2022 Festival Info | Thousand Faces Festival

October 14 - November 6, 2022

2022 Festival Events

Myth Country Fair

Oct. 14 - 15, 2022 - Alberta Avenue Community League

Myth Country Fair will take place at the Alberta Avenue Community Centre (9210 118 Avenue NW) on October 14 and 15, 2022. Both days will feature mythic artistic performances, activities for families and kids, free food from a variety of cultures provided by 118 Avenue restaurants, and other surprises! Admission to the Myth Country Fair is by donation and the event is open to all.

RSVP

CanNatyam: Classical Dance

Nov. 4 - 6, 2022 - La Cité Francophone

CanNatyam offers performances by professional artists from across Canada in four distinct and enchanting styles, each originating from a different region of India. Curated by leading Bharatanatyam artist Malavika Venkatsubbaiah, CanNatyam is a special initiative for the Thousand Faces Festival’s tenth anniversary celebration.

Tickets

Artistic Director
Mark Henderson's Message

Ten years ago, Theatre Prospero was performing two Shakespeare plays with touring sets at the Avenue Theatre for two weeks. We noticed we had an idle, empty stage in the evenings.

The Edmonton Arts Council provided some funding to kickstart a festival. We put the word out that if you had a favourite myth you had always wanted to do something with, we had a space for it.

One year later, we had an Indigenous Spirit World Circus Quest with Stiltwalkers and Glitter Hoop Ninjas, Sublime Hindustani Classical Guitar and Bharatanatyam interwoven with original mythic Goddess text and Photography, a Jazz Suite on the Life of the Buddha, Tololwa Mollel storytelling, and others.

Aesthetically and culturally diverse, the Thousand Faces Festival has given Dancers, Musicians, Poets, Painters, Playwrights and Players space to tell stories from two- minute poems to feature-length multi-disciplinary epics.

Many artists, such as Malavika Venkatsubbaiah, Tololwa Mollel, Usha Gupta, and Sebastian Barrera come back most years. At times these join in collaborations that grow, like Tololwa’s Zulu Epic Trilogy Anthem of Life, which Theatre Prospero is now producing in 2023 and 2024.

Our tenth anniversary acknowledges the foundational contribution of artists like Ushaji, Malavika, Enakshi Sinha and others with CanNatyam Classical Dance, a Weekend of Heaven on Stage. Canadian Dancers from Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver will perform in 4 styles, one never seen in Edmonton. I am deeply indebted to Malavika for her faith and curation and Shreela Chakrabartty for her wild imagination, without which this would not have become the amazing event it will be.

I hope you enjoy the 2022 Thousand Faces Festival. I look forward to the next ten years.