Stage Door News
Stage Door News
TORONTO, ON – On December 19th 2012, City Voices: A Book of Monologues by Toronto Artists will be launched at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. City Voices is a completely grassroots initiative that is being self-published by its editors, emerging writers Jenna Harris, Anila Pant and Ronit Rubinstein, as a reaction to our local government’s less-than-arts-friendly approach to governance and its overall lack of support for the arts.
City Voices: A Book of Monologues by Toronto Artists is an anthology of theatrical monologues, spoken word, poetry and prose all written by Toronto writers, which reflects life in Toronto at this moment in its history. The idea for City Voices came out of a desire to not only stand up and show this government the strength of the arts community in this city, but also out of a desire to create a forum with which for fellow artists could showcase their work.
Chosen from an open call put out this past April, City Voices boasts some of this city’s fiercest up-and-coming and established playwrights including Jordan Tannahill, Jason Maghanoy, Jessica Moss, Marcia Johnson, Kate Hewlett, Jordan Hall, and this year’s 2012 Fringe Festival’s Play Competition winner Kat Sandler, as well as poets, spoken word artists and writing enthusiasts. The writers whose voices grace the pages of this book come from diverse backgrounds and range in age from 13 to well into their golden years.
“It’s been inspiring to see the wealth of talent Toronto has to offer, and to be exposed to work by emerging artists who will no doubt one day be the major figures in Canadian theatre,” says Rubinstein. “To see all these amazing writers come together has been incredible,” echoes Pant. “The experience of sharing in their bubbling originality has nourished my own creativity and fuelled my imagination.”
The support that this project has already garnered from not only the arts community, but the community at large, has overwhelmed the three editors, including receiving a foreword from one of this city’s biggest proponent of its arts, Olivia Chow, MP Trinity-Spadina.
Photo: Cover of City Voices.
2012-11-29
Toronto: Launch of “City Voices: A Book of Monologues by Toronto Artists” on December 19 at Buddies in Bad Times