Leif Norman photographer

“HEAR, hear for the debut edition of Theatre for the Ears.

“We want an audience to come to hear a presentation, as opposed to see a presentation,” says Grant Guy, the producer of the show slated for 7 p.m. today in the Winnipeg Film Group’s third floor studio at 100 Arthur Street.

“Whether it is performance art or theatre, quite often we lose the detail of hearing to the overpowering visuals. We forget how to hear, so we are trying to get people to listen again.”

The first of five planned Theatre for the Ears presentations this season will include works by Arne MacPherson, Johnathan Bevan, Jenn Orr, Chris Sabel. Richard Kerr and Montreal-based Steve Bates, who will be present a hrspiel (radio play) via Skype with excerpts from Bertolt Brecht’s Krapp’s Last Tape and Jean Cocteau’s Orpheus. Andrew John Milne and Cameron Johnson will unveil their version of Wolfgang’s von Kempelen’s 1791 Speaking Machine, a manually operated speech synthesizer.

“We are going to carve out a large scope of aural ideas,” says Guy, the longtime executive producer of the independent theatre company Adhere and Deny. “It’s kind of an electrified Ed Sullivan Show, a variety show focused towards the ears.”

Admission is by pay-what-you-can and reservations can be made at 204-804-9686.”

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 3, 2014 C2