Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

New Show At the A Different Booklist Cultural Centre  It is just her second art show and sale, and the show has only been open for an hour, and already a painting has been sold and taken home by a happy buyer. Marley Berot, a 19-year old painter, is happy too but also a little worried she might run out of replacement canvases! Berot, a Toronto student by day and a budding artist who paints whenever she gets near her bedroom studio.  She paints faces, mostly Caribbean women’s faces in a colourful style that is uniquely hers. “ I tend to paint from photos and photo montages  that I have made,” Berot told the Camera. “ But sometimes, like the full body painting near the window (pictured) I don’t have a photo, the concept actually sprung from my mind. I had a vision and I put it to canvas as quickly as I could.” “ I would like to say that I do love painting faces.  It is easy to see what I am saying – it is right there in her face,” she continued. “Now as I get more confidence (sell

South African granddaughter of Desmond  Tutu launches her new book on Martin Luther Day at ADBCC on Bathurst The A Different Booklist Cultural Centre (ADBCC), in conjunction with Penguin Random House is marking Martin Luther King Day with a superstar evening book signing!   On January 20th,   Nompumelelo (Mungi) Ngomane, the granddaughter of South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu will be launching her new book Everyday Ubuntu in Canada. "This book will open your eyes, mind and heart to a way of being in the world that will make our world a better and more caring one," says Mungi’s biggest fan, her grandfather Desmond Tutu. Never heard of Ubuntu? It is a South African based philosophy which teaches that people’s common humanity and interconnectedness is key to living a better life. By embracing the philosophy of Ubuntu and living it out in daily life it's possible to overcome division and be stronger together. There are 14 lessons in Everyda

Rhoma Spencer uses the Force in the new play, The Solitudes By Stephen Weir Take a bow, Rhoma Spencer, take a bow. You are the toast of Toronto’s theatre world for your current role in the new assembly play The Solitudes. Critical reviews. A quarter page colour picture of you in the Toronto Star. And there is an incredible TTC poster of you with hands on hips glaring and scaring all of us riding the Red Rocket this month. Rhoma Spencer is an actor, director, storyteller and broadcast journalist who began her career in her birth nation of Trinidad & Tobago. On stage, performing in TV shows, movies parts, and public events; heck, I have even seen her in costume at a high profile Scarborough funeral a few weeks ago. Now based for the most part here in Toronto, Spencer continues to be one of the busiest live performance actresses in the city. This week she is a brooding, scowling and sometimes hilarious presence on the Harbourfront stage with the Alunia T

Phil says goodbye and Mumbi says hello The Obsidian Theatre, the country's  leading culturally diverse  theatre  company is now going through a major change.   After twenty years, the theatre’s founder and CEO has retired. He has been replaced by a young African Canadian director who will take over the running of the company in August. Philip Akin has been acting and directing for over 40 years. In 2000, he was a founding member of Obsidian Theatre, Canada’s leading black theatre company, and has served as its Artistic Director since 2006. Earlier this week Obsidian announced that   Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu is the new Artistic Director of the Obsidian Theatre.   In a press release issued by Obsidian Ms. Otu “was raised in Kenya and Victoria, BC. She is a critically acclaimed Toronto-based stage director with over a decade of professional experience and is the Founder/Artistic Director of the Dora Nominated experimental theatre company IFT (It’s A Freedom Thi

Jamaican Canadian chef Noel Cunningham is leading the charge Toronto diners are always looking to catch the next wave. They have gone crazy over Italian pizza, Korean Pho and French every- thing. Mexican burritos and Japanese cheese cake. But when will it be Caribbean cuisine’s time in the bright lights of Canada’s biggest resto-crazy city? According to newly arrived chef Noel Cunningham, 2020 is the year that people start craving what we have known all along: Caribbean food rocks! “It’s going to the next big thing,” said the young Jamaican Canadian chef. “And we aren’t just talking jerk!” “You know the thing about our food is that we come at you with a vibe, with a swagger,” Cunningham told me by phone from Jamaica over the recent holidays. “When you eat our food you are also eating our music and our style. Toronto is so diverse; there is no way that this isn’t our time.” “For me as a Jamaican chef who is now on the International scene I don’t want