Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Is City Hall the scariest thing you've seen this Halloween Season? Clay & Paper Theatre is tackling the subject in our 12th annual Night of Dread, featuring Service
Cutbacks as our "Fear of the Year". Through a series of workshops, Clay & Paper worked with the local community to select service cuts as the scariest thing happening in the GTA this year. To address community concerns, we have created a giant papier-mâché sculpture symbolizing government cutbacks (to be unveiled at Night of Dread) which will meet its fiery end in a cathartic spectacle.
"If you're a single mom or a child living under the poverty level, these cuts could really hurt." said Artistic Director and Founder David Anderson "We hope City Hall understands the real impact of the cuts they're making. We have a great city. Why should anyone live in fear?"
The twelfth annual Night of Dread will parade our private and collective fears through the darkened streets of Toronto. Former years have featured fears such as: environmental contamination, war, hunger, big business and propaganda. The hour-long procession returns to Dufferin Grove Park for an evening of pageantry that compels us to name, mock and banish the fears that unite and divide us in these tumultuous times. Night of Dread is an unforgettable evening of spectacle, music and masquerade incorporating towering puppets, stilt dancers, fire-spinners and fearful masks in a daring exploration of dread.
This much-beloved community celebration incorporates international folk and theatrical traditions, drawing inspiration from festivals of death and remembrance around the world. The media is welcome to join Clay & Paper and the community while we dance in the streets with our city’s finest musicians, puppeteers, dancers and stilt walkers; together we’ll laugh at our fears, waltz with death, eat the bread of the dead, and remember those who have gone from our midst.
This annual community parade and pageant will take place on the evening of Saturday, October 29th. Masks and puppets will be available for pick-up from 4 to 6 o’clock for those who wish to participate in the parade. At 6:15 the parade will begin its journey, eventually circling back to a park transformed for the evening's festivities.
While the event happens on October 29th, Clay & Paper will be offering media availability through the week leading up to the event, including rehearsals and showing off the puppets we are building, including the this year's big "fear".
Night of Dread
Dufferin Grove Park
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Assemble: 4PM
Parade: 6PM
Pageant: 7PM onward
Dress Code: Black & White & Dreadful
Pay-What-You-Can/ $10 Suggested Donation
2011-10-21
Toronto: Clay & Paper Theatre chooses Service Cutbacks as the “Fear of the Year”