Theatre Encounter
All content copyright © Theatre Encounter 2011.
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
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an Experimental Creation Team
The Baader Meinhof Collective is a performance creation research group. It produces original work in conjunction with Theatre Encounter. This is the heart of creative research. Experimenting in a laboratory setting of artistic inquiry, work is created to push further the boundaries of contemporary art.
Propose something to us. We might use it, change it, eat it, manipulate it. Anything is game.
[Baader Meinhof] = Theatre must upheave an audience; an alarm to the soothing anaesthesia of the cultural climate. Innocent terror. Rapid eye movement. Electric shock. We are here to create a safe container and then, empty it.
[Collective...] = a symbiotic group effort with intention to further its philosophies. Mosquitoes and coprophiliacs. Indulge.
Fun. Scary. Butterflies.
Esoterica [in opposition there is unity?] was created to examine a 5th Century Indian-Hellenistic-Jewish parable of archetypes. It is a comedy that is moral, or a morality that is comic (or Lehrstücke?). Physicalizations are reminiscent of clown, between enemies of person and politic… highlighting the mystical knowledge that pervades culture… in the story of the Blind and the Lame. June 13, 14th, 2008. Pumphouse Theatre, part of Sage Theatre's IGNITE! Festival.
Theatricide [the death of theatre is near] was created as a collective piece to break apart theatre's impact on art, and nonoriginality within historical patterns of creation. Sept. 25-29th, 2007. Motel Theatre, Epcore Centre for the Performing Arts, Calgary. A revamp of the original production in June 22, 23, 2006 at the University of Calgary.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari [the horror of horror] is a physicalized revamp of the expressionistic classic. Through extreme characterization and adaptation, this version enters the psyche through fragmented conceptualizations and reinterpretations of why our deepest emotion is fed through pain. March 25-29th, 2008. Dancers' Studio West.
The BMC's Recent Works
"The theatre must attack what might be called the collective complexes of society, the core of the collective subconscious." [Grotowski]
1Yr Internship Program
Committed to working with Calgary's community of artists, Theatre Encounter offers extensive training and artistic opportunities for emerging performers.
As a result, we have created an Internship Program that brings artists onboard in a closer role to the cast of the company's mainstage season and alternative creative group, The Baader Meinhof Collective. Through this opportunity artists can learn, study, research, produce, create and be part of a collective company during one of Theatre Encounter's seasons.
Interns work with a director in extensive training opportunities and often have the possibility to work on solo work projects. A personal creative artist ethic is encouraged and fostered.
©2010. Photo by Mark Unrau Photography.
The Cremation of Sam McGee [there are strange things done in the midnight sun] was created to physicalize the lyricism of the poetry, and the stark lyricism of the Canadian wild Lines from Dante’s Inferno provide a counterpoint to Robert Service’s classic Canadian text. Oct 7, 2011, Vertigo Theatre Centre, part of the Soulocentric Festival.
