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Subverting the corporate Fringe® Festival...

Donovan King | 12.06.2002 22:00

Learn how theatricians and activists are subverting the corporate Fringe® Festival run by MainLine Theatre in Montreal, Canada. Optative Theatrical Laboratories, an anti-g8 activist group, is attacking the global problem on a small scale as a demonstration. Unfortunately the "fringe" Producers have a long history of defrauding artists, and this is the year they are finally being called on it. JOIN THE FUN! NO MORE CORPORATE BS!!! It's time to REINVENT THE FRINGE!!!

Subverting the corporate Fringe® Festival...
Subverting the corporate Fringe® Festival...


Optative Theatrical Laboratories is an international agit-prop theatre collective that explores, creates, and practices theatrical theory. By radically challenging theatrical norms and attempting to retool standard and outdated practices, this is truly a global Theatre of the 21st Century. Offices currently exist in Montréal, Calgary, Copenhagen, Auckland, London, and New York.

OTL’s mandate is to theatrically challenge oppressive power structures and hegemonic thought-patterns. By using performance as a tool, hierarchical institutions and unscrupulous individuals are forced to Reflect and hopefully change for the betterment of humanity and themselves. Some of our members include theatricians, fools, tricksters, culture jammers, activists, performance artists, entartistes, satirists, mavericks, scholars, ballot-eaters, postmodernists, street reclaimers, raging grannies, radical cheerleaders, semioticians, anti-globalization demonstrators, and the disillusioned from all walks of life. Drawing upon traditional folly, but appearing in our disenchanted post-modern society, the concept of The Fool is resurrected, challenging and satirizing oppressors in order to cause reflection on their positions, attitudes, and worldviews. We attempt to activize the theatricians and theatricalize the activists.

Our targets have thus far included corporate entities such as Banks, Politicians, the WTO and other trade organizations, Universities, Media, Industry, Producers, and yes…even the disturbingly corporate Fringe® Festival.

This summer we welcome all players to join us in CAR STORIES '02 - you can join the play at any time! We will also be conducting agit-prop theatre against the corporate festival, and will attempt to activize the defrauded artists. By demanding an end to the corruption, we hope the Fringe can regain its integrity of yesteryear.

At OTL ANYONE CAN PLAY. Please visit us on the web at otl.20m.com where we facilitate Internet Theatre and Global Invisible Theatre. OTL is always available for collaboration in regards to provocative theatricals.



O.T.L.
theatrically challenging hegemonic thought-patterns and oppressive systems

Donovan King
- e-mail: optatif@excite.com
- Homepage: otl.20m.com