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Skit Skit III (if you will) at Persephone Theatre's Backstage Stage December 2 - 5 created intense excitement for their March shows (for me at least) ... " Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own"--Jonathan Swift ... not this company their cup runneth over as they ridicule their own foolishness with a disarming blend of humour, wit, nonsense, criticism, as well as some didactic intentions ... visit Facebook page to view some of the video clips: Mr. Groove, Tanorexia, School of Acting & more ... ... sketch comedy may sometimes be uneven ... not Skit Skit III ... the troupe (Ashton Francis, Tara Schoonbaert, Kristen Holfeuer, Ed Machete Mendez, Ashley Turner, Brent Mhic Pharthalain) tackles material with authority and a confidence that comes from experience and fearlessness ... to take time, endless time crossing the full length of the stage with gums flapping and crutch twitching or the sudden appearanc...

… a summer bracketed by Shakespeare … in early July attended Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan The Merchant of Venice performed by a seasoned cast of professionals in their large billowing white mainstage tent on the riverbank site … late August, the youthful Abridged City Players presented Romeo and Juliet on the small proscenium stage in the Father O'Donnell Auditorium of St. Thomas More College on the University of Saskatchewan Campus ... … both companies, Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan celebrating their 26th season and Abridged City Players with their 3rd annual Shakespeare summer production, first and foremost embrace clear, crisp language to create the scenography sharing these epic tales of the excessive character of love and revenge where interaction is driven by desires that overshadow all logic … both productions had hunger, urgency & were energy based … … the evening in the tent packed with a sold out audience of 282 was occasionally overwhelmed by electrical st...

The Urban Dictionary defines skit skit: "to cum or to want to be cummed on by either sex" and yet SKIT SKIT is a Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based sketch comedy troupe composed (this time round) of Ashton Francis, Kristen Holfeuer, Matthew Keyes, Ed Mendez and Tara Schoonbaert. This wonderfully skilled group last performed @ The Refinery December 17, 18 & 19th. Cam Fuller of The StarPhoenix wrote they are "a big hit with the audience" & their Facebook page affirms this. No small feat in a genre that puts a high premium on novelty. A mix of video clips around Heritage Minutes & Sexy Singles flows seamlessly into live SNL type sketches boldly & exuberantly performed at a carefully crafted pace. The writing is paradoxically broad & concise at its best when they follow the comedy edge of making serious stuff humorous. Where the troupe shines most are their provocations at the arts. Matthew Keyes does a priceless Nichelback parody, Tara Schoonbaert...

These past weekends Saskatoon theatre witnessed a historic moment. Henry Woolf strode across the stage surrounded by a formidable cast of actors who all began their acting studies in Saskatoon under his guidance, including director Del Surjik , and launched a new era for Persephone Theatre. "I agonized over it, I did, but it's a play I always wanted to do. It affected me deeply as a new, young theatre practitioner," Surjik said of Waiting for Godot. "I thought it would deliver an introduction of me to the audience and start our conversation together." ( Star Phoenix ) Staging a twentieth century masterpiece honours the past and challenges the future. More importantly utilizing the gifts of splendid theatre artists within the community and inviting back to their roots those who sought development elsewhere, Persephone recognized and strengthened the deep human connections that sustain and nurture the immediate place of theatre. This particular Waiting for Godot...

Storytellers Unite Traditional meets unconventional at eVOCative festival Ashleigh Mattern The StarPhoenix Monday, June 16, 2008 Saskatoon is storyteller central this summer as the city plays host to two of the industry's conferences and a festival of oral performance. Storytellers from across Canada and around the world will be coming to Saskatoon to attend the eVOCative festival and The Oral, the Written and Other Oral Media conference from June 19 to 21, and the Storytellers of Canada annual conference from July 2 to 6. While the conferences are fine-tuned to the interests of performers and academics working and creating in the field, both conferences have a little something for everyone. In the case of The Oral, the Written and Other Oral Media, main organizer Susan Gingell has also organized a festival of oral performance to complement the conference. Gingell said it was important to her to bring artists and academics together. "Too often (artists and academics) operate ...

Officials give river art icy reception Jordan Jackle The StarPhoenix Saturday, January 27, 2007 The fire department's water rescue team spent Friday morning retrieving wooden chairs from a frozen portion of the river in the River Landing area.After finding out about the chairs from concerned Saskatoon residents, surface divers used a boat and a rope to crawl onto the ice and remove them. "We found out they were placed there by the Mendel (Art Gallery). It was form of art," said assistant fire Chief Bob Fawcett. It wasn't done by the Mendel Art Gallery, said spokesperson Betsy Rosenwald, but rather an artist with an installation at the gallery. Local artist Michael Hosaluk has an exhibition titled Containment that involves many chairs, she said. "He and some of his cohorts undertook what they call "chairorrist actions" and placed, as part of the exhibition, chairs around Saskatoon," Rosenwald said. "He does consider it part of his exhibition, ...

Opera company delivers impressive performance Shannon Boklaschuk, The StarPhoenix Published: Monday, July 17, 2006 Drama, romance, comedy -- Don Giovanni has got it all. On Saturday night, Mozart's renowned opera was brilliantly brought to life by Saskatoon Opera, with each vocalist delivering a most impressive performance. The show, which clocked in at around three hours, drew heart-felt applause and a standing ovation from the crowd -- and the praise was certainly well-deserved. The production offered first-rate entertainment, and the opera company should be proud of the high standard it has achieved. It's wonderful Saskatonians can enjoy such high-quality musicianship in their own backyard, and artistic director Barbara Montalbetti deserves kudos for her work. If you're not familiar with Don Giovanni, Mozart's opera is fast-paced and dramatic. It kicks off with a scene in which Don Giovanni (played by Matthew Leigh) attacks Donna Anna (Ileana Montalbetti), who manag...

Exploring his bad side Famous Mozart opera gives young baritone delightful challenge Joanne Paulson, The StarPhoenix Published: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 Matthew Leigh and Ileana Montalbetti star in Saskatoon Opera's production of Don Giovanni Photograph by : Richard Marjan, The StarPhoenix Don Giovanni is a very, very bad boy. He seduces women, kills men, lies through his teeth and generally behaves like an arrogant boor.He is also a lot of fun to play -- certainly for Matthew Leigh, who has taken on the title role for this year's Saskatoon Opera production. "I actually find Don Giovanni an easy character to understand," said Leigh (pronounced Lay) in a recent interview."He's simple, in a way. There are people who think he's a very complex character, but I disagree with that.He's very selfish, very spoiled, and I know many people who are like that; there's a side of me that's like that."Like many men, Leigh also admits he understands Giov...

Montalbetti, Ko claim top prizes at competition Jennifer Jacoby-Smith The StarPhoenix August 18, 2005 Musicians did Saskatchewan proud at the 2005 National Music Festival last weekend in Kamloops, B.C. Two Saskatoon natives took top prizes in their fields. Soprano Ileana Montalbetti, formerly of Saskatoon and currently living in Manitoba, received first place honours in the voice competition; and violinist Raymond Ko placed first in the strings competition. Montalbetti admitted her win came as a "big surprise." The 22-year-old graduated earlier this year from University of Manitoba's music program. She represented Manitoba at the national festival, but still comes back home to Saskatoon frequently. Montalbetti appeared in Saskatoon Opera's production of Die Fledermaus earlier this summer. She will also return Oct. 29 to participate in the opera company's gala. "I would love to make a living singing," said Montalbetti, "but I'll have to see if th...

Tanya Zuzak/Patrick Traer : Arc | A Response Walking down the stairs to the Saskatoon Mendel Art Gallery basement a series of mirrored pieces immediately caught my eye. Thin wire designs evoked the sense of whirling wind over the surface of the mirrors. Eight square mirrors, approximately 50 cm X 50 cm, placed in a tight, regularly, repetitive pattern allowed the the round, soft contoured volume of the space defined by the wires to breathe. The ends of the wire amazingly pierced the mirror or were glued with a clean precision. The wire shone brightly under the lights becoming almost a delicate silver thread light in visual weight. The mirror was a magical place holding and unifying this silver wind reflecting the real half and creating an illusionary half. The clearly divided negative and positive spaces existed transparently together. The mirror revealed my face through the dense wire and led me into an "Alice in Wonderland" atmosphere. It seemed that the mirror expanded t...

. . Enemy of the People . . . overheard an audience member leaving the theater . . . "What an important work. Every student of history, in fact, all of us should be here watching!" . . . the ideas came at us with breath-taking speed . . . each scene moved relentlessly as the actors shaped the characters around the face of political intrigue . . . . . . the student actor created a Mayor revealing a depth of understanding the multifaceted aspects of the deceptive, deceitful & misguided leader in a performance well beyond her years . . . Dr. Stockman transformed from a determined visionary full of hope and conviction to a beaten victim wrestling with his own futile belief in truth & ended somewhat bravely though certainly not a heroic figure . . . . . . the supporting cast delighted with clear, articulate portrayals . . . varying the shades of response to the 'truth' as the 'truth'/whose truth shifted beneath them like the sands of time . . . . . . the st...

Greystone Theatre 's Loveplay by Moira Buffini skims tantalizingly along the surface . . . the ideas have a breadth and depth which pique the interest but what remains is nothing more than fragments - unfullfilled & unrequited . . . a horrific scene of brutal rape haunts a place and begs to be remembered . . . . . . linear time cannot erase the past despite all the future clever intentions and inventions . . . the actors seem to struggle in the darkness against a misplaced, unresolved environment where the music is loud and contrary . . . often there is a tension full of expectancy . . . a pregnant wife cries out in anguish to her unfaithful husband that she is so happy . . . two men, school friends, meet again and the unexpressed bond so long left unspoken embraces them both . . . . . .the characters touch and kiss . . . over and over again the kiss of betrayal between two nuns, two actors, two men, two love children of the sixties, two . . . and, at times, humour . . . still...

The New Theatre Co-op . . . The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter . . . Directed by Susan Williamson . . . with a stunningly caring hand she has shaped a classic of modern theatre into a edgy parable of deceptive & poignant terror . . . . . .brilliant Pinter . . . the cliché, language of silence, made visible by the controlled and imaginative voice of the actor . . . brilliant Pinter . . . each moment, the precise choice of actions shatter our illusions (delusions) that we can celebrate the mundane daily existence . . . beat a drum, dance a waltz, play blind man's bluff, sing an irish song, make a toast . . . our glasses will be broken in the end . . . happy birthday. . . celebrate birth? . . . brilliant Pinter . . . scene after scene gnaws at the borders of our attempts to construct meaning . . . the entire cast flawlessly touches Pinter's claustrophobic, almost archaic and ancient, soulscape with moments of intensity that open into the heart with an ease and immensity. . . ...

a delightful 21st Century theatrical adaptation of Ovid's Metamorphoses - metAmorfine - presenting the idea & concept of transformation through the physicalization of water, sex, drugs, music, and the apocalyptic and mundane events of life. . . . from the director Neil Cadger: " . . . Truth is in continuous Transformation."[22.Kundalini, symbol 89. Transformation]" . . . My first concern was to try and find a way to allow the ideas to evolve, while working on things like rhythm and choral speech which obviously have to be done daily. Order and anarchy mingling inextricably. And now, just before the premiere I' m trying to take it further, changing, rearranging, looking for new shapes and frequencies. . . . ." after the show articulating my feelings. . . akin to an intensely interactive google search . . . following seemingly random but intricately woven together facts, images, associative links . . . constructing a linear but deeply textured experience ....