Shangai International Contemporary Theater Festival

Piles of oranges fill a cart along Anfu Lu, in the French Concession of Shangai ... I walk the cobblestone streets lignted with French imported trees, and dream up a new play
Learning Mandarin is like learning a new instrument, it is a song. The sweepers-rhythm plays well against the sing-song voices of the Chinese,
while ex-pats crowd into more-than-western cafes sipping their lattes with their babies in carriages ...

The theatre fills up at night to see shows from all over the world, and men outside play cards leaning over benches with cigarettes in hand ... the dogs bark and chase each other, and wrap their leashes around our feet.
Next week I will perform as Anais Nin and a nurse in TheatreRUN's French play about Antonin Artaud's life and letters. Bur right now, I curl into Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje, at Cafe Merianbad, where I smoke cigarettes indoors and listen to the sounds ... Shangai's air is filled with a pulsating energy; sky scrapers pierce the sky beside the image of an older world ... Change is something that happens overnight here. There is an area that has never been developed because it is cursed. An old couple died because they refused to leave their home. I listen to these stories and the sounds, and I realize I am part of the music of the city now, my pen taps on the desk, my coffee cup clinks on its saucer as I look up ...

Tourte au Potiron

The Parisian Pumpkin Pie

85 grams (3 ounces) unsalted butter
1.4 kilos / 3lbs pumpkin (potiron) seeded, cored and cut into 1/2 inch dices
2 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/2 inch dices
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 vanilla bean, split in half, lengthwise
1/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans
2 1-to-10 inch square sheets frozen puff pastry
1 large egg, lightly beaten

1. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the pumpkin or squash and apples and cook 8-10 minutes
2. Reduce heat to low, add the light brown sugar and vanilla bean, scraping to include bits of fruit from the bottom of the skillet.
3. cover and cook for 30 minutes or until fruit is very soft but still holding its shape.
4. set aside to cool discard vanilla bean
5. when the mixture is completely cooked, add chopped pecans
6. cover and refridgerate or freeze before serving

Rue de la Roquette

On Rue de la Roquette the sun intimidates the cafes. The light piercing the street like a laser. A man screams, as a child runs through the streets with "Algeria" on his back. We leave the theatre to a gunshot -- the final note of the play, we leave dizzy because life is like that -- a gunshot and it's all over. But the air is so sweet in Paris today, and I smile, affected as I descend Voltaire Metro ...

Nuit blanche commence

And the sun is setting in Paris right now, there is a certain slant of light across the rooftops on Rue Oberkampf ... soon Nuit Blanche Paris will begin, including starlight filling Sacre Coeur.

Nuit Blanche Paris - Toronto

Please come to an exciting project by Coleen MacPherson and Nina Gilmour:

si vous etiez la ou seriez vous

3:00 am Toronto Nuit Blanche

as part of Canada's Smallest Theatre's TELL YOUR STORY

Artscape Wychwood Barns

601 Christie Street

Toronto

Barn #2 - sign up

Performed live from Paris. A film capturing the crowds and camera flashes in front of the Mona Lisa (Louvre), music by Stockhaussen, poetry by Bukowski ....

The Pasolini Project at Canadian Stage

TheatreRUN invites you to ...

THE PASOLINI PROJECT at Canadian Stage's Spotlight.Italy Festival!!
Join us in a presentation of excerpts from our play-in-development
Saturday March 19, 2011
3:00 - 4:00 pm
Canadian Stage, Berkeley Street Theatre (Downstairs)
26 Berkeley Street
FREE!

Led by Artists Adam Paolozza and Coleen MacPherson
Music by Matt Smith
Performed by Miranda Calderon, Julian De Zotti*, Lisa Marie Diliberto*, Fabio Fabri, Dean Gilmour*, Rebecca Singh, Michele Smith*, Dan Watson

*Appearing with permission from Canadian Actors' Equity Association
This project is made possible by the generous support of The Canada Council for the Arts and Canadian Stage

Some Dreams ...

I had a dream I was taming a snake. That's all I remember of that one. The next day I dreamt of a huge boar, with massive horns eating a piece of plastic in the desert. Then a few nights ago I had a dream of a prestigious man giving a lecture/play to a large audience, to which, I was an audience member. I call it a lecture/play because it was boring and horrible in the sense that a lecture is boring and a play can be horrible. I was there in the audience with my mother, my aunt, boyfriend, sister, cousin and Dad with his wife. After a lot of monotonous droning on and on, on a topic I could not follow, the lecturer came up to me, took off his belt and wrapped it around my head ! "She has a round head!" he exclaimed emphatically, and I replied "I do!" Even though I do not (have a round head). We continued to watch the performance, and my Mom kept making sounds of "hmmm" "ohhh" "ahh ..." And so, I shushed her politely. She began to cry and I felt ashamed for having silenced her. I looked behind and there sat the rest of the audience: statues erected to Zeus. Stone faced gaze. Then I woke up. Last night I spoke in my sleep saying "the sheets are washed, I washed the sheets !" My unconscious life is finding it's way into my conscious life.