Archive for the 'Video' Category

Mask ban protesters take to the streets

Friday, February 27th, 2009

If you thought that the City of Montreal postponing the vote on its controversial anti-mask bylaw would silence the amendment’s opponents, you’d only have to look to the streets Monday night to know how wrong you were. Protesters clad in masks met at Berri Square and after a speech took to the streets, literally. This […]

Bal Masqué un grand succès!!! Theatrical Masquerade Ball challenges Montreal’s anti-mask bylaw

Friday, January 30th, 2009

On Monday night over 50 masked protesters descended on City Hall for a Masquerade Ball protest – the Bal Masqué. Organized by an ad hoc collective known as Le Gros Bon Sens, the masked demonstration aimed to challenge the anti-mask bylaw the City of Montreal is attempting to pass as part of its larger “Public […]

The Plains of Abraham: to re-enact or challenge the pro-war legacy?

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

Historically-speaking, Quebec City has always been somewhat of a military town. When “founded” by Samuel de Champlain in 1608 on the remains of the First Nations settlement of Stadacona, Quebec was actually designed as a military-style fortification. The site of numerous wars and battles that pitted the French against various First Nations, and later Britain, […]

Mask update: a call to action

Friday, January 23rd, 2009

After it was announced here and other places that the city of Montreal was seeking to ban masks at protests, people opposed have not been silent and it seems that this issue will not go away. And why should it? This incursion on our rights to free expression has even garnered opponents in more conservative […]

Cars, stories and people

Wednesday, January 21st, 2009

Of all the projects OTL has created, Car Stories is most certainly the longest-running, at times has been the most controversial and if it wasn’t for the infringement Festival, a true viral phenomenon, it would undoubtedly be the best known. In a nutshell, Car Stories is a play containing several shorter plays, a piece of […]

Outlawing theatre activism in Montreal? City attempts new “anti-mask” bylaw

Monday, January 19th, 2009

Theatre activists, like actors in a theatre, rely on a gamut of artistic accessories – props, scenery, costumes, make up, and especially masks – to conduct performances on the streets, sometimes during demonstrations. Masks constitute important props in this theatrical arsenal, as they have the power to transform the actor into a different entity, which […]

Consulate occupation: Judy Rebick arrested

Friday, January 9th, 2009

Preceding yesterday’s presentation of an eviction notice by activists to the Israeli consulate in Montreal, a group of Jewish women were arrested for occupying the Israeli consulate in Toronto on Wednesday in protest of the Israeli attack on Gaza, among them were filmmaker BH Yael, psychanalyst Judith Deutsch and professor Judy Rebick. Rebick, a prominent […]

Where to sleep

Monday, January 5th, 2009

Anyone who’s been outside in Montreal lately will be able to tell you that it’s cold out there.  This is obviously most relevant to the city’s homeless. There are some in Montreal who are compassionate about their plight and others who take steps to empower them through art, namely those involved in the annual État […]

2008 in the Optative Theatrical Laboratories

Wednesday, December 31st, 2008

It’s New Year’s Eve, so what better time to look back on the past year and the year ahead.  2008 was a busy one for OTL on several fronts: Sinking Neptune II: We adapted our verbatim theatre critique of Canada’s “first play” Lescarbot’s Theatre of Neptune in New France and those remounting it, racism against […]

Sunday shoppers meet angry chorus

Monday, December 29th, 2008

Sunday shoppers on Ste. Catherine street were startled by a cacophony of voices. Rising above the din of consumerism, a chorus of profound human anger and frustration arose, voiced by hundreds of demonstrators furious with the overnight death of over 270 people in Gaza, killed by Israeli bombs. Traffic snarled as the street was transformed […]