Can you believe it’s already August!? Where has the summer gone? As always, the Dandelion bunch has been hard at work, primarily with our Perennial In Bloom festival! If you don’t know what we have been up to all July, first of all… you are missing out!!, but second, we have been doing live readings on our Facebook of original plays by three fantastic young playwrights. If you have not had the chance to watch these amazing plays, fear not! You can head over to our Facebook page and binge them all right now! Not only have they been workshopping their own plays with the talented cast and Artistic Director, Max Ackerman, but the three of them have also been working on a collaborative piece all month long, entitled Fantasm that debuted on our Facebook on August 1st! Please take the time to watch each play and collaborative piece because they are all quite wonderful and show great dedication to the craft of playwriting.
The In Bloom festival this year has been a truly special experience. For the first time ever, Dandelion Theatre has had not one, not two, not three, but FOUR generous sponsors! The Dandelion team would like to thank Avling Kitchen and Brewing, Carrot Common, Umami Poke, and Amal for supporting small local theatre during a difficult time for the arts. If you have not had the pleasure of attending these establishments, we highly recommend it! Our three playwrights have also worked incredibly hard to bring original, relevant, and engaging content to the stage this month. A big round of applause to Ash Haslett Cuff, Gus Monet, and Kemi King for being incredible writers and even creating a collaborative piece with us! In Bloom would not have been the same without all of you! Another thank you to our core and special guest actors for bringing the writers' stories to life! We have always been so lucky to work with brilliant actors on every project! We truly appreciate all those who have watched these plays live or on their own time, and every single team member, sponsor, writer, and actor that have laid hands on this festival! Without our community, we would cease to exist!
You may be asking yourself, “hmm, what could possibly be next for Dandelion?” Well, don’t you worry, we always have something up our sleeve! We have a few projects in the works, but even sooner, we are producing a recital! What’s that you say, a recital? Yes, a recital! We will be hosting an open-ended series featuring artists of all kinds! If you (or someone you know) have been wanting to produce a project but don’t know where to start, start with us! We would be happy to produce music nights, one-person shows, comedy specials, and more! Pitch us your project and you will surely hear back! As always, you can reach us at our email: dandeliontheatreto@gmail.com! To kick off this open-ended series, we will be producing an opera recital in late August performed by Emily Rocha! You will hear more about Emily and the recital in the coming month so stay tuned!
Member Spotlight:
Social Media Graphic Designer: Emily Rayne!
Emily Rayne is an extremely talented artist that stepped in to work with us on our social media graphics when we were at a loss. Emily is this month’s hero for making the most beautiful graphics, managing last minute changes with ease, and just making us look better in general! Thanks Emily!! P.S. Yes, we know we work with a lot of Emilys… if you’re an Emily, hit us up!
Emily Rayne (she/her) is an artist from Toronto that has traded the city life for new country digs in Warkworth Ontario. Like many creatives she works as a server/bartender to support her artistic endeavours and to network with people from all over. At the beginning of the pandemic when school went online she decided to step away from her BDes degree at OCADU where she studied Illustration and Graphic Design. Since then she has picked up more clients for design work than ever before. After starting her side hustle as an Instagram content creator for some small Canadian businesses, Em was picked up by Dandelion Theatre to create graphics for the 2nd edition of the annual In Bloom Festival!
Community Work:
*if you have original work (poetry, short stories, short dialogues, jokes, visual art, etc.), please submit to dandeliontheatreto@gmail.com and your work could be featured in our next edition!
Would you be interested in a collective Spotify playlist? Imagine this… a killer Spotify playlist with the Dandelion community’s favourite songs featuring original songs written by our friends and neighbours. I’m talkin heads boppin, shower singin, car vibin, music. Sounds like a good time to me! This side project is in the works and we need your help! Send us your original music, fave oldies, new beats, or really anything you are listening to these days! The goal is to find and share music with the community so let’s get together and see what we all listen to!
Recommendations:
Here you can find recommendations from Dandelion’s team members! Each diary will include a new list of our updated favourites! Have you watched or read something that you think we should know about? Shoot us a message on our facebook, instagram, or twitter with your recommendations!
No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention by Reed Hastings & Erin Meyer
“Throughout his over two-decades of time spent growing Netflix, Reed Hastings continually pushed the bounds on how companies grow, develop culture, and attract top talent. No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention written by Hastings in 2020 features several interviews with current and former employees from Netflix all around the world. With no vacation policy, expense limits, and some of the brightest talent at any company, Hastings speaks to the untold and undocumented philosophy of the culture created at Netflix over the last 23 years. At a time in 2021 when the entertainment industry is bouncing back, No Rules Rules focuses on how Netflix carved its own pathway over time twenty years ago. Rejecting convention, making new traditions, and building responsibility with full freedom, are values that individuals and companies can continue to develop with a new, post-pandemic work culture being developed each and every day.” - Thomas Johnston (Production Manager & Technical Director)
Haider
“Set against the brutal conflict in Kashmir, Vishal Bhardwaj’s adaptation of Hamlet draws on classical traditions as well as more modern ones to paint a picture of a very real and traumatic family story. As a director, Bhardwaj uses vibrant colour starkly contrasted against the bleak and snowy regions between India and Pakistan. In addition to being visually striking, he utilizes Shakespeare’s text as translated into Hindi and Urdu as well as the sprawl is scale of Bollywood traditions to give us an incredibly unique auditory journey as well, playing off the similarities in the two art forms. It is an experience that is totally, holistically moving, from the visuals, to the sound design, with fantastic performances across the board but namely from Shahid Kapoor, the film’s titular protagonist. Any fan of Shakespeare’s classic owes themselves a watch of this movie, but I think everyone will get something out of it, no matter your experience with Shakespeare. I can safely say it is one of the most awe inspiring films I have ever encountered.” - Max Ackerman (Artistic Director)
Into the Storm
“Remember when right wing nationalists stormed the Capitol Building? It seems like a lifetime ago, when in reality it’s only been seven months since January 6th, 2021. Q: Into the Storm, is an HBO mini series following the events leading up to the attempted insurrection on the United States Capitol. The six part documentary tries to do what no one has done before, unmask the so called “Q”. The series is truly eye opening. It shows how quickly lies and misinformation can spread over the internet, as well as how easy it is for people to go down an absurd rabbit hole leading nowhere. The most interesting part is some of the people you’ll meet throughout the show. It ranges from average family members that have been sucked into this world, to the owners and creators of the right wing cesspool “8Chan”. I will say that this series may not be for everyone. Though if you’re interested in learning about how QAnon came to be, how far gone some of the right wing are, or even if you just want a thrilling documentary, I can’t recommend this series enough.” - Joshua Sidlofsky (Executive Director)
Recipes:
A Dandelion tested and approved recipe sure to bring joy to your afternoon picnics or midnight snacks!
Coconut Bacon: Submitted by Patricia Pham (Marketing and Events Coordinator)
It’s the perfect salad topper for a fun summer salad for all my vegetarians out there! I was never a big fan of tempeh bacon and this quick little salad add-in hit my palette with all the umami goodness!
Ingredients:
1½ cups unsweetened coconut flakes
1½ tablespoons tamari
scant 1 tablespoon maple syrup
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350 F
line a baking tray with parchment paper
Mix up all the ingredients in a bowl
Spread evenly on the tray and
Bake until dark golden brown for approximately 10 minutes
Enjoy!!