Gabriel Levine
Program Coordinator and Sessional Assistant Professor of Drama and Creative Arts
Drama Studies
glevine@glendon.yorku.ca
Gabriel Levine is a theatre-maker, teacher, writer, and composer/musician. He is the author of Art and Tradition in a Time of Uprisings (MIT Press 2020), and he co-edited Practice (2018) in the MIT/Whitechapel series Documents of Contemporary Art. His writing has been published in the journals Performance Research, PUBLIC, Topia, Journal of Curatorial Studies, and Canadian Theatre Review. He has released numerous recordings on Constellation Records and other labels, and his theatre projects have toured North America, Europe, and the Middle East. He is co-curator of Toronto’s Concrete Cabaret, and is currently Program Coordinator and Sessional Assistant Professor of Drama and Creative Arts, Glendon College, York University. www.gabriellevine.net
Contemporary theatre and performance practices
Puppetry and object-theatre
Puppetry and object-theatre
Ecology, art, and performance
PhD, York University
MA, York University
B.A., McGill University
Books
Art and Tradition in a Time of Uprisings, MIT Press, 2020.
Practice, co-edited with Marcus Boon, MIT Press/Whitechapel Gallery, 2018.
Journal Articles
“Black-light Ecologies: Punctuate! Theatre’s Bears wipes off the oil.” Performance Research 25.2 (2020), “On Dark Ecologies,” p. 44-51.
“Before the Flood: Moving with the Tide by Side Procession in Miami Beach.” Liminalities: a journal of performance studies 14:2 (2018), special issue on the Video Essay.
“Remixing Return: A Tribe Called Red’s Decolonial Bounce.” TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies 34 (2016), special issue “The Work of Return,” p. 27-46.
“The Museum of Everyday Life: Objects and Affects of Glorious Obscurity.” Journal of Curatorial Studies 4:3 (2015), special issue “Curating and the Affective Turn,” p. 364-390.
Other Publications
“Pneumatic Life: On Paul Chan’s Breathers” / “La vie pneumatique: sur les Respirants de Paul Chan.” In Moving Parts: Articulated Bodies and Objects in Performance / Pièces Mobiles: Corps articulés et objets dans la performance,Montréal, QC, 2020, p. 165-190.
“Processions for Mother Earth: Scenes from a Flooded Summer.” Canadian Theatre Review 176 (2018), special issue “Choreographies of Assembly,” p. 31-36.
“On Splendour: Elements of a Procession (for Marlon Griffith).” Catalogue essay for Marlon Griffith: Symbols of Endurance. London: Black Dog Publishing, 2017, p. 7-34. Honourable mention, Art Writing Award, Ontario Association of Art Galleries.
“Speech across the barricades: the democratic art of Peter Watkins’ La Commune.” PUBLIC: Art/Culture/Ideas 37 (2008), p. 120-129.
SELECTED CREATIVE PROJECTS
Performance
2018-present Concrete Cabaret
Founding member and co-curator of experimental puppetry and object performance series. www.concretecabaret.com
2021 OBJECTO: A Festival of Experimental Puppetry and Object Performance
Co-artistic director of yearly festival presented by Concrete Cabaret. First edition planned for October 2021, supported by a grant from the Toronto Arts Council.
2021 Love and Information
Director of play by Caryl Churchill, online production by Glendon Drama Studies, York University.
2020 Outside/Online
Mentor and director for outdoor student performances during the COVID-19 pandemic, Glendon Drama Studies, York University.
2020 The Housing Show
Concept and direction for original collective creation, Glendon Drama Studies, York University.
www.gabriellevine.net/housingshow
2019 For the Birds
Director and writer of outdoor theatre production, Glendon Drama Studies, York University.
2019 Start Swimming
Director of play by James Fritz, Glendon Drama Studies, York University.
2018 We Have Never Been Original
Shadow puppetry, live music and dance, in collaboration with Annie Katsura Rollins and Bee Pallomina. Concrete Cabaret, Toronto, ON.
2018 BAD NEWS!
Director and writer of outdoor theatre production, Glendon Drama Studies, York University.
2018 Illuminations
Writer, co-director (with Annie Katsura Rollins), and musical director of an original puppet and performing object creation, based on poems by Arthur Rimbaud, in collaboration with Glendon Drama Studies, Glendon Theatre.
2016 Animate Entities: Objects in Performance
Artistic director/curator/producer of a two-day symposium and festival featuring multiple performance events. University of Toronto, Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies. Funded by a grant from the Jackman Humanities Institute Program for the Arts.
animateentities.wix.com/ae2016
2016 The Clock House
Director/performer/co-creator of an expanded theatre of everyday things, based on short stories by Silvina Ocampo. With Michelangelo Iaffaldano and Kristine White. Toronto and Montreal. Funded by a Research Creation grant from the Hexagram Network.
2015 Campfire Illuminations Festival
Installation, music, and movement, in collaboration with Bee Pallomina, for community pageant directed by Sean Frey, Toronto.
2015 The Hollow Square
Site-specific theatre piece written by Kathleen McDonnell, featuring live music by Kith & Kin shape note choir. The Music Gallery, Toronto Fringe Festival.
2014 lichen/liken
Installation, movement, narrative, music, and object theatre, in collaboration with Bee Pallomina, Artscape Gibraltar Point; Series 808 Choreographic Workshop, Toronto. Funded by a grant from the Toronto Arts Council.
2013 The Bain Home Made Stories Project
Co-leading movement and theatre workshops, musician, for community pageant celebration, directed by Sean Frey, the Bain Housing Coop, Toronto.
2012 Moving Staircase, music and performance installation, in collaboration with Bee Pallomina, Long Winter, the Great Hall, Toronto.
2012 Your Homentashn are Killing Me: a Purim Ball
Theatre, puppetry and music, a celebration created by the Afstelokhes Spectacle Committee, Sunset Park, Brooklyn.
2007-2010 Line and Color: An Isaac Babel Cabaret
Puppet opera based on short stories by Isaac Babel, in collaboration with Clare Dolan and the Museum of Everyday Life.
Performances: Chicago, Montreal, Vermont, Philadelphia, New York (International Toy Theater Festival), Pittsburgh, France (Rencontres Internationales du Théâtre de Papier).
Supported by a seed grant for project development by the Jim Henson Foundation.
2001-2006 Le Petit Théâtre de l’Absolu
Co-founder and artistic director, writer, stage director, designer, performer, composer and workshop leader for Montreal puppet theatre company. Productions included:
The Rooster and the King/Le Coq et le Roi
East Jerusalem (13th International Puppet Festival, Palestinian National Theatre), West Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Nablus, Qalqilya, Tel Aviv, Montreal, Joncquières (Festival International des Arts de la Marionnette)
Project supported by the Canada Council for the Arts (Emerging Artists’ Creation and Development Grant) and the Conseil des Arts et Lettres du Québec (Bourse de Recherche et Création). Israel/West Bank tour supported by Canada Council travel grants, the Canadian Office in Ramallah and the Spafford Centre, Jerusalem.
Paris in the 19th Century, Part 3: Demolition Polka
Paris in the 19th Century, Part 4: La Commune
Montreal, Toronto, Joncquières (Festival International des Arts de la Marionette), Vermont, Philadelphia, New York (International Toy Theater Festival), Troyes (Rencontres Internationales du Théâtre de Papier), Paris, Marseilles, Barcelona, Chicago (Puppetropolis Festival)
1997-1999 Bread and Puppet Theater
Company member and touring puppeteer, Glover, VT.
Music
2000-present Black Ox Orkestar
Clarinet and guitar, co-composer and arranger.
Experimental eastern-European-style Jewish music, compositional and eclectic focus.
CBC radio 1-hour special, live performance and interview, aired June 1, 2002. Toured Northeastern U.S. and Canada 2005-2006, including Guelph Jazz Festival, 2006.
Recordings: Ver Tanzt (CD/LP, 2004), Nisht Azoy (CD/LP, 2006) released on Constellation Records. New album, Everything Returns / Ha-kol khozer, set for release in 2022.
2008-present Gabe Levine
Voice and guitar, original songwriting, lyrics, arrangements, experiments with traditional forms. Full-length album Long Spun Thread released October 2010, at The Music Gallery (Toronto) www.gabelevine.bandcamp.com
2010-present Kith & Kin
Singer with acapella group, performing shape note music, traditional British Isles song, Georgian polyphony, and other vocal music. Recordings include Cool of the Day (2014).
2002-2006 Friends of Kush
Clarinet for maqam-based improvising ensemble, compositions by Sam Shalabi.
1996-2002 Sackville
Original compositions, vocals and guitar. Recordings include Low Ebb (1997), These Last Songs (1998), The Principles of Science (1998), and Natural Life (2001).
2021 Glendon Principal’s Excellence Research Award (Emerging Researcher)
2020-2023 SSHRC Insight Grant (Gabriel Levine, PI). “Living Trash: Puppetry, Ecology, and More-than-human Performance,” $58,275
2020-2021 Toronto Arts Council Grant for OBJECTO: A Festival of Experimental Puppetry and Object Performance (with Concrete Cabaret collective), $13,000
2017-2019 SSHRC Insight Development Grant (Gabriel Levine PI). “Moving Splendour: The Aesthetics and Politics of Contemporary Processional Art,” $26,858
2019-2020 SSHRC Connections Grant (Kirsty Robertson PI, Eugenia Kisin, Co-Applicant, Gabriel Levine, Collaborator). “A Museum for Future Fossils,” $33,707
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