Living Room Theatre Decorates the Night with New Works by Quirky Artists I remember meeting We're From Out West, a threesome of musicians from Alberta, at a NEST Magazine party a couple of years ago. The men in the band were very clearly artistically ambitious and I didn't understand quite what I was listening to but I liked what I was being asked to experience: An ambience, a seance, maybe, perfumed with the earnest, new and raw writing of three generous and skilled artists. It might not have been done, but it was certainly being done in the moment, as I watched. After sitting down with Thomas McKechnie, the bass guitarist of the band (who was trying to convince me that if I should ever want to join a band, I should just learn the bass guitar because you "don't really do anything but you look really awesome and then you're in a band") I realized that this band is quite literally and impressively a "band", a tiny little performing unit of people bound buy their work and their vehemence for performance, a tiny tribe of artists who live together and work together in a theatre company called Living Room Theatre. It was then that I learned about New Art Night, a series of evenings once or twice a year in Toronto where artists gather to display what they're working on, in whatever format, as a means of contributing to an up-and-coming performing arts scene. The event was created by the founders of Living Room Theatre. Alexi Pedneault, Jesse Byiers and Thomas McKechnie, three gentleman who hail from Alberta and have come to Toronto to perplex and amaze us with their love for expression. With New Art Night, Living Room Theatre has compiled a performance format wherein, much like my experience of their band, the audience barely has time to judge or estimate what we are watching. All we have time to do is participate. You can ask questions later as artists co-mingle in the Post-New Art Night bliss of hey-we're-artists-and-we-just-tried-something-new-and-now-we're-filled-with-joy just because amongst one another's strange ideas. It's absolutely a place for people who love zygomatic, in the rough, polishing, polishing, getting there, getting there, types of gold arty nuggets. Living Room Theatre has created a space for Artists to come together and collect ourselves. It's a home for any artist especially if your ideal home includes an orgy of investigation and a very sweet nod towards our right to participate in opportunities of shameless love for our process. This year, New Art Night will feature the works of an astounding array of local artists including (our very own and very dear) Kyle Capstick, Lily Tarba, Kelsey Goldberg, Daniel Karasik, Alexandra Simpson and plenty more. The event will take place in the relentlessly cool Videofag in Kensington Market. You will meet strange people. They will meet you. Go have a look. Get inspired. Art a little bit.
CHECK IT OUT New Art Night takes place June 21-23 at Videofag in Toronto. For all details check out the Facebook event page.
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