Town Choir
Available for touring.
In a fixed location, writers type out observations of the world unfolding around them. In that same moment, a town choir receives these observations via a large screen and sings them out to the public. Drawing on the immediate ways information gets relayed via social media such as Twitter and Facebook, Town Choir treats everyday considerations as the news. Intimate and minute details are transmitted through the ether and then filtered through the live body in an epic choral declaration.
Town Choir. Photo by Emily Cooper.
Town Choir commissions new writers for each presentation and is thematically adapted to maximize local engagement. The show features a local choir/choirs in each touring location. We work with SATB choirs and have collaborated with professional, youth, children’s and community groups. Town Choir is best presented in a public space; to date it has been presented in libraries, atriums, plazas, shopping malls, galleries and museums.
Conceived by Theatre Replacement’s co-founders, Maiko Yamamoto and James Long, Town Choir is directed by Yamamoto, composed and conducted by Robbie Blake (Ireland), with original media design by Remy Siu and additional media design by Paul Lim.
Town Choir premiered at the 2017 PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, and has toured to the Dublin Fringe Festival, Mayfest and Theatre Orchard (UK), Vancouver (as part of the Sea2City Design Challenge, 2022) and most recently, the Melbourne Fringe Festival.
WORLD PREMIERE
PuSh International Performing Arts Festival
January 22, 29 + February 5, 2017
VANCOUVER
TOURING
Dublin Fringe Festival
September 16 + 17, 2017
DUBLIN
MAYFEST
May 19 + 20, 2018
BRISTOL, UK
Theatre Orchard
May 26 + 27, 2018
WESTON-SUPER-MARE, UK
Sea2City Design Challenge
July 17, 2022
VANCOUVER
Melbourne Fringe Festival
October 22, 2022
MELBOURNE
For touring inquiries, contact katie@theatrereplacement.org
Photos by Emily Cooper and Simon Lazewski
Videography by Ian Barbour and editing by Corbin Murdoch