20100223-Room.jpg

Radar: Blind Date, Freedom to Read Week, Twobythree, Pride Toronto Fundraiser for Uganda, Bring It On Home

Photo: "Room" by colin_k, member of the blogTO Flickr Pool.

Events on Toronto's Radar for TUESDAY FEBRUARY 23, 2010... lovingly handpicked from blogTO's events calendar.

THEATRE | Blind Date
Toronto's sexiest clown returns in one of the most the hilarious and unpredictable pieces of theatre to hit this city's stages in recent memory. Rebecca Northan is Mimi, a red-nosed jeune femme waiting for a mystery lover in a Parisian café. When he doesn't show up, Mimi turns to the audience and makes one of the eligible young bachelors in attendance her date for the evening. The show is completely different on any given night depending on what kind of performance Mimi can coax out of her unwitting partner but Northan is masterful at controlling a room and watching her walk that improvisational tightrope is a real treat. Runs til March 6.
York Quay Centre, 235 Queen's Quay West, $30, 7 pm

BOOKS AND LIT | Freedom to Read Week 2010
February 21 - 27 marks the celebration of Freedom to Read Week, which encourages Canadians consider and reaffirm their rights to intellectual freedom. The Canadian Book and Periodical Council convenes a panel of noted writers tonight to discuss what intellectual freedom means in the early 21st Century, the age of blogging, 24-hour news cycles and Canada's newly reformed libel laws. Writer and broadcaster Erika Ritter will moderate a panel that includes the Globe and Mail's Rick Salutin, the Toronto Star's public editor Kathy English, and media lawyers Brian MacLeod Rogers and Paul Schabas.
The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St. W., Free, 6 pm - 9:30 pm

DANCE | Dancemakers presents Twobythree
Contemporary dance company Dancemakers presents a festival of duets featuring local and international artists. Duets are traditionally used to explore the nature of relationships, and common themes of human identity and togetherness unite seven works by three pairs of dancers. The festival will see the Toronto debut of Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion's trilogy of Both Sitting Duet, the Quiet Dance, and Speaking Dance, which were hailed by the New York Times as one of the funniest and most ingenious performances to hit the Big Apple in a long time. Quebecois duo Mélanie Demers and Laïla Diallo present Sauver sa Peau, a meditation on renewal that has already toured the UK, Italy and France while boundary-pushing choreographer and dancer Ame Henderson partners with Matija Ferlin in Closer Than We've Ever Been. Runs til March 6.
Dancemakers Centre for Creation, 55 Mill Street, Building 58, Distillery District, Single tickets $20 advance/$25 at the door, 3 performance pass $55, 5 performance pass $90 , 8 pm

FUNDRAISER | Pride Toronto Fundraiser for Uganda
There is some truly terrifying news coming out of Uganda these days, with a bill before government calling for the death penalty for homosexuals and jail time for anyone who aids a gay person in their flight from persecution. Incredibly, anyone found guilty of touching a same-sex person with the intent to commit homosexuality will face a life sentence. Should the bill be enacted, it will make life for Uganda's gay community unlivable, and already over 100 Ugandans have filed for refugee status here in Canada. Pride Toronto is collecting funds to aid their passage to this country with a fundraising dinner tonight. Tickets can be purchased by clicking the "donate" button on Pride Toronto's website and then sending an email to organizers notifying them of your donation.
Bright Pearl Restaurant, 346 Spadina Ave., $100, 6 pm - 10 pm

PARTY | Bring It On Home
When he's not shooting music videos for Canada's hottest indie acts or directing docs for super-cool music channel Aux.tv, Scott Cudmore throws down some old-school vinyl tracks at Ossington hot spot Sweaty Betty's. Join him tonight for Bring It on Home, a laid back exploration through the history of soul and rock 'n roll. If the sweet-ass tunes don't entice you the $4.75 clear bar shots might do the trick.
Sweaty Betty's, 13 Ossington Ave., Free, 10 pm

For full listings, head on over to our events calendar.

Have an event you'd like to plug? Submit your own listing to the blogTO calendar, contact us directly, or use our handy Facebook app.

For Toronto movie showtimes, view our Movie Listings section.


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