Past

COPPERTONE JAM AT MAINFEST

During the street fair this past summer, Coppertone set up a booth, complete with people in lab coats (not doctors) “testing” the skin of passers by.  While New Ad Media and the St-Laurent street merchant’s association permitted this dubious branding of our historic street, we didn’t.  We showed up to demonstrate for them theatrically just what was wrong with the situation. Have a look at the details and see what happened.

SINKING NEPTUNE
Sinking Neptune is a dramaturgical analysis and critical deconstruction of the “first play” ever written and produced in the so-called “New World”: Marc Lescarcot’s  The Theatre of Neptune in New France. It is Canada’s first piece of Euro-centric art, literature, and drama.

It premiered at the first Montreal Anarchist Theatre Festival, was performed again as part of Montreal’s infringement Festival in 2006, and a longer version of this work-in-progress was mounted for an extended run at Les Artistes du Toc Toc in Montreal. It was presented in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia on its 400th anniversary; November 14th, 2006. Subsequent performances were held at the BUS STOP theatre in Halifax.

We re-worked the script and brought it back to deal with another colonial celebration, the 400th anniversary of Quebec City in 2008, performing in Montreal at McGill University, CEGEP Montmorency and the infringement Festival, in Guelph, Ontario at the University of Guelph and at l’Agitée in Quebec City.

Find out more

MECCA BURNING

On Monday, December 3rd, Donovan King burnt the Montreal English Critics Circle Award (MECCA) he received for directing Call Me outside of the 2007 MECCA Ceremonies. 

BUY NOTHING DAY: CHARTWELLS JAM

This Buy Nothing Day, OTL and uberculture Concordia performed a culture-jam protesting Chartwells monopolization of food services at both Concordia and McGill Universities. 

THE MUTILATION OF SAN PEDRO

OTL performed alongside Mexico’s Frente Amplio Opositor (FAO) in protest of Metallica Resources’ illegal open-pit mine in Cerro de San Pedro, which is destroying the town, and the CIBC’s $11 million plus investment in the company.  Watch the video

RACHEL’S WORDS (MARCH 2006, MONTREAL)

OTL hosted the Montreal portion of an international theatrical effort spurred by the censoring of My Name is Rachel Corrie by the New York Theatre Workshop. 

WORLDWIDE DAY OF ACTION AGAINST THE OCCUPATION OF IRAQ (MARCH 2006, MONTREAL)

We performed in the Echec a la guerre anti-war march in Montreal, part of a global protest against the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.

Our Stephen Harper greeted reporters and dealt with a protestor who snuck onto the flatbed truck where he was holding a news conference to celebrate his return from Afghanistan.

He sent CSIS agents into the crowd to distribute insecurity certificates.

BUY NOTHING DAY AT AMERICAN APPAREL (NOVEMBER 2005 – MONTREAL)

On Buy Nothing Day 2006, Optative Theatrical Laboratories’ planned culture jam of American Apparel was infiltrated by undercover AA employees posing as activists. This led to a completely different scene that featured guest performances by Maurice Charney and the Montreal police.

Watch the video clip or the full video (with no sound)

BURY THE DEAD (SEPTEMBER 2005 – MONTREAL)

Optative Theatrical Laboratories joined this global action against the occupation of Iraq and sent dead soldiers to the US consulate demanding to know why they had been killed in support of the War Resisters Support Campaign. 

TV-B-GONE RENTAL BOOTH (SEPTEMBER 2005 – MONTREAL)

During the 2005 infringement Festival, OTL rented the newest activist tool, the TV-B-GONE, which has the power to switch off any television.

KING’S THESIS: E-BOOK VIRTUAL LAUNCH (JUNE 2005 – MONTREAL INFRINGEMENT FESTIVAL)

DEATH BY LATTÉ: A TRAGEDY (2004 – Buy Nothing Day Montreal, Toronto infringement Festival)

Republican National Convention Protest (New York City: 2004)

Buy Nothing Day meta-theatre: WalMart (Montréal, Québec: 2003)

Circle-Jerked: a corporate critic critique (Montréal, Québec : 2003)

Invisible Theatre in “Code Orange” NYC (New York City: 2003)

Quartier des Contre-Spectacles (Montréal, Québec: 2003)

The Lysistrata Project (International: 2003)

Buy Nothing Day meta-theatre: McDonalds (Montréal, Québec: 2002)

King’s Appeal – The Lonesome West

(Calgary, Alberta, cyberspace: 2001-present)

Zombie protest against the FTAA

(Montréal, Québec: 2001)

FJOLS! (Elsinore, Denmark: 2001)

Stones Scandal (Galway, Ireland: 2001-present)

Miss Julie: a theatrical experiment into the psychosis of August Strindberg (Calgary, Alberta: 2000)