Dear Lucinda & Matt,

I am FWDing you this convesation with eDionysus.com in hopes that you will quickly update yourselves to be ready for the challenges that arts editors and critics must face in the 21st Century.

We are sick and tired of your continued reportage about meaningless corporate drivel out of Hollywood, while denying the real theatre artists in town the coverage they deserve. We have asked you again and again for answers regarding the fiasco when you got us kicked out of the Fringe Festival, and have asked you countless times to investigate corruption at the MainLine theatre. We have even provided documented evidence at our expense.

Make no mistake - the leading minds in the country are studying the documentation, and very soon the tides will turn in our favour. I suggest that the "Arts" department at the Gazette cleans up its act, and soon.

I present you with an example of how an arts editor should behave: "Sparky" at eDionysus is an example of one such role-model that you should both aspire to be more like. Others watching - take note, especially if you are trying to sell yourselves as leftist or alternative media!

Donovan King, Artistic Facilitator

Optative Theatrical Laboratories: otl.20m.com
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Subject: CAFF


Dear "sparky",

Nice work, and glad to hear that the good folks at eDionysus are finally getting serious about investigating corruption at the CAFF! You are quite right in your "diatribe" to try and get the ball rolling in terms of open communication and debate among the real theatre artists, and NOT the types who aspire to corporate success. This is the 21st century after all! It is time to bring the power back into the theatre, and that is what Optative Theatrical laboratories is trying to do. We hope eDionysus has the same mandate, coz we do not like corporate types appropriating words like FRINGE, MAD, CRAZY, DIONYSUS, etc. for their profit.

Now in terms of the documents you have, it is Edition 4 of CAR STORIES: WHAT HAVE YOU HEARD? I understand your confusion and suspicion over the meta-play, but rest assured that it is a legitimate piece of theatrical dissent, and has been nominated for the prestigious Simionovitch Prize in Theatre - Playwrighting (see siminovitchprize.com for more details.)

The meta-play contains an abundant amount of information for any theatrical journalist to investigate, including questions that have remained unansered and contact details for anyone you might wish to interview. From our phone conversation, you mentioned that the CAFF was the place you wanted to begin.

We advise that you get up to date with our latest edition of the meta-play, but we have no $$$ to get it out. If interested, a cheque for $30 to Optative Theatrical Laboratories will cover printing and shipping. The latest Edition covers our attempts at subverting the Montreal Fringe Festival, plus lots more on the corruption within CAFF.

Failing this, why not contact McEwen in Toronto and ask him why he refused to investigate several breaches of the CAFF mandate by MainLine theatre in Montreal. These include Articles 1,2,3,and 4 - in other words, ALL ARTICLES. Our artists were actually barred for a second year in a row from entering the festival and seeing shows within it (many of which were by our friends.)

There is little point in having a mandate if it is not followed and if there is no mechanism to ensure accountability. This is clearly the case with the CAFF, and we are dedicated to its undoing over the next year. We have promised a media war of unprecedented proportions, and hope eDionysus is the first organisation to tackle the issues. Other media aware of the situation include: THIS Magazine, Globe & Mail, all anglo media in Montreal, and various international theatrical publications.

Please feel free to contact me any time if you have any questions at 842-1467. I hope all is well in TO, and if I do make it out there later this summer, I'll be sure to hook up with you, Sparky!

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You can call me Sparky!

A diatribe starting conversations about the arts that needs to be started...

Recently, a friend forwarded me an article. The article was written by Richard Ouzounian, THEATRE CRITIC (for the Toronto Star). The article had with it a note expressing the sender's disapproval of Mr. Ouzounian's point of view. I would like to discuss this article and in doing so discuss the state of the theatre scene in Toronto and from there the world!

Click here to read the article for yourselves, then press the back button on your browser and let us discuss this.

I'll wait here.
Tumtudutumdududutumtumdudud…ready?

How did you like his point of view? Is there anything that you need to tell the Toronto theatre world about the arts? Has this self-deprecation finally gone on long enough? I am but a simple theatrical of no great renown who has chosen to plant his flag here in Toronto. But, you can call me Sparky (and I kinda wish you would) for I wish to be a spark that will light a fire to the complacency of the Toronto theatre scene. eDionysus does have a purpose and a vision. We plan to bring the arts of the World together in an Agora of creative and expressive thought. This vision is unique and new as a canadian artistic thought (although based in the Greek concept of artistic discussion and exchange). We are starting our journey within the Toronto Arts Community. It is important for everyone in the arts community in Toronto to share their thoughts opinions and ideas so that the spark can become a flame that will consume us all with creative fulfilment!

(Pause. Composure)

As for you Mr. Ouzounian, I thank you. I thank you because you have brought something up within the confusion of your observations that does deserve to be discussed (and discuss it we shall). However, I would like to remind you that you are a critic and therefore serve a purpose. You served this purpose when you instilled me with the desire to jump on the nearest bus and run to the theatres in Chicago. I will do this. For this reason you have succeeded in your article. If your article was to glorify the Chicago theatre scene, it was wonderfully done. But we both know that your article was not just that. You stepped over the line, did you not? You know that you did. A critic is an observer that must watch the arts scene and not affect it. When you decided to comment on the state of the theatre scene in Toronto and implied that we should change (without by the way offering any suggestions as to how we could do this, perhaps because you do not possess any) to mirror Chicago you placed yourself in a creative role. This is not necessarily something that you should not do, but quite simply something that you are not qualified to do. Let us, the artists create and you can then come and criticise our creations. I would still like to thank you, however because you are correct in one very important point, artists must be bold and adventurous. To the eye of the critic, there seems to be no through-line in the Toronto theatre scene and that makes Toronto a cold city to perform in. There's a wealth of art in Toronto, hidden behind the Coffee Time and up beside the subway door, but like the citizens of Babel we don't speak to each other as our eyes are fixed on the heavens. Toronto is a city of money and ambition which is not helpful to art. It is high time that Toronto realised that the arts are akin to a faith. The Arts must be treated with reverence and respect. Artists cannot be artists alone. Artists cannot be bold and adventurous without the support of the entire Arts Community. And most importantly like in any membership, artists must congregate to better serve the people with the entertainment and the enlightenment of their art.

Art serves a purpose that the world has forgotten. We live in an instantaneous society that has let itself lose its soul. It is for us, the artists, to remind the world that Theatre and Dance, Music and Sculpture, Clown and Tragedy all allow our minds to expand and push themselves closer to the gods.

Since the sixties, an aberration has occurred in North-American Art. The line between artist and audience has been blurred when "modern" artists decided to mock convention. This seemed revolutionary at the time but all it did was leave art helpless for the corporate machine to swoop down and consume it. This marketing of art has made the true artists lose their connection to one another. A long time ago, at the dawn of the philosophical age, when the arts were moulded from the fire of ancient beliefs into a sacrifice of ritual and experience, there was a spark to ignite us all into flames. The flames were for the audience but the spark was mysterious and terrifying. This spark was Art and only the sacred could own it. The performance, the flame, the final product was for all. Today Art is for everyone and everyone can be an artist. Well how disgustingly modern!

I believe that the performance and creation of Art is something of a membership. Not a membership to which you pay your dues but rather one to which you prove your dues. The first theatre was a temple. Everyone is equal and free to worship in a temple, but only those who choose to devote their lives to the religion can become priests. Only those who choose to pass the trials of the sacred can become leaders of the temple. The same is true for performers, writers, composers, choreographers and the entire initiate of the realm of theatre. We must maintain the arts community. The membership should simply be a choice. We must then remember that we have taken this choice. We have become the sacrifice of theatre, we have chosen the life of the artist. We are not in the business of theatre; we are in the life of theatre. We cannot cry out for funding and for support from politicians and executives, they are not initiates. They have no reason or understanding of the mysteries. When we cater to government and merchants our art becomes suspect. But then again, our temples have fallen into a state of disrepair. The followers are sitting in the temple but all the priestesses are blind and all the lights are out. The followers are sitting in the temple but all the priests are mute and the books are closed. The followers are sitting in the temple but all the acolytes are deaf and the organ has no strings.

I would like to activate my spark! I would like to open eDionysus to the discussion of Art.

Would it not be wonderful if instead of being constant observers, we here in Canada became true innovators? Wouldn't it be great if we chose to transform the world of theatre instead of constantly watching what other worlds are doing and then try to imitate them? My suggestion is simple. Let art be the basis for art. First, we must all communicate together. Let this site be the Podium on which all artists of all different states of renown discuss among themselves the mysteries and the possibilities of Theatre! Instead of all acting on our own, begging for government support and for corporate sponsors. Let us realise the hypocrisy and the dangers of those independent and selfish pursuits. The main problem that we have in all theatres is the same (we all know what it is, but we are afraid to say it): Not enough people are coming to our theatres. The people are constantly guilted and mocked by critics like Ouzounian into enjoying theatre. The Canadian cultural types tell people that it is their duty to support their local theatres. As if we in the theatres were crippled and needing of support. Theatre is not an obligation, ti is a need. And we have simply accepted that some people just don't like theatre. But don't you realise? It is not right to blame the audience for their absence. Do not blame the followers if your faith is lacking. And as in my earlier analogy, the audience is there. They are sitting quietly in the dark. They have paid there ticket and need are services. It is we, who do not wish to bring up the lights, open our books and attach our strings.

Theatre has been raped and marketed into a beast of glossy emptiness. Disney has enslaved our priestess and parades her in the streets like an animal! But don't you see? When people rush to the Lion King and Mamma Mia, they are crying for theatre! When people see the Phantom twelve times and Cats even more than that! They are looking for theatre! When people sit in dark, cold and lifeless movie theatres, they have realised that we have abandoned them. Theatre is an art and art is sacred. The moneymakers and financiers have nothing to do with the sacred. The corporate world must depart from the theatre. They are heretics!

And what concerns us artists the most is that we are to blame for the departure of the people from our theatres. We do not want them there. We have started preaching to each other instead of preaching to them. We create and perform theatre for theatricals. We invent new ways of playing and gallivanting on stage without any real reason. We chose plays out of our desire to perform them and not out of the need for the people to see them. The process has become more important than the performance and that is ridiculous! We are selfish and over indulgent, performing plays that titillate our artistic sensibilities. Theatre is first of all entertainment and then it must elevate, it must create a ritual within the mind of the audience. Theatre is alive. It is not a film. It is not a corpse lying on an old vaudeville house floor. It is an experience that must be a discovery of what it means to be alive! All artists know this to be truth. All artists know that art is not for them; it is by them and for the peoples of the world.

I will offer suggestions. I will offer ideas. This column will be ongoing and I ask that everyone reading this who is a priest in the temple, join me in discussion. I ask that ideas be shared to restore the arts to its rightful owner, the artists. I ask that all artists who are stifling their art within their dank basement for their own perverted purposes bring it out and share it with eDionysus. We will regain our flock as long as we can find our way. We must light the wicks of the candles and for this we must see each other. We must open the pages of the books and for this we must find our true voice. We must repair the strings in our organ and for this we must open our ears to the world. Theatre is not a game. Theatre is not a product. Theatre is not a secret. Theatre is a public ritual and we have been placed on this earth to perform it for the peoples of the world.

Antoine D de M.

Send me your thoughts at  sparky@edionysus.com and we can discuss it further.

Look back over the next few weeks for four more in depth exposés on some of the most important elements of the Toronto theatre scene