Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

CARIBANA STALWART JOHN KAM DIES AT 68 Long considered the soul of Caribana and the Toronto Caribbean Carnival, John Kam, 68-year former bandleader and festival executive, passed away last Monday after a lengthy illness. The funeral will be held on Friday (tomorrow) November 22, at 10 am at the Holy Spirit Catholic Church, Sheppard Avenue East in Scarborough, followed by the burial at the York Cemetery. There will be also be a Thursday afternoon and evening visitation for Mr. Kam at the Highland Funeral Home on Sheppard Ave East in Scarborough. John Kam was born in 1951 to Wah Chew and Jean Kam in St. James, Trinidad, and immigrated to Toronto when he was 18 years old. He worked for Toronto City Hall as a budget analyst where he had a successful career for 34 years. He retired at the age of 52. Mr. Kam will be best remembered for his involvement with Toronto’s Carnival, be it the original Caribana, or the current Toronto Caribbean Carnival. Over the years he did it all

One day Canada’s top novelist will write about Trinidad.  André Alexis wins the Writer’s Trust for his book set in Ontario   By Stephen Weir   Author André Alexis is the toast of English Canada.  Last Tuesday in Toronto the Trinidadian Canadian won the prestigious $50,000 Writers' Trust fiction prize for his English language novel "Days by Moonlight". This is the fourth time Alexis has been nominated for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and the second time he has won it. He is only the second author in the country to capture the award twice.  Miriam Toews also won the trophy two times. Days by Moonlight  is his seventh novel. The book is about Alfred Homer who takes a Southern Ontario road trip to investigate the story of John Skennen, a poet whose ghost haunts a few souls around the province! Days by Moonlight  is part of his  "quincunx" of five thematically linked novels. The second installment in the series, "Fifteen Dogs,

SLAM Andre Newell as hard as you can Don’t be shocked when you get a standing ovation from the audience By Stephen Weir Andre Newell doesn’t mind if you slam him. In fact the Toronto entertainment and events promoter says he has a stage you can stand on while you give him your best shot! For the past 8-years Andre and his cousin actress Oluniké Adeliyi have been staging Monologue Slams here in Toronto, across Canada and in Jamaica.  The pair is getting ready to present the final Slam of 2019 and they promise the December 1st event is going to be the Grandest Slam of them all. The evening Monologue Slam Canada Finale will be held at the Bad Dog Theatre. (875 Bloor St West). “A Monologue Slam is an acting competition where actors perform on stage in front of a panel of experts, who provide feedback and select a winner, with the audience watching on (and voting too) ” explained Newell. “ The essence of the event is to give actors a space to play, let them work on their material

Trout Stanley – Rising Toronto Star is not a fish out of water in this darkly funny, all Black Canadian Play By Stephen Weir Stephen Jackman-Torkoff has had so many edgy roles in his young acting career, crazy come easy.   This month he plays a touched barefoot wanderer who wanders through a British Columbia forest in a tattered police uniform looking for the lake where his jewelry-thieving parents accidentally electrocuted themselves years ago.   Early in this Black comedy he meets two equally crazy gun toting, noose carrying sisters and falls in love overnight.   Did I mention Jackman-Torkoff’s character only answers to the name of Trout Stanley? Jackman-Torkoff is the runaway star of Trout Stanley, a very dark comedy currently getting rave reviews at the downtown Factory Lab Theatre. Trout Stanley is a remount of play that first hit the boards back in 2004 in Nova Scotia, came to Toronto in 2005 and then on to a wow zowie response in New York City. The pla

World Premier For Copy That At The Tarragon Opens Next Week By Stephen Weir Hey, most folks don’t care that cop shows don’t let the truth stand in the way of an action packed storyline when shown on prime time TV.   But, what happens when the Black writer of said police stories is censored when he tries to work in a true account of his own painful encounter with the police into a new television episode? Later this month the Tarragon Theatre is staging the World Premier of Jason Sherman’s new play Copy That .   The comedy drama takes a caustic look at the entertainment industry by taking the audience behind the scenes of network television.   Jason Sherman This is the story of four writers struggling to get their new cop show script approved for production. When the team’s only Black writer (Toronto’s Tony Ofori) is roughed up in an actual cop encounter, the fallout threatens to not only kill the show, but expose the systemic racism at the heart of popular

Birthright Programme Brings Jamaican Canadians Back Home For A Month Students will visit JA cultural sites - Coke Methodist Church By Stephen Weir Jamaica’s Grace Kennedy Company is once again offering 2nd and 3rd generation Jamaicans who have never actually lived in Jamaica the opportunity to spend a month next summer in the homeland. Every year four Jamaican Canadian university students are brought back to the island to learn about their heritage through Grace Kennedy’s Jamaican Birthright Program (JPB). “The GraceKennedy Jamaican Birthright Programme is a cultural and professional internship geared at highlighting all aspects of Jamaican life while furthering the career goals of the selected candidates,” explains Petronilla Marchan, a JPB assistant here in Canada. “It is a programme that will give students a well-rounded Jamaican experience!” JPB provides round-trip transportation, accommodation, a stipend and an internship in Jamaica. The students will be on th