Lab Cab Festival

What's better than finding a new summer festival to check out? Finding one that is steps away from your home! I realize I have an unfair advantage when it comes to location (living at Queen & Gladstone downtown Toronto there is a disproportionately high number of arts/cultural events happening in my 'hood) but all that really means for me is that I feel an obligation to take in as many of them as possible. Which brings me to my Saturday spent in Parkdale at the Lab Cab Festival.

The Lab Cab Festival is a free multi-arts festival whose mandate is "to provide a home for local artists of various disciplines to experiment with new work in a fun and risk-free environment". What this translates to is 100 artists performing in 70 venues on Queen West between Dufferin and Roncesvalles. Yes, you read that correctly. 70 venues. Probably the most intriguing thing about Lab Cab is its use of performance space. Stores, restaurants, community buildings and public spaces all double as venues for the day during Lab Cab, which means that in addition to seeing artists do their thing, you get to explore Parkdale itself. Awesome.

Before heading out to Lab Cab you may want to make yourself a schedule of what you want to see and where to see it because as I mentioned, the venues aren't always obvious as you pass by. Though they were all indicated by balloons outside (the international childhood symbol of PARTY TIME), they all were open to customers throughout the day. Most Lab Cab shows are short (ranging from 10-30 minutes) so it makes sense that they would try to keep it business as usual between performances. My first stop was at West End Comics for the dance piece "Adventures of Imagination: I Am Super Hero". It was probably the weakest but most earnest performance I saw during the day, but that has a lot to do with the fact that it relies heavily on audience participation and our audience was quite reluctant to do mini-jumping jacks and other super hero training tasks. Kids would probably love this one.

Next stop was a theatre performance inside Glory Hole Doughnuts. A brief aside, have you had these doughnuts? OH. MAN. Before the performance we had the absolute delight of partaking in an orange creamsicle doughnut and it was one of the best doughnuts I've ever had. Bring a friend, they're HUGE. The theatre piece was an excerpt from "Amusement" performed by Nobody's Business Theatre. It was quite good, very funny and staged well considering we were inside a small storefront. After the show ended we tumbled outside to catch the end of a lovely musical performance by folk-country band Local 164 who were playing on the steps outside Our Lady of Lebanon church.

Next stop was the parking lot of Certified Tire & Auto for one of the day's highlights, a Tibetan song and dance performance entitled "Five Elements Chuba". For those who don't know, Parkdale is home to Toronto's largest Tibetan Diaspora, and I was very excited to see some traditional Tibetan offerings on the Lab Cab programme. The show began with a vocal/guitar duet and then Tibetan musician Tsering Dorjee took the stage and performed a traditional Tibetan step dance on the dramyin. The final performance had Dorjee accompanying dancers in beautiful Tibetan costumes. Loved it!

It was at this point it began to drizzle a bit so we were happy to have an indoor stop scheduled at vintage store Common Sort. Another aside. If you love vintage shopping, you should plan a trip to Common Sort ASAP. I couldn't even make it out the door without making a purchase (shoes & a bag, I'm such a girl). Inside Common Sort we were treated to an improv performance by "Fast Friends" Amy Matysio & Dana Pino. Using costumes and props from Common Sort's stock, they performed a few improv pieces which were all hilarious. They got the biggest laughs of the day from me. These ladies have a great chemistry/dynamic, which for improv is the most important thing of all. It was great, I wish it had been longer!

Next was an outdoor masked opera "Mr Park VS Dale" performed by Derek Kwan, accompanied on Viola da Gamba by Jöelle Morton. It was performed in a lovely setting (in the May Robinson Apartment outdoor greenspace) and we were really enjoying it until the rain began to fall in earnest, cutting short the performance. Typical of this summer, amirite? But I get it. Viola da Gambas and rain do not mix. We hurried to our next indoor venue, The Mascot Cafe, for the dance piece "Chicago Overcoat" performed by Kristy Kennedy. OH MAN. THIS ONE. This was it for me. It was SO good I kind of want to see it again today. It was a very physical/movement dance, using a table, chair and typewriter in the performance. I don't presume to explain the meaning of the piece on Kennedy's behalf, but to me it spoke to the struggles of the creative/writing process and it did so very effectively. It also used killer tunes (Tom Waits featured heavily). See it, it's awesome.

Last stop was the comedy reading "Greg Does the Alphabet and Other Very Important Things", which took place on the rooftop of Made You Look jewellery, by far the most random and cool venue of the day. Greg Thomas began with a "PSA" about public sneezing, which was funny but would have been funnier if it was shorter. Next was the titular alphabet piece, which was hilarious. It was a work in progress so we only got to "P" but I would love to hear how it ends. Probably with "Z".

We intended to see a few outdoor musical performances at the Dufferin Amphitheatre to finish the day but unfortunately the weather had other plans for us. With any luck, we'll be able to fit in a few more stops at Lab Cab today. It runs again from noon to 6pm and it's FREE! Check it out, it's unlike any other festival I've attended and I mean that in a good way.