What's on
December 7 to January 11
cjournal@alcor.concordia.ca
The Queens: a power struggle in verse
The Queens is the next production by the Theatre Department. In a play filled with strong roles, the student actresses are Julia Hune-Brown, Rebecca Harper, Talar Kalajidian, Kelly Rigole, Patricia Summersett and Aleksandra Wnuk. The director is Emma Tibaldo, a graduate of the Department and the National Theatre School.
The original play is by Governor-General’s Award winner Normand Chaurette, author of 12 plays and numerous translations from Shakespeare and other classics. The translation into English is by Linda Gaboriau.
Canadian Literature Reviews describes The Queens as “the mirror image of Shakespeare’s War of the Roses tragedies, with only the female characters jockeying for power onstage. This mirror, however, is a distorting glass. The castle in which the queens clash is more like Kafka’s castle . . . than the Tower, and Chaurette has stocked it full of brave and vicious conceits, delivered in blank verse.”
The Queens opens Dec. 7, in the Cazalet Studio on the Loyola Campus, and runs until Dec. 17. For ticket prices, which are modest, and other information, please call the box office, at (514) 848-2424, ext. 4742.
Ted Phillips Vocal Ensemble
Kimberly Adams, Assistant to the Chair, Electrical and Computer Engineering, is the soloist and co-founder of the Ted Phillips Vocal Ensemble. Phillips is a longtime local jazz musician, a former student of Wray Downes, and an alumnus.
The ensemble, which interprets jazz, blues, gospel, Latin, and calypso, has 20 singers and five instrumentalists, including some with Concordia connections. They are pressenting a concert on Saturday, Dec. 9, at the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall.
Down the rabbit hole
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, a stage version of the Lewis Carroll classic, is a scrumptious holiday treat for young fans of Geordie Productions. The adaptation is by Theatre teacher Harry Standjofski, and the production includes the active parti-cipation of Concordia’s Theatre Department.
Precocious young Alice stumbles down a rabbit hole one lazy summer afternoon and meets a cast of wacky and beloved characters. Recommended for ages 6 to 106, the production is only one hour long.
The remaining performances are Saturday, Dec. 9, and Sunday, Dec. 10, at 1 and 3 p.m., in the D.B. Clarke Theatre, accessible from the lobby of the Henry F. Hall Building. Tickets are $12.50 children, $15 adults. Please call 514-845-9810 for more information.
Ignition at the Ellen
The current show at the Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery features Olga Chagaoutdinova, Esther Choi, Leigh Davis, Dil Hildebrand, Shawna McLeod, Monique Moumblow and Pall Thayer, all young, promising artists from Concordia’s Graduate Studio Arts program. Their practices include photography, video, painting, drawing and new media.
The works featured in this third annual edition of Ignition were selected by Marie-Josée Jean, director of VOX in Montreal, and Michèle Thériault. The show opens today and runs until Jan. 6. The gallery is on the main floor of the J.W. McConnell Building (LB), 1400 de Maisonneuve Blvd.
Leonard Cohen inspires fundraiser
The Quebec Association for Adult Learning (QAAL), which is based at Concordia, will sponsor an evening called the Poetry and Song of Leonard Cohen tomorrow evening, Dec. 8, at the Fraser-Hickson Institute, 4855 Kensington Ave., in NDG.
Tickets are $20 for QAAL members, $25 for others, and may be reserved by contacting 514-848-2424, ext. 2036, or qaal@alcor.concordia.ca. The proceeds will go to Dawson College for scholarships in non-violent communication training for adult educators.
Short course with klezmer
A compact graduate course in Canadian Jewish Studies and Diaspora Studies is being offered over two weeks in January.
Called Diasporic Theory and Practice: The Case of Canadian Jews, it will be taught by Richard Menkis from the University of British Columbia. He will be joined in the second week by Emmy award winner Michael Alpert, a pioneering figure in the current renaissance of East European Jewish klezmer music for over 25 years. For more information, please contact cjs@alcor.concordia.ca.