We are proud to announce the launch of a multi-phase community engagement project at the Scarborough Historical Museum. As part of the Toronto Arts Council 2014 program to Animate Historic Sites Keystone Theatre has been engaged to bring our distinct silent film inspired genre of physical theatre to this unique location in the heart of Scarborough.

Not only a beautifully preserved pioneer homestead, the Scarborough Historical Museum is also a leader in youth engagement in their community. They boast a strong roster of Youth Volunteers who come from diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. Many of the Youth are new Canadians and come from homes where English is not the primary spoken language. With this audience in mind Keystone Theatre has envisioned a project blending visual arts, music, theatre as well as history that will engage and challenge the Youth Volunteers. There are several distinct aspects to the project that are happening concurrently at the museum every weekend through April, May and June:

1. Physical Theatre Workshops – We are hosting a variety of workshops in different aspects of physical theatre; Character Creation, Stage Combat, Clown, Improv, Slapstick and Commedia are all in the mix.

2. Set Design – Partnering with The inPrint Collective – a group of artists who specialize in printmaking – members of the Youth Volunteer Team will use traditional printmaking methods to create seven different sets our newest play Gold Fever which will be offered as a FREE public performance onsite at the museum Sunday, June 15th.

3. New Play Creation – We have formed a Young Company who are creating a short silent film inspired piece that will be performed for the public as a “Curtain Riser” for Gold Fever on June 15th and then will be performed throughout the summer at the museum as a stand-alone piece.

4. Professional Theatre Internship – One member of the Young Company has been invited to perform their original piece as the “Curtain Riser” for Gold Fever at the Toronto Fringe July 2nd – 13th. She will also take on a small role in Gold Fever. Christol Bryan is a long time Youth Volunteer who is now in the Devised Theatre Program at York University and this will be a great addition to her creative CV.

Summer is here, so come out to the Scarborough Town Museum and watch us perform in and around their beautiful historic buildings!

More info at: https://twitter.com/ScarbMuseum/media

This project is made possible thanks to the generous support of:

Award winning Keystone Theatre invites you to Put on your Fancy Pants and join them for An Evening of Musical Mayhem and Vaudevillian Shenanigans in support of their ongoing theatrical pursuits.

ONE NIGHT ONLY!!

Sunday, March 23rd
7:30pm
(doors open at 6:30pm)
The Wychwood Theatre
76 Wychwood Avenue

Tickets
$40
($28 students/arts workers)

www.artsboxoffice.ca
416-504-7529

This unique evening of cabaret style entertainment brings together some of Canada’s most amazing musical theatre performers FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY!!

Performers Include:

• Adam Brazier – Rocky Horror Picture Show – CanStage
• Mark Cassius – The Musical of Musicals – Mirvish
• Lisa Horner – Les Miserables – Mirvish
• Jeff Madden – Jersey Boys – DanCap
• Rebecca Perry – Songbook Series – Theatre Passe Muraille
• Sarah Strange – Tweed: A New Musical – IANA Theatre Company
• Michael Therriault – Fiddler on the Roof – Broadway
• Jennifer Waiser – The Pirate Queen – Broadway
• Alison Smyth - The Jersey Boys – DanCap

Musical Accompaniment by:

• David Atkinson – London Road – CanStage

Hosted by Canadian Comedy Award winner Chris Gibbs this evening will combine fabulous musical performances with Keystone Theatre’s iconic silent film inspired performance style and even a silent film with live accompaniment.  There will be an opportunity to mix and mingle with the performers while enjoying nibbles, a cash bar and perusing the silent auction.

Keystone Theatre is an independent theatre company dedicated to creating new and original plays in the style of silent film. www.keystonetheatre.net

Last month, Keystone Theatre visited Max the Mutt, College of Animation, Art and Design and posed for some character drawing, with characters from The Last Man on Earth.

One of the students, Nick Kester, was good enough to share some of his sketches from the afternoon with us, and we’re excited to share them with you.

Heather and Wayne contributed to our IndieGoGo campaign, Give Keystone Theatre for the Holidays. If you want a nice “thank you” from a character from Keystone’s The Last Man on Earth, you all you have to do is contribute.

We’re announcing a contest in support of our current IndieGoGo campaign. Starting today we’re asking you to share our campaign with your network, and we have prizes for the people who get the most people to check out our campaign.

To the person who gets the most people to visit to our indieGoGo campaign, we’ll give a Keystone Theatre gift bag, containing:
– 1 “Sigh” pin
– 1 5-pack of greeting cards,
– 1 Keystone Theatre calendar
– 1 “Sigh” mug

But that’s not all! To the person who’s visitors donate the most money to our campaign, we’ll give you:
– 1 “Sigh” pin
– 1 5-pack of greeting cards,
– 1 Keystone Theatre calendar
– 1 “Sigh” mug
– 1 “Sigh” T-shirt
– 2 tickets to the performance of your choice (subject to availability) of The Last Man on Earth in April 2014

Here’s how to participate: Login or create an account at http://www.indiegogo.com, then go to our campaign Give Keystone Theatre for the Holidays. Directly under our intro video, you’ll see the indieGoGo sharing tools. They look like this:

Copy the link beside Share This Campaign, and use it to share on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, your blog, or where ever. If you are logged into IndieGoGo when you get the link, we will be able to see how many people you bring to our campaign, and how much money the people you’ve brought our way have donated. Remember: you have to be logged in when you get that link for us to see this.

Contest closes December 7th, 2013.

Dana and Sarah Joy testing out the “canoe” for Keystone’s new silent film play, “Gold Fever”.

Phil Rickaby, originator of the Last Man on Earth’s Gormless Joe, shares his thoughts on The Artist, having finally seen the film on the eve of its Oscar triumph.

I supppse that if I hadn’t watched as much silent film in the last seven years as I have, then The Artist would definitely have blown my mind.  I think I would have been surprised by how much can be conveyed without words, how deep a story that can be told, when the actors have to express what they are saying through non-verbal means.  As Amanda pointed out, there’s a joy in The Artist, and an engagement with the audience as they invest themselves in the creation of the story and the characters.

Read the full post here.