the birds and stone series - Call for Artists!

Only two days left to submit your proposals! Please share this notice with anyone who may be interested.

The Downstage Performance Society presents

the birds and stone series

Call for Creators/Artists

Since 2004, the Downstage Performance Society has brought high-quality, socially-charged Canadian theatre and performance to Calgary audiences. Now entering its fourth season, Downstage is extending its focus on community and collaboration to a new level.

the birds and stone series invites Calgary artists to experiment, innovate and push the boundaries of performance in a safe environment. Between September 2007 and August 2008, the series will present six curated productions, one every two months at the birds and stone venue. The series is open to all forms of performative expression including:

Performance Creation – Theatre – Spoken Word – Dance – Music – Movement Installation – Clown – Film – Comedy – Activism – Literature

...or whatever else you can come up with!

Downstage will provide support to each production in the form of one week of free rehearsal & performance space (Sunday–Wednesday rehearsals, Thursday–Saturday performances), publicity support, front-of-house staff, and whatever production/technical support is possible. Artists will receive a split of the box office and an opportunity to present and try out new work. This series gives artists the chance to focus their energy on creation and performance without having to worry about costly performance space or advertising!

Anyone is welcome to submit. Priority will be given to work that is socially-engaged, experimental, collaborative and unique. Shorter works are also encouraged to submit and may be considered as part of a larger evening of work.

SUBMISSION PROCESS: Please submit a 1-page project proposal to birds and stone series Curator Mark Hopkins by e-mail at mark@downstage.ca.

Your proposal should include:
- a concise and specific description of the project
- contact information (phone, e-mail)
- preferred month / time of year

Please feel free to also include supplementary materials (script, photos, video, CV, etc).

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: June 30, 2007

All submissions will be considered by a jury. The full 2007/08 line-up will be announced in mid-July 2007. For more information on Downstage, please visit www.downstage.ca.

birds and stone is an intimate performance venue in the basement of the Unitarian Church of Calgary on 16^th Avenue NW ( 204 16^th Avenue NW).

CONTACT: Mark Hopkins – 403.710.0093 – mark@downstage.ca

FINAL Martian Press Chapbook!!!

Yes, it's worth all three exclamation marks. I'm closing the book on The Martian Press, as I simply don't have the proper amount of time to devote to making chapbooks anymore. Mark the date July 19 on your calender: there will be a going-out-gala at McNally Robinson in Calgary on that date. More info closer to the date.

The final MP book is Ken Kowal's Ripley Retreats. The book is a odd collection of poems --- imagine Tom Ripley (from Patricia Highsmith's Ripley books) visiting a writer's colony and leaving a manuscript behind. It's presented very simply, as if I had found Ripley's manuscript cleanly laid out on a bare desk. A clever little set of poems.

Like all MP books, Ripley Retreats is a mere $5 + $2 shipping = $7. E-mail jonathan[at]jonathanball[dot]com to order your copy.

Or, you can get the 5 books for $20 deal I always offer (shipping waived in this case). The following books are still available (the rest are out of print):

* Call & Response by derek beaulieu & Jonathan Ball
Generations by rob mclennan
Aberrant Lounges by Kimmy Beach
On Stealing Lips by Lars Palm
Full On Jabber by Chris Rizzo & Jess Mynes
Of Quixote's Lap by ryan fitzpatrick

* indicates almost-out-of-print titles you should order immediately

Submit to Holy Beep!

Submit to Holy Beep!

On Friday July 20 at Broken City, Holy Beep!, we're having a big beeping benefit for jwcurry's bp Nichol Beepliography. Starring poets Christian Bok, Sheri-D Wilson, Derek Beaulieu, and last-not-leastly Natalie Zina Walschots along with filling Station readers TBA; PLUS music by Chris Ewart & Travis Murphy, Jagatha Christies, Lonely Hunters, Axis of Conversation and Lotus Child.

The filling Station's Poetry Collective is also putting together a limited edition mini issue for Holy Beep! If you have work that is about, after, toward, around or through bpoNichol's work, please send your material to nzwalschots@gmail.com. Comtributors to the event are guaranteed a copy, and all other proceeds will go directly to the Beepliography. Leave your message after the beep; deadline is July 15.

June 14 -- dANDelion launches 33.1

The dANDelion launch is coming right up! Don't miss it!!! FREE admission and FREE food and FOUR great performers!!! Here's the info:

Thursday, June 14
33.1 Launch with Patrick Friesen, Marilyn Lerner, Andrew Wedderburn, and Jay Coda Walker

When: June 14th, 2007

Where: Cantos Music Foundation, 134 – 11th Avenue S.E.

Who: All those interested in supporting and participating in the literary community

Why: Raise awareness, support dANDelion and expose Canadian talent

Time: Doors open at 5:30 p.m. to the public.


Calgary’s oldest literary journal, dANDelion, is celebrating the release of their latest issue (33.1) with poet Patrick Friesen accompanied by pianist Marilyn Lerner, author Andrew Wedderburn, and musical guest Jay Coda Walker.

Patrick Friesen’s latest work, Earth's Crude Gravities, is both a meditation and an argument, a compelling series of poems on the world of matter and the world of spirit. Acclaimed poet Patrick Friesen muses on the religion that has been such a key part of his own background—but he also raises uncertainties. Whether he is discussing his love of the material world or the fictional creation of a narrative in religion, Friesen’s poetry is elegant, eloquent and imagistic. Patrick Friesen, a resident of Winnipeg for thirty years, now lives in Vancouver, teaching at Kwantlen University College. He has written numerous books of poetry and has also worked on translations of Danish poets, including A Sudden Sky (2001), a collaborative translation with Per Brask of selected poems by Ulrikka S. Gernes. Friesen has also written several stage and radio plays, and has collaborated with choreographers, dancers, musicians and composers. His books have been shortlisted for the BC Book Prize and the Governor General's Award.

Exhilarating jazz pianist/improviser Marilyn Lerner performs to acclaim internationally, from her native Montreal to Havana, from Jerusalem to Amsterdam and the Ukraine. Her groundbreaking recordings have garnered recognition, including “Best Western Jazz Recording 2004” for her “Special Angel” duo with legendary guitarist Sonny Greenwich. Lerner conducts workshops on improvisation and on Jewish music throughout North America, Europe and the former Soviet Union. Current projects include both a recording and performances of "Shake My Heart Like a Copper Bell, Lerner's contemporary Yiddish song cycle on the poetry of Anna Margolin, scored for piano, cello, clarinet and singer Adrienne Cooper, for which she received a Hadassah-Brandeis research award, ongoing collaborations with poet Patrick Friesen, a new trio project with cellist Matt Brubeck and drummer Nick Fraser and numerous solo concerts.

Andrew Wedderburn has worked in community radio and co-operative bookstores, slung martinis and was briefly a moderately successful Name That Tune host. Now he explains stock photography for a living. His rock’n’roll outfit, Hot Little Rocket, has played across Canada more times than he can keep track of and performed for two weeks in Beijing in 2005. The Milk Chicken Bomb is his first novel. He lives in Calgary.

Jay Coda Walker has been performing for audiences for over 15 years. He is the National Project Discovery Winner of 2001, Budweiser Talent Contest Winner of 1999 and the Shaw Television Video/Showcase Recipient of 1998.

Eleventh Transmission June/July issue online now!

Check out issue 12 of Eleventh Transmission, Calgary's arts, culture, media, and activism magazine. www.eleventhtransmission.org.

Enjoy!

-Kirk