Every Thursday, we publish live music and performance events at pubs and clubs in Peterborough and The Kawarthas based on information that venues provide to us directly or post on their website or social media channels. Here are the listings for the week of Thursday, September 8 to Wednesday, September 14.

If you’re a pub or club owner and want to be included in our weekly listings, please email our Nightlife Editor at nightlife@kawarthanow.com.

This week, director Ryan Kerr is bringing a rare piece of Peterborough’s theatrical history to the stage at The Theatre on King (TTOK) with a revival of Pat Walsh’s play Insurrection.

First performed in 1993, Insurrection was one of many productions at the legendary Union Theatre that were soon forgotten as players moved on to the next thing. In fact, Ryan believes that the seven-page script, which he kept from when he was in the original production, may be the only copy in existence.

Not even playwright Pat Walsh himself — who wrote the play when he was 22 years old — has a copy. Yet, despite its obscurity, Ryan says that it was theatre like this that kept him in Peterborough.

Insurrection is clearly a product of its time. A series of vignettes about young people toiling in minimum-wage jobs, the play is about the apathy and the rebellion of ’90s culture. as a new sort of youth movement is thrust into the working world to survive.

Gone are the good jobs of their parents’ generation, and the cult of leisure and creativity finds that work is a hindrance to one’s own self-worth. Nobody wants to be at their jobs, but it becomes a necessity in order to survive.

Each of the vignettes changes in theatrical style and tone and range from dramatically painful to hilarious to frightening. The scenes involve both storytelling and soliloquy and can go from being straightforward and conversational to fringing on the absurd. There is no narrative structure to the show, but the theme is consistent throughout.

A cast of local theatrical favourites appear in the play, including Meg O’Sullivan, Andrew Little, Simon Turner, Amy Commings, Tylor Dore, Elizabeth Moody, and Robyn Smith.

Each are cast accordingly to their personal theatrical strengths, making it a showcase of local talent doing what they are best known for.

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a number of these performers in productions lately, so it’s great to see some talented familiar faces again. It only makes this production all that much richer.

With each vignette having a different flavour, some work better than others, but together they make up a cohesive production.

Amy Cummings and Tyler Dore play two friends talking about work, with Amy speaking about a conflict with her employer while Tyler gives a grotesque telling of co-workers’ extreme actions to cheat the system. Meanwhile, Simon Turner plays a poetic youth trying to make sense of the work system.

The strongest vignettes belong to Andrew Little and Meg O’Sullivan. Andrew plays a donut shop counter jockey who relates a frightening experience at work, while Meg plays an unemployed woman with “no job and no money.” Between the use of dramatic lighting supplied by Ryan Kerr and Andrew’s natural storytelling talent, Andrew’s story is both compelling and frightening. Meg, on the other hand, gets to showcase her magnificent vocal talents as she sings the blues.

And then there is Elizabeth Moody and Robyn Smith’s scene. Suddenly I felt like I was back at The Theatre on King this spring watching a Samuel Beckett show.

Perhaps if you go to the performance and understand what that was about, you can drop me a line and let me in on it.

At just under a half hour, Insurrection is a short show and ends fairly suddenly. As a preview audience member noted afterwards, it was as if Pat just stopped writing.

However, the show is a reflection of a memorable and often romanticized moment in this history of Peterborough theatre. During the 1990s, the Union Theatre was an artistic hub in the community and the original shows written and performed there were cutting-edge grindhouse theatre.

Ryan Kerr has a commitment to keep this sort of theatre alive at TTOK, and this is the fourth time he has resurrected a show from the Union Theatre’s past. For people who remember the days of The Union, come relive it with Insurrection. If you weren’t in Peterborough or were too young to experience it, this is your chance to get a feel of what it was like being part of the arts community in the ’90s.

Insurrection runs from September 8th to 10th at The Theatre on King in downtown Peterborough. Tickets are $10 or pay what you can and the show starts at 8 p.m.

Celebrating its 15th year as an acclaimed showcase for the finest in Canadian jazz, the All-Canadian Jazz Festival is bringing a stellar line-up of top Canadian jazz/blues musicians to Port Hope this weekend (September 9 to 11, 2016).

Performances at the family-friendly tented outdoor festival in Port Hope’s Memorial Park take place on Friday evening, Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening, and Sunday afternoon.

The Friday evening concert is free, and tickets for Saturday and Sunday afternoons are $30 each ($10 for youth aged 12-17, free for children under 12). The Saturday evening headline concert is $50, and a weekend pass is available for $100.

Tickets are available at allcanadianjazz.ca.

The festival begins with a free concert at 7 p.m. on Friday night, featuring local young swamp boogey blues swing of The Quickshifters opening for Brass Transit, “Canada’s greatest tribute to the music of Chicago”. Festival organizers expect a huge crowd, so you’ll want to get there early (gates open at 5 p.m.).

Brass Transit

Saturday afternoon’s line-up includes jump/blues jazz band The Jive Bombers (12:15 p.m.), the flamenco soul of singer Amanda Martinez (1:30 p.m.), pop-up saxophone duo Kirk MacDonald and Pat LaBarbera with a tribute to John Coltrane (2:45 p.m.), and jazz/gospel/R&B vocal diva Dione Taylor (4 p.m.).

Amanda Martinez

Pat LaBarbera and Kirk MacDonald

Dione Taylor

On Saturday evening at 7 p.m., Peterborough native Chelsey Bennett opens for legendary pianist Oliver Jones, whose appearance in Port Hope will be the second-to-last gig on his Canadian farewell tour, and happens on the eve of his 82nd birthday.

Oliver Jones

Sunday afternoon opens with the return of the romping musical gumbo of Red Hot Ramble (12:30 p.m.), followed by sassy siren singer Tia Brazda (1:45 p.m.), then gifted pianist/composer Marianne Trudel with her Quartet featuring leading Canadian trumpeter Kevin Turcotte (3 p.m.), and ends with crowd favourites John MacLeod & the Rex Hotel Orchestra (4:15 p.m.).

Tia Brazda

Marianne Trudel

John MacLeod & the Rex Hotel Orchestra

Seating is available in the main performance tent, with picnic and patio tables set up throughout the park (seating is first-come, first-served). The performers in the main tent are visible with an unobstructed view from the area around the tent, so you can also bring your own lawn chairs. Pets are welcome, but smoking is not permitted.

But there’s more than just great jazz at the festival — there’s also great food and drink and prizes.

The festival has partnered with Cultivate Northumberland (which takes place from September 23rd to 25th in Port Hope) to offer festival patrons New Orleans style “jazz cookin'” — Jambalaya, Po Boys, and Gumbo — using ingredients grown close to home.

Snacks and lunch choices will also be available in the park, including gluten free and vegetarian options. Or you can get food and drink at one of the many nearby restaurants and cafes in downtown Port Hope (with your festival wristband, you can leave and re-enter Memorial Park as needed).

Reasonably priced drink tickets can be purchased at the park kiosk, or at the Beer and Wine Tent. The beverage selection will include wine recommended by “Billy’s Best Bottles”, Codrington’s Empire Cider, and Cobourg’s William Street Beer. Non-alcoholic beverages are available from the food vendors on the park.

There are also a couple of prize opportunities at the festival.

When you tweet or Instagram a photo of the festival with the hashtag #PoHoJazz (you can also tag @JazzPoHo on Twitter), it will appear on the live social media walls set up at the festival. If you post the best photo from the festival on Twitter or Instagram, you’ll win a portable electric piano.

You can also enter a lottery called Port Hope’s Community Chest and win one of two prize baskets filled with gift certificates from Port Hope’s local stores, restaurants, hotel and theatre. The “Eat/Play/Stay” basked is valued at $1,650, and the “Shop ‘Till You Drop” basket is valued at $2,000. Tickets are $5 each or $20 for five. Only 1,500 tickets are available, and the draw will be held just before the final performance on Sunday afternoon.

All photos courtesy of All-Canadian Jazz Festival Port Hope.

A taste of the 2015 All-Canadian Jazz Festival Port Hope

An interview with Alex Bierk on his new mural in downtown Peterborough

The next new mural, to be launched in Peterborough later this month, is by an artist who grew up here: Alex Bierk.

Alex has taken a different path in terms of his concept for a mural and has gone with a photographic image. Monochromatic and spacious, it is a light and airy cloud that you will find situated at the corner of Simcoe and Queen Streets in downtown Peterborough as of Friday, September 23rd.

The finished mural will be unveiled during a reception at 12 noon, on location at 114 Simcoe St. on September 23rd. This will happen in conjunction with the downtown gallery crawl and Artsweek kick-off.

Perhaps you are wondering how this photographic image is going to be adhered to a wall, or are curious about the interesting choice of subject matter. Alex fills us in on some of these details in the short interview below.

What inspired you to choose a cloud as the subject of your piece?

The subject matter in the mural speaks to both the vulnerability and beauty that I see in Peterborough. There has always been a connection for me between the sky, life, spirituality and hope. It seemed like the perfect fit for the location, and something positive to put downtown. It is a good backdrop.

Where did you find this cloud?

I have hundreds of photos of clouds from my day-to-day work, but this one was taken specifically for the mural site. The wall is very long and low, not the scale I am used to working in. I spent a couple of weeks obsessively watching for clouds out my studio window and racing around in my car for high ground to try and find the perfect spot to photograph them.

What sort of impact do you imagine this image will have? How do you envision people reacting to it as they pass by?

I see it as a background to whatever is going on. I think the mural’s scale will invite you to experience it. The way the wall is facing uphill it matches the natural horizon line.

Are you excited to be doing a public art installation in your hometown?

Yeah, I am so excited and grateful to be able to do this here. I work full time painting in my studio downtown, but I’m very isolated in what I do. The work leaves my studio and gets shown outside of Peterborough, in Toronto, New York, et cetera. With the mural, and also my solo exhibition — “Forerunners” at Artspace this October — it’s a great opportunity to share what I do, where I live.

What materials are being used to print on and affix your piece to the building?

Whatley Technical in town has sourced (and is printing on) a vinyl meant for something of this scale and to be outdoors. The vinyl is being mounted to aluminum panels, which will be installed in a grid to the wall of the mural site.

When is it going to be installed?

We’re working on it as we speak and hope to begin installation starting on the 19th of September. The mural will be unveiled in conjunction with the beginning of Artsweek. There’s going to be a reception at 12 p.m. on Friday September 23rd at the mural site — HELP Paralegal at 114 Simcoe Street, the corner of Simcoe and Queen.

Jill Stanton’s “Bloodroot” mural under the Hunter Street Bridge unveiled

Peterborough is indeed “painting the town”. If you haven’t heard about Edmontona artist Jill Stanton’s recent mural “Bloodroot” painted under the Hunter Street Bridge —done from start to finish in a shockingly short three weeks — then you must have had your head in the sand!

The bright and colourful mural, which is both fun and uplifting, has been talked about all over town — even on the radio. kawarthaNOW featured some photos recently of the mural’s unveiling.

It is however best experienced in person, so by all means, go for a stroll and check it out.

Installation and performance art at the Art Gallery of Peterborough and Artspace

In the case of installation work, a space is transformed by objects of many different kinds into an experiential often conceptual, work of art, frequently featuring sound and three dimensional objects. Installations are meant to be experienced rather than merely looked at as the work found in traditional galleries is.

The exhibits opening this month at the Art Gallery of Peterborough, as well as at Artspace, will feature both installation and performance art.

Performance art is also both an experiential and conceptual in nature, both for the performer and the audience. Historically it has signified a rejection of art as an object to be bought and sold, as well as a rejection of or critique of the status quo.

The performance may be recorded or perhaps it will generate something that will become the art. The remains of a performance, or work generated during a performance often become the art that remains on display. This is the case with the show that will be at Artspace beginning September 16th. Because of the performative time-based nature of the work, there is no picture to show, since the art will not exist until the performance takes place.

Exhibits by Bonnie Devine, Ann and Carl Beam, and selections from The Kawartha Autumn Studio Tour at the Art Gallery of Peterborough

At the Art Gallery of Peterborough (250 Crescent St., Peterborough, 705-743-9179), join the arts community on Saturday September 17th at 2 p.m. for the opening reception for three new exhibits and take in the corresponding performance piece that will happen at 3 p.m.

Bonnie Devine: La Rábida, Soul of Conquest: an Anishinaabe encounter

Bonnie Devine is an Ojibway installation artist, performance artist, sculptor, curator, and writer from Toronto. During the development of this exhibition, Devine visited sites significant to the voyages of Columbus in Italy and Spain. Through sculpture, drawing, painting, and video, the artist explores the religious justification for the conquest of the New World. The show includes an original choral work for four voices by Anishinaabe composer David Ronald DeLeary.

An artist talk with Devine takes place from 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, November 5th. The exhibition continues until January 8, 2017.

Germination: Ann and Carl Beam

“Germination” is a selection of works by Ann and Carl Beam, who both lived and worked in Peterborough, from the gallery’s most recent acquisition to its prmanent collection. Their works integrate personal memory with issues related to the environment, brutality, and a rethinking of the ways histories are told. Through juxtaposition, collage, and gesture, they upset colonial structures by sparking level dialogues between systems of knowledge.

The exhibition continues until January 8, 2017.

The Kawartha Autumn Studio Tour: Selections

On September 24th and 25th, the 32nd annual Kawartha Autumn Studio Tour offers the public a chance to view art in the working spaces of talented artists in the Peterborough-Kawartha region. This supporting exhibition samples the outstanding quality, spirit, and diversity of artists on the tour. Tour brochures are also available at the gallery.

A concurrent exhibition is on display at the Peterborough Kawarthas Tourism Visitor Centre (1400 Crawford Dr., Peterborough, 705-742-2201) until October 30th.

“Constellation/Conversation” at Artspace in Peterborough

On Friday September 16th at 8 p.m. at Artspace (378 Aylmer St., Peterborough, 705-748-3883), Tanya Lukin-Linklater and Leanne Simpson, along with Layli Long Solider, Cheyanne Turions, and Cris Derksen will present Constellation/conversation, a new collaborative performance and installation work.

Simpson and Derksen will be performing and the performance will then initiate responses from artist, Tanya Lukin-Linklater, poet, Layli Long Solider and curator, Cheyanne Turions. Each response may assume different forms, including text, performance, and spoken word.

A conversation between the five Indigenous women will then take place in the gallery space. The conversation may consider Indigenous peoples’ relationships with objects, museums, repatriation and storytelling.

Materials from the performance (tables, chairs and their configurations, microphones, papers, etc.) will be left in the space until the conclusion of the exhibition on September 30th.

Downtown Gallery Crawl and Artsweek on September 23rd

It should be a fun experience to partake of the local downtown Peterborough gallery crawl on Friday, September 23rd, where a number of downtown galleries and arts-affiliated spaces will be working together, holding concurrent openings for their new exhibits or just opening their doors to the public.

It will be a great night to get out of the house and soak it all up, an excellent opportunity to meet interesting people, have some wine and appetizers, and explore the galleries of downtown Peterborough.

The Art School of Peterborough (174A Charlotte St, Peterborough, 705-742-3221) will also be open to the public on this evening .

This event will be closely followed by the Kawartha Autumn Studio Tour on September 24th and 25th, where the studios of a number of artists in Peterborough and the surrounding area will be open to the public.

The annual Artsweek is also happening in Peterborough, running from September 23rd until October 2nd. It features performances, installations and storefront displays by various artists. Visit artsweekptbo.com/artsweek-2016/ to see the schedule of events and performances featured this year.

Christensen Fine Art celebrates 30 years in business featuring the work of Peer Christensen

Peer and Lori Christensen are celebrating 30 years of business in Peterborough this year. The journey has taken their art gallery and picture framing operation from The Williamson House Gallery (1986-1990) to Hunter West Gallery (1990-2006) to its current location at Christensen Fine Art (432 George St. N., Peterborough).

Peer will be participating in the annual Kawartha Autumn Studio Tour on September 24th and 25th. An opening reception and preview will be held on Friday September 23rd from 6 to 9 p.m. Peer’s work will be on display in the main floor gallery, as well as his second floor studio, during Artsweek Peterborough. The show will continue until October 5th.

rs are Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call 705-876-9623.

Anne Jaeger at Evans Contemporary in Peterborough

“Sluggo”, an exhibition of work by Anne Jaeger, will be display at Evans Contemporary (129-1/2 Hunter St. W., Peterborough) from September 9th to October 8th. An opening reception takes place from 6 to 11 p.m. on Friday, September 23rd.

Jaeger’s series of large black and white acrylic paintings on tarp use elements of collage and hand stitching.

Evans Contemporary is open to the public on Saturdays from noon to 6 p.m. Viewings can also be made by appointment by contacting the gallery at evanscontemporary@gmail.com.

Grand opening of Acme Art and Sailboat Company Gallery

In the same building as Evans Contemporary, you will find Joe Stable’s new gallery, the Acme Art and Sailboat Company Gallery, opening on Friday, September 23rd as part of the downtown gallery crawl.

This is a great opportunity to see Joe’s new body of work and new gallery setup! Come and celebrate with Joe as he opens this new gallery in the museum that is 40 years of Acme. You won’t want to miss this.

Artist David Goyette, writer McCabe-Bennett, and an evening of jazz at The Monocle Centre for the Arts in Peterborough

The Monocle Centre for the Arts (140 Simcoe St., Peterborough, 705-875-5442) is featuring the work of artist David Goyette during September. An opening reception takes place from 5 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, September 15th, and the work will be on display until September 30th.

This is not all that will be happening at The Monocle this September.

On Monday, September 19th, there will be a workshop reading of SMASHES: Queer love in the 1880s and 1990s, written by and starring Franny McCabe-Bennett and directed by Christopher Legacy.

This new one-woman-show examines feminist literary icon Charlotte Perkins Gilman as a queer pioneer and Franny’s own queer identity and coming-out story. “Growing up queer is messy, whether you’re a feminist writer in Victorian-era Connecticut or an overalls-wearing, Alanis Morissette superfan in the ‘burbs’.

The reading will be at 8 p.m. with an artist’s talk to follow. This event will be $10 at the door.

On Friday, September 23rd, as part of the downtown gallery crawl, there will be a live jazz performance at The Monocle featuring musicians Craig Paterson, Pete Woolidge, and John Climenhage. The show will run from 7:30t to 9:30 p.m., with drinks and snacks provided.