The Opera House (Toronto)
The Opera House is a music venue in Toronto, Canada. It is one of the city's most historic performing venues, opening in 1909, it has been a cinema and a live theatre venue. It is located at 735 Queen Street East, east of downtown in the Riverdale neighbourhood, it opened in 1909 as an Edwardian vaudeville stage. Seating 700, it was the main entertainment venue in the working-class neighbourhood; as films eclipsed vaudeville the theatre was turned into a cinema, continuing to use the name La Plaza Theatre until the 1960s, under a series of other names. As multiplexes made large single screen venues no longer viable as cinemas, it became a performing arts venue. In the late 1980s it was home to the successful gospel musical Mama, I Want to Sing!. In the early 1990s it became The Opera House music venue. Official web site
Queen Elizabeth Theatre (Toronto)
Queen Elizabeth Theatre is an auditorium at Exhibition Place, Canada. It opened in 1956 and was renovated circa 2010, now seating 1,250 for concerts and other stage events; the building houses the Fountainblu Banquet Centre with 5,500 square feet of indoor meeting space. Box offices for events are located at the entrance of the building; the Theatre is situated in the Queen Elizabeth Building, which has an administration building and an exhibition hall. One music reviewer describes the theatre in these terms: "From a listening standpoint, the Queen Elizabeth Theatre boasts near-perfect sound, but its stateliness makes it better suited to a lecture or a play than a rock show."The owner of the building is the City of Toronto. Since 2006, it has been operated under a long-term lease by Bruno Sinopoli, the owner and operator of the Mod Club in Toronto
Factory Theatre
Factory Theatre is a theatre in Toronto, founded as Factory Theatre Lab in 1970 by Ken Gass and Frank Trotz. Factory was the first theatre to announce that it would produce Canadian plays, but it soon became a emulated policy by other theatre companies. Factory became known as the home of the Canadian playwright, is associated with George F. Walker, most of whose plays premiered there. For over four decades, Factory Theatre has developed and produced some of the finest theatrical works in Canada's national canon and been home to some of the most gifted and prolific playwrights in Canada. In any given year, more than 50,000 patrons come to Factory’s historic Victorian mansion at the corner of Bathurst and Adelaide Streets – an inviting, inclusive environment where ideas and imagination intersect. Factory Theatre is unique in that it is committed to the development and production of Canadian plays through staged readings, Natural Resources, writers’ retreats, Factory Wired, premiere productions.
The Factory Theatre play development program is committed to the long-term investment of playwrights and creators and Canadian work that celebrates our diversity by engaging, provoking and inspiring our artists and the community at large. Factory has been known as the home of the Canadian playwright as well as supporting a broad spectrum of forms and voices, is dedicated to serving its community by building a strong neighbourhood identity in its role as a cultural hub. Partnerships with local schools and businesses and initiatives, such as its Neighbours Nights and Curtain Raiser events, are what ground it as a remarkable artistic resource and cultural institution. Architect Gundry and Langley designed the building in 1869. J. M. Cowan is considered the subsequent architect/consultant. Factory Theatre consists of two main buildings; the first is the original 1896 house and the second is the 1910 addition. The building is known as the John Mulvey House, it was given heritage status by the Ontario Heritage Board in 1987.
The original house was constructed in a classic Queen Anne Gothic design for the prominent Toronto merchant John Mulvey in 1869. It is attributed to architects Langley; the house’s architectural features include: an asymmetrical façade an irregular gabled roof a fine buff brickwork with stone sills and hood mouldings a Gothic arch entryIn 1909, the property was sold to the Roman Catholic Church, Parish of St. Mary and was used as their Arts and Literary Centre; the larger addition to the complex was built in 1910 and designed by J. M. Cowan, it includes a church hall set up in theatre style with an overhanging balcony still in use today. The addition’s main architectural features all face Adelaide Street, they are: a distinctive façade a central oriel window two flanking entrances with arched transomsBefore Factory Theatre occupied the building in 1983, it had been used as a residence, a manse, a daycare. In 1977, Gass's own play, Winter Offensive aroused widespread protest because of what was regarded as its gratuitous depiction of sex and violence amongst the upper echelons of the Nazi party.
Exhausted by the controversy and frustrated by what he saw as the excessive conservatism and philistinism of the community, Gass resigned. Dian English took over the role of managing director of the Factory and moved the theatre to its current location in the historic building at the corner of Bathurst and Adelaide. Gass was succeeded as artistic director of Factory by Bob White Jackie Maxwell. During much of this time George F. Walker came on as the in-house writer with plays such as The Art of War, Criminals in Love and Anger, Escape from Happiness and Nothing Sacred. Other notable works included Crossing Over by Neil Munro, The Rez Sisters by Tomson Highway, Rick Mercer's one man show, Robert Lepage's The Dragon's Trilogy and The Kids in the Hall. English left in 1995 and Michael Springate came on as artistic director for one season, 1995-96. At this point, the theatre experienced a financial downturn and it was feared that the company might close for good. However, Gass returned in 1996 to resume the artistic directorship with the intention of putting the theatre back on its feet.
His decision to perform all six of the plays in George F. Walker's Suburban Motel as a full season brought the theatre a remarkably swift return to popularity and financial prosperity. Gass was fired as artistic director in 2012 amid controversy. Several playwrights, including Walker and Judith Thompson, pulled their work from the theatre in protest, figures including Atom Egoyan, Gordon Pinsent, Fiona Reid and R. H. Thomson called for a boycott of the company. Since theatre professionals and community partners have publicity supported Factory Theatre and its existing pursuit of New Canadian voices. Nina Lee Aquino and Nigel Shawn Williams were named the new artistic directors in late 2012. In December 2014, Factory Theatre presented a re-branding as "Factory. Theatre with Grit" and announced that Aquino was appointed sole artistic director. Factory's current artistic team includes Aquino as artistic director, Williams as associate artistic director and Jonathan Heppner as artistic producer. Official site
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the most populous city in Canada, with a population of 2,731,571 in 2016. Current to 2016, the Toronto census metropolitan area, of which the majority is within the Greater Toronto Area, held a population of 5,928,040, making it Canada's most populous CMA. Toronto is the anchor of an urban agglomeration, known as the Golden Horseshoe in Southern Ontario, located on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A global city, Toronto is a centre of business, finance and culture, is recognized as one of the most multicultural and cosmopolitan cities in the world. People have travelled through and inhabited the Toronto area, situated on a broad sloping plateau interspersed with rivers, deep ravines, urban forest, for more than 10,000 years. After the broadly disputed Toronto Purchase, when the Mississauga surrendered the area to the British Crown, the British established the town of York in 1793 and designated it as the capital of Upper Canada. During the War of 1812, the town was the site of the Battle of York and suffered heavy damage by United States troops.
York was incorporated in 1834 as the city of Toronto. It was designated as the capital of the province of Ontario in 1867 during Canadian Confederation; the city proper has since expanded past its original borders through both annexation and amalgamation to its current area of 630.2 km2. The diverse population of Toronto reflects its current and historical role as an important destination for immigrants to Canada. More than 50 percent of residents belong to a visible minority population group, over 200 distinct ethnic origins are represented among its inhabitants. While the majority of Torontonians speak English as their primary language, over 160 languages are spoken in the city. Toronto is a prominent centre for music, motion picture production, television production, is home to the headquarters of Canada's major national broadcast networks and media outlets, its varied cultural institutions, which include numerous museums and galleries and public events, entertainment districts, national historic sites, sports activities, attract over 25 million tourists each year.
Toronto is known for its many skyscrapers and high-rise buildings, in particular the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere, the CN Tower. The city is home to the Toronto Stock Exchange, the headquarters of Canada's five largest banks, the headquarters of many large Canadian and multinational corporations, its economy is diversified with strengths in technology, financial services, life sciences, arts, business services, environmental innovation, food services, tourism. When Europeans first arrived at the site of present-day Toronto, the vicinity was inhabited by the Iroquois, who had displaced the Wyandot people, occupants of the region for centuries before c. 1500. The name Toronto is derived from the Iroquoian word tkaronto, meaning "place where trees stand in the water"; this refers to the northern end of what is now Lake Simcoe, where the Huron had planted tree saplings to corral fish. However, the word "Toronto", meaning "plenty" appears in a 1632 French lexicon of the Huron language, an Iroquoian language.
It appears on French maps referring to various locations, including Georgian Bay, Lake Simcoe, several rivers. A portage route from Lake Ontario to Lake Huron running through this point, known as the Toronto Carrying-Place Trail, led to widespread use of the name. In the 1660s, the Iroquois established two villages within what is today Toronto, Ganatsekwyagon on the banks of the Rouge River and Teiaiagon on the banks of the Humber River. By 1701, the Mississauga had displaced the Iroquois, who abandoned the Toronto area at the end of the Beaver Wars, with most returning to their base in present-day New York. French traders abandoned it in 1759 during the Seven Years' War; the British defeated the French and their indigenous allies in the war, the area became part of the British colony of Quebec in 1763. During the American Revolutionary War, an influx of British settlers came here as United Empire Loyalists fled for the British-controlled lands north of Lake Ontario; the Crown granted them land to compensate for their losses in the Thirteen Colonies.
The new province of Upper Canada was being needed a capital. In 1787, the British Lord Dorchester arranged for the Toronto Purchase with the Mississauga of the New Credit First Nation, thereby securing more than a quarter of a million acres of land in the Toronto area. Dorchester intended the location to be named Toronto. In 1793, Governor John Graves Simcoe established the town of York on the Toronto Purchase lands, naming it after Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany. Simcoe decided to move the Upper Canada capital from Newark to York, believing that the new site would be less vulnerable to attack by the United States; the York garrison was constructed at the entrance of the town's natural harbour, sheltered by a long sand-bar peninsula. The town's settlement formed at the eastern end of the harbour behind the peninsula, near the present-day intersection of Parliament Street and Front Street. In 1813, as part of the War of 1812, the Battle of York ended in the town's capture and plunder by United States forces.
The surrender of the town was negotiated by John Strachan. American soldiers destroyed much of the garrison and set fire to the parliament buildings during their five-day occupation; because of the sacking of York, British troops retaliated in the war with the Burning of Wa
Ed Mirvish Theatre
The Ed Mirvish Theatre is a historic film and play theatre in Downtown Toronto, Canada. It was known as the Pantages Theatre became the Imperial Theatre and the Canon Theatre, before it was renamed in honour of Ed Mirvish, a well-known businessman and theatre impresario; the theatre is located near Yonge-Dundas Square. The Pantages Theatre opened in 1920 as a combination motion picture house. Designed by the theatre architect Thomas W. Lamb, it was the largest cinema in Canada and one of the most elegant; the Pantages was built by the Canadian motion picture distributor Nathan L. Nathanson, founder of Famous Players Canadian Corporation, the Canadian motion picture distributing arm of Adolph Zukor's Paramount Pictures. While Famous Players retained ownership and booking were turned over to the Pantages organization, one of the largest vaudeville and motion picture theatre circuits in North America; the Pantages circuit had its beginnings in Canada, in the Yukon. Pericles Alexander Pantages had been a sailor on a Greek merchant ship who left the sea in search of riches during the great 1897 Klondike Gold Rush.
Although he found no gold, he became part owner of a small theatre in Dawson City – the Orpheum – that staged vaudeville and burlesque shows. From this beginning, he built over a period of 30 years, a large entertainment company that would include a Hollywood film studio, a vaudeville booking agency and ownership or control of more than 120 theatres across Canada and the western United States – most of which were known as "The Pantages"; the Toronto theatre was the easternmost house of the Pantages circuit, which dominated the western market. In 1929 Alexander Pantages was convicted of the rape of Eunice Pringle, a 17-year-old chorus girl, sentenced to 50 years in prison. Although the conviction was overturned on appeal, the scandal and the legal costs ruined Pantages. To the public, he had "got away with it" thanks to a clever lawyer. In 1930, he was forced to sell his theatres at a loss. With the collapse of the Pantages circuit, the Pantages name came off the marquees of all the theatres. In 1930 the Toronto Pantages was renamed the Imperial, became a cinema – no more live vaudeville.
Management and control were taken over by Famous Players, which retained ownership for more than 50 years. In 1972, the Imperial closed after a 9-month run of The Godfather, was divided into six separate cinemas by Toronto architect Mandel Sprachman; the Yonge façade was replaced with a modern front without canopy. It was reopened by Mayor David Crombie in 1973 as the "Imperial Six". Cinema 1 was built forward from the balcony edge toward the top half of the stage proscenium arch. Cinema 2 was located on the original balcony. Cinemas 3 and 4 were built in the original stage house, with cinema 3 being on top in the loft and cinema 4 underneath on the stage floor, both accessed by a long glass walkway that ran the length of the building exterior above Victoria Street. Cinemas 5 and 6 were in the original main floor seating area, divided in half by a partition wall. All traces of its elegant past, including the gold leaf and faux marble balustrades, were painted over with bold colours of yellow, blue and silver, with the walls carpeted in red and blue.
The entrance at Yonge Street was a modern-looking, aluminum-paneled front, with no canopy or vertical, featuring a large circle opening above the entrance into a brightly lit open outdoor square with bright modern marquee panels above on 3 sides, 6 television screens on each side of the approach to the entrance doors showing movie trailers of features and coming attractions. The TV screens were replaced by poster cases due to visibility problems with sunlight washing out the TV screens and technical problems with the early 1-inch video tape machines; the Imperial Six was a big money-maker for Famous Players throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, playing all the big releases including all the James Bond and Rocky releases. It had the same manager, Philip A. Traynor, from well before it closed for renovations in 1972, until its last day of operations by Famous Players in 1986. Following the closing of the Imperial Six, Traynor moved to the Plaza Cinemas and subsequently retired from Famous Players.
The Imperial Six sat on three separate lots. Famous Players owned the Yonge Street entrance, which bridged an alley and connected to the main building on Victoria Street, they owned the front half of the main theatre building, from the centre of the dome to the back wall of the stage house; the other half of the main theatre building, from the centre of the dome to the north wall of the main lobby, was leased from an elderly lady in Michigan, whose family had owned the property previous to the original construction of the theatre in 1920. Famous Players Development Corp. an arms-length real estate company spun off from Famous Players Ltd. in the 1970s, based in New York, attempted to negotiate with the Michigan owner to renew the lease at a more favourable rate. When the lease expired with no agreement in place, the owner announced her intention to approach Famous Players' rival cinema chain, Cineplex Odeon; the representatives for Famous Players Development suggested that Cineplex Odeon would have no use for "half a theatre".
However, Garth Drabinsky, flew to Michigan the same day that his company was contacted by the owner's lawyers, signed a lease. The following day, May 31, 1986, with the assistance of
Mod Club Theatre
Mod Club Theatre is a theatre in downtown Toronto, Canada. Its address is 722 College Street, in Little Italy; the venue hosts live performance concerts and DJ nights, featuring genres like rock, electronic music, hip hop. Mod Club Theatre has a capacity of about 600. Concert-goers can watch acts from the floor, the tables to the side of the room, or the second floor balcony. Additionally, two large video panels give audience members views of the performers on stage; the club's small size contributes to the intimacy and clear sound quality of live shows. Some of the walls feature murals of images related to the 1960s mod subculture. Mod Club began as a weekly Wednesday club night at the Lava Lounge in 1999, it expanded at the Lava Lounge and The Revival. After one performance when The Revival was slapped with an over-capacity charge a more permanent location was sought out, 722 College Street was acquired. Official site
