Progress, Toronto Black Film Festival, and light bondage… it’s going to be a fun week in Toronto!
Friday, Feb. 6
Watch a Marathon
Combining dance, text, theatre and grueling physicality, Progress’ Marathon follows three performers as they run in a circle, struggling to continue. Personal and political, this is a highly anticipated piece at Progress, the inaugural festival of international performance and ideas.
Where: The Theatre Centre Mainspace
When: 7:30 p.m.
Price: $20-$30
Saturday, Feb. 7
Attend a Silent Dinner party
Progress hosts a free, eight hour performance piece called Silent Dinner. Watch as the performers arrive to an empty space, collectively arrange a rudimentary working kitchen, prepare, cook and consume a shared meal, all in complete silence. The participants are a combination of Deaf, CODA (children of Deaf adults) and hearing artists, performers and non-performers. Audience members are allowed to come and go as they please.
Where: The Theatre Centre Mainspace
When: 1:00-9:00 p.m.
Price: FREE
Sunday, Feb. 8
Dance like everyone’s watching
After spending the day choreographing a dance through public input, Make. Make Public. performs the complete collaborative routine. Attend the workshop during the day to lend your moves to the creation.
Where: The Theatre Centre
When: 7 p.m.
Price: PWYC
Monday, Feb. 9
Get tied up and laugh out loud
Rope, bondage and stand up comedy. We can’t guarantee the quality of either the bondage or comedy, but an event combining both is worth checking out.
Where: Oasis Aqualounge
When: 10 p.m.
Price: $5-$20
Tuesday, Feb. 10
Check out the TBFF
The Toronto Black Film Festival (TBFF) begins tonight with the opening film Manos Sucias (Dirty Hands). Executive Produced by Spike Lee and Directed by Josef Wladyka, the feature film offers a rare glimpse into the Colombian/American drug trade.
Where: Isabel Bader Theatre
When: 7:30
Price: $25
Wednesday, Feb. 11
Attend a noisy dinner party
Soulpepper sets the stage and the dinner table for the The Dining Room, a comedic play that weaves together dozens of lives over multiple generations around an everyday dining table.
Where: Michael Young Theatre
When: 8:00
Price: $29.50-$89
Thursday, Feb. 12
Celebrate black film
TBFF continues tonight with six back-to-back screenings. The night kicks off with the Canadian short film Happy 1 Year, and includes feature length movies such as festival-favourite Sewing Hope: The Story of Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe. The Nigerian documentary tells the story of one woman’s fight to bring hope back to her nation that was terrorized for 25 years by Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army.
Where: Carleton Cinema
When: 5:00-9:00
Price: $10