In the words of bad stand-up comedians everywhere... ”I know you’re out there, I can hear you breathing”. In this case “breathing” means page views tracked by Blogspot. And since this is the 16th post, you’re presumably enjoying it. Or at least enduring it, hoping it will get better at some point. In either case, you’ve seen how much fun we’ve been having putting the show together and you’re at least a bit curious as to what the finished product will look like.

But you have questions. You have concerns. You have doubts. Fear not, faithful blog followers. As a public service to you, here on VIVID4 World Premiere Day, I have taken the liberty of putting together a VIVID4 Audience FAQ.

1. Pick a day to attend the show. Thursday is the Premiere with all the pomp and circumstance. But Friday and Saturday offer a discussion on dramaturgy at 8:00 between the shows with Kathleen and Tristan Whiston. Never heard of “dramaturgy”? I hadn’t either until I became exposed to all this contemporary dance production stuff. Tristan is an interesting guy and well-spoken. You will likely learn something here. And then there’s the Sunday matinee, and it might be fun doing the outdoor knitting installation on a beautiful late June afternoon.


2. Go here and pre-purchase your tickets:

VIVID4 tickets on TicketWeb

Do it now.

Online price is $22 plus a $3.75 service charge. So you’re saving $4.75 over the door price and have the peace of mind of knowing you have your ticket and won’t get all the way down to the theatre only to find it’s been sold out. I have noted that it is a relatively small venue.

TicketWeb is operated by Ticketmaster, the world’s #1 ticketing portal, so your online transaction is as safe and secure as it can be. If you still have concerns about putting your credit card info over the interwebs, you can call TicketWeb at 1-888-222-6608.

When you purchase tickets through TicketWeb, they will not be mailed to you. We will have your tickets at the Winchester Theatre box office. Simply come on down, give your name and have the credit card you used to purchase the tickets. You can pick up your tickets anywhere from 30 minutes before the show up until the start of the show.


3. Get down to the theatre.
Winchester Street is east off Parliament, between Wellesley and Carlton. The theatre has a map and info here: Winchester Street Theatre location
For a specific TTC recommendation, this site is useful: myttc. Just put in your home address, put the "To:" address as “80 Winchester Street” and it will give you the best route.

Here's how the theatre looks from the Google Map car:

View Larger Map


4. Schedule
The first show at 7:00 (1:00 on Sunday) is the youth company performance entitled “The Wild in Us”. Admission is free to this show for youth 15 – 25 years old. Those of us who may be slightly older than 25 are asked to pay $5 - $10. All box office proceeds from this performance go directly to the youth company performers. This show is not ticketed.

When the youth show finishes, you will be directed outside the theater to a lovely outdoor space beside the theatre. You will see about 30 chairs set up in roughly a circle and running between the chairs is the 100-ft long scarf you’ve read about. At each chair, there is a ball of yarn and knitting needles attached to the scarf. Sit down and knit. If you don’t know how to knit, there will be professional knitters on hand to help you. This may be your opportunity to learn a useful skill. If you don’t/can’t/won’t knit, then in the centre of this massive scarf, dancers from the youth company will be doing what is called “flocking” and you are encouraged to join them. This basically involves slow movements in which you follow the person in front of you. The movement turns and twists around so you’re always following someone new. I did this “flocking” in the Casa Loma stables during Nuit Blanche at about 3:00 am a few years ago and it was a lot of fun.

At 8:15, you will be asked to start heading back inside for the main show, "Unravelling the Tight Weave". This show does require a ticket and if you don’t have one by this point (and really, given this helpful and informative FAQ, there’s no excuse not to), you can get one at the box office, assuming it’s not sold out. The Winchester Street Theatre does not have numbered seats. There will be a number on your ticket, but it’s just a ticket number, not a seat number. Seating is first come, first served. But don’t worry, there are no bad seats.

5. Running Times
The youth show is a half hour. The main show runs about an hour and a quarter. There is no intermission, so visit one of the funky two level washrooms (straight through the door before you go into the theatre) before the show.
Afterwards, why not enjoy a late dinner or drinks from one of the fine restaurants in the Cabbagetown neighbourhood. Here’s a list: Cabbagetown Restaurants. On Thursday night after the show (9:45-ish), the audience is invited to join the dancers and crew for our opening night reception at the Peartree Restaurant.


If you have any questions I haven’t covered above, drop me an email at jeff.moskal@reasondetre.com, or leave a comment below. I look forward to seeing you sometime this weekend.