The Circus will be an open-air improvisation-based sandbox play taking the form of a carnival fair that the audience can enjoy, with multiple costumed actors with deep backgrounds that will actively solicit audience members to interact with and befriend their characters.
INFLUENCES AND THEMES
The ST. JAMES CIRCUS (SCJ) is an artistic collaboration between Benecorpo Community (based in different regions of Ontario), Nightwood Theatre and local youth. It will examine issues like sustainability, the impact of social media on individual communication, the benefits and consequences of cultural hybridity and the accountability of government using sculptures, paintings, performances, speculative fictions and an installations-within-installation motif. It is the story of a nomadic circus troupe charged with rebuilding Canadian culture in a post-post-apocalyptic world.
This work is a continuation of previous Benecorpo exhibits, and is inspired deeply by the existing body of work. SCJ is set in the same universe as Way-Station (North Migration), our exhibit from 2010. The Way-Station was a refugee camp set 200 years after the fall of civilization and dealt with the fractured factions and institutions of Canada coming together and building a new society. SCJ takes place a century afterwards, during the later period of the reconstruction of Canada, where the gypsy-like descendants of the Way-Station have formed the St. James Circus, continuing their mandate of unifying Canada and discovering cultural and technological treasures of the ancient pre-apocalyptic Canada.
This project has arisen from recent research into the conventions and functions of sideshows in the early parts of the 20th century. Both aesthetically and conceptually this will be informing the work (see “reference1” and “reference2”). Aesthetic inspiration will be derived from contemporary works such as George Bures Miller and Janet Cardiff’s Ship O’ Fools and Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski’s Madame Tutli Putli. The swimming cities of the switchback sea by the artist swoon is perhaps the most influential project. swoon and her collaborators created a fleet of ramshackle boats that travelled across the united states and Europe with performers.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
SCJ will be an interactive, performative and installation based production, taking place in the Distillery District, likely in the central plaza where three alleys intersect. The Circus will use large colourful banners to attract audiences (see “sketch1”, "sketch3" and “sketch6”).
The Circus will be presented as a carnival fair brought to life by sideshow actors, a freak show (see “sketch4” and “sketch5”), a curiosity cabinet and game booths manned by tribalistic carnies and fortune tellers (see “sketch7”). Evoking sideshows and big tops of the early 20th century, the exhibit will combine these elements with a rougher, cobbled together aesthetic implicit of a scavenger culture.
The sideshow stalls will be installations in their own right, decorated in their own distinct style. Each booth will have a colourful banner, stitched together from scrap in the booth’s respective colour scheme (see “sketch2”).
The large number of costumed characters will interact with the audience. They will include them in their acts and also provide exposition for the setting. For the audience members who are willing to stay for prolonged periods and to involve themselves in the narrative, the characters will induct them into the Circus and allow them roles in the exhibit as well as influence the continuing story.
There will be a main stage for performances that will occur regularly throughout the night and will serve to build the greater narrative within the Circus. The main stage (the Big Top) will serve as the main spectacle to attract the attention of the predominantly transient audience of Nuit Blanche. However, other performers will subtlely influence those who are willing to invest in the meta-narrative to include them in the larger narrative unfolding throughout the night.
The performances that occur throughout the night will have different permutations depending on improvised dialogues and events. Performers and approved audience participants will create varying performances (juggling/comedy, musical, stage plays and runway fashion all in the context of the setting).
The performances that occur throughout the night will have different permutations depending on improvised dialogues and events. Performers and approved audience participants will create varying performances (juggling/comedy, musical, stage plays and runway fashion all in the context of the setting).
Project Contributors
See email Attachments.
Project Feasability
St. James Circus Installation (Nuit Blanche 2011) - FEASIBILITY
Production Needs | Staff Needs | Set Pieces |
power tools hand tools sewing machines materials extension cords make up | performers volunteers strikers builders make-up artist | stage curiosity cabinet banner line freak show stable game booth dressing tent fortune teller |
More details in budget document. | More details in project description. |
Benecorpo has a large pool of facilities we can draw on from our many contributors. Access to tools and sewing facilities are not a problem, and we have stock piled lighting and electrical equipment from installations in past years. We will need to rent additional lighting, but since we can pull power from the buildings in the Distillery power is not a concern. If time permits (and if we can find appropriate materials) we are interested in building a bike powered generator. Because of our aesthetic (and commitment to recycling materials) we will be stockpiling discarded wood and fabric in the months leading up to and during production. This has never proven to be a problem as our society is built around mass amounts of waste.
We will work over the summer to fundraise for the project however. As our set and character design comes together, we plan to photograph characters in context and sell prints. Small fundrasier events showing process work will also take place during the summer, which will serve to advertise through word of mouth and provide dedicated audiences with context for our setting.
Seeing as this is our third year doing a project in the exterior of the Distillery District, we have very few logistical concerns. In that past, we haven’t run into any problems with insurance or noise by-law concerns. The projects from zone B have always had separate meetings as the date of Nuit Blanche approaches to assist artists in navigating the more nuanced aspects of adhering to fire regulations, noise regulations, etc. There are private security guards who work in the Distillery, but we have never had need to seek their assistance.
With past projects we have secured the perimeter of our space in an attempt to control traffic flow. This has never been incredibly successful; both years our delineations have been too difficult to keep up with the wind. For the sideshow event, the banner line would be viewed as the main entrance, but participants could enter from any section of the exhibit. Queuing will be necessary to access specific aspects, and volunteers will ensure no one is out of line.
Performers form Nightwood theatre will once again collaborate with Benecorpo. Friends and colleagues will assist by playing smaller characters and setting up and tearing down the set. A team of ten volunteers should be more than enough, and in past years we have easily reached a comparable number. In the coming months we will be making contacts and holding auditions for more eccentric circus acts. The number of acts will be directly dependent on how many interested participants we come across.
A problem we have had with staffing in past years is our staff gets extremely cold. The middle of the night and early morning are very cold in October, so this year we will invest in hand warmers and wool socks for our performers. Making sure everyone is well layered will ensure our volunteers can be as effective as possible.
Budget Plan
Nuit Blanche - St. James Circus Installation - BUDGET 2010
Benecorpo; Hillary Predko, Anthony Swan, Maihyet Burton
Budget Items (Description) | Amount Requested | Details | Comments All supplies are to be supplemented with donated material. |
Printing and copying | $25 | Organization (release forms, schedules) Advertisement (posters, flyers, letters etc) | |
Construction material | $150 | Plywood, wood, cinder blocks, tarp, canvas, fabric, nails etc | Noah Taaffe has pledged a large number of 2x4s, and the Distillery artist community donated a large amount of scrap wood last year. |
Set dressing | $100 | Flags, signs, displays, books, prizes, balloons, sculptures, paintings | We have a large cache of unused donated misc. materials from last year, and will continue to canvass for material |
Costuming | $125 | Scavenged clothing, thrift clothing, custom made pieces | Benecorpo Community and the Lilith clothing store have amassed much clothing and fabric to be donated to this exhibit. |
Props | $50 | Mostly custom made pieces (Styrofoam weights for strong man, etc) | We will be using recycled and reused materials as often as possible. |
Make-up | $75 | Special effects make-up supplies | Our make-up artist has pledged use of her supplies. |
Hospitality | $100 | Craft services (on set and during event) | |
Lighting rentals | $175 | large light stands $46, clamp light stands $27, light banks $112 | |
Studio space | $600 | Two months | |
Total: | $1325 |
Toronto Arts Council Grant – We hope to receive a grant in the amount of $1000 from the Toronto Arts Council to cover the costs of studio space, construction materials and lighting equipment.
Fundraising – We hope to hold interactive rehearsals during the summer that are open to the public, Pay What You Can. We hope to generate close to $300 to cover the costs of theatre and make-up materials.
Self-funding – Any shortfall in money will be supplemented by the artists`personal incomes.
CONTINGENCY PLAN – Should the self-funding be insufficient, our make-up artist Amelia Cumming has volunteered her home to use as a studio for August and September. Her home has a wood workshop and storage space.
Support Materials
Here is a Flickr account with all of the reference pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59847253@N02/Here is the youtube link to the video from Nuit Blanche 2010:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJcAyedA7Ro
