Car Stories is coming once again to the Buffalo Infringement Festival! Created in Montreal in 2001 and promptly kicked out of the so-called St. Ambroise Fringe Festival after a corporate sponsor was offended, Car Stories had to quit the corporate Fringe and redesign the game. As such, the infringement festival was born in 2004 to […]
“Infringe every day” was the mantra on everyone’s lips. The words were also prominent in performances, on posters and political buttons, and even on the enormous Trojan Buffalo that greets those arriving at the festival. A light-hearted take on the Trojan Horse, a deceptive weapon from antiquity that put adversaries into the heart of enemy […]
The 8th annual Buffalo infringement festival runs from July 26 – August 5, 2012, and this year Optative Theatrical Laboratories (OTL) will be in attendance for the entire duration! The Buffalo infringement festival is a both world leader in grassroots arts management and the largest arts festival in Western New York. This year, OTL will be presenting three […]
A dramatic funeral for a prominent National Historic Site, presently being demolished, was held in Montreal on Sunday, May 27, 2012. There was an outpouring of grief by over 40 mourners and funeral-goers for the Lower Main, an irreplaceable part of The Main National Historic Site, one of Canada’s most endangered heritage zones. Led by […]
Optative Theatrical Laboratories is proud to announce seven unique theatrical projects for the 2011 Montreal infringement festival. Traditional favourites like Car Stories will appear alongside Red Light District and Greening Montreal walking tours (including an ecological picnic), a birthday party to celebrate Cultural Resistance, a screening of our new film “Global Invisible Theatre”, plus a new theatre experiment […]
The infringement season is upon us, and it is looking to be a red letter year for the global network of festivals! With four unique infringement festivals on offer in both Canada and the USA, it is going to be a great summer for both infringers, new and old, and audiences seeking daring and authentic arts! The […]
Montreal’s Lower Main has been the site of controversy as of late, with powerful business interests squaring off against artists and heritage activists to determine the future of the historic stretch of road that was once the heart of Montreal’s bustling Red Light District. The battle has been characterized by powerful business interests dislocating the area’s […]
Today is the beginning of “MainFest”, a 3 day “street fair” on St. Laurent Boulevard, or “The Main” Historic site. The boulevard will be completely closed to traffic and is expected to receive an estimated 300 000 visitors. According to The Société de développement du boulevard Saint-Laurent (SDBSL), organizers of “MainFest” and other “street fairs”: […]
March 15th marked the 13th International Day Against Police Brutality, and in Montreal the mood was tense after an unusually brutal year whereby police officers killed a young man after they found him playing dice with his friends. Early in the evening on August 9th, 2008, 18 year old Fredy Villanueva was shot dead at […]
A battle is heating up in Quebec City regarding the Plains of Abraham, but it isn’t exactly the sort of fight that the National Battlefields Commission was hoping for. As reported earlier 2009 marks the 250th anniversary of the infamous Plains of Abraham battle at Quebec City that signified the defeat of “New France” to British imperialists, and […]
