Those who enjoyed the performative art at last week’s Nuit Blanche Calgary (or lost their way in the crowds or missed the event entirely) have another chance to explore the art form with the seventh edition of the Mountain Standard Time Performative Art Festival (M:ST) a biennial festival running from September 26 to October 11 at venues in Calgary and Lethbridge. More than 30 artists and performers are participating — read our story online.
Vertigo Theatre starts its season with Farewell My Lovely a Raymond Chandler play featuring famous hard-boiled detective Phillip Marlowe who finds himself in “the wrong place at the right time.” Presented in partnership with Vancouver’s Arts Club Theatre Company this production is the world première of Canadian playwright Aaron Bushkowsky’s adaptation and runs until October 19.
Alberta Ballet is also back onstage and so is artistic director Jean Grand-Maître — for the first time in 22 years — as the title character in the company première of Don Quixote based on an episode of Miguel Cervantes’ Spanish novel. The production features choreography by Ben Stevenson with company dancers joined by 18-year-old Cesar Corrales who has performed the role of Billy Elliot in Chicago and on Broadway and recently won the Grand Prix and Outstanding Artistry Award at the 2014 Youth America Grand Prix in New York.
Calgary poet David Martin a literacy instructor at The Reading Foundation and a Single Onion board member is the grand prize winner of the 2014 CBC Poetry Prize. His poem “Tar Swan” about the consequences of coal and oil extraction was selected from more than 2500 submitted works — read his poem online.
Another local award-winning writer taking a close look at the oil industry is Fred Stenson who launches his new novel Who By Fire on Thursday September 25 at Shelf Life Books — read more about that in our cover story.
And yet another local writer (and occasional Fast Forward Weekly contributor) is launching a new work. Jun K. Lee debuts his comic book Many-Coloured Serpents (pictured) on Monday September 29 at 8 p.m. at Local 510 with the help of local bands Brushsigns and Kris Ellestad. The book follows a young boy who falls in love with an amputee harpist and discovers a cabal of mysterious instrumentalists bent in shape and sound (leafshaped.com).
This is the time of year to explore various buildings free of charge. Provincial historic sites and museums will be offering free admission and special programming September 26 to 28 as part of Alberta Culture Days. In Calgary festivities begin Friday with a block party on Stephen Avenue and Olympic Plaza from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m . At the same time Doors Open YYC will well open doors to culturally and historically significant buildings on September 27 and 28.
