Round Dance concludes Wrecking Ball T.O. 14 as part of Yvette Nolan’s Ghost Dance.

All photos by Alex Williams, Lighting Design by Andy Moro, All rights reserved.

Wrecking Ball T.O. 14 was a massive success. A sold out Aki Theatre was standing-room only to witness and participate in a collective artistic response to The Idle No More movement. 27 artists including directors, actors, writers, hosts, singers and hoop dancers brought original and provocative works to the stage for the first time and one time only. Wrecking Ball T.O. 14 was brough to you by Waawaate Fobister, Native Earth Performing Arts and The T.O. Wrecking Ball Crew.

Current political theatre ripped from the zeitgeist and thrown upon the stage by:

Waawaate Fobister, Falen Johnson, Andrew Moodie, Yvette Nolan & Jordan Tannahill

Hosted by Andre Morriseau with Hoop Dance performance by Arik Pipestem & Song performance by Cathy Elliot

Wrecking Ball 13 Photography By Alex Williams

January 27, 2013 @ 8pm – Aki Studio Theatre at Daniels Spectrum, 585 Dundas Street E. Toronto

The Idle No More movement has risen in resistance to the Harper Government’s Bill C-45, which unilaterally infringes on Aboriginal and treaty rights protected by the Constitution Act (1982). The movement continues to grow in new and unexpected ways: hunger strikes, days of action, drum circles, blockades, letters, editorials, online comments and acts of theatre. Motivated not by public opinion polls, but a desire to bring real and meaningful change to a country that ranks 6^th in development globally and 66^th for its indigenous people, #IdleNoMore asks the same question posed to Canada by a 2012 United Nations panel of human rights experts: “How long will this be ongoing?”

At Wrecking Ball 14, a selection of Toronto’s most relevant and daring playwrights will have one week to create a play, and directors and performers will have one week to rehearse works connected to the Idle No More movement and the questions and issues it has raised.

Founded by director Ross Manson and playwright Jason Sherman in 2003, The Wrecking Ball has been the premiere event in Canada for showcasing political works for a decade. As the birthplace of new plays by Hannah Moscovitch, Michael Healey, Roland Schimmelpfennig, Erin Shields, Judith Thompson, Colleen Wagner, David Yee, Bea Pizano, Tara Beagan, and Sky Gilbert to name a few. There is no other event like it challenging theatre artists to respond to and address the vox populi.

Wrecking Ball 13 Photography By Alex Williams

On the occasion of the previous two Federal elections The Wrecking Ball went National; with ‘Wrecking Balls’ hosted by theatre artists in most major cities across the country. In both 2008 and 2011 these pan-Canadian dramatic responses to our politics garnered widespread national media attention. The Wrecking Ball is no longer a Toronto phenomenon, but an autonomous theatrical movement joined by a desire to explore current political questions, issues, desires and dreams upon the stage.

Brought to you by Waawaate Fobister and Native Earth Performing Arts – Meegwetch! — and The Wrecking Ball Toronto Crew: Ruth Madoc-Jones, Michael Wheeler, Julie Tepperman, Nina Lee Aquino, Aaron Willis, Ravi Jain, Alan Dilworth.

Click here to download the Media Release

The Wrecking Ball 14: Idle No More is ONE PERFORMANCE ONLY.