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Black History Month in Canada: a five point primer

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How much do you know about Black history in Canada and in Toronto? How much is there to know? “The average sixteen-year-old in Canada can tell you something about slavery and abolition in the United States,” Toronto author Lawrence Hill once remarked, “but do we know that the story of African-Canadians spans 400 years, and includes slavery, abolition, pioneering, urban growth, segregation, the civil rights movement and a long engagement in civic life?”

How to make Ontario Place the coolest venue of all time

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Ontario Place is getting a revamp. According to the Globe, most of the park will be closed until 2017 as a panel led by John Tory (yes, that John Tory) tries to figure out how to make it a profitable, must-visit destination. While turning this quintessentially boring “amusement park” into something mind-blowing is no small order, we think it can be done with a bit of imagination. Below, our suggestions for making Ontario Place amazing.

Neapolitan-style pizza hits Kensington Market

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Romolo Salvati and Massimo Di Lascio, two chefs whose flour-dusted fingers lovingly sculpted some of Toronto’s favourite pizza at Queen Margherita Pizza, have brought a little bit of Naples to Kensington Market with Pizzeria Via Mercanti, which has taken over the space formerly occupied by the Back Alley Woodfire BBQ and Grill.

Trending in Theatre This Week: The Double, The Laramie Project, Hamlet Live, Closer, The Who's Tommy

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In TheatreRUN’s world premiere, two actors and a bassist collide in a schizophrenic world that combines physical theatre with live, jazzy bass. The multi-disciplinary production is dubbed a dark satire, but keep in mind it is adapted from the novella by Fyodor Dostoevski, so, you know, don’t expect jazz hands or anything.
Factory Theatre, Studio, 125 Bathurst Street, 416-504-9971. Feb. 3 – Feb. 19.

La Palette gets back on the horse

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Last summer, we reported that Queen West’s La Palette had pulled horse from its menu after a Toronto Star article shed some light on the shadier aspects of the horse slaughter industry. Well, after months of deliberation, La Palette is bringing the controversial delicacy back.

Theatre Review: Penny Plain

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For those of you who have seen any of the wildly daring, stunningly delicate, profoundly memorable shows written, performed, “acted” and presented by Western Canadian-born-and-raised Ronnie Burkett, who creates, designs and brings to life the most astonishing puppets you have ever seen, he is back with a new show, Penny Plain. I treasure his regular appearances in Toronto, his chosen city for over a decade now.

The Cupcake Girls are taking over a streetcar tomorrow to give away free cupcakes (did we mention free cupcakes?)

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For the few who don’t tune in to W Network (i.e. straight dudes), Heather White and Lori Joyce are Gemini-award-winning, Dragon’s-Den-triumphing, Canadian reality TV royalty right now. Their “docu-soap,” The Cupcake Girls, is the story of how the best friends build their B.C. cupcake franchise, Cupcakes by Heather and Lori. Put simply, the show rocks. But how good are the cupcakes? Torontonians will soon find out, because the girls are taking over a streetcar this Saturday.