SummerWorks and The Theatre Centre bring the fifth edition of Progress, an international festival of performance and ideas, back to Toronto from January 30 to February 15, 2020.
Progress is well known by its collectively curated program. Every year, I look forward to the festival, as it has introduced me to exciting modern works by very talented artists. Below I give you a list of the shows I’m looking forward to this year.
Café Sarajevo
January 30 – February 2, 2020
An immersive theatrical experience exploring the borders that divide and unite us, within the framework of a live podcast. With story, dance, game, music, 360° video, and by casting the audience as characters in the story, internationally acclaimed performance makers bluemouth inc. create a fast-paced, intimate, and thoughtful exploration about nationalism, racial bias and war tourism.
Photo by Harry Chan
Affioramenti (Surfacing)
February 5–9, 2020
The Affioramenti experience is designed for six participants at a time, who have one-on-one moments of creation and interaction with each other. You are invited to bring an object of significance to your life into the space. Participants will be prompted to actively listen to each other, while maintaining an atmospheric sound dynamic that is as quiet (pianissimo) as possible.
Book Launch for Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space by Amanda Leduc
February 5, 202 at 6:00pm
Presented by Coach House Books in association with SummerWorks
Gallery
In fairy tales, happy endings are the norm – as long as you’re beautiful and walk on two legs. And since fairy tales are the foundational myths of our culture, how can a person with a disability ever think they’ll have a happy ending? Disfigured points the way toward a new world where disability is no longer a punishment, but operates as a way of centering a protagonist.
This World Made Itself & Infinitely Yours
February 6–7, 2020
This World Made Itself is a multimedia live performance work combining projected animation and the artist’s own shadow silhouette, as she interacts with the fantastical world of the video, merging film and theater to create a unique spectacle.
Infinitely Yours is a meditation on climate catastrophe and the Anthropocene – the proposed current era where human influence has affected almost all realms of earth’s natural systems.
Photo by Ahrum Hong
How I Learned to Serve Tea
February 12 & 15, 2020
This is a participatory workshop where artist-facilitator Shaista Latiff assesses the language of invitation and hosting, and explores the dynamics of power through acts of hospitality. This work recognizes that there is an economy for everything: a cost, a transaction. Class, race, identity, and belonging influence our capacities to give and to receive. Participants are invited to confront and reflect on who gets to have a seat at the table.
Progress is collectively curated and presented by a series of Toronto-based companies, operating within a contemporary performance context. This fifth edition of the Festival is curated by Broadleaf Theatre, FADO Performance Art Centre, DopoLavoro Teatrale, RT Collective, SummerWorks, The Theatre Centre, and Why Not Theatre.
Full programming listings and schedule can be found online at progressfestival.org. Get your advance tickets soon!
