The Luminato Festival returns to Toronto this spring for its 19th edition, running at various sites across the city from June 4 to 22. This year’s multidisciplinary lineup, announced Wednesday morning, will feature works by more than 1,000 Canadian and international artists.
The events and exhibits were curated around the theme of day and night, exploring how we interact with our urban environment in a 24-hour cycle. “The program asks us to reflect on the cycle of our collective lives, and how we engage and disrupt an existing time and space as a community,” said Olivia Ansell, Luminato’s new artistic director.
Running for nearly three weeks, this year’s edition will be one of the longest running festivals in Luminato’s history. Here are 10 must-see events and exhibits to check out.
Runway Rivers
Last November, local artist John Notten was named as one of three winners of the Beyond the Tarmac Open Call, an initiative to help activate the former site of Downsview Airport before it’s developed into a series of communities. Notten’s winning pitch, “Runway Rivers,” will let visitors “float” down painted waterways on the tarmac in wheeled canoes. The art installation is meant to highlight Toronto’s lost waterways now buried by the urban concrete jungle.
Red Like Fruit
A new Hannah Moscovitch play is always something to celebrate. The Canadian dramatist’s latest work, “Red Like Fruit,” will mark its Toronto premiere later this spring, following its world premiere in Halifax last year. A story for the post-#MeToo era, the play follows a journalist who becomes haunted by her past as she covers an important case of domestic violence.
Thaw
A solo performer and a 2.7-tonne block of ice will be hoisted and suspended above Sankofa Square for this epic, eight-hour public performance. Created by Joshua Thomson, with the Australian company Legs on the Wall, “Thaw” is meant to serve as a visual metaphor of the climate crisis. The piece comes to Toronto following runs in Australia, New Zealand, the U.K. and Europe.
The Queen of the Night Communion
Tapestry Opera, a Canadian company dedicated to new operatic works, will take up residence at the Metropolitan United Church in downtown Toronto on June 6 and 7. Directed by Michael Hidetoshi Mori, “The Queen of the Night Communion” is billed as an “immersive musical journey” that offers a fresh take on opera’s most misunderstood characters, including its titular figure, from Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.”
Hamlet
Teatro La Plaza’s reimagining of “Hamlet” aims to inject a sense of joy into the great Shakespearean tragedy. This production, presented in Spanish with English translations, features a cast of eight actors with Down syndrome, each exploring the play’s central question of “To be or not to be?” through the lens of inclusion and discrimination.
Theo x Travis: Jazz is Dead
American jazz trumpeter and Grammy Award nominee Theo Croker is joining forces with Canadian tap dancer Travis Knights for their new show “Theo x Travis: Jazz is Dead,” billed as a “high-energy fusion of jazz, hip-hop and R&B.” Both men are electrifying performers, making this production, co-presented with Dance Immersion, one to watch.
What the Day Owes to the Night
Inspired by Yasmina Khadra’s novel of the same name, this dance performance by the French-Algerian choreographer Hervé Koubi blends elements of Sufi traditions, martial arts, and urban and contemporary dance. An ensemble of 13 male dancers executes Koubi’s hypnotic, sometimes gravity-defying choreography.
Santé
The travelling troupe Cirque Kikasse doesn’t need to pitch a circus tent to perform their routines. They do it all atop a fully functioning food truck. “Santé,” the Quebec company’s latest mobile production, features trampolines, juggling and balancing acts, all washed down easy with a cold one or a light snack.
Night/Shifts
When most of us are fast asleep, it’s night workers who keep our city running. Toronto’s current photo laureate, the Anishinaabe artist Nadya Kwandibens, will shine a spotlight on these individuals in her new exhibition “Night/Shifts” at this year’s festival. Kwandibens’ project will be displayed throughout the city and across the TTC network.
An Oak Tree
This absurdist two-hander by the British theatremaker Tim Crouch is a humorous meditation on bereavement following two men: one is a hypnotist (played by Crouch) and the other a man whose daughter is killed by the hypnotist in a car accident. At each performance, Crouch is joined by a special guest artist whose identity is only revealed at the start of the show. The artists will include Canadian stars such as Amrit Kaur, Jean Yoon and Daniel MacIvor.
