CHAUTAUQUA
Be honest: how are you doing these days, really?
Are you worried? Afraid? Behind on your emails?
You are not alone. And all are invited to Pearle Harbour's Chautauqua, where connection is the cure for what ails ya. Gather under the milky folds of our beautiful Tent. Be sheltered from the inharmony of these tough times. Catch your breath. Speak your Truth. Feeeeel the People Power, you betcha!
Chautauqua is a multi-award-winning, immersive extravaganza, with music, sing-a-longs, puppet shows, salvation… even an exorcism! The world may be falling apart, but Pearle will prove there's more that unites us than divides us.
Chautauqua first premiered at the 2017 SummerWorks Performance Festival, and was revived in 2018 at Theatre Passe Muraille before touring across western Canada.
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AWARDS
AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD,
SummerWorks Performance Festival
AWARD for OUTSTANDING SOLO PERFORMANCE,
My Entertainment World
OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN,
Dora Mavor Moore Award nomination
OUTSTANDING PLAY
OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE
OUTSTANDING DIRECTION
OUTSTANDING DESIGN,
NOW Magazine Best of Fest
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PRESS
A+++++++, MY ENTERTAINMENT WORLD:
"This is everything I want to see, everything I want hear, everything I want to be."
NNNN, Critic’s Pick, NOW MAGAZINE:
"Who knew that a show performed by a drag queen in a recreation of an old-time tent revival could act as a balm for souls anxiously living in an age of economic, ecological and political uncertainty?
And while many shows employ audience interaction and participation, this is one of the few I've seen where the practice encourages a sense of community healing and togetherness."
3 stars (of 4), TORONTO STAR:
”Her followers were putty in her hand.”
MY GAY TORONTO:
“A divine creation… drag as exultant down and dirty clowning. Pearle flirts, quips, and interacts with the audience in a way that is extraordinarily intimate…
I was unprepared for the intensity of her comic vision.”
LIFE WITH MORE COWBELL:
“Engaging, entertaining, enlightening… It’s just the thing we need right now.”
MOONEY ON THEATRE:
"Genius... with stage presence like that — I would believe pretty much anything this woman told me."
ARTS VOX:
"While Harbour is always in commanding control of the proceedings, the heart of the performance is in her impeccably effortless interaction with the audience (as a whole and with individual members)...
Miller is masterful to watch."
NNNN, Critic’s Pick, NOW MAGAZINE (revival):
”Miller’s brave performance always remains intensely in the moment… It is riveting to watch Pearle interacting up close.”
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TEAM
Chautauqua was first developed for Why Not Theatre at The RISER Project, with support from Theatre Passe Muraille, the Toronto Arts Council, and the Ontario Arts Council.
Justin Miller // playwright
Byron Laviolette // director
Rebecca Ballarin // producer
Sandra Balcovske // dramaturge
Stella Conway // live accompaniment + composition
Deanna H. Choi // sound design + composition
Jareth Li // lighting design
Joseph Pagnan // production design
Hale Reap // Tent
Jess Byiers // puppets
Giuseppe Condello // stage- and production-manager
Mirabella Sundar-Singh // ASM