Author Archives: Liz Nicholls

‘Who were we before life got hold of us?’ Thoughts on Ayita at the SkirtsAfire festival

Posted on March 5, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca To walk into the Westbury Theatre these days is to find yourself in a world that’s mysterious but familiar, calm but in perpetual motion.  Whittyn Jason’s captivating design puts us in the centre of a wave … Continue reading →

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Shoring up the world against cosmic chaos: the fun of Peter Pan Goes Wrong, a review

Posted on March 4, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca “All the world is made of faith and trust and pixie dust.”  True, J.M. Barrie, the creator of the boy who wouldn’t grow up, was not actually alluding to the world of live theatre in this … Continue reading →

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The healing touch of humour: Drew Hayden Taylor’s Cottagers and Indians at Shadow Theatre

Posted on March 4, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca “Humour is the WD-40 of healing.”  That’s what an elder from the Blood Reserve in southern Alberta once told Drew Hayden Taylor. “I liked that. So cool. Almost T-shirt-worthy,” says the well-travelled Ojibwa playwright/ filmmaker/ TV … Continue reading →

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Theatre rooted in the land: Ayita, premiering at SkirtsAfire. Meet creator Teneil Whiskeyjack

Posted on March 3, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca The mainstage centrepiece of the 10th anniversary edition of SkirtsAfire — the multidisciplinary arts festival devoted to celebrating and showcasing women and non-binary artists — is a new play. Distinctively Indigenous in its inspiration, creation, and … Continue reading →

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Making Mischief (and laughter) en route to Neverland: Peter Pan Goes Wrong at the Citadel

Posted on February 28, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Funny how people laugh out loud (and maybe wince a little) when you casually mention the title of the production that arrives on and above the Citadel mainstage starting  Thursday. Peter Pan Goes Wrong, after all, … Continue reading →

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What we inherit, what we imagine: Makram Ayache’s audioplay The Hooves That Belonged To The Deer

Posted on February 26, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca You have until Wednesday to catch a startlingly ambitious audioplay by Makram Ayache. And you shouldn’t miss the chance. The Hooves That Belonged To The Deer is on a grand, not to say epic, scale. Cultures, … Continue reading →

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Ten years of SkirtsAfire: amplifying the voices of women and non-binary artists

Posted on February 25, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca It’s been a decade, amazingly, since Annette Loiselle and a couple of her actor friends, Sharla Matkin and Nadien Chu, sat at the Carrot Cafe, plotting over popcorn, red wine, and lopsided statistics.  For years Loiselle, … Continue reading →

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Old Strathcona here they come: for the first time in Workshop West history, a theatre of their own

Posted on February 23, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Workshop West Playwrights Theatre is moving.   Come March 1 you’ll find the venerable company, age 43, in their own theatre, in the heart of Edmonton’s entertainment district. Welcome to the newly christened Gateway Theatre in … Continue reading →

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A home of their own, in the entertainment ‘hood: Rapid Fire Theatre at 41

Posted on February 19, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca They’ve dreamed it for years. Now, at age 41, Rapid Fire Theatre finally has a home of their own. And it’s in the ‘hood that’s their  traditional home base, Old Strathcona.  Edmonton’s premier improv company is … Continue reading →

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Melanie Piatocha: theatre has lost a bright talent and a questing spirit

Posted on February 15, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca In this bleak mid-winter of theatre, heartbreaking news of the January death of actor Melanie Piatocha at 36 seems particularly cruel. The abrupt loss of a talent so expansive, and a quester so spirited, so restless, … Continue reading →

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