Marie Chouinard's Orpheus and Eurydice at Theatre Junction GRAND

In the Greek myth upon which Compagnie Marie Chouinard’s new work is based, Orpheus is allowed to bring his beloved Eurydice back from Hades on one condition – that he never, ever look back. But like the L’Enfant terrible, Orpheus has the audacity to defy this command. He does the forbidden and Eurydice is lost forever. Chouinard sees this act as a beginning rather than an ending, where the spirit of the artist is born.

Chouinard’s work exposes us to the full rawness of the human condition with unashamed honesty and remarkable beauty. In a society increasingly marked by isolation, live performance brings us these kinds of encounters we crave to have. Orpheus and Eurydice tempts us to taste the illicit, to defy convention and embrace truth.

Chouinard sees Orpheus as the original artist, because he does what is forbidden. Like the artist, he steps outside of the boundaries of right and wrong, sense and chaos, and endures the consequences. He dares to dream in a world that forbids dreaming.

Orpheus and Eurydice shows us that sometimes we should dream that the forbidden might really be possible. We are all like Orpheus, when we dream, when we create, when we tempt the forbidden.

Orpheus and Eurydice is the first of several presentations of Theatre, Dance and Music making up a survey of leading contemporary National and International live-art at Theatre Junction GRAND in Calgary. I hope that you will join us for each of these remarkable performances in our 2009-2010 Season.

Mark Lawes, Artistic Director
Theatre Junction GRAND

09/10 Season Passes and Single Tickets to Compagnie Marie Chouinar'd Orpheus and Eurydice NOW ON SALE!

On the Side of the Road nominated for a Betty Mitchell

Some exciting news - The Betty Mitchell Awards nominees were announced last week at The Auburn where Theatre Junction RCA member Nicolas Bernier was nominated for best sound design for On the Side of the Road. The recipients of the 2009 Betty Mitchell Awards will be announced at the gala ceremony on Monday, August 24, 2009 at the Max Bell Theatre.

Congrats to the entire RCA!

... And we can still hear the sounds of those pesky mosquitos and slaps!

The Art of Meeting

For me the theatre is, at its essence, the art of meeting. Superficial encounters, the kind that we often have in our everyday lives, are easy-- nothing is changed, nothing is challenged. They are uneventful. They require less investment than buying a burger and fries and are the equivalent of fast food. We are left empty and craving more. Our common desire to be with like-minded people, to think the same, to dress the same, to be comfortable, to fit in, slowly drains our desire to be confronted with the unknown. We forget that the unknown is exciting. It keeps us alive. It nourishes us. An authentic meeting is just that, an encounter with the unknown.

Real encounters, the kind that provoke confrontations and propel both parties into new territories so that they might see the world differently and share new dreams, are possibilities. I want to create possibilities of meetings that are charged and have resonance, whose outcomes are strong and lasting. They satiate us and influence the society in which we live. This is the strength of the theatre and this is why it is essential.

This season, come face to face with pioneers of essential art. Reacquaint yourself with luminary Marie Chouinard. Join us as Theatre Junction and Toronto's Crow's Theatre team up to take on the knife-like writing of Martin Crimp in the Canadian premiere of The Country. Finally, let loose with the hilariously versatile and amazingly skilled Spaghetti Western Orchestra as they reintroduce you to the unforgettable classic Ennio Morricone film scores.

This is Theatre Junction GRAND Season Four. We should meet.

Mark Lawes
Artistic Director

Spaghetti Western Orchestra Group Ticket Presale

Round up yer Posse for the Spaghetti Western Orchestra! We are now offering a special group ticket presale to this show (Apr 28-30, 2010). CLICK HERE for more info on how to reserve prime seats for your friends, including those Good, Bad, and even Ugly!

Marie Chouinard Group Ticket Presale

Although Season Passes and single tickets are not on sale yet, we are now offering a special group ticket presale to Marie Chouinard's Orpheus and Eurydice (Sept 22-26, 2009). CLICK HERE for more info on how to get in on some group action to this sweltering and steamy show opening Theatre Junction GRAND's 09/10 season.

Subscriber Prelaunch

Great news for all Theatre Junction GRAND 08/09 subscribers! We will be doing a special prelaunch of our 09/10 season to all our subscribers THIS WEEK. This means that all subscribers from the past season will be the VERY FIRST ones to hear the full 09/10 season lineup and have the first opportunity to reserve the best seats in the house. Subscribers should watch their inbox this week for a special 09/10 Season PDF which will include all the shows and how to purchase 09/10 Season Passes.

The official launch of Theatre Junction GRAND's 09/10 happens in August! Season Passes will be made available then to the public, with single tickets for all shows on sale September 1.

On the Side of the Road to Tour in 2010!

Theatre Junction's new creation, On the Side of the Road, which premiered in Calgary last March has been invited to perform at Harbourfront Center's Worldstage in Toronto in 2010. On the Side of the Road will be performed at Worldstage March 24-27, 2010, with the possibility of further tour stops in Montreal and in Europe. The show was well received by local audiences and media, with the Calgary Herald giving the show 4 stars, calling it "a smart, big hearted, sexy, strange, hallucinatory, Franco Western Canadian piece of cottage country mythology".

And due to popular demand, the show will be remounted in Calgary at Theatre Junction GRAND before it heads off on tour next spring. Those who did not get a chance to see On the Side of the Road when it first played here, will get a second chance to catch the show in early March 2010.