the risk and imagination stretch beyond the physical confinements?
Launched in 2008, The Performance Gallery (Inside the Box) was one of SummerWorks many new initiatives. In its inaugural year, the gallery, which took place on the 2nd floor of the Gladstone hotel, featured an eclectic group of artist offering everything from short plays to dance to performance art to improvised concerts. This year we return to the Gladstone (Aug 6-9 & Aug 13-16th) and are seeking site-specific but not necessarily site-themed pieces (7-10 minutes) in all performance mediums.
Please follow the guidelines below when putting together your proposal for the Performance Gallery. All applications should include:
1. Letter of Intent: Maximum 2 pages, giving an overview of your work, this project, where it is at in its development, what you plan to do, and how you plan to do it. What excites you about it? Please specify whether you are looking to perform for one night or the duration of the gallery.
2. Support Materials: (Optional) We will accept up to three pages of support material for you and your project. These can include resumes, short bios of key members in your team or letters of support from professional artists if the jury may be unfamiliar with your work. Please do not exceed the maximum of three pages.
RULES & REGULATIONS after the jump:
- Your piece MUST be between 7-10 minutes and be able to be performed several times a night in rotation with the other pieces.
- Occasionally the Gladstone hotel will require use of your room during the day, which will require you to completely strike your show for the duration of that time. Summerworks will not be responsible for the handling of your sets/props etc…should this be the case. We will however give you plenty of warning should this be required.
- Summerworks will provide each participating artist with an empty room on the second floor of the Gladstone hotel. Please keep in mind that these rooms are not sound proof and you may be affected by the various events occurring within the gallery or hotel itself.
- Summerworks will provide each participating artist with a small stipend for participating to be determined based on duration of participation.
- The Performance Gallery will have one stage manager to share amongst all artists so your piece must be mostly self-sufficient. However, there will be some volunteers on hand each evening to help out with the flow of the performance gallery as a whole.
- Each artist must comply with the rules set out by the Gladstone hotel in terms of room usage and damage (painting, hanging things on walls etc..)
- Participating companies are responsible for obtaining the relevant production rights for their shows and performers. If anyone in your company has a membership in a guild, union, or other professional association, you must acquire the necessary releases, or pay the required fees to the respective organization.
- Submissions will be assessed based on artistic merit, clarity of vision, and balance with the other pieces selected.
DEADLINE
The deadline for submissions is Friday April 3rd 2009 by 7:00 p.m. All submissions must be received or postmarked by this date.Applications can be mailed to:
SummerWorks Theatre Festival
P.O. Box 12, Station C
Toronto, ON
M6J 3M7If you have any further questions with regards to your submission or about the Festival in general, please visit our website or contact us by email at info@summerworks.ca.
Simon Ogden 