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High Performance Rodeo lineup announced

One Yellow Rabbit has revealed the lineup for its 28th annual High Performance Rodeo Calgary’s International Festival of the Arts which includes theatre dance burlesque comedy and multimedia performance taking place at 16 venues from January 9 to February 1 2014.

The performance theatre company also gave a sneak peek of the new work it will première at the festival Munich Now which examines "media absurdity." The play is set in the television studio of a German talk show where a hard-hitting journalist knocks heads with a testy celebrity chef while interviewing their special guest — a lapsed pop star on a book tour. Written and directed by Blake Brooker it stars Denise Clarke Andy Curtis Devon Dubnyk and Christopher Hunt.

Some of the other highlights from the festival lineup include:

– Two works by U.K. and German artist collective Gob Squad — the theatre-film Super Night Shot starts when the artists head out into the night separately with cameras rolling then reunite an hour later to present their video creation; and Gob Squad’s Kitchen (You’ve Never Had It So Good) uses the Andy Warhol film Kitchen as the starting point of its search for authenticity.

– Kdoons and Wyrd Production’s BOOM presented with Theatre Calgary — a one-man show created and performed by Rick Miller that chronicles 25 turbulent years of history portraying politicians activists and musicians of the baby-boom generation.

Antoine Feval by comedian Chris Gibbs presented with Vertigo Theatre — eternal optimist and Sherlock Holmes enthusiast Barnaby Gibbs thinks he has stumbled on a burglar but discovers it’s the famous detective Antoine Feval and a crime-fighting duo is born.

– W&M Physical Theatre’s Triangular Theories of Love — Monteros and Wojciech Mochniej collaborate with Calgary Poet Laureate Kris Demeanor to create a multi-dimensional world where four couples navigate their way through relationships.

– Bruce McCulloch’s Young Drunk Punk — Kid in the Hall’s solo show about his journey from a "young punk" in Alberta in the 1980s to a "pajama-clad dad" in Hollywood.

– Verb Theatre’s Of Fighting Age — part theatre part gallery piece performance at the Glenbow Museum explores how family war stories shaped the understanding of Canada’s pursuit of modern warfare.

Do You Want What I Have Got? A Craigslit Cantata presented with Alberta Theatre Projects — CBC’s Bill Richardson and award-winning singer-songwriter Veda Hille bring to life the stories behind the ads on Craigslist.

– Ojibwa playwright and performer Waawaate Fobister’s Agokwe — award-winning performance explores unrequited love between teenaged boys from neighbouring reserves.

– Edmontonís Northern Light Theatre’s 6.0: How Heap and Pebble Took on the World and Won — in a post-apocalyptic world without ice former Slovakian world ice dancing champions Heap Cruziack and Pebble Adverati game everything in an astonishing show of courage and optimism.

– Why Not Theatre’s A Brimful of Asha — real-life mother and son Asha and Ravi Jain (an award winning actor director producer and educator) tell a true Canadian story of intergenerational culture clash.

The festival also includes three cabarets music by Tona Ohama Downstage’s 10-Minute Play Festival shenanigans in the Plus-15 walkways noon-hour performances from ProArts and Wine Stage.

The largest festival of its kind in Western Canada the High Performance Rodeo is curated by artistic director Michael Green and produced by Ann Connors and the One Yellow Rabbit team. For more details about the lineup and tickets go to hprodeo.ca .

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