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Category Archives: Archives

TPM Doc now playing on a small screen near you!

By rea | Published: May 5, 2011

On the occasion of our 20th anniversary, interviews abounded and video was shot… Theatre Projects was made a movie star.

Produced and directed by Gordon Tanner, the footage has now been transformed into a 16 minute documentary called Between Then and Now:  20 Years of Theatre Projects Manitoba.

MTS TV customers can see the program for free 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on MTS Winnipeg On Demand.  Not an MTS customer? Make it a movie night with a friend…but don’t miss it! MORE >>

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The Challenge is on!

By rea | Published: April 21, 2011

What CAN we do in 90 Hours? It’s time to find out!

The Winnipeg Foundation’s 90-Hour Giving Challenge began Monday at 6:00am and runs until midnight Thursday, April 21st. Make an online gift during that time to Theatre Projects Manitoba’s Agency Fund and the Foundation will provide additional support.

To check out the nearly 130 participating charities, or to make a gift, go to the 90-Hour Giving Challenge donation page. Results of the Challenge will be announced Tuesday, April 26th at a special news event at 10:30 am, at The Forks Market Atrium.

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Held over – Beethoven Blatz is a hit!

By rea | Published: April 11, 2011

Wowza – the response from audiences has been overwhelming!  So…we’ve added one more performance to our run of The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz.

The Holdover performance is:

7:30 PM, Sunday April 17th

Tickets are available online, in person at McNally Robinson or by calling the office:  204-989-2400

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A play they’ll enjoy, Manitobans will

By rea | Published: April 11, 2011

By Kevin Prokosh, Winnipeg Free Press

What wants a man with a broken piano in an isolated woodbox of a home on the windswept Manitoba prairie in the 1930s?

The answer is at the clappering heart of Armin Wiebe’s lusty romantic folk tale The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz, which had its premiere staged before a full house at the Rachel Browne

Theatre Thursday night.For such a man as Obrum Kehler, a Mennonite farmer two years into a happy but childless marriage with his beloved Susch, it is a question of procreation. For the title character, an eccentric Russian immigrant composer tasked with repairing the Klavier, it is all about finding a new muse to spur his creation.

Sure we are not of too much else, as the mischievous Wiebe, the award-winning Winnipeg novelist, makes his successful playwriting debut with a deceptively simple plot complicated by his quirky characters reversing the order of the words they speak like so many Mennonite Yodas. Combine that with Obrum’s knack for talking in metaphors, “he speaks double sometimes,” and communication breakdowns there will be. Did Obrum hire Blatz to tune his piano or his wife?

Read more of the Free Press Review!

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Theatre review: “Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz” brings Mennonites gone wild(ish) to the stage

By rea | Published: April 8, 2011

Daria Puttaert, Tracy Penner and Tom Keenan. Photo Credit: Leif Normans

by Joff Schmidt, CBC Theatre Reviewer

Mennonites in lust! But not talking about it.

That’s the Coles notes take on Armin Wiebe’s first full-length play, The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz, which sees a solid world premiere this week from Theatre Projects Manitoba.
It’s the 1930s, and Obrum Kehler (Tom Keenan) and his wife, Susch (Tracy Penner), live on their farm just outside the fictional Manitoba town of Gutenthal. Obrum inherits a battered piano, and enlists the help of Beethoven Blatz (Eric Nyland), an eccentric Russian immigrant, to repair it – and teach Susch to play it.  Read more
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Made in Manitoba

By rea | Published: April 8, 2011

Uptown Magazine:  Novelist Armin Wiebe makes his playwriting debut with The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz, a folk play with a distinctly Prairie bent

Daria Puttaert and Tom Keenan in The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz.  Photo:  Dylan Hewlett

From the page to the stage, Theatre Projects Manitoba presents The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz, the premiere play by local novelist Armin Wiebe. Best known for a trio of tales — 1984’s The Salvation of Yasch Siemens, 1991’s Murder in Gutenthal and 1995’s The Second Coming of Yeeat Shpanst — all set in the fictional Manitoba Mennonite town of Gutenthal, Wiebe’s theatrical debut is a long time coming.  Read the full article in Uptown!

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Moonlight Sonata playwright delves into the art of the edit

By rea | Published: April 8, 2011

Tracy Penner and Eric Nyland find inspiration in The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz. Photo: Leif Norman

Armin Wiebe is an award-winning author. But even more exciting, he is a first time playwright. Tonight is the opening night of Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz. Armin kept a journal of the journey of getting his first play to the stage. And he graciously shares some entries with you on CBC’s Manitoba Scene!

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Mennonites not funny? Well, you’re wearing pants!

By rea | Published: April 7, 2011

ARMIN Wiebe thinks Mennonites are misjudged if they are seen as humourless, religious pacifists who spend their days singing and shunning in southern Manitoba.

“The image of the poor, serious Mennonite may be handy as PR but it’s not the reality,” says Wiebe, 62. “Mennonites are a people who love to laugh. They are always telling jokes, making dummheit, doing crazy things.”

Read more of today’ Winnipeg Free Press Preview by Kevin Prokosh

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We’re Talkin’ Brummtopp

By rea | Published: April 3, 2011

And so is CBC’s Manitoba Scene – your new guide to local arts and entertainment!

As the title suggests, the piano takes centre stage in Armin Weibe’s The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz.  But lurking in the shadows is the mysterious, sinister and possibly pagan companion of Mennonite New Years Mummers – the Brummtopp.

We were thrilled to discover Daria Puttaert is a natural on the Brummtopp!

When we talked about this unusual instrument with Jim Agapito at CBC, he knew he had a story – the Brummtopp seemed rather exotic…

But he also really wanted learn more about the experience of the playwright.  Even though Armin’s writing career stretches over decades, this would be his first time in the rehearsal hall and that would be an interesting view of the process!

The result is a story on the play on CBC’s Manitoba Scene featuring Armin’s Blog and Jim’s video which exploring the history of the brummtopp.

There will be more blogging and more photos from the rehearsal hall later this week!

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Tickets on sale at McNally Robinson

By rea | Published: March 17, 2011

More and more people are purchasing tickets through TPM’s online store, but we know that some people just like a ticket…a real ticket with snap that you can rub between your fingers like a good luck charm.

Theatre Projects Manitoba is eager to answer this tactile dream and has teamed up with McNally Robinson to offer you cold hard tickets for purchase for our upcoming premiere of The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz. When you’re through browsing the Prairie Writers section, just proceed to the front desk and one of their friendly staff will assist you.

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