adam paolozza

THE FOUR CORNERS - we did it!

Last Saturday, on the corners of Queen & Bathurst, our live site-specific audio drama recording happened 3 x to sold out audiences!  We ambitiously imagined crowds of people moving around these busy corners in time with each other... and it worked!

Here's how:

Before each performance, the crowd met us inside The Design Republic, a furniture store on Queen West, where they were introduced to our tour guides through a hip hop rap comedy number.  The audience was then divided into groups by colour and were led out to the streets by their guides.

The tour guides recounted the history of the four corners, from architecture patterns, to settlement in the area, to what lived within the walls of the buildings still standing.  And, on each corner, the guides and their groups were met by likely activity.  A program worker, a starbucks barrista, an experiential advertiser and a pair of street buskers intersected the audience and added their voices to the mix, shedding light on the diverse socio-economic class structure that exists on this crossroads of Toronto.

This entire experience was recorded live by a team of sound engineers through locative booms, lavaliere microphones and binaural recorders.  And now, we are busy mixing this site-specific recording together into a 4 podcasts that will be released later this month! Stay posted for these podcasts that allow you to feel like you were right there with us on the corners.

But it's not over yet... in November, THE FOUR CORNERS will hit the studio to record the other side of the story... details to come.

Our live site-specific recording was a true blast.   Thank you to everyone who came out to see this live.  And, if you missed it, here are some pics to tide you over until the podcasts are released to the world!

THE FOUR CORNERS: Live performance produced by FIXT POINT Directed by Lisa Marie DiLiberto. Sound Recording & Production directed by Charles Ketchabaw

Script conceived by Lisa Marie DiLiberto and Charles Ketchabaw, based on neighbourhood interviews, and developed in collaboration with the artistic team.

Corner Characters: North East Corner (Starbucks) - David Brennan South East Corner (CB2) - Adam Paolozza North West Corner (The Meeting Place) - Varrick Grimes South West Corner (Pizza Pizza) - Dan Watson

Tour Guides: Viktor Lukowski (Team Red) Geoffrey Armour (Team Blue) Isaac Kessler (Team Yellow) Rob Feetham (Team Green) Fernando Lara (Tour Bossman)

Community Artists: Katt C. Budd (Musician) Bruce (Meeting Place Member) Terry (Meeting Place Volunteer)

Sound Recordists: Charles Ketchabaw Corby Luke Art Pisanski

Dramaturgy: Aviva Armour-Ostroff

Production Coordinator: Annie Wilson

 

HUNTSVILLE DAY TWELVE – Listening, logging and a little bit of walking…

May we present to you our amazing artistic collaborators for:

The Tale of a Town - Huntsville!

DEANNA JONES 
Artistic Director of Suitcase In Point
(sister company to FIXT POINT!)

ANNIE WILSON
Artistic Producer of Suitcase in Point 

ADAM PAOLOZZA
Artistic Director of TheatreRun
(brother company to FIXT POINT!)
ROB FEETHAM
Toronto based Actor, Clown and Creator

 Everybody arrived, and we got right down to it.  As you can see from the pics, listening to all the stories we have gathered was the top order of the day.
 Logging clips of what jumped out at us  was also par for the course.
It didn't happen as this fast, but check us out in action here:

And for a break, we took a stroll down Main Street so the artists could see some of what they were hearing about for themselves...
Here we are on the lot of the old Empire Hotel.
….73 interviews later, and 48 collective hours later, we called it a day.  And our imaginations began soaring with ideas for The Tale of a Town – Huntsville, the show we would put on in 5 days from today…. eeeek!

HUNTSVILLE DAY SEVENTEEN - showtime!!!!

The show was a true success!!! See for yourself….....

And how did it all happen?  With a little help from our friends, of course…

Tina Turley, the Janis Joplin of the north played guitar in our show to help us bring back the bar era of the Empire Hotel!  Doug Banwell, David Kaye’s best friend sounded a sweet saxophone in silhouette.  Our newest friends Zsiporah and Michael Moon, who we met on the day they moved to Hunstville last week, graced the audience with Harp and song in the prologue.  Our colleague Tony Mara who was cottaging in the area stepped in to play my hilarious husband. Jay Cheel, Kevin McMahon and Kristina McLaughlin of Primitive Entertainment were there to capture us on film.  The Christmas Tyme store lent us lights.  The Great Vine lent us lamps.  The Rotary Club dug out bathtubs from storage and even lent us the coveted Rotary wheel and bell. The Huntsville Festival for the Arts found us chairs and ladders every other little thing we needed. The EXTRAORDINARY Dan Watson, Artistic Director of Edge of the Woods Theatre, put together a MAGICAL Nuit Blanche North for us to take part in.  And last but not least, the people of Huntsville inspired us with their tales.  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU EVERYONE!  Another exciting memory was made, about how we brought stories to life on that bright night in Huntsville in July…

Oh, and just in case you are wondering, the tales that made it into the show were:

The Tale of The Bathtub Derby!

The Tale of The Empire Hotel!

The Tale of the Silver Ambassadors!

Shopping on the Main!

Which one was your favourite?!  Drop us a line: info@fixtpoint.com

 

CREDITS:

The Tale of a Town – Hunstville was produced by FIXT POINT, and created by Lisa Marie DiLiberto and Charles Ketchabaw in collaboration with theatre artists Rob Feetham, Deanna Jones, Adam Paolozza and Annie Wilson.

This exciting site-specific theatre and media project was made possible through generous support from The Ontario Arts Council, The Huntsville Festival of the Arts, Chapman’s Ice Cream, The Walrus Magazine and The Hive Strategic Marketing.

Listen Here for our radio show we crafted with some of these stories:

A Walk Down Main Street – Huntsville Edition

And stay tuned, the tale continues…  Next stop – LONDON TOWN!