EXPLORE THE MANY INCARNATIONS OF QUEEN WEST
Story by Emily Whalen
As urban activist Jane Jacobs would remind us, one of Toronto’s defining features as a city is its unique neighbourhoods. And one of the city’s most famous ‘hoods is Queen West. First broadcast to the world via Moses Znaimer and his quirky bunch of renegade CityTV reporters and VJs on Much Music, the neighbourhood was once, I have been promised, “alternative.” But you wouldn’t know it now; these days when you walk west a few blocks from Osgoode station, you pass a bevy of stores you’d also stroll by in any suburban mall.
Lisa Marie DiLiberto explores Queen West’s past, present and impending future in her new theatrical piece, The Tale Of A Town.
“How we developed the play is we interviewed a lot of different people from Queen West,” she explains as we sit in a replica of the Cameron House, which has been developed for the piece. “Musicians, artists, entrepreneurs, and whole spectrum of people who lived here before and who live here now, and then we took all of the stories and put them on a timeline. Then I created a fictional narrative based on all the real stories.”
Beginning at Theatre Passe Muraille, the audience walks with DiLiberto as she explains the condo development they have all bought into, complete with lofts that capitalize on Queen West haunts. The Bamboo Beach Hut, Rivoli Roust, Steve’s Music Chamber, Pages Book Nook – a list of the strip’s most recognizable stops all crop up. The audience then ends up at the loft space above Duke’s Bicycle Shop.
“I would say it’s more of a conversation. The style is in comedy, and we approach it from a fantastical place so that the audience can feel a bit more open,” DiLiberto says. “Queen West became so commercial because it was so visible, because it was the first part of Toronto that was really broadcast to the world with CityTV and Speakers Corner. It didn’t set it up to become a commercial venture but it became commercial because of … cool people. Cool art.”
During another show, DiLiberto had the opportunity to tour across Canada and noticed that, “Most of the small towns had dried up or things had shut down, and big box stores had taken over on the ends of town.” She was inspired to investigate how neighbourhoods transform and how change happens, first developing The Tale of A Town in Parkdale, a community she now calls home.
“I live in a really great neighboured and I wanted to celebrate it,” DiLiberto says.
It’s also a neighbourhood that has undergone quite a transformation, with more artists moving west in search of cheaper spaces to rent, thus creating a sharp increase in the real estate values in and around the area. Following the Parkdale piece, Theatre Passe Muraille approached DiLiberto to do a piece about Queen West.
“The Loblaws and the Winners [on Queen] are opening the same day as the show is opening. So for all the artists that made this neighbourhood cool and thriving on hip, independent stuff, that is a really big change. I hope that the audience will think about supporting small independent things so they can support the small independent qualities of neighbourhoods,” she says. “I hope that people who are buying into condos down here and who do shop at Loblaws and are a bit more affluent do come to the show so that they can appreciate the history.”
Even though DiLiberto plays all the characters within the show, she doesn’t feel as though it’s a one-person show. She worked very closely with designers, directors, musicians and other people involved in the production of the piece.
“We want to tour this project all across Canada, and go to different neighbourhoods. But it’s not the play we’re hoping to tour, it’s the concept.”
She has expressed interest in exploring the Harbourfront and Yorkville as subjects, as well as Vancouver and even Chicago. “Every neighbourhood has a interesting story,” she notes.
The theatre collective is also developing a website that will host all the interviews and stories they’ve culled in an act to preserve the histories they’ve collected. As for the “message” of the play, DiLiberto says it’s not pro- or anti-gentrification, but more of a conversation.
“There is certainly a message. There is a social/political comment about what’s happening. But I don’t know what the answer is, and I don’t know how I can even avoid it myself.”
Even though DiLiberto may not have all the answers, her project would definitely have made Jane Jacobs proud.
The Tale Of A Town – Queen West plays from September 14th to October 9th. Tickets can be purchased at through Theatre Passe Muraille.
