Wellington Oracle

- by Heather Marie Scheerschmidt (Cross-posted from Culturemagazine.ca)

This November, the Ottawa School of Speech and Drama (OSSD) in partnership with the Great Canadian Theatre Company (GCTC) presents a new play about children struggling to make sense of a world descending into chaos, and the man who teaches them to believe in themselves. Children’s Republic, by Hannah Moscovitch, explores the life and work of Dr. Janusz Korczak, a Polish-Jewish physician, author, educator and dedicated advocate of children’s rights.

The inspiration for this new work is another man known for his generousity towards children, Ottawa businessman Leon Gluzman. Now in his nineties, Gluzman lived in Dr. Korczak’s orphanage in the 1920s, before immigrating to Canada in 1929. His childhood connection to Dr. Korczak had a huge impact on his life and the contributions he has made to his community. One of those contributions was to help the Ottawa School of Speech and Drama construct a new arts facility in his Westboro building. As they got to know one another, Mr. Gluzman shared with OSSD Artistic Director Amanda Lewis the story of his childhood and his experiences with Dr. Korczak. Together they realized the story would make for an interesting play. (more…)

The Ottawa Theatre Network, a newly formed organization that assists in the growth of professional theatre, has come up with an innovative way for theatre lovers in the west end –  and across the city – to support independent theatre in Ottawa.

It’s an online voting exercise sponsored by the insurance firm Aviva, and according to OTN’s Sterling Lynch, if enough Ottawan’s vote for the proposal, the Ottawa Theatre Network and the GCTC could see up to $50,000 in development funding put into the community.

“Most people know that there is no better multiplier of community development investment than arts funding” Lynch says, “and in theatre, whether it is ticket revenue, cultural funding, or private grants, the dollars stay in the community and get spent on producing even more creative work. So whatever we might qualify for, the theatre-going public will definitely see the benefit.”

Oracle readers interested in supporting the campaign can register their vote here.  To read more about why the vote is important to theatre professionals, you see their own personal appeals, which are linked to from the Ottawa Theatre Network blogroll in our right-hand margin.

One further appeal from Sterling:

“People can vote daily and keep an eye on our vote tally for the next few weeks. If we don’t get through to the semi-finals on the first round of voting, there are two more chances coming up.”

Parkdale Market reconstruction: a lost opportunity?

Architect and local resident Ralph Wiesbrock has penned the following open letter to Councilor Christine Leadman about what he saw and heard at a public meeting yesterday over the future look of Parkdale Park.

Dear Councilor Leadman,

I just came back from a brief visit to the public consultation session for the Parkdale Market ‘renewal’ project.

I am shocked and appalled by the failure of vision at the heart of our community.

After months of community engagement to establish a community design plan and visions of a vibrant, diverse, culturally and socially engaged, arts oriented neighbourhood focused around a park and farmer’s market at its core, we are now reduced to setting some of the best design talent in the city loose to manage door knobs and paint colours. (more…)

The construction crews given the task of the long-awaited revamp of the Parkdale Market broke ground this week, and with their reconstruction under way, and a new emphasis on local growers and more space for vendors, the 2010 season is already shaping to be the most anticipated the venerable open-air market has seen in decades.

Paolo Copelli is the new market manager for the city, and in the audio link below he takes us through the time line for the physical changes we can expect to see over the next few months, culminating in a much larger L-shaped market area, with more room for shoppers better facilities for vendors. (more…)

 

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Following on a walking tour held earlier in the the month, a community workshop was held this past week at the Urban Element on Parkdale Avenue that brought together local residents and planners from McGill University to come up with ideas to make Parkdale a more pedestrian-friendly and livable street.

In the 1980s Parkdale was treated by regional road planners as little more than an off ramp for the Queensway, and the legacy of that mindset is a two-lane neighbourhood street choked with heavy traffic especially in the area between Scott and the Queensway.

Longtime residents of the street were in attendance at the workshop, and told of their frustrations in trying to get the city to implement traffic diversion schemes  that would ease  pressure on the notorious bottleneck. (more…)

 

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Stewart Matthews (front) and Richard Gélinas in Arabian Night - photo by Tim Ginley

-Theatre review by Lesley Buxton

Roland Shimmelpfennig ‘s Arabian Night is a dreamscape, a symphony of movement and sound. In her director’s notes Natalie Joy Quesnel says that she was drawn to this work because it offers “a glimpse into the sub-conscious and unconscious mind where we can all be the author of our own fairytale.”

Set in a high rise apartment block on the hottest night of the year, this whimsical piece examines the inner lives of five characters all linked through proximity and their imaginings: the apartment’s superintendent, two female roommates, a boyfriend and a voyeuristic neighbor. Unlike conventional plays however, the setting of this piece is almost inconsequential. For as the play progresses and the line between reality and fantasy becomes indistinct we grow more involved in their fantastical surroundings. This is a play in which we are never quite sure where the truth lies. (more…)

About a year ago, author and podcaster Charles Hodgson, was inspired to think about how Gatineau Park is represented on the Internet. The avid cyclist and x-country skier had heard that by 2050, due to climate change, x-country skiing in the park might be no more. The Daniel Street resident decided to take action.

“The National Capital Commission (manager of Gatineau Park) operates a corporate website that’s not very interactive. The focus of XC Ottawa is high performance x-country skiing,” the Champlain Park resident says.

“It seemed to me what was lacking was a focus on the whole other universe of people and activities going on in the Park.”

So, he created Guide Gatineau, a social networking site that he populates with videos about the history of the park, cycling routes, and an open invitation to others to make the site their own.

“I’m really hoping that people will leave their footprints on the site.” The site allows users to set up groups that might meet for walks, for cycling, for bird-watching. Hodgson believes it’s Ottawa and Gatineau people, the “local crowd,” that uses and feels true affection for the Park.

Click on the video to find out what Charles thinks about the future of the Park. He also describes his best day ever in Gatineau Park.