da da kamera Debuts A Beautiful View, a Play about Modern Love

Canadian Theater Company Returns for a Creative Residency, World Premiere

Toronto-based theater company da da kamera returns to the Wexner Center for a three-week creative residency that concludes with the world premiere of its new play A Beautiful View, presented Wednesday–Sunday, March 1– 5 in the Wexner Center Performance Space. Known for its strong storytelling craft and inventive stagework, OBIE award-winning da da kamera is at the forefront of the Canadian theater scene.

A Beautiful View, as writer/director Daniel MacIvor describes it, “is a play about joy and misery, confusion and

clarity, how nothing ever changes and how one moment can alter the whole world. In short, it is a play about love. Two women meet and become lovers, split up, and hook up again three times, while in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, discovering that it’s impossible to let go of something that’s holding on to you.” Tickets are $16 for the general public, $13 for Wexner Center members, and $10 for students, and are available at the Wexner Center Ticket Office (614 292-3535) and Ticketmaster (614 431-3600) or Ticketmaster.com.

A Beautiful View is made possible in part by a grant from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters Ensemble Theatre Collaborations Grant Program, a component of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Theatre Initiative. This new grant program supports the development of new theater works by independent ensembles through partnerships with presenting organizations or regional theaters. The Wexner Center and da da kamera’s joint proposal to this grant program was one of 12 projects funded in the first year of this pilot program.

MacIvor will also introduce and screen his feature film Wilby Wonderful on February 15 at 7 pm in the Wexner Center Film/Video Theater. A delightfully bittersweet ensemble comedy, Wilby Wonderful takes place over the course of one eventful day on Wilby Island. In this film, hints of scandals begin to surface as the mayor is drawn to the town’s resident bad girl, the video store owner begins a string of half-hearted suicide attempts, and rumors travel regarding an untamed nature spot becoming a gay hangout. The cast features Canadian all-stars Sandra Oh, Maury Chaykin, Paul Gross, and Callum Keith Rennie. (90 mins.). Tickets for the film are $6 public, $4 members, students, and senior citizens, available at the Wexner Center Ticket Office (614 292-3535).

RESIDENCY ACTIVITIES

The final production stages of da da kamera’s A Beautiful View will be completed during a three-week creative residency, February 13–28, supported by the Wexner Center Residency Award program. This program provides significant resources for selected artists in all disciplines to create new work; Residency Awards are offered each year in performing, media, and visual arts. This residency is the follow-up to a multi-week creative residency in 2001 during which da da kamera worked on the beginning stages of A Beautiful View. Students from Ohio State’s Departments of Theatre and Dance served as interns for da da kamera’s creative team and as performers in sketching out the initial narrative for A Beautiful View.

During this winter’s residency, Ohio State’s Department of Theatre students will again be invited to serve as interns for da da kamera and the company will invite a larger group of theater students to a series of open rehearsals to observe the group’s creative process. MacIvor and his collaborators will also provide an in-depth discussion session with theater students after the work’s premiere.

MORE ABOUT DA DA KAMERA Founded in 1986 as a production company for new theater, da da kamera (which translates to: “yes, yes to the small room”) is the partnership of Daniel MacIvor (director) and Sherrie Johnson (producer). The company focuses on creation, placing no limits on the time it takes for a project’s development. In their process, they reject the decorative and formulaic in a quest to develop a clear and simple exchange of energy between the performer and the audience. Since the company’s formation it has created more than a dozen original productions, several of which have been showered with Chalmers nominations (the Chalmers Awards are comparable to the Tony Awards). This is da da kamera’s fourth performance at the Wexner Center; other shows here have included Here Lies Henry, MONSTER, and In On It. For more information visit: http://www.dadakamera.com.

 

CALENDAR INFORMATION for A Beautiful View:

Description: Toronto-based theater company da da kamera returns to present the world premiere of its play A Beautiful View.

Dates and times: Wednesday–Saturday, March 1–4 at 8 pm and Sunday, March 5 at 2.

Location: Wexner Center Performance Space, 1871 N. High St. (capacity approx. 100).

Tickets: $16 general public, $13 Wexner Center members, $10 students.

Ticket outlets: Wexner Center Ticket Office (614 292-3535) and Ticketmaster (614 431-3600) or Ticketmaster.com.

EVENT SUPPORT

A Beautiful View is made possible in part by a grant from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters Ensemble Theatre Collaborations Grant Program, a component of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Theatre Initiative. Major support for the Wexner Center’s 2005–06 performing arts season is generously provided by Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and The Columbus Foundation. Significant contributions are also made by Altria Group, Inc., Morgan Stanley, Nationwide Foundation, and Ron and Ann Pizzuti. These performances of A Beautiful View are presented with support from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding is provided by the Ohio Arts Council, the Corporate Annual Fund of the Wexner Center Foundation, and Wexner Center members. Preferred accommodations: The Blackwell Inn. The Association of Performing Arts Presenters is a national service and advocacy organization with more than 1,700 members worldwide dedicated to bringing artists and audiences together. Arts Presenters is committed to increasing community participation, promoting global cultural exchange and fostering an environment for the performing arts to thrive. Representing both the non-profit and for-profit sectors of the industry, Arts Presenters members reside in all 50 states and more than 15 countries across the globe and range from large performing arts centers in major urban cities, outdoor festivals and rural community-focused organizations to academic institutions, artists and artist managers. A leader in the field, Arts Presenters works to effect change through professional development, resource sharing and civic engagement. The mission of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation is to improve the quality of people’s lives through grants supporting the performing arts, wildlife conservation, medical research, and the prevention of child maltreatment, and through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of Doris Duke’s Properties. Established in 1996, the foundation supports four national grantmaking programs in the areas described above. It also oversees three properties that were owned by Doris Duke in Hillsborough, New Jersey; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Newport, Rhode Island.

WEXNER CENTER FOR THE ARTS

The Wexner Center for the Arts is The Ohio State University’s multidisciplinary, international laboratory for the exploration and advancement of contemporary art. Through exhibitions, screenings, performances, artist residencies, and educational programs, the Wexner Center acts as a forum where established and emerging artists can test ideas and where diverse audiences can participate in cultural experiences that enhance understanding of the art of our time. In its programs, the Wexner Center balances a commitment to experimentation with a commitment to traditions of innovation and affirms the university’s mission of education, research, and community service.