WORDSTOCK 2011’s opening night event promises to be an outstanding evening of comedy, music and fun, all in celebration of words. Collingwood’s Royal Canadian Legion is the place to be on Friday, September 9 at 8:00 pm, where a cabaret-style show will surely be a sell-out! Hosting this year’s show is none other than Canadian funnyman Seán Cullen. Seán has been a comedian for over twenty years, and has toured all over the world, both as a member of Corky and the Juice Pigs and as a solo performer. He is a three-time Gemini Award winner, has been nominated twice for the Edinburgh Fringe Perrier Award, and has won multiple Canadian Comedy Awards. Seán has performed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Ellen Degeneres Show, Just for Laughs, on Comedy Central and The Comedy Network. He has also hosted a show for CBC Radio One, called Simply Seán. The line-up for Off the Page will also include performances from the Toronto Poetry Slam team, puppeteer Rob Mills and his alter-ego Ruffus the Dog, author Lee Maracle, drummer John Somosi and visual artist Cesan d’Ornellas Levine.

Off the Page takes place at Collingwood’s Royal Canadian Legion, located at 490 Ontario Street, Friday, September 9, at 8:00 pm. Tickets go on sale Monday, August 1. They are $27 each and will be available for purchase at the Collingwood Public Library, 55 St. Marie Street, or Wine Works, 14 Ronell Crescent. They will also be available online.

Seán Cullen 
Seán Cullen has been a comedian for over twenty years, and has toured all over the world, both as a member of Corky and the Juice Pigs and as a solo performer. He is a three-time Gemini Award winner, has been nominated twice for the Edinburgh Fringe Perrier Award, and has won multiple Canadian Comedy Awards. Seán has performed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Ellen Degeneres Show, Just for Laughs, on Comedy Central and The Comedy Network. He has also hosted a show for CBC Radio One, called Simply Seán. As a writer, he has contributed to several animated series Maurice Sendak’s Seven Little Monsters, 6Teen, Grossology, Best Ed and Monster Warriors. He wrote and produced his own series, The Seán Cullen Show, for the CBC. Seán is the author of several novels, including The Prince of Neither Here Nor There, and the award winning Hamish X trilogy for young adults. His latest novel, The Prince of Two Tribes, is scheduled for release this September.

Lee Maracle

Lee Maracle is one of the most prolific aboriginal authors in Canada and a recognized authority on issues pertaining to aboriginal people and aboriginal literature. She is the author of a number of critically acclaimed and award winning literary works including Sojourner’s and Sundogs, Ravensong, Bobbi Lee, Daughters Are Forever, Will’s Garden, Bent Box, I Am Woman, and First Wives’ Club: Salish Style. She is also the co-editor of a number of anthologies including the award winning My Home As I Remember, Telling It: Women and Language Across Culture.     Ms. Maracle is a member of the Stó:lo Nation.  She has served as the Distinguished Visiting Professor at both the University of Toronto and Western Washington University.  In 2009, Lee received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from the St. Thomas University. She was recently the writer-in-residence at the University of Guelph, and now lives in Toronto, teaching at the University of Toronto First Nations House. Her upcoming work is called Memory Serves: and other words.    

Robert Mills

Robert Mills is the founder of three innovative production companies, which specialize in the creation of film, television and new media entertainment for young, family and adult audiences. The first of these was the acclaimed Sheep Shop, providing puppet design, construction and performance services to the industry. After studying film and working in the theatre, Rob's career took him to television where he worked for over twelve years as a puppeteer with Jim Henson's Muppets. Rob's first role with Jim Henson's Muppets was as "Junior Gorg" (and other characters) in the award winning FRAGGLE ROCK. He has also appeared as a variety of characters in numerous Henson feature film and television productions, including TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES; LABYRINTH; and DINOSAURS. The acclaimed television show RUFFUS THE DOG saw Rob work as Series Creator, Co-Producer, Writer, Story Editor, Visual FX Supervisor, Director and as its 1999 and 1998 Gemini nominated puppeteer in the Best Pre-school Series category. Rob received a 1998 WGC Top Ten Award for his Ruffus script "Tom Thumb" and a 1999 Gemini nomination for Best Writing in a Children's Series for his Ruffus script "The Troll Under the Bridge".

In 2005 Rob was hired by the CBC to executive produce their morning and weekend children’s programming, called Kids’ CBC. During his time at CBC, he oversaw the revamping of the entire block of programming. In addition to his work in the television, film and industries, Mills shares his performance and production skills as a consultant and through a series of private mentorships and workshops. Rob is a compulsive blogger, addicted to Twitter, loves to bake bread and make sausage. He lives reclusively in Toronto with his wife and son.

 Nia

Nia is a sensory-based movement practice that leads to health, wellness and
fitness. It empowers people of all shapes and sizes by connecting the body,
mind, emotions and spirit. Classes are taken barefoot to soul-stirring music.
Trainings are designed for those seeking personal enrichment and professional development, and every experience can be adapted to individual needs and abilities.

Taught in more than forty-five countries worldwide, Nia draws from the disciplines of the martial arts, dance arts and healing arts. Throughout our Off the Page gala almost a dozen people will be dancing, engaging in Nia’s unique combination of fifty-two moves that correspond with the main areas of the body: the base, core and upper extremities. 

Césan dʼOrnellas Levine

Césan is a self-trained painter with over 20 years of studio practice. In her formal studies, she focussed on developing her artistic intuition and creativity. Césan has a BA in Religious Studies and Art History from McMaster University, a diploma from the Anna Wise Institute, San Francisco in Biofeedback Meditation, as well as coursework in Goetheʼs Colour Theory with Regina Kurek of Arscura. Extensive travel – from visiting prehistoric sacred sites of the East, to contemporary museums of the West, and especially the site of the Peterborough Petroglyphs near where she grew up – is an ongoing foundational pedagogy. Notable exhibitions include several solo shows at Toronto Centre for the Arts, The Petroff Gallery, and the Lanes Gallery in Hazelton Lanes, group exhibitions at the Gordon Harrison Gallery, Galerie Arteconte in Paris, Edgar Modern in Bath, The URJ World Headquarters in New York City and The Amsterdam Art Fair. In the last year Césan won The Peopleʼs Choice Award at the Aurora Cultural Centreʼs Juried Group Exhibition, completed a two-week artistʼs residency at Trent University, enjoyed a successful exhibition at the BMFA in Collingwood and was flown to Los Angeles to create an 8 by 10-foot painting for Moksha Yoga LA. Upcoming exhibitions include a group exhibition called “Under the Jerusalem Sky” at the Nicola Rukaj Gallery in Toronto from September 14 to 18, and a solo exhibition at The Gordon Harrison Gallery, opening September 23. Césanʼs annual Open Studio, October 15 and 16 this year, is a popular event. She and her husband Mark Levine are gracious hosts, providing a feast of yummy amuse-bouches, live music, and lots of art. The studio is open to the public anytime by appointment. Césan has also worked as managing director of a Holistic Health Centre, a film producer, meditation teacher and mother of two now grown daughters. An extensive gallery of her work, writings, press articles and exhibition history can be found online at www.cesan.ca.

 Snack!

Snack! is an indie rock back that hails from Kitchener, Ontario. Featuring Adrian Jones, Arun Pal, Kim Regimbal and Dave Jones, snack!’s live show could best be described as layers of Latin and Eastern melodies, creating textures that weave through the groove-based songs, only to end in unexpected places. Focus on combining different genres and instrumentation within each song is a key ingredient to how snack! creates their arrangements and improvisations. Snack!'s unique “globally-infused textural groove-rock” combines the influences and heritage of each musician.

Adrian Jones is a classically trained vocalist, guitarist and violinist who
teaches eighty students each week in all three disciplines. Arun Pal is a multi-instrumentalist teacher, performer, composer and recording engineer who accompanies many modern dance companies on drums, piano and guitar. His unique approach to percussion incorporates world percussion styles into a traditional drum kit setting. Kim Regimbal is a fiery performer whose playing ranges from ambient flute lines, to punchy baritone sax grooves, to aggressive dissonant alto sax solos. Dave Jones is a skilled multi-instrumentalist, performer and instructor whose playing varies from bass duties with snack! to drums with indie-rock-ska combo, The Realtors.

John Somosi

John Somosi is a Metis, originally from Saskatchewan, who has traveled the world learning from elders.  The hand drum songs are sung in a number of languages and were gathered throughout Turtle Island (North America).  The songs are prayers and stories and the heartbeat of the drum reaches the basic level of the human condition.

John’s CD “Biidigen” (translation: come in) gives us a taste of what there is to be offered by the First Nations of Turtle Island. His upcoming new CD, “And the Elders Sang”, offers a selection of old songs collected throughout Turtle Island in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.

The Toronto Poetry Slam Team

WORDSTOCK is delighted to give the audience a taste of what the 2011 Toronto Poetry Slam Team Champions have in store for us at the festival. Team mates Cathy Petch, LipBalm, Eytan Crouton and David Delisca will stimulate, motivate and captivate, as they conspire to inspire, and entertain … your brain.