Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Founded as a monthly cabaret in 2001, The Lab Cab Festival expanded into an annual festival at the Factory Theatre in 2006. In 2011, Lab Cab expanded again to fill over seventy-five stores, businesses, community centres, restaurants and churches in Parkdale: bringing over one hundred performances into the neighbourhood for free.
After much deep deliberation, Artistic Director Aviva Armour-Ostroff and Artistic Producer André du Toit have decided to retire The Lab Cab Festival.
At this point in both their careers, André and Aviva want to focus on other creative projects: André as a designer and producer, Aviva as an actor, creator and member of ARC (Actor's Reparatory Company).
The Lab Cab Festival has fostered and developed hundreds of new pieces of music, dance, theatre, film, visual art, clown, comedy, poetry, spoken word and performance art. Over the years, the Festival has paid over one thousand Canadian artists to create work.
“It is important to me that as Lab Cab closes its (many) doors, we celebrate what a gift it was, what joy and opportunity it brought to the artistic community, audiences and in later years, the Parkdale neighbourhood. I am extremely lucky to have been supported in creating this event and am so proud of what we made.”
-Aviva Armour-Ostroff, Artistic Director
As a final farewell, Lab Cab will be hosting three workshops in the new year: songwriting, audition technique, and improvisation, as well as creating a permanent mural with a Parkdale school. In the spirit of Lab Cab, these workshops will be free to the public. When these workshops conclude in March, Lab Cab will officially end.
"We look forward to seeing how the seeds planted in Lab Cab Festival these last eight years continue to grow into full presentations, albums, exhibitions and collaborations. A personal joy was showcasing our home - Parkdale - as a vibrant and creative neighbourhood and we anticipate seeing future collaborations between local businesses and artists in new and creative ways as being lasting legacy of the festival."
-André du Toit, Artistic Producer
André and Aviva would personally like to thank the press for the support they have shown Lab Cab over the years. Please keep an eye out for information on Lab Cab's free workshops this winter. All the best for a healthy and happy 2015.
Aviva Armour-Ostroff
Artistic Director, Lab Cab Festival
2015-01-05
Toronto: Lab Cab Festival retires after eight years