Designers Beth Kates and Ben Chaisson are doing just that by turning front rehearsal hall of the Lower Ossington Theatre into an interactive installation. These two multi disciplinary designers have worked extensively with interactive theatre technologies, and have collaborated on a multitude of productions. Trained in many forms of art as well as education methods Beth and Ben hope to bring you to a new fun experience...

The room will be lined with state of the art equipment such as projectors, screens, cameras, headphones, speakers, mixers, microphones, and a large assortment of “conventional” toys (action figures, Lego, blocks, balls, hula hoops, sand table, etc). Participants will get their hands on the technology and witness first hand the adaptive technologies out there for the performing arts. What you choose to do with them is up to you! However, you will have guidance and help in the form of Beth Kates and Ben Chaisson or one of their associates.

Based loosely on Montessori and Waldorf Education techniques of self-guided play, and a long history of goofing off, B&B hope to allow the participant to explore and create and most importantly have fun. SummerWorks audience members of all ages are invited at almost any time of the day to come and Play. Stay for as long or as short as you like, but come often as the playground will develop throughout the festival and will be quite different day to day. The playground is also a process of discovery for the creators who will need your feedback to allow The Playground to grow over the course of the festival, and into the future!

In addition to the interactive side, Cara Gee and Natasha Greenblatt have programmed events to engage with the spirit and technology of The Playground both inside and outside of The LOT.

There will be a candy bar, tickle trunk, pillow fight, scavenger hunt, capture the flag, dance-class, music-video-making, “video" games and other fun stuff that will bring you back to the thrills (and challenges) of your childhood. Real children are always welcome!

Hours