life with more cowbell

From 7 p.m. till sunrise, Toronto celebrated arts, culture and entertainment all night long.

Here are some images and impressions from the evening. Janis and I missed Dr. Draw at the Rivoli, as he was running late and we had friends to meet, but we did see a group of dancers and a pair of musicians out on the front patio stage.

After the Rivoli, we met up with Lizzie and Leah at Shanghai Cowgirl for a late dinner before heading out into the downtown core, where we saw several art installations, including some work at City Hall, Nathan Phillips Square.

We made our way north, through the UofT campus and stopped by the Bata Shoe Museum, where we saw this neat sound wave drawing that wrapped around the entire room.

From there, we took the subway and streetcar up to Artscape Wychwood Barns – Barn #2, where we saw a solo performance of a section of Fifty Monologues – Ghosts, a collection of female monologues from Shakespeare by actor Rebecca Singh. This was part of Theatre Local’s Small Audiences program – inside the smallest theatre space in the city: http://theatrelocal.org/category/works/small-audiences/

After a coffee and snack break, we went back into the space to see Lizzie’s horror poetry set, The Undead Night. Reading three of the zombie series pieces (attack, transformation and pursuit), as well as pieces about other undead creatures, like “Corpse Flower,” and the darkly comic “My Mother Thinks I’m A Serial Killer,” Lizzie’s work is raw, visceral and sometimes disturbing, yet beautifully written – and even sometimes funny.

After that, we were done and made our ways home. To bed. I’d made it till 4 a.m. and by the time I schlepped home on the all-night TTC service, it was 5:15 a.m.

A great evening of art and friends, with lots of walking. And coffee. If you ever get a chance to venture out for Nuit Blanche – do. There’s lots to see and places to go – some more crowded than others – and it’s a great adventure.