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  • A Manifesto for Manifestos
  • Natalie Alvarez and Jenn Stephenson

We had stayed up all night, under the cracking plaster ceilings of our not-so-ivory tower offices, under the blue glow of our screens, screens shining with the spirits of men and women of the theatre in this our cold, rocky land. Unspoken words in embryo flared like a million stars, whispering their encouragement, their chastisement, their urging, their hope. The cris du coeur from the stage, from the house, from the dressing room and from the front office, from the lobby and from the street, reached our ears, at first a whisper but then louder and LOUDER. We could let them be ignored no longer.

On this occasion of the 150th issue of CTR, we, the representatives of this opinionated constituency, have seized the opportunity to propel ourselves to the fore. As the editors of the Views and Reviews section, we refuse to be relegated to the back pages of this illustrious publication. We have thrown off our bonds. We have escaped our traditional confines after page 80, and have moved swiftly to occupy the prime real estate in the first eighty pages. Occupy CTR.

Our coup has been successful! CTR 150 is constituted entirely of VIEWS!

On the occasion of this anniversary issue, as we cast our gazes fearlessly forward into the future of Canadian theatre, we anchor our declarations in the rich ground of our progenitors and pay tribute to the past. 1974 marked the year of CTR’s conception by our founders who provided a hearth for the rebellious spirits of the theatre in their relentless pursuit of freedom from old forms and independence from the shackles of the colonial Father. It was in the pages of its first issues that an unapologetically nationalist vision of Canadian theatre came to life in the form of quiet susurrations and defiant shouts. [End Page 3]

The truculent ghosts of CTR’s past haunt the pages of this anniversary issue, pages that are drunk on the esprit de corps of our forebears, their unflinching convictions and pioneering visions. We have trawled the provinces, from the snow-capped peaks of British Columbia to the salty shores of our Newfoundland, for beacons to guide our way forward. Together, the proclamations contained in these pages are ciphers inscribed in the Canadian theatrical landscape revealing the current cultural moment and the future yet to unfold. THEREFORE:

  1. 1. We have enjoined our spokespersons from sea to sea to ASSERT WITH CERTITUDE their rants and their raves. It is NO LONGER SATISFACTORY to allow one’s beliefs to take the form of quiet kvetching over coffee, or inconsequential carping over … carp and wine and cheese—bourgeois feed. In the words of our comrade Tzara, “We have thrown out the crybaby in us.”

  2. 2. We have demanded that our contributors dispense with the considerate logic of the essay, pitch polite prose, and reject the laws of grammar that structure our consciousness. DOWN WITH THE STYLISTIC DICTATES OF SCHOLARLY PUBLICATIONS AND ACADEMESE!

  3. 3. We have urged our contributors to THINK about where they stand (when it seems that too many have stopped thinking altogether) and to stand bravely by their beliefs in the hopes that others, by their example, will have THE COURAGE TO THINK in turn about their commitments, their allegiances, and WHY IT IS THEY DO WHAT THEY DO.

  4. 4. And so, we call upon our readers to stand witness to these performative utterances as they call into being the individuality of their artistic selfhoods in the unbridled form of the MANIFESTO.

The manifesto genre is resolutely about what is new and what is now. It is from the point of this fulcrum, balancing past and future, that the manifesto hurls itself into the unknown, into history yet to be written.

Exuberant, playful, passionate, the manifesto genre is bigger than life. Rude and forceful, the manifesto sweeps away all that came before. It is fast and it is loud. Superlatives—the very best ones, CAPITAL LETTERS and a plethora of exclamation points [!!!] are the tools of manifesto writers, deployed liberally to convey the insistent demands of these visions and vituperations. “The manifesto is an...

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