Speculation

Toronto-based violinist and interdisciplinary artist Leslie Ting has been creating immersive, music-driven performances since 2012 with her definitive work, Speculation. Combining her specialized background as a classical musician and former practicing optometrist, her performances are described as a “whole atmosphere unlike anything I’ve experienced in the classical realm”. 

Nominated for the Waterloo Arts Award and Orford String Quartet Award for Speculation in 2014 at Kitchener-Waterloo’s Open Ears Festival, it has travelled to Open Senses (London, UK), Ottawa Chamberfest, The Music Gallery (Toronto), and the Stratford Summer Music Festival. Leslie’s newest creation, What Brings You In, is currently in development with the support of Theatre Passe Muraille’s Buzz Development program, the RISER Project, Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, Canadian Music Centre, Volcano Theatre and Chamber Factory.

Committed to inclusion and creative approaches to access, she has also worked with renowned blind theatre artist and disability arts advocate Alex Bulmer (Common Boots) and Deaf performer Thurga Kanagasekarampallai. Leslie is driven to make work with the intent and belief that live art can engage the imagination, empathy and compassion to spark advocacy and social change.

Alex Bulmer is the writer and narrator of the critically acclaimed acoustic installation LIFE UNSEEN. She is a New York Radio Award nominee, Society of Canadian Musicians award recipient, writer of the stage play SMUDGE (Time Out’s Critics Choice, UK).

Alex has written for The Royal Court, London 2012 Olympics and BBC radio and her adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame won an AMI Award. She is co-founder and Artistic Director of Invisible Flash UK , co-creator of The Canadian based Republic of Inclusion and Artistic Director of Cripping The Stage, in association with The British Council Toronto. In 2014 she was named as one of the UK’s most influential disabled artists by Power Magazine. 

Tristan R. Whiston is a multi-disciplinary artist who has worked in Toronto’s arts community for over 25 years as a director, dramaturge, writer, performer, and community artist. His work, Middle C, for the CBC, won the 2007 Premios Ondas Award for International Radio and the silver medal at the 2007 New York International Radio Programming and has been broadcast across the globe.

Tristan co-founded Del ARTiE Productions with whom he co-wrote and co-directed seven original musical comedies, and he was the founding director of Toronto’s renowned performance troupe The Boychoir of Lesbos.

As a community artist, Tristan was the artist-in-residence at Central Toronto Youth Services, and as artistic co-director of Red Dress Productions, has co-led over 20 large-scale community arts projects.

• March 5 & 6th will be ASL interpreted by Deaf interpreter Thurga Kanagasekarampillai with ASL interpreters Marcia Adolphe and Scout Huston.
• Relaxed Performances are designed to welcome audience members and their families who could benefit from a more relaxed environment, including those who are neurodiverse and Autistic patrons. The digital set-up includes: access to a visual story for the play which includes clear instructions on accessing the performance link, a pre-show introduction to the actors/characters, the ability to access the performance for 36 hours after the performance, A Digital Front of House Manager to provide answers to any questions via phone, email, YouTube chat and a virtual active listening room  (a zoom meeting) that anyone can go to after the performance.
• Speculation has been created to include audiences who are Blind or have low vision. The play is complete as an auditory experience. In addition to its strong aural aesthetic, the show includes a series of projections that artistically express how differing forms of vision loss affect seeing. 
• A seven minute Audio Introduction of the visual elements of the play can be listened to by clicking here. 
• For all other access inquiries, please contact our Box Office at 416.504.7529 or via email at info@passemuraille.on.ca

For our second Prelude event of the season, we are pleased to welcome acclaimed writer Ryan Knighton through our virtual doors to chat about his life and work!

Author of the Stephen Leacock Medal-shortlisted memoir, Cockeyed, and C’mon Papa: Dispatches from a Dad in the Dark, Ryan Knighton will be in conversation with TPM Board Member and Accessibility Specialist Darren Cooper on his journey as a writer, what it’s like to write about your own life, and why you should never forcibly grab a Blind person by the elbow during a global pandemic.The event is happening on Saturday February 20th at 2 PM EST (11 AM PT) over Zoom.

The event will be a primarily auditory event to improve accessibility for patrons at all levels of sight and/or living with Blindness. There will be Zoom auto captioning available and ASL-Interpretation will be provided by Sign Language Interpreter Denica C. Brown.You will need to register in order to receive a link to the event.

Register here

To schedule an interview with the artist, or staff members at Theatre Passe Muraille regarding this production, please email Emily Jung at emilyj@passemuraille.on.ca. We will try out best to accommodate your media requests, however they are not guaranteed.

Click here to be directed to the media page.

From the artist Leslie Ting

The development of this work was supported through a partnership with Chamber Factory: Works for Small Ensembles and generous contributions from the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, Region of Waterloo Arts Council and many individual donors.

Thank you also to Matthew Fava and the Canadian Music Centre.