Want to get in on the action?

NuMusic at Nextfest proudly presents brave new works by emerging composers, musicians, sound and noise artists, and anyone interested in exploring the world of new music. Submissions are open until May 1. Questions? Email mdart@catchthekeys.ca for details.

The Nextfest Nite Clubs are a series of late night multidisciplinary performance parties showcasing emerging artists in all disciplines including theatre, dance, film, performance art, music, visual art and more. Please note: artists must be at least 18 years of age to participate in the Nite Clubs. Submissions are open until all three nights are filled. Questions? Email bdart@catchthekeys.ca for details.

The evening will include performances by Ahmed Knowmadic and Colin Matty of Breath In Poetry, Ainsley Hillyard of Good Women Dance Collective, singer-songwriter Tyler Butler, scenes from Azimuth Theatre‘s Prairie Apocalypse and more.

Candidates from all parties are invited. Interested candidates will be provided the opportunity to address the audience for two minutes each, after which candidates are invited to participate in a brief moderated forum. We will take approximately five questions at random from the audience. Following the performances and forum, all Wrecking Ball Alberta guests are invited to tip a glass and continue the conversation!

Wrecking Ball Alberta
Monday, April 16 at 7:30pm
The ARTery (9535 Jasper Avenue)
Admission by donation
All donations will be split among the performing artists 

CONFIRMED CANDIDATES:

Though candidate confirmations continue to file in, as of 9am Monday, April 16 the following candidates are confirmed for Wrecking Ball Alberta:

Trey Capnerhurst, Evergreen (Beverly-Clareview)
Brian Labelle, NDP (Castle Downs)
Nadine Bailey, NDP (Edmonton Centre)
Dennis O’Neill, Alberta Party (Gold Bar)
David Parker, Evergreen (Gold Bar)
Cameron McCormick, Alberta Party (Highlands-Norwood)
Dari Lynn, Evergreen (Highlands-Norwood)
Cris Basualdo, Progressive Conservative (Highlands-Norwood)
Judy Wilson, Alberta Party (Mill Creek)
Joann Autio, Wild Rose (Mill Woods)
Timothy Wong, Alberta Party (Riverview)
David Tonner, Evergreen (Rutherford)

Wrecking Ball Alberta will be held on Monday, April 16 at The ARTery. Politicians from all parties will be invited.

We are looking for artists of all disciplines interested in performing a 2-8 minute set. Performances must be Alberta-centric.

If you are interested in participating in Wrecking Ball Alberta or would like more information, please contact Megan (mdart@catchthekeys.ca) or Beth (bdart@catchthekeys.ca) by Friday, April 13.

ABOUT THE WRECKING BALL

The Wrecking Ball was founded in Toronto in November 2004 to address a nagging imbalance: too much theatre in our politics, not enough politics in our theatre. There have been eleven Wrecking Ball cabarets in Toronto, including a national event that saw Wrecking Balls staged semi-simultaneously in 10 cities across the country in 2008 and 2011, in advance of the federal election.

Your ticket provides you a free drink care of Yellowhead Brewery and Cono Sur Winery, a one-of-a-kind art card care of visual artist Jamie Law, as well as a chance to win more than $2,000 in prizes including one night’s stay and breakfast at the Hotel MacDonald, one night’s stay and breakfast at the Union Bank Inn and Madison’s Grill, a $150 Century Hospitality Group gift card to Hundred, Lux, Delux or Century Grill, a $200 gift card to Watch It on Whyte Avenue, a pair of season tickets to Brian Webb Dance Company‘s 2012/13 season, tickets to the Edmonton International Jazz Festival, a Frequent Fringer Pass to the Edmonton International Fringe Festival, a makeover and products from Lady Venom Cosmetics, a pair of tickets to The Black Keys concert care of Sonic 102.9 and two season subscriptions to Northern Light Theatre‘s 2012/13 season.

Get your tickets before they’re gone!

Snout at The Realtors Expanse Movement Arts Festival
Saturday, March 10 at 7pm
The Westbury Theatre, TransAlta Arts Barns

In the dark, I hear the wolf. He is digging his snout into the belly of the sun. He tears through her rays and feasts on her kindness and generosity. He nibbles on her love and he eats her light. She doesn’t scream. She’s been waiting for this. In my dream, I know: she’s been waiting for this. The wolf, he tells her he protects his loved ones, but really, the wolf betrays her secrets, spills them out onto the street for everyone to see.

Written by Megan Dart
Directed by Beth Dart
Choreographed by Ainsley Hillyard
Starring Nikolai Witschl, Richard Lee, Cole Humeny & Amber Bissonnette

A study of the roles women put on and take off in and out of the home, The Kitchen Sink Project spans the decades and brings together a collection of deeply moving, hysterical, bizarre and heartbreaking (her)stories inspired by the kitchen sink.

To date, more than 75 stories have been gathered from around the world. Catch the Keys is inviting women of all walks of life to share their stories and join the conversation. Stories collected will be transformed into a multidiscplinary stage work in Catch the Keys’ 2013 season. Featuring readings by Morgan Smith and Mary Hulbert.

The Kitchen Sink Project
Saturday, January 21 @ 4:00pm-5:45pm
Basement, Hudson’s On Campus Pub (11113 87 Avenue)

Catch the Keys is making its first trek down Highway 2 to take part in the Site Specific Spectacular hosted by our friends and yours, Swallow-a-Bicycle, as part of the 26th annual High Performance Rodeo.

Dancers in a freight elevator? Acrobats in the boiler room? Actors on a rooftop?!

Welcome to the Site-Specific Spectacular, a mini-festival featuring performances in the most bizarre locations imaginable. In four distinct tours, more than 50 artists will climb the heights of the Calgary Tower and explore the depths of the EPCOR CENTRE for the Performing Arts.

Catch the Keys takes on the Calgary Tower in the first of four tours, featuring a performance by Ainsley Hillyard of Good Women Dance Society and Colin Matty, actor and member of Breath in Poetry‘s Team Edmonton, the 2011 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word Champions.

TOUR #1: Needle in the Sky
January 12-14, Calgary Tower
Thursday-Saturday: 7:30, 8:30 & 9:30 pm
Saturday: 1:00 pm

Tour Guides: Mark Ikeda & Richard Lee

Featuring:
Catch the Keys Productions
Kaely Dekker
Kristin Eveleigh
Elaine Weryshko
Patrick Quinn
Humble Wonder Theatre
Jennifer Roberts

Get your Site Specific Spectacular Passports before they’re gone!

Read what the Edmonton Journal had to say about Dead Centre of Town

Read what The Gateway had to say about Dead Centre of Town

Catch the Keys Productions presents the fifth annual
Dead Centre of Town: Twisted
Avenue Theatre (9030 118 Avenue)
Thursday, October 27 at 9pm
Tickets $12, available at the door
Starring: Stuart Hoye, Adam Keefe, Christine Lesiak, Vincent Forcier, Colin Matty,
Steve Pirot, Zvonimir Rac, Morgan Smith & Nikolai Witschl

Dead Centre of Town is Catch the Keys’ annual interactive historical Halloween theatre experience. Dead Centre of Town has taken place in such haunted locations as The Globe Bar and Tap House (2007), which was once a mortuary, The ARTery (2008) which lives on the only complete and unaltered pre-World War One streetscape in Edmonton, The Iron Horse, which was the first train station on the south side of the river (2009), and New City Suburbs, which was once a Vaudeville theatre before becoming one of Edmonton’s first moving picture houses (2010).

BEWARE: Dead Centre of Town ain’t for the faint of heart, kittens. Performances contain extreme violence, ghastly gore and unsettling themes, and are intended for an 18+ audience only.

Catch the Keys is proud to provide stage management and publicity support to Edmonton’s public reading of controversial play Homegrown by Catherine Frid.

Homegrown Controversy:  Edmonton joins in on Canada-wide readings of controversial play

Edmonton theatre community takes cautious approach to controversial play

The Summerworks Affair: Cheap shots at the expense of artists

Join the discussion Friday, July 15 at 8pm at the Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts (11731 93 Street). Featuring Michele Brown, Michael Peng, Jamie Cavanaugh, Jason Chinn and Scott Schpley. Directed by Garett Spelliscy. 

Public Reading of Controversial Play Provides Canadians Opportunity to Make up their Own Minds

(Edmonton: July 11, 2011) – Leading theatre artists from across Canada are banding together to respond to a national controversy by staging simultaneous public readings of Catherine Frid’s Homegrown, a story of a Toronto lawyer/writer who meets and befriends a prisoner accused of homegrown terrorism – one of the so-called “Toronto 18.”

During its first production at the 2010 Summerworks Theatre Festival, Homegrown was the centre of political attention; Andrew MacDougal, spokesperson for the Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Office, was reported saying “we are extremely disappointed public money is going towards funding plays that glorify terrorism.” While critics strongly disagreed, citing the play an intelligent examination which neither supports nor romanticizes terrorism, but rather raises important questions about the government’s involvement, Summerworks Theatre Festival lost its federal funding for the 2011 season. Negative sentiments for both the festival and the play on behalf of the government were further compounded by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s recent remarks, saying “we actually don’t believe in festivals and cultural institutions assuming that year after year after year, they’ll receive government funding from the Government of Canada.”

In the vein of The Wrecking Ball – a grassroots political arts awareness campaign simultaneously held across the country during the 2008 and 2011 elections – theatre companies from more than five provinces will stage simultaneous public readings of Homegrown in an effort to provide audiences an opportunity to become informed and answer the question “What’s all the controversy about?”

Edmonton’s theatre community will respond with the expected passion and commitment. The reading, being held at the Stollery Gallery at The Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts on Friday, July 15 at 8pm, will see local actors Michele Brown, Michael Peng, Jamie Cavanagh and Jason Chinn as directed by Garett Spelliscy take on the controversial script.

“The professional community in Edmonton has been very supportive of this project,” says director Garett Spelliscy, “I’m an indie guy and I have no real resources of my own, but senior industry professionals like Michael Clark, Keltie Brown, Eva Cairns, Elizabeth Ludwig, Kim McCaw and Caroline Howarth have all come forward with personal endorsements, support and advice. They encouraged me to approach this with curiosity, rather than judgment and accusations. I think the result is an evening that reflects Alberta’s independent spirit; a discussion rather than a rally, an artistic inquiry, not a protest.”

A demonstration to show support for fellow Canadian artists, and foster informed dialogue about the issues surrounding this controversy, the reading will initiate discussion with Edmonton theatre-goers.

“We want to start a conversation among artists and audiences about issues this controversy has raised,” continues Spelliscy. “These issues seem to concern the stability of funding for the arts, attitudes towards public funding, freedom of expression, and the role of the arts in Canadian society. This is a national debate, and one we hope Edmontonians are eager to participate in.”

A public reading of Homegrown by Catherine Frid
Stollery Gallery, Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts (11731 93 Street) Friday, July 15, 2011 at 8pm
Michele Brown, Michael Peng, Jamie Cavanaugh & Jason Chinn
Directed by Garett Spelliscy
FREE admission*

*Audiences are encouraged to donate to The Summerworks Theatre Festival, or two shows at Summerworks involving Albertan artists

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Marking the arrival of summer, Nextfest is the chance to revel in a sense of community truer than at any other festival in #yeg, truer than at any other time in the year; a moment when more than 400 artists come together in a raucous, rambunctious celebration of the voice of the next generation. It’s an explosive eleven-days of non-stop creative energy. It’s a party – and you’re invited.

This party’s got it ALL going on – film, theatre, dance, visual art, the CBC music series and more!

This year, Catch the Keys is proud to bring you 9 – count ‘em! – 9 Nextfest events. We bring the kind of rowdy good times you can only find in Edmonton in the spring…

The Nextfest Niteclubs

Curated by Uber Mistress Beth Dart with Catch the Keys Productions, the Nextfest NiteClubs are a series of late-night, multi-disciplinary performance parties. Each NiteClub has a completely distinct flavour so you’ll never experience the same thing twice. This year the NiteClubs take place at Edmonton’s newest, sexiest location, The Old Cycle Building (9141 118 Avenue), where you’ll be entertained and entertaining as you mix, mingle and absorb the atmosphere and art. Join your chaperones, Ted Sloan and Caley Suliak, for three nights of wild fun.

Method of Madness

Friday, June 3
Doors at 9:00 pm

“A rock through a window never comes with a kiss. Rhyme and a reason never argue with a fist. There’s a time for discussion and a time for a fight. It’s the time in the season for a maniac at night. There’s a lot to be said for a blow to the head. So come on! Make a show! Turn it on! Let it go! Put some madness to the method! We need madness to the method! We want madness to the method! We need madness to the method! We don’t care as long as there’s some madness!” ~ Madness to the Method, Blue Oyster Cult

A night of pure madness featuring an Old Ugly showcase with Mikey Maybe, Bike Month and The Joe.

The Ol’ Smut Saloon

Saturday, June 4
Doors at 9:00 pm

Beat the devil ’round the stump, an’ bend an elbow with the big bugs, flannel mouths and deadbeats at the ol’ Smut Saloon. Get a wiggle on, give it a lick an’ a promise, and get full as a tick – no thing in this fine world will hold a candle to what you’re ’bout to witness. Send in the Girls will play out your wildest fantasies directly, while the crooning Prairie Nights will swing the swill till you’re right soaked. Cris Derksen‘ll have you swooning, while Sister Gray will bring home the moon with an ace-high performance of boot stomping good tunes. Dress to impress at the Smut Saloon!

Rise up!

Saturday, June 11
Doors at 9:00 pm

Your revolution – it’s the what-if, the could-be, the should-be, the will-be. Your revolution – it’s politics and semantics, artistics and music. So gather up the beatnicks, the critics, the cynics, the mystics, the mavericks, the convicts: blow up the gimmicks, pick-apart the slick-ricks, dismantle the predicate. Your revolution – it starts now. Your revolution – it’s a rocket-fuelled multi-disciplinary performance party. Featuring MitchMatic & KazMega and Politic Live.

NuMusic@Nextfest

Curated by Megan Dart with Catch the Keys Productions, NuMusic@Nextfest proudly presents brave new works by emerging composers, musicians, DJ’s, and experimental artists from Edmonton and beyond. A mash up of styles and genres, NuMusic is experimental music at its best. Play in our Found Object Orchestra, dance your feet off at Pop Goes Electro, learn what the #*&% NuMusic is anyway, and hear the Sound of Noise, all at the Old Cycle Building.

The Found Object Orchestra

The Old Cycle Building 9141 118 AVE | Tuesday, June 7 7:00pm

Ever want to play in an orchestra, but don’t know how to play an instrument? Fulfill your wildest dreams without learning to read music! Bring whatever you can drag, push, pull or carry to the Nextfest Found Object Orchestra, where we’ll make sweet music on anything and everything we can. Got keys in your pocket? Shake ‘em. Found a rogue garbage can lid on your walk over? Grab a stick and get drumming. Don’t have a thing to your name? Bring your voice and your body and shake what yo’ momma gave you. Let’s get together in an electric moment of spontaneous music. Led by Music as a Weapon drum circle.

Pop Goes Electro

The Old Cycle Building 9141 118 AVE | Tuesday, June 7 9:00pm

Catchy hooks, danceable beats, synth heavy rock step – your NuMusicians shake the floor with an impossible mashup of musical magic. From the sometimes funny and sometimes gross musical stylings of The Sunshines, to the smooth licks of Cam Boyce, to the psychedelic prog-rock of Peribothra, to the you-just-can’t-stop-the-dancebeats of Cymatic Phase, it’s a night of people-powered party. Dance your feet off!

What the #*&% is NuMusic Anyway?

The Old Cycle Building 9141 118 AVE | Thursday, June 9 5:30pm

Join local composers and new musicians from the music, theatre, video game and film industries for a heated debate about the role of new music in Nextfest, the Edmonton Arts Community and beyond. Moderated by Popular Music Instructor and Musicologist Michael MacDonald.

The Sound of Noise

The Old Cycle Building 9141 118 AVE | Thursday, June 9 9:00pm

Collaborating. Composing. Battling. Circuit bending. Noise making. Witness it all at The Sound of Noise – a night of investigational, off the wall, noise experimentation featuring a saxophone showcase by local composers, and performances by The Mind Hive Collective, Motherboy, MUGBAIT vs. wijit and more. Shake out the noise!

SNOUT

A play development reading, presented by The OCB Sessions at Nextfest
The Old Cycle Building
9141 118 AVE
June 10, 7:00 pm

By Megan Dart
In the dark, I hear the wolf. He is digging his snout into the belly of the sun. He tears through her rays and feasts on her kindness and generosity. He nibbles on her love and he eats her light. She doesn’t scream. She’s been waiting for this. In my dream, I know: she’s been waiting for this. The wolf, he tells her he protects his loved ones, but really, the wolf betrays her secrets, spills them out onto the street for everyone to see. Director: Beth Dart Cast: Nikolai Witschl, Richard Lee, Cole Humeny, Amber Bissonnette

Dot Dot Dot presents Subterranean

The Old Cycle Building
9141 118 AVE
June 7, 6:00pm
June 8, 8:00pm
June 9, 7:00pm
June 10, 8:00pm

A grandfather plans his own death. A girl experiences the worst birthday party ever. A first date ends in feline tragedy. Jessie Mcphee and Joleen Ballendine of Dot Dot Dot, whose unbridled improv-assault drummed up 4-star acclaim at the 2010 Winnipeg Fringe, proudly present their scripted debut Subterranean – a multi-character, infinite-laugh exploration of how love can blossom, bloom, and wither away before you even knew you had it. Dot Dot Dot are regulars in Rapid Fire Theatre’s long-form improv show Chimprov. Cast: Jessie McPhee, Joleen Ballendine