Press

FUN PALACE RADIO VARIETY SHOW

"A real treat. Smart, funny, self-aware but not self-satisfied, it was great live theater that also makes for excellent radio." - Culturebot.org

ANTIGONE DEAD PEOPLE

"Under director Jacob Zimmer, the confrontations between Antigone (Maev Beaty) and Creon (Philip Shepherd) are excitingly theatrical. Her fiancé, Haemon (Frank Cox-O’Connell) and her sister, the practical Ismene (Liz Peterson), also have powerful scenes, and Antonio Cayonne brings a strong sense of menace to the Guard, along with a secret he holds until near the play’s end." - Jon Kaplan NOW Weekly

PERHAPS IN A HUNDRED YEARS

"Perhaps In A Hundred Years is not a conventional theatrical narrative. It is a wonderful insight into this group of artists’ struggle with the issues that concern us all: why we are here, where we are going, why we do what we do, how we relate to each other, and what the hell is wrong with the world?" - Dorianne Emmerton Mooney on Theatre

"It’s a meditation on isolation (the three are ostensibly lost in space), friendship and ways of thinking about the future. The trio’s understated, ultra-casual style is still refreshing and thought-provoking" - Jordan Bim NOW

"Endearingly simple and painstakingly casual, Small Wooden Shoe’s Perhaps In a Hundred Years is less a play than an experiment to recreate that unique feeling of being contently bored with people you like." - Robert LaRonde Swimming Lessons for Shut-Ins

DIFFICULT PLAYS AND SIMPLE SONGS

"One of Toronto’s theatrical highlights last year wasn’t held on a stage, didn’t cost any money, and appeared once every four weeks or so, for just a single night at a time. It was indie theatre company Small Wooden Shoe‘s Difficult Plays and Simple Songs" - David Demchuk Torontoist

UPPER TORONTO

“These consultations need to be a good night out,” Zimmer points out. Spending a night discussing an imaginary city needs to be fun in order for people to get involved. The subtle performance aspect of the project is evident when people get excited and are ready to leave their disbelief at the door, with the help of introductory “spiels” and discussion facilitation. - The Varsity

“Inspired by science fiction and a certain amount of frustration with Toronto's urban planning process, they hope to have a fully-realized and completely ridiculous proposal put together soon.” – io9

“You know how when you were a kid, sometimes you would get an idea in your head, and you wouldn’t let the fact that it didn’t make sense or that it didn’t play by the rules of logic and physics or even that it was actually a terrible idea stop you from just imagining the shit out of it? The world could be guided by the principle of “What if…?” and the answer could be “…then everything.”

Jacob Zimmer, creative director of performance company Small Wooden Shoe, is bringing something of the magical thinking of kid logic back in style. Zimmer’s latest project-in-the-making asks the question “What if we took Toronto and built a new city on top of it and called it Upper Toronto and moved everybody up there?” – Torontoist

“Upper Toronto is a piece of theatre that mirrors the real process of development. We’re going to try to create the kind of city that the people of Toronto would love to live in.” – Quiet Babylon

DEDICATED TO THE REVOLUTIONS

"Instead of offering a realistic overview of scientific progress, Dedicated to the Revolutions is the creative interpretation of how change occurs." -- Walrus Blog

"Charmingly insistent on the right of non-experts and artists to grapple with what science means for how we understand progress, the world around us, and how we understand ourselves." – Nora Young on CBC's Spark Blog

"the point of the show isn't so much to give the audience a useful lesson about Copernicus or Darwin, but to explore how normal people relate to science on a daily basis. Also, it's very funny." -- Torontoist

"[Dedicated to the Revolutions] isn't amenable to the orthodox rules." -- The National Post

"thought-provoking and aesthetically interesting, but most importantly, [...] a sense of fun." -- The Globe and Mail Preview

"Dedicated To The Revolutions is the kind of fun show that’ll appeal to those who don’t usually go to the theatre. While it’s not a conventional, well-made play, it offers thoughtful, well-made entertainment." -- NOW Weekly Review

"I’ve rarely seen productions as good-humoured, as teasingly intriguing, as these." -- NOW Weekly Preview

"It’s an effort to think through paradigm shifts and how they affect our lives, an attempt to make the ghost of C.P. Snow just a little happier, and also a shot at having some serious-minded but light-hearted fun." -- Carl Wilson on Zoilus

"Six of Toronto’s most exciting theatre artists mix live demonstration, ukulele singalongs and a Staples catalogue worth of whiteboards" -- EYE Magazine Preview

Interviews:

“Brecht had a sign above his desk that said, ‘Simpler, with more laughter,’” nods Zimmer. “It’s a really fast, sharp and witty script, with some broadly drawn characters and great set pieces. We’re trying to capture that sense of fun.” Jacob Zimmer in Now

"Art and science (and many other fields) share such basic values, and yet mostly they are separated." -- Jacob Zimmer on MaRS Blog

"I think this work in particular is an attempt to get past some of my issues with the hard lines and to generate proposals and engagement instead of only critique and pulling apart." -- JZ in Time and Space

"I should leave my computer more often, since it’s turned into a giant procrastination machine." -- JZ under One Big Umbrella

"It feels more like hosting a dinner party than performing" -- Frank Cox-O'Connell in Torontoist

"We’re talking back to the list, and asking questions, and thinking about how that story makes our lives what they are." -- Evan Webber on Theatre is Territory

The development of Dedicated to the Revolutions on the internet:

JON KAPLAN'S Top 10 Theatre Artists Jon Kaplan, NOW Magazine December 27, 2007

NEWTON’S AWES Jon Kaplan, NOW Magazine July 5, 2007

WEIGHING THE GRAVITY OF THE NEWTONIAN REVOLUTION Cathy Bogaart, MaRS Centre July 5th, 2007

REASONABLY ENTERTAINING Jon Kaplan, NOW Magazine

DELIGHTFUL DOTS Jon Kaplan, NOW Magazine, Jan 18, 2007

T-Dot Thrillz: Much Ado About the Weekend Carl Wilson, Zoilus, Jan 12, 2007

Small Wooden Shoe Walks The Information Super-Highway The Torontoist, January 12, 2007

Rich Rhubarb! Jon Kaplan, NOW Magazine, Feb 23, 2006