With original scores by either Richard McDowell or David Rhymer and choreography by Denise Clarke, One Yellow Rabbit's seamless integration of sound and movement has been one of the unique strengths of the company over it's 26 year history.
There are 78 audio files available.
Click on a show and choose a track.
One Yellow Rabbit began performing 26 years ago, long before it became as easy as it is today to record and archive digital media. Many of our early shows were either not documented or were recorded on now outdated equipment but we've done our best to dig back through the existing archives to find video good enough to compress into web movies.
We are in the process of reconstructing the archives using larger and better formatted videos. There are currently 14 different One Yellow Rabbit productions available and more on the way. Enjoy!
An unlikely trio threads through the misty outskirts of Tokyo, stocking up on vodka and briquettes for their final ride. Equal parts mystery and love story, Kawasaki Exit is inspired by the real-life dark side of Japanese social networking sites. This highlyt original new play is performed in English and Japanese by the award-winning One Yellow Rabbit Ensemble.
- Written by: Blake Brooker with translation by Manami Hara.
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Staging: Denise Clarke
- Lighting design: Sandi Somers
- Sound design: Richard McDowell
- Technical director: Fiona Kennedy
- World Premiere: January 19-23, 2010
Featuring
- Denise Clarke
- Andy Curtis
- Patrick MacEachern
Adapted and performed by the One Yellow Rabbit Performing Ensemble
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Staging: Denise Clarke
- Original Music: Richard McDowell
- Production Manager/Lighting Design: Scott Baier
- Production Coordinator: Fiona Kennedy
- World Premiere: January 27-31, 2009
Featuring
- Denise Clarke
- Andy Curtis
- Michael Green
Gilgamesh: the world’s oldest epic, already ancient by the time of Christ, earlier than–and vastly different from–any other great myth we know. Think of it as the first-ever buddy movie over 4,000 years before movies were invented. Gilgamesh La-Z-Boy is One Yellow Rabbit’s re-telling of the story, a modern interpretation unlike any other.
Gilgamesh: the son of a goddess, born a hero and a king, god-ruler of the Sumerian city Uruk, located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is now Iraq. He is unconquerable, strong beyond all others and beloved by his armies. But also tyrannical, childish, selfish, ruthless, and bored.
Meet Enkidu: wild-man, half beast, sent by the gods to terrorize the countryside and chastise Gilgamesh–that is, until the two become fast friends, together undertaking a lethal quest in search of immortality. It is a tale of snarling demons, giant divine bulls, serpents and devastatingly seductive priestesses. But most of all, it is a moving and celebratory story about what it means to live a good life, the nature of happiness, friendship, and of men learning to be, above all else, human.
High-society party poets, with passions as fiery as their verse.
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Assistant Director: David Van Belle
- Staging: Denise Clarke
- Sound Design: Richard McDowell
- Production Manager/Lighting Design: Scott Baier
- Production Coordinator: Fiona Kennedy
- Stage Manager: Gina Puntil
Featuring
- Denise Clarke – Anne Sexton
- Andy Curtis – Kayo Sexton
- Onalea Gilbertson – Sylvia Plath
- Michael Green – Ted Hughes
Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton, two of the 20th century’s most prolific and complex literary figures, are inexorably linked, as much by their mutual zeal for life as by their infamous deaths.
They met in a poetry class, but their friendship flared over martinis at the Ritz, where they spilled stories of psychiatry and suicide, delighting in a mutual disdain for taboo. Their insatiable appetites, sexual and intellectual, defied strait-jacketed social norms and their prescribed roles as mothers and wives. Together, their writing sparked a revolution in American poetry, bringing personal confession to the forefront of verse by pounding frustration and turmoil onto typewritten pages.
In their newest original work, the award-winning One Yellow Rabbit Performing Ensemble invites audiences on a voyeuristic journey to another era, where cocktails are swilled and conflicted souls are expressed in a cathartic torrent of ink and emotion. Using the text of Plath and Sexton as a springboard, they tackle themes of power, madness, extinction and survival, presenting poetry as it should be: fierce, fervent and devastating.
Entering the tower of my fears,
I shut my door on that dark guilt,
I bolt the door, each door I bolt.
Blood quickens, gonging in my ears:
The panther’s tread is on the stairs,
Coming up and up the stairs.
- Sylvia Plath, from “Pursuit”
Performances
High performance Rodeo - Vertigo Playhouse Theatre - Calgary,
Alberta: January 8-12, 2008
Young Centre for the Performing Arts - Toronto: December, 2008
One Yellow Rabbit and Rheostatics
Five Hole: Tales of Hockey Erotica
- Written by Dave Bidini
- Adapted for the stage by Dave Bidini and Blake Brooker
- Directed by Blake Brooker
- Original music by Rheostatics
- Performed by the One Yellow Rabbit Ensemble and Rheostatics
- Staged by Denise Clarke
- Sound Design by Richard McDowell
- January 4-6, 2007: 7:30 pm nightly
- In the Martha Cohen Theatre at the EPCOR CENTRE for the Performing Arts
Five hole (n.):
1. The space between a goalie's legs.
2. A new show that brings Canada's two favourite pastimes-hockey and sex-together at last on one rollicking theatre stage.
As exhilarating as winning game seven, more off-the-wall than Don Cherry's fashion sense, and naughty enough to draw a five-minute major: Five Hole presents a suite of engrossing, tender and hilarious erotic stories about the steamy underbelly of our national sport.
About Rheostatics
For more than two decades Rheostatics have mapped new frontiers across Canada, embracing the nation that bore them and reinterpreting its sea-to-shining-sea grandeur in music of startling variety and indisputable beauty. Lead by stalwarts Dave Bidini and Martin Tielli, their music has been described variously as "prog-rock," "art-rock," "orchestral psychedelia" and "a loosely organized cacophony of sound," all of which reveal the frustrating limits of language.
About Dave Bidini
A master storyteller, Rheostatic Dave Bidini lifts the hockey story to the level of modern Canadian folklore. He has become popular in recent years as one of Canada's best known authors, having published several books including two critically acclaimed volumes on hockey culture, including Tropic of Hockey and The Best Game You Can Name (McClelland & Stewart).
Performances
Martha Cohen Theatre - Calgary,
Alberta: January 4-6, 2007
Canadian tour - February and March, 2009: Calgar, Whitehorse, Ottawa, Kingston, St. Catherines, Kitchener, Brampton.
- Written and Directed by Blake Brooker
- Staged by Denise Clarke
- Sound by Richard McDowell
- Assistant directed by: David van Belle
- Production manager: Ian Wilson
- House technician: Chipp Robb
- Produced by: Stephen Schroeder
Synopsis
He only owns one suit, but it's a tuxedo!
One Yellow Rabbit's new comedy, Down With Up With People, takes you deep inside the untold story of Anthony Curtola, known to thousands of tipsy Calgarians as the smarmy host of the Big Rock Eddies.
But who is the real Anthony Curtola? Mr. Nude Medicine Hat 1978? Love child of Keith Richards and David Niven? Or reject from Up With People, that troupe of clean-cut, dancing teens whose saccharine theme song told us to like everyone? ("Up, up with people! You meet them wherever you go...")
Featuring
- Andy Curtis as Anthony Curtola
- Denise Clarke
- Onalea Gilbertson
- Kyrsten Blair
Performances
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary, Alberta: September 20 - October 7, 2006
- Written by: Blake Brooker and the ensemble
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Assistant directed by: David van Belle
- Sound design by: Richard McDowell
- Production manager: Ian Wilson
- House technician: Chipp Robb
- Produced by: Stephen Schroeder
Synopsis
Hayride is a thought provoking comedy by, for and about grown-ups coming of (middle) age and for those who yearn to understand them.
Bearded God, bus maintenance through prayer, Logan's Run, what to do on your night sea journey, Walt Whitman, heavy petting, the mysteries of plasticine, Changes.
Featuring
Performances
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary, Alberta: April 18 - May 6, 2006
- Written by: Denise Clarke
- Directed by: Denise Clarke
- Lighting by: Blake Brooker
- Choreography/Staging: Denise Clarke
- Video Editing : Richard McDowell
- Stage management: David van Belle
A Fabulous Disaster made it's Calgary Premiere on September 13, 2005 at The Big Secret Theatre.
Synopsis
A Fabulous Disaster is Denise Clarke’s newest signature dance/drama about one seemingly hopeless person’s bravery in the face of the obvious disaster around her and the quiet one in her heart. Strange, beautiful and funny, the show toils with love, jealously, loneliness, acceptance and brilliant stupidity. Clarke brings sharp observation and glorious physical response together in an original piece drawing on all things opposite.
Featuring
- Denise Clarke
Performances
Ruby Slippers Theatre and The Firehall Arts Centre: November, 2004World Stage: Flying Solo Festival in Toronto: May, 2005
An international collaboration by One Yellow Rabbit, Het Huis van Bourgondië and Hebbel am Ufer commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the Liberation of Holland.
Sixty years on, three modern theatre companies explore a defining moment in World War II in a unique collaboration.
Any Canadian traveller who has spent time in Holland knows that the Dutch hold a persistently high regard for our nation. The reason is that in the final year of WWII, some 7,000 Canadian soldiers lost their lives there in a series of large set-piece battles and vicious house-to-house fighting that was largely instrumental in liberating the country from Nazi occupation.
Now, three theatre companies - one Canadian, one Dutch and one German - mark the 60th anniversary of this turning point in their collective histories with a unique trans-Atlantic collaboration. Their rules of engagement: to create a triptych of short pieces, fused together into one tri-national work of theatre. Calgary's One Yellow Rabbit, Berlin's Hebbel am Ufer, and Het Huis van Bourgondië of Maastricht, Netherlands, will each present a section of the triptych, exploring the liberation from their own particular national viewpoint. One Yellow Rabbit's Blake Brooker will direct the Canadian portion; celebrated director Hans Werner Kroesinger will take the reins of the German section; and Feico Sobel, one of Holland's brightest young directors, leads the Dutch piece.
Friction's (contribution to the triptych)
- Featuring: David van Belle, Andy Curtis, Michael Green and Brad Payne
- Created by: The Cast
- Direction and Lighting by: Blake Brooker
- Sound Design: Richard McDowell
- Managing Producer: Stephen Schroeder
Performances
Calgary at the Big Secret Theatre - January 4 - 8, 2005Amsterdam at Theatre FRASCATI - May 4 - 7, 2005
Berlin at HEBBEL AM UFER's HAU 3 - May 10 & 11, 2005
Maastricht at HUIS VAN BOURGONDIE - May 13 - 18, 2005
- Written and directed by: Blake Brooker
- Assistant directed by: David van Belle
- Sound design by: Richard McDowell
- Foley artist: Ute Schaffland
- Production manager: Ian Wilson
- House technician: Frank Gallant
- Produced by: Stephen Schroeder (One Yellow Rabbit) and Allan Boss (for CBC)
CBC Radio Arts & Entertainment
- Executive Producer Damiano Pietropaolo CBC
- Radio Arts & Entertainment Department Head James Roy
- Sound Engineers (CBC) Bob Doble and Tory Meyer
Featuring
- Allan Boss
- Denise Clarke
- Andy Curtis
- Onalea Gilbertson
- Brad Payne
Performances
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary, Alberta: January 7 - 10, 2004
- Written by: Denise Clarke
- Produced by: Stephen Schroeder
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Choreography/Staging: Denise Clarke
- Lighting design by: Blake Brooker
- Assistant to the director: Mitch Craib
- Sound Design: Richard McDowell
- Visual design: Chris Cran
- Production manager: Ian Wilson
Synopsis
Heavens to Murgatroid! You're on your way to a posh shindig at the Calgary Marriot Hotel when your guardian angel turns his head for a second, and - wham! - You're pavement pizza. Now you're standing before judgment at the Pearly Gates, wearing nothing but a few fluffy clouds. That's a sweet deal if you're Mother Theresa or Ned Flanders. Not so hot if you're one of the all-too-recognizable sinners in Denise Clarke's new comedy. This is the last test and heavens to murgatroid it's gonna be comic...no cheat sheets allowed.
Featuring
- Denise Clarke
- Andy Curtis
- David van Belle
- Onalea Gilbertson
- Brad Payne
Performances
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary, Alberta: March 9 - 27, 2004
- Written by: Blake Brooker and David Rhymer
- Produced by: Stephen Schroeder
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Choreography/Staging: Denise Clarke
- Lighting design by: Cimmeron Meyer
- Assistant to the director: David van Belle
- Composition: D. Rhymer, J. Lewis, R. McDowell, P. Moller
- Musical direction: Richard McDowell
- Visual design and images: Chris Cran
- Production manager: Cimmeron Meyer
Synopsis
One Yellow Rabbit paints a hallucinogenic chronicle of the American Beat movement, including William S. Burroughs and his Canadian mentor Brion Gysin. At the centre of the 1950s Beat circle, Burroughs and Gysin worked tirelessly to build the enigmatic Dream Machine, a device that used flickering light to alter brain waves and plunge the user into a waking dream state, free from the influences of advertising and mass culture. An exploration of their iconoclastic aesthetic and context forms the basis of One Yellow Rabbit's unconventional musical inspired by this group of notoriously wild outsiders, whose spiritual and artistic quest changed popular culture forever.
Blending live and electronic music, haunting visuals and One Yellow Rabbit's trademark physicality, Dream Machine is a radical departure from both the traditional theatre musical and the conventional bio pic.
Featuring
The Maverick Think Tank
- Denise Clarke
- Andy Curtis
- Michael Green
- Onalea Gilbertson
- Brad Payne
The Band
- Jonathan Lewis - Violin and bass
- Richard McDowell - Audio treatments
- Peter Moller - Percussion
- David Rhymer - Piano, synthesizer
Performances
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary, Alberta: January 4 - 19, 2002 (cabaret version)Theatre Passe Muraille - Toronto, Ontario: Six Stages Festival - Feb. 5 - 9, 2003
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary, Alberta: February 26 - March 15, 2003
Theatre Passe Muraille - Toronto, Ontario: - March 3 to 20, 2005
- Written and performed by: Denise Clarke
- Choreography: Denise Clarke
- Sound design: Denise Clarke
- Lighting design: Denise Clarke and Gavin Shaw
- Technical director: Gavin Shaw
Synopsis
Clarke's witty choreography has enlivened productions for years. But it's when she's on her own - with no left-footed actors or inflexible script demands to get in the way - that she really gets to cut loose. Clarke does just that in Sign Language, using a "dance salon" motif to open up a two-way communication with the audience.
Featuring
- Denise Clarke as herself.
Performances
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary,
Alberta - November 13 - 24, 2001
Firehouse Theatre - Vancouver, B.C. - 2003
- Written by: Denise Clarke
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Assistant to the director: Ken Cameron (Calgary) & David van Belle (Victoria)
- Visiting Director: Mercedes Baines
- Intern Director: David van Belle (Calgary)
- Lighting design: Blake Brooker and Cimmeron Meyer
- Choreography/Staging: Denise Clarke
- Sound design and composition: Richard McDowell
- Technical director: Chris McPherson (Calgary) & Ian Wilson (Victoria)
- Produced by: Stephen Schroeder
Synopsis
What happened to Cecil and Adele Hyndman the day they received a new tenant in their bird sanctuary/research farm/roadside attraction called Featherland, was to fascinate and obsess them for the next twenty four years. Susan was the most beautiful golden eagle they had ever seen and they fell in love... no... they really fell in love. Forty years later, a nature writer named Bill Burns, delirious with avian virus, investigates as their breathtaking love story unfolds before his eyes. A tender poem/play of jealousy and passion between a man, a woman and a golden eagle.
Quotes from the author Bill Burns
"A book can create a world, but it's always an interior, limited space of one's own imaginings. On the other hand, a play brings a story to life in front of you. I'd have no hesitation in telling people, if they had only one choice to see the play."
"The imaginative decision to use two female actors to play the two female eagles was daring, the proverbial stroke of genius- potentially dangerous-but it worked perfectly, giving the eagles a voice, a sexuality and a dangerous 'edge' with their talons."
Featuring
- Denise Clarke as: Susan
- Andy Curtis as: Bill Burns
- Michael Green as: Cecil Hyndman
- Rita Bozi as: Adele Hyndman (Calgary)
- Jennifer Roberts as: Adele Hyndman (Victoria)
- Christine Bandelow as: Kluane (Calgary)
- Onalea Gilbertson as: Kluane (Victoria)
Performances
Big Secret Theatre - Calgary,
Alberta - March 13 - 31, 2001
The Belfry Theatre -
Victoria, B.C. - Feb. 22 to 27, 2005
- Written by: Blake Brooker and the cast
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Assistant to the director: Ken Cameron
- Choreography/Staging: Denise Clarke
- Lighting design by: Blake Brooker and Cimmeron Meyer
- Sound design and composition: Richard McDowell and Peter Moller
- Set design and images: Blake Brooker and Cimmeron Meyer
- Technical director: Chris McPherson
- Produced by: Stephen Schroeder
Featuring
- Denise Clarke as: Ridley
- Andy Curtis as: Ginger
- Michael Green as: Mike
- Elizabeth Stepkowski as: DeMorne
- John MaCaulay (Edinburgh, Scotland) as:
- Peter Moller as: Bike Cop
- Judd Palmer as: Lyle
- Anne-Marie Timoney (Glasgow, Scotland) as: The Captain
- Beverly Wooding as: Cherry
Performances
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary, Alberta: March 27 - April 15, 2000The History of Wild Theatre was a co-production with Edinburgh, Scotland's Traverse Theatre
- Written by: Vivienne Laxdal
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Assistant to the director: Ken Cameron
- Lighting design by: Terry Middleton
- Sound design and composition: Peter Moller
- Set design: Terry Middleton
- Technical director: Chris McPherson
Featuring
- Kira Bradley as: Lisa (15 years old)
- Andy Curtis as: Keith
- Michael Cran as: Gruber
- Laurel Lemley as: Carolyn
- Anita Miotti as: Lisa (28 years old)
- Nadja Peterson as: Glory
Performances
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary, Alberta: Nov. 24 - Dec 11, 1999
- Written by: Daniel Danis
- Translated from the French by: Linda Gaboreau
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Choreography/Staging: Denise Clarke
- Assistant to the director: Ken Cameron
- Sound design and composition: Richard McDowell
- Set and original lighting design: Terry Middleton
- Ottawa lighting design and production manager: Cimmeron Meyer
- Produced by: Stephen Schroeder
Synopsis
Daniel Danis burst on the Montreal scene in 1993 with Celle-l'à, winning the Governor-General's Award and serving notice that a new generation of avant-gardists was dans la maison. He followed that with the award winning Stone and Ashes.
Now comes Thunderstruck: When a bolt of lightning cleaves their house and kills their parents, three boys and their near-comatose sister build a haunting, surreal vision of "family."
Featuring
- Denise Clarke as: Fred James
- Andy Curtis as: William
- Michael Green as: Rock
- Elizabeth Stepkowski as: Naomi (Calgary, Edinburgh, Toronto)
- Onalea Gilbertson as: Naomi (Ottawa)
Performances
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary,
Alberta: February 23 - March 13/99
The Traverse Theatre -
Edinburgh, Scotland: August 15 - 26, 2000
The Factory
Theatre - Toronto, Ontario: November 15 - December 10, 2000
Magnetic
North Festival - Ottawa, Ontario: June 17 to 21, 2003
Winner of a Scotsman "Fringe First Award" at the 1998 Edinburgh Fringe Festival
- Written by: John Murrell
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Choreography/Staging: Denise Clarke
- Lighting design by: Blake Brooker
- Assistant to the director: Ken Cameron
- Sound design and composition: Richard McDowell
- Visual design and images: Brendan French
- Technical director: Terry Middleton
Synopsis
John Murrell's constantly surprising comedy about the impossibility of escaping one's roots.
Brenda is a U of C anthropology professor who inherits from her mentor an old house near the French Quarter in New Orleans. There's just one catch: she must continue his long-abandoned dig of a prehistoric city beside the muddy banks of the Mississippi. Along with her Canadian friends-one a self-styled expert in "found music" and the other a gay man keen on plunging into the "voodoo scene" - plus a wild assortment of locals, Brenda ends up digging into what exactly distinguishes an American from a Canadian, a black from a white, and the living from the dead.
Featuring the ensemble plus special guests Doug Curtis, Andrew Moodie and Barbara Barnes-Hopkins.
Featuring
- Denise Clarke as: Brenda
- Andy Curtis as: Lyle
- Doug Curtis
- Michael Green as: Koontz
- Elizabeth Stepkowski as: Swamp Goddess
- Barbara Barnes-Hopkins as: Yvonne
- Andrew Moodie as: Rice
Performances
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary,
Alberta: October 6 to 24, 1998
The Traverse Theatre -
Edinburgh, Scotland. August 24 to September 6, 1998
- Written by: Ty Semaka
- Adapted for the stage by: Blake Brooker
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Choreography by: Elizabeth Stepkowski (1998), Anita, Andy and Michael
- Lighting design by: Blake Brooker
- Assistant to the director: Ken Cameron
- Original music by: The Plaid Tongue Devils
- Set design and visual images: Gregg Casselman
- Technical director: Terry Middleton (1998)
- Technical director: Ian Wilson (2005)
- House Technician and sound: Tim Strong
Featuring
- The Plaid Tongue Devils
- Anita Miotti as: Lucy
- Andy Curtis as: "The Devil"
- Michael Green as: Leo and Baron von Tantamount
- Elizabeth Stepkowski as: Vladimir (1998)
- Denise Clarke as: Vladimir (2005)
- Brad Payne
Performances
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary,
Alberta: February, 1998
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary,
Alberta: May, 2005
- Written by: Blake Brooker
- Based on video and text by: Allan Harding MacKay
- Video and still images: Allan Harding MacKay
Original Production
- Directed by: Denise Clarke
- Choreography/Staging: Denise Clarke
- Lighting design by: Denise Clarke and Ralph Christoffersen
- Sound design and composition: Richard McDowell
- Set design: Ralph Christoffersen
- Technical director: Ralph Christoffersen
2nd and Touring Production
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Lighting design by: Cimmeron Meyer
- Additional video editing: Richard McDowell
Synopsis
Belet Huen, Somalia: a gun-running, drug smuggling stop between Ethiopia and Mogadishu, and home to members of the elite Canadian Airborne Regiment doing weird duty as "Canadian Peacekeepers."
Living among them was noted Canadian artist Allan Harding MacKay, who the Armed Forces had commissioned to document the humanitarian mission through painting and, most compellingly, video. Strange fate sends MacKay there just as the Canadian Military’s most infamous act – the torture and murder of a Somali teenager – begins to unfold.
Featuring
- Denise Clarke as: Critic #1
- Andy Curtis as: Critic #2
- Michael Green as: Critic # 3 and trooper Clayton Machee
- Elizabeth Stepkowski as: Critic # 4 (original production)
- Allan Harding MacKay as: himself
Performances
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary,
Alberta - Jan. 7 to 10, 1998
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary, Alberta - March, April, 2002
Six Stages Festival
Europe - Prague, Czech Republic - October, 2002
Six Stages Festival Europe - Tron Theatre, Glasgow - October, 2002
- Written by: Leonard Cohen
- Adapted for the stage and directed by: Blake Brooker
- Choreography/Staging: Denise Clarke
- Lighting design by: Blake Brooker
- Assistant to the director: Ken Cameron
- Sound design and composition: Richard McDowell
- Set design: Gregg Casselman
- Technical director: Terry Middleton
- Produced by: Grant Burns
Synopsis
"Poetry in motion" said the Globe & Mail of this multi-layered homage to the incandescent Mr. Cohen.
The ensemble reprises this play which features some 50 poems from early works like Death of a Lady's Man and The Spice Box of Earth, as well as an extended treatment of the novel Beautiful Losers. Along with its sultry yet aggressive movement, the hallucinatory stream of consciousness captures the erotic and sensual qualities of Cohen's finest poetic voice.
Put on your bell-bottoms and Greek sandals, then get set to revel in the sexy 60s as only Leonard can-and did.
Featuring
- Denise Clarke as: Leonard Cohen and Niko
- Andy Curtis as: Leonard Cohen and "F"
- Michael Green as: Leonard Cohen and "M"
- Elizabeth Stepkowski as: Leonard Cohen and Edith (Calgary, Toronto, Philadelphia, Vancouver, Glasgow)
- Rita Bozi as: Leonard Cohen and Edith (Edmonton)
- Onalea Gilbertson as: Leonard Cohen and Edith (Dartmouth, Montreal)
Performances
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary,
Alberta: February - March, 1997
The Factory Theatre -
Toronto, Ontario: October, 1998
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary,
Alberta: April, 1999
Arden Theatre - Philadelphia, PA - September, 1999
East Vancouver Cultural
Centre - Vancouver, BC - October, 1999
The Tron Theatre - Glasgow,
Scotland - August, 2000
Citadel Theatre - Edmonton, Alberta - February, 2002
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia - May, 2002
Montreal, Quebec - May, 2002
- Written by: Paul Anderson
- Adapted for the stage by: Blake Brooker and Paul Anderson
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Staging by: Denise Clarke
- Sound design and composition: Richard McDowell
- Lighting by: Blake Brooker
- Technical Direction: Ralph Christoffersen
Hunger's Brides: A Novel of the Baroque
13 years in the making - Paul Anderson's novel Hunger's Brides was published by Random House Canada in September, 2004.
Extensive information on the novel can be found on the Hunger's Brides web site.
Synopsis
Lyrical, sensuous, baroque, Hunger's Brides charts the course of a legendary obsession. A modern Canadian researcher tracks her quarry through a lost continent of voluptuous phantoms and dark hungers. Her subject, the incomparable 17th-century Mexican poet, Sister Juana Inés de la Cruz.
Nobel prize-winning poet, Octavio Paz calls Sor Juana "the greatest versifier of the Spanish language." She mastered virtually all the verse forms in use during her time. Also called America's first feminist, the Tenth Muse, Phoenix of the Americas... In short, a megastar.
Featuring
Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz played by Denise Clarke
Nobel prize-winning poet, Octavio Paz calls Sor Juana "the greatest versifier of the Spanish language." She mastered virtually all the verse forms in use during her time. Also called America's first feminist, the Tenth Muse, Phoenix of the Americas... In short, a megastar.
Both captive and weaver of her own legend. Beautiful, haughty, rebellious, controversial, haunted. A mind for the ages, though perhaps not for a baroque convent. A bride of Christ, but whose greatest passion was her voracious hunger for learning.
Beulah Limosneros played by Elizabeth Stepkowski
The protagonist of Hunger's Brides. Twentieth-century Canadian researcher, whose study of Sor Juana veers out of control. At least according to her editor, Dr. Donald Gregory. To hear him tell it, what starts out as a defence of Sor Juana against 'the Scarabs,' ends up a lurid cross between novel of ideas and tell-all biography.
Dr. Donald Gregory played by Andy Curtis
Self-appointed 'editor' of Hunger's Brides. Former professor of Literature (recently dismissed for unprofessional conduct). At loose ends.
Narrator (mostly in Spanish) as read by Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez
Occasional lecturer at the Mexico City university now housed in the ex-convent of San Jeronimo, Sor Juana's 17th-century home. Also a medical doctor, "specializing in the treatment of Sor Juanitis." She is also an antidote, largely in Spanish, to Dr. Donald Gregory, himself something of a pill.
Carlos Siguenza y Gongora played by Andy Curtis
17th-century Mexican mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, minor poet, historian, chronicler. Invited by Louis XIV to come to Versailles in the capacity of Royal Cosmographer. New Spain's leading scholar and one of few in New Spain who might have been Sor Juana's intellectual equal. Also her friend of 25 years. Composed and delivered her funeral oration, since lost.
Father Antonio Nunez de Miranda played by Michael Green
In his day, probably New Spain's second-most powerful prelate. Spiritual director to both Sor Juana and the Archbishop of Mexico, a rabid misogynist who had the tiles of his residence changed upon learning a woman had walked across them.
Sor Juana, then, with too much imagination for her own good, must confess her most intimate doubts and sins to Father Nunez -- none other than the Chief Censor for the Holy Inquisition, and possessed of a photographic memory. Today, a candidate for canonization. Beulah might propose instead a cannonade.
Antonia played by Elizabeth Stepkowski (in English)
as read by Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez (in Spanish)
Sor Juana's mulatta secretary, slave, and forger. Her echo.
Silvio
Milanese Ambassador to the court of New Spain. Sexual predator. A gamesman.
Performances
Teatro Experimental - Guadalajara
International Book Fair - 30 November and 1 December, 1996
El Octavo Dia Centro Cultural Mexico City,
Mexico - 5-8, 12-15 December, 1996
The original chapel of Sor Juana's Convent - Universidad
del Claustro Mexico City, Mexico - 10-11 December, 1996
High Performance Rodeo - Calgary, Canada - January 8 - 11, 1997
- Written by: Denise Clarke
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Choreography/Staging: Denise Clarke
- Lighting design by: Blake Brooker
- Sound design and composition: Richard McDowell
- Set design and images: Brad Struble
- Technical director: Ralph Christoffersen
The spanish language version, ¡Sola!, was performed throughout Mexico and in Nicaragua by Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez and won a handful of awards.
Synopsis
Louise is a bitch. Louise has been dumped. Louise doesn't know she has been dumped. Arriving home after a tough day dispensing pop psychology on the radio - "Mental Minutes" if you will - Louise rushes about her groovy loft preparing for her fellah Bruce to arrive and kneel at her feet asking to marry her. When she finally gets the message that he can't make it over - ever again - her self absorbed world collapses. Booze and dope help her cope in this witty dance/drama that reveals even bitches have feelings.
Featuring
- Denise Clarke as: Louise
- Bruce McCullough as: Boyfriend, telephone voice
- Joyce Doolittle as: Mother, telephone voice
Performances
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary,
Alberta
Edmonton Fringe Festival - Edmonton, Alberta
25th Street
Theatre - Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
- Written by: Blake Brooker and David Rhymer
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Choreography/Staging: Denise Clarke
- Lighting design by: Blake Brooker
- Original score: David Rhymer
- Set design: Gregg Casselman
- Technical director: Ralph Christoffersen
Featuring
- Denise Clarke as: Mata Hari
- Andy Curtis as: La Doux
- Michael Green as: Bouchardon
- Elizabeth Stepkowski as: Anna
The Orchestra:
- David Rhymer - Piano
- Jonathan Lewis - Viola, Mandolin and Accordion
- Peter Moller - Percussion
Performances
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary,
Alberta: Feb 13 - March 3, 1996
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary, Alberta: April 1 - 13, 1997
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary, Alberta: April, 1999
- Created by: Blake Brooker and Denise Clarke
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Choreography/Staging: Denise Clarke
- Lighting design by: Blake Brooker
- Sound design and composition: Richard McDowell
- Visual design and Images: Chris Cran
- Technical director: Ralph Christoffersen
Synopsis
An homage to the great playwright Edward Albee, Permission is an hour long compression ballet inspired by his great work, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. They are all there drinking, seducing, bashing away at one another in a wild dance of social and personal hell. Designed by artist Chris Cran, Permission is a kinetic jolt to the eye, the heart and the brain.
Featuring
- Denise Clarke as: Martha
- Andy Curtis as: Nick
- Michael Green as: George
- Elizabeth Stepkowski as: Honey (1996, 97)
- Lindsay Burns as: Honey (first production)
Performances
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary,
Alberta: 1995, 96 and 97
The Factory Theatre -
Toronto, Ontario: December, 1998
U. of Western Arizona - Phoenix, Arizona, USA: Nov. 96
Guadalajara International Book Fair - Guadalajara, Mexico: Nov. 96
El Octavo Dia - Mexico City: Dec. 9
- Written by: Blake Brooker and Michael Green with Lindsay Burns, Denise Clarke and Andy Curtis.
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Lighting by: Blake Brooker
- Choreography/Staging: Denise Clarke
- Sound design and composition: Richard McDowell
- Visual design and images: Brad Struble
- Technical director: Ralph Christoffersen
Featuring
- Denise Clarke as: Lois and Grace
- Andy Curtis as: Frank and Aaron
- Michael Green as: Len and Walt
- Lindsay Burns - (1st production) as: Tily and Madeline
- Elizabeth Stepkowski - (following) as: Tily and Madeline
Performances
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary,
Alberta: January, 1995
The Traverse Theatre -
Edinburgh, Scotland: October, 1995
The Tron Theatre -
Glasgow, Scotland: October, 1995
The Factory Theatre -
Toronto, Ontario: March, 1996
Arts Club -
Vancouver, B.C.: October, 1996
- Written by: Brad Fraser
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Choreography/Staging: Denise Clarke
- Lighting design by: Blake Brooker
- Electric guitars: Peter Clarke
- Assistant director: John McGroarty
- Technical director: Ian Wilson
Featuring
- Denise Clarke as: Sabina
- Andy Curtis as: Acker
- Michael Green as: Leslie
- Lindsay Burns as: Veronica
- Christopher Hunt as: Forest
- Mark McKinney as: Cole (Secret Theatre, Traverse and Tron)
- Mark Bellamy as: Cole (Uptown Theatre)
Performances
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary,
Alberta: August, 1993
Traverse Theatre -
Edinburgh Scotland: August/Sept 1993
Uptown Theatre -
Calgary Alberta: June/July, 1995
The Tron Theatre -
Glasgow, Scotland: September, 1993
- Written by: Blake and Kevin Brooker
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Choreography/Staging: Denise Clarke
- Assistant to the director: Ken Cameron
- Original composition: David Rhymer
- Visual design and images: Gregg Casselman
- Technical director: Ralph Christoffersen
Featuring
- Denise Clarke
- Andy Curtis
- Michael Green
- Elizabeth Stepkowski
Performances
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary, Alberta
- Written by: Blake Brooker and Jim Millan
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Choreography/Staging: Denise Clarke
- Lighting design by: Blake Brooker
- Sound design and composition: Richard McDowell
- Set design and painting: Martin Guderna
- Technical director: Ian Wilson
Featuring
- Denise Clarke as: Barbara and others
- Andy Curtis as: Gerry
- Michael Green as: Charles
- Gillian Farabee as Marie Andree (first production)
- Michele Moss as Marie Andree ( touring production)
Performances
The Big Secret Theatre Calgary,
Alberta: February 18 to March 8, 1997
Traverse Theatre Edinburgh,
Scotland
Tron Theatre Glasgow,
Scotland
Les 20 jours du theatre a risque Montreal, Quebec
- Written by: Michael Green
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Choreography/Staging: Blake Brooker and the performers
- Lighting design by: Blake Brooker
- Sound design and composition: Richard McDowell
- Set design: Blake Brooker and Michael Green
- Technical director: Ian Wilson
Featuring
- Mark Bellamy as: Virgil
- Andy Curtis as: Jim
- Michael Green as: Randy
- Christopher Hunt as: Emmett
Performances
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary, Alberta: Nov 5-22 1992
- Created by: Blake Brooker and Denise Clarke
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Choreography/Staging: Denise Clarke
- Lighting design by: Blake Brooker
- Assistant to the director: John McGroarty
- Sound design: Denise Clarke
- Visual design and images: Blake Brooker and Denise Clarke
- Technical director: Ian Wilson
Featuring
- Denise Clarke as: Balletomane #1
- Andy Curtis as: Balletomane #2
- Michael Green as: Balletomane #3
- Michele Moss as: Balletomane #4
Performances
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary, Alberta: February 23 to March 21, 1993
- Written by: Denise Clarke
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Choreography: Denise Clarke
- Sound design: Denise Clarke
- Lighting design: Blake Brooker
- Technical director: Ralph Christoffersen
Featuring
Denise Clarke as: Denise Clarke
Performances
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary,
Alberta
Dancer's
Studio West - Calgary, Alberta
- Written by: Denise Clarke
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Choreography/Staging: Denise Clarke
- Lighting design: Blake Brooker
- Sound design and composition: Richard McDowell
- Visual design and images: Chris Cran
- Technical director: Tony Ruksys
Synopsis
It's a world where women who can bleed are rare powerful creatures. Whore/surrogate, courtesan/commodity - the bidding wars to win their services elevates them to the level of pop stars in a ruined time. A comic fable which examines the reproductive industry, Breeder places three such fecund beauties and their gay handler in a dilemma of conscience and baby making.
Featuring
- Denise Clarke as: Tim
- Mark Bellamy as: Marcel
- Lindsay Burns as: Rose
- Tanya Jacobs as: Micah
Performances
The Uptown Stage and Screen - Calgary Alberta: Feb. 22 to March 13, 1994
- Written by: Blake Brooker with Clem Martini and Kirk Miles
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Choreography/Staging: Denise Clarke
- Lighting design by: Blake Brooker
- Original score: David Rhymer
- Technical director: Ralph Christoffersen
Featuring
- Denise Clarke as: Ilsa in all but the first production
- Ronnie Burkett as: Ilsa in the first production
- Andy Curtis as: James K and Rudolph
- Michael Green as: the Colonel
- David Rhymer: Piano
- Karl Roth: Violin
Performances
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary,
Alberta
The Uptown Stage and
Screen - Calgary, Alberta
The Traverse Theatre -
Edinburgh, Scotland
The Tron Theatre -
Glasgow, Scotland
The Perth Festival -
Perth, Australia
- Written by: Michael Green
- Directed by: Denise Clarke
- Choreography/Staging: Denise Clarke
- Lighting design by: Sandi Somers
- Sound design and composition: Richard McDowell
- Set design: Sandi Somers
- Technical director: Ian Wilson
Featuring
- Andy Curtis as: Dave
- Michael Green as: Barry
Performances
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary,
Alberta
Edmonton Fringe Festival - Edmonton, Alberta
East Vancouver Cultural
Centre - Vancouver, B.C.
- Written by: Blake Brooker
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Lighting by: Blake Brooker
- Choreography and Staging: Denise Clarke
- Set Painter: Martin Guderna
- Sound design and composition: Richard McDowell
- Visual design and images: Sandi Somers
- Technical director: Ian Wilson
Featuring
- Denise Clarke as: Doris
- Andy Curtis as: Ted
- Michael Green as: Campbell
Performances
The Big Secret Theatre Calgary, Alberta: January 31 to February 23, 1991
- Created and performed by: Denise Clarke and Mark Christmann
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Choreography/Staging: Denise Clarke
- Lighting design by: Blake Brooker
- Sound design and composition: Richard McDowell
- Design and images: Blake Brooker and Denise Clarke
- Technical director - Calgary: Ian Wilson
Synopsis
Lav and Brenda are a very attractive couple. Lav is very sophisticated and he even helps Brenda decide what to wear. Brenda feels blessed. Then she finds a love note meant for Lav that worries her. A living set of twelve silent observers share the stage providing the locations: closet, bowling alley, bedroom, as Brenda careens through her sleuthing en-route to a terrible surprise and it's emotional conclusion.
Aside from the two main performers, Denise Clarke and Mark Christmann, Touch incorporated a living set whose members alternated performances.
In the Calgary production this included:
Neil Cadger, Dianne Creighton, Heather Elton, Nancy ford, Ann given, Shawna Helland, Fred Holliss, Murray Marshall, Robert Meilleur, Skip Orlady, Thea Pilutik, Cindy Robb, Lynette Segal, Noah Umholtz, Dewi Wood
Featuring
- Denise Clarke as: The wife
- Mark Christmann as: The Husband
- The "Living Set" (See above)
Performances
The Big Secret Theatre -
Calgary, Alberta: Sept 27 to Oct 20, 1990
Poor Alex Theatre - Toronto, Ontario: 1991
- Written by: Eugene Ionesco
- Directed by: Elise Menard and Michael Green
- Stage design by: Ian Wilson
- Lighting design by: Sandi Somers
- Sound design and composition: Richard McDowell
- Costume design: Madelaine Brian
- Technical director: Ian Wilson
Featuring
- Frances Kushner as: Queen Marguerite
- Andy Curtis as: King Berenger
- Michael Green as: Leonard Cohen and "M"
- Jennifer Haley as: Queen Marie
- Neil Cadger as: the Doctor
- Kim Dunlop as: Juiliette
Performances
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary, Alberta: Nov. 29 to Dec. 15, 1990
- Created by: Denise Clarke, Neil Cadger and Mark Christmann
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Choreography/Staging: Denise Clarke
- Lighting design by: Blake Brooker
- Tour Manager: Grant Burns
- Sound design and composition: Richard McDowell
Synopsis
A ten minute 1940's radio drama called The Green Coupe gets some serious play on the air waves of eternity, forcing it's characters to complete their murderous activities over and over. Finally it's enough and the three occupants of the nasty love triangle desperately try to reverse the ending. A wild and wicked physical journey of blood, sweat and tears.
Featuring
- Denise Clarke as: Greta
- Mark Christmann as: Bill
- Michael Green as: Russ (touring production)
- Neil Cadger as: Russ (original production)
Performances
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary,
Alberta: Fall 1990
Firehall Arts Centre -
Vancouver, British Columbia
Zap Club - Brighton, England
Finborough Theatre Pub - London, England
Green Room - Manchester, England
Bell Table Arts Centre - Limerick, Ireland
St. John's Arts Centre - Listowel, Ireland
Triskel Arts Centre - Cork, Ireland
Vooruit - Gent, Belgium
Traverse Theatre -
Edinburgh, Scotland
- Written by: Blake Brooker
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Choreography/Staging: Denise Clarke
- Marionettes and design by: Ronnie Burkett
- Lighting design by: Blake Brooker
- Sound design and composition: Richard McDowell
- Dinosaur construction: Sandi Somers
- Technical director in Calgary: Ian Wilson
Featuring
- Denise Clarke as: Liz
- Michael Green as: Roy
- Andy Curtis as: Ray - Edmonton and Vancouver
- Jarvis Hall as Ray - first Calgary run and Toronto, Montreal and Quebec city
Note: Tears of a Dinosaur saw two distinctly
original productions.
The first version was for the Inter-media Arts department of the Banff Centre
for the Arts. Tears of a Dinosaur was subsequently re-written, produced and
toured by One Yellow Rabbit.
Characters in Banff
Denise Clarke, Ronnie Burkett, Michael Green, Richard McDowell
Performances
Margaret Greenham Theatre - Banff Centre for the Arts: Dec. 1987
In 1988 Tears of a Dinosaur was performed in the following locations:
The Big Secret Theatre - Calgary,
Alberta du Maurier World Stage - Toronto, Ontario
Quinzaine international du theatre - Quebec City, Québec
Centaur Theatre - Montreal, Québec
Fringe Festival - Edmonton, Alberta
Fringe Festival - Vancouver, British Columbia
- Written by: Blake Brooker
- Directed by: Gyllian Raby
- Choreography/Staging: Denise Clarke
- Lighting design by: Nigel Scott
- Sound design and composition: Richard McDowell and Kevin Labchuk
- Set design: Sandi Somers
- Technical director: Dix Richards
- Written by: Blake Brooker
- Directed by: Blake Brooker
- Sound design and composition: Richard McDowell
- Visual design, Images and Technical Operation: Ian Wilson, Sandi Somers, Sharon DiGenova
Featuring
Michael Green as: Rev Kev
Performances
- The Sky Room - Calgary, Alberta
- Edmonton Fringe - Edmonton, Alberta
- Vancouver Little Theatre - Vancouver, British Columbia
- Open Space Gallery - Victoria, British Columbia
- Studio Eremos Project Artaud - San Francisco, California
- Secret Theatre - Calgary, Alberta
- Factory Studio Cafe - Toronto, Ontario