ARTS EAST

Halifax will get “up close and personal” with actor Kim Coates at a fundraiser for the non-profit theatre company, KAZAN CO-OP, on Saturday, April 6 th  at the Spatz Theatre in Halifax. Originally from Saskatoon, Coates has been in over 50 plays and 30 films. He is most recently known for his role as Tig Trager, the most disturbingly violent member of the motorcycle gang featured in the TV series Sons of Anarchy. “ It’s so funny because Kim plays such violent guys, but he’s a sweetheart,” says co-founder of KAZAN, Kathryn MacLellan , who will be interviewing Coates in the style of Inside the Actors Studio at the event. Coates and MacLellan first met playing Action and Graziella in Neptune Theatre’s production of West Side Story (1983) when they were partnered up in dance scenes. MacLellan says that working together was a “blast” and that the physical and vocal warm-ups were particularly hilarious. “I really remember Kim had to sing Gee, Officer Krupke ( ♪ Dear kindly Se...

Arts East got to travel by fibre optic and wire, south of the border to the other side of the continent. There, in southern California, was and is Gerald Zwers, a prolific artist who is probably the most therapeutic individual a person can ever hope to chat with. Zwers told us about his latest project—Better World Art. He is striving to create a global forum of artists, of every media/style imaginable, that share a common goal—to create with the purpose of benefitting others and the Earth as a whole.   ~ Story by Michelle Brunet Gerald Zwers can’t even remember the first time he started creating art. He does, however, remember an Easter morning when he was just four years old. He couldn’t find his Easter basket, so his mother told him drawing a picture might help. Zwers raced over to a cupboard that held his very own stash of regularly-used art supplies, where of course the basket was hiding. Decades later, Zwers is still an inexhaustible artist, often working all throu...

From Tuesday (March 26) to Saturday (March 30), DalTheatre presents The Triumph of Love. This French comedic play was written by Pierre de Marivaux and was first performed in 1732 by the Théâtre Italien. The eight Dalhousie students, in their final year of the acting program, will be performing the story that begins with Princess L é onide disguising herself as a man in the name of re-establishing Agis—the man she loves—to his rightful spot on the throne. The Triumph of Love is classified as Commedia dell’Arte, an energetic comic-dramatic art form (that originated in 16 th century Italy) characterized by extreme physicality, improvisation and vibrant costumes and/or masks. It is then most fitting, as you will see in the interview below, that Gabrielle Houle is directing the piece. Read on as Houle describes her own intriguing theatrical background and some of the creative exercises she and her team have done to prepare for this week’s performances. ~ Story by Michelle Brunet ...

Nurse Jane Goes to Hawaii! Review by Laura Valvasori-Black Stars: Jane Messervier, Wayne Fairchild, Aloma Jardine, Lawren Campbell, Liam McNamara, Amber Fairchild, and Candy Lutes. Nurse Jane Goes to Hawaii, presented by Hairy Tease Productions, follows Vivien Bliss (Jane Messervier), a dreamy and sexually-frustrated novelist, who is caught in a torrid affair with Edgar (Wayne Fairchild), a married geography teacher. It starts out as a steamy weekend tryst, but is soon interrupted by Edgar’s wife, Doris (Aloma Jardine)—a busy advice columnist playing hooky from a conference— and a host of other colourful characters. This sets the stage for a memorable mess of mistaken identities that will have the audience rollicking with laughter. The play, which boasts an enviable lineup of seasoned local talent, also marks the stage debut for rising stars Amber Fairchild and Candy Lutes. Just like Vivien’s titular novel, director Mike Granville’s adaptation of the Canad...

Atlantic Book Awards press release, March 20, 2013 [Source: http://www.atlanticbookawards.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/2013-Shortlist-Media-Release-ABAS.pdf ] Scroll down for the Shortlist of Books/Authors The Atlantic Book Awards Society is pleased to announce the full shortlist for the ten different book prizes that make up the 2013 Atlantic Book Awards. The thirty books up for awards represent the wide range of literary works being produced in Atlantic Canada—from traditional novels to cutting edge fiction; thought-provoking non-fiction and deeply researched books on Atlantic Canadian history, to poetry; and illustrated children’s picture books to novels written for teens and young adults. The full shortlist is printed below and is available at  www.atlanticbookawards.ca .  Among the more familiar names on the shortlist are media personality and CTV Atlantic’s meteorologist, Cindy Day for her weather-related book,  Grandma Says ...