The. Created by Playground Studios, Ben Chaisson & Beth Kates

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1 The ToyBox Created by Playground Studios, Ben Chaisson & Beth Kates

2 The ToyBox Created by Playground Studios, Ben Chaisson & Beth Kates Whether you are in grade 5 or grade 50, The ToyBox is for you! The ToyBox uses high-tech and low-tech ways to engage with art, technology, and each other - mixing creativity, interactivity and the special sauce that is often missing: FUN. With toys like green screens, dragon tails, projectors, and Lego; The ToyBox gives you an opportunity to access your coolest gadget through play: your IMAGINATION. Inspired by Waldorf, Montessori and Reggio Emillio theories of environment design, as well as creators Beth Kates and Ben Chaisson s own careers as theatrical designers, The ToyBox is a boisterous space created by a dazzling blend of projections, lighting, music, costumes, games, drawing materials & building blocks. The ToyBox is a customizable, immersive installation and can be used as a place to create theatre, play, train, engage and also throw a great party. It was designed to transcend age, physical ability, and language barriers, something that has become a priority in all of Playground Studios work. Originally commissioned by the SummerWorks Festival in August 2010, The ToyBox has been seen in venues as diverse as Toronto s City Hall Main Rotunda, Canadian Stage s Visionary Party, and Huntsville s inaugural Nuit Blanche Arts Festival. Using Dataton s Watchout projection control software as the main brain, The ToyBox explodes the traditional use of the software, pushing it s interactivity beyond what was intended by the developers. The result is a reactive and ever changing environment. These innovations were acknowledged by the Canadian Institute of Theatre Technology in awarding The ToyBox with the 2011 Award of Technical Merit. Entering The ToyBox is much like Alice going through the looking glass. This version of Wonderland however is fully manipulated by the participants. In an effort to engage the community at large with a re-imagined version of the theatre, this toy box is filled with the tools of the theatrical trade, and it s doors are open wide. Playground Studios has partnered with the imaginative Fancy Pants Kids for the whimsical and colourful costumes. Dragon Tails, capes, armour, crowns, ears and wings transport kids of all ages to newly imagined lands and adventures in our screen. The ToyBox contains a squishy colourful floor, a large green screen area, a simple 64 button station where participants trigger on-screen effects. Step into The ToyBox! An essentially different kind of space, where young and old can PLAY.

3 The ToyBox It s hard to tell who had more fun, the seniors group (above) or home school kids on their weekly adventure (below). Both created innovative stories with the green screen and costumes.

4 The ToyBox is... A place to play. A place to interact. A place to create. A place to tell stories. A place for fun! Fully CUSTOMISABLE! Every projected background and every one of the 64 buttons can be customised to suit your event, venue, city or school board cirriculum. A place to LEARN! Playground Studios has a wide variety of workshops available that are well suited to taking place in The ToyBox. Learn about the technology that makes The ToyBox what it is, or learn about storytelling, performance creation, digital media, theatrical technology, digital dramaturgy, and more. A place for PERFORMANCES! The ToyBox is an adaptive, interactive and intimate performance space. Poetry slams, puppet shows, screening room, cabarets, every genre has a home in The ToyBox Have an idea? Want to experiment? The ToyBox is an ideal space to use as an experimental workshop space for creating live productions,

5 Buttons The ToyBox has 64 buttons. Each button holds a surprise, triggered a wide ranging array of special effects. You could end up dancing with the CN Towers, or being chased by a dinosaur skeleton!

6 Green Screen The GREEN SCREEN is a main fixture of The ToyBox. Make your head float above a busy intersection, or invent adventure tales as the backgrounds magically shift around you The whole family gets into the action! This family invented different adventure tales using the costumes, special effects and their IMAGINATIONS!

7 Creative

8 Beautiful

9 Testimonials for The ToyBox "What stood out for me was a freedom to play for a child. I remember walking in when Kaden had already been playing for a while and him about to touch one of the pieces of equipment and immediately running over to say "no" because I was worried he would break it, and being told no it is okay that is part of the fun and the relief I felt for him to be in an environment built for him to create and explore without boundaries! It was a highlight in our summer." Joanne Boland, mother of Kaden age 5 "...two young boys discovered the potential of the green screen. Seeing themselves as projected on the wall in a world of water and fish like things, they built a story for themselves. It was in this moment that they took what the technology was providing and fused this with their own sense of imagination. This was a wonderfully creative moment combining technology with narrative and play." Dan Daley, Artistic Associate, SummerWorks Festival "[My most memorable moment at The Playground was] watching a considerably older woman head right to the costume rack, don a huge dragon's back and tail and begin to dance in the middle of the floor, all the while watching her own shadow through and around all of the video projections...bravo!!!" Liza Balkan, Multidisciplinary Artist and Educator "I was having a excellent experience using the microphone that did Sound FX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oskars, age 5

10 The ToyBox Reviews Article originally published online: December 6, 2012 NEWS LIFE&STYLE FOOD&DRINK MUSIC MOVIES STAGE ART STAGE STAGE SCENES Playing in the ToyBox By JON KAPLAN AND GLENN SUMI Like Tweet Have you ever wanted to put on your superhero cape and fly over Lake Ontario? Or grow to Godzilla size and stalk around Nathan Phillips Square? Talented designers Ben Chaisson and Beth Kates, who run Playground Studios, are bringing ToyBox back for the holidays. It s a chance for children of all ages and we re looking at you, grown-ups to explore that human desire for imaginative play. In a room filled with technology, art, projectors, costumes, plasticine and Lego pieces you can indulge fantasies, using green screens to perform the impossible and simply have fun. Think of it as an interactive park with lots of entertaining possibilities. Chaisson and Kates first put the ToyBox up during Summer- Works a few years ago and have been working on it since. A version was part of the Theatre Passe Muraille launch in September; it later moved to City Hall. The fall ToyBox was tied to Passe Muraille s Theatre Beyond Walls theme, which has focused on various parts of the city. Artistic director Andy McKim wanted the company s shows to look at Toronto while making the theatre the centre of the compass, says Kates. We ran with that by going around the city with our cameras, taking pictures and time-lapse images of places we knew and places we didn t know. The idea was to capture what s both fun and funny about Toronto. Making our work Toronto-centric let us see our town differently, too. Here people can engage with the city in a way they wouldn t be able to normally: they can stand in the middle of Queen Street while a streetcar approaches, walk high above Nathan Phillips Square or swim in Lake Ontario. September visitors to the ToyBox really got into it. Kates recalls people of all ages flying along the Gardiner Expressway or roaring with monsterlike joy while stomping through the lake. The costumes work really well. We have a kind of invisibility cloak so you can be seen and then suddenly disappear. Dragon tails and capes are also popular; using the green screen, some blocks and someone rustling your cape, you can fly through the air. Electronics gizmos also help the magic. Kates and Chaisson have discovered that the most successful special effects are short and exciting, like fireworks above Nathan Phillips Square or making the council chamber disc fly away like a spaceship. It s not just kids who get into it, smiles Kates. One of our first groups at Passe Muraille was a recently formed adult literacy group. Its members didn t know each other very well and were reluctant to take part until one guy jumped up, put on a cape and started flying with the help of the green screen. He pulled another man into his playing, and soon the whole room was activated. Three days later, during the Passe Muraille street fair, he came back with his children and, beaming, showed the shy kids how to use everything. What we ve learned is that ToyBox is a place that invites people to come and play. Without the participants, it s just a room with stuff; it comes alive when individuals indulge their imaginations and enjoy themselves. ToyBox is a free event at Theatre Passe Muraille beginning Wednesday (December 12) and running through Saturday, from 12:30 to 8 pm. Chaisson and Kates will be around to help, so no one has to learn how to use the space on their own. See listing.

11 The ToyBox was created by... Ben Chaisson Hailing from Halifax, and now based in Toronto Ben is a designer of video and sound for theatre. He is trained in the Montessori teaching methods. He won the prestigious 2011 Pauline McGibbon Award for Designers. He used to pretend he was a DJ with his dad s records, but now he really likes playing ukelele with his young son Aaron. Ben is also the co-creative director of Playground Studios, with his wife Beth Kates. Beth Kates Born and raised in Toronto, Beth has been designing lights, sets, costumes, and projections since she was 16, even though she started working for rock bands at about 14! She is a self taught designer and photographer and has learned mainly from doing! Beth specialises in creating immersive designs and has helped create shows that break the traditional boundaries of stage and audience. She really likes taking pictures of the world around her and her young son Aaron. www. bethkates.com Playground Studios Formed in 2010 by designers Ben Chaisson and Beth Kates, Playgrounds Studios has created a series of installations including The ToyBox, Night Light Travels (Nuit Blanche Toronto 2011), and Lightspan (Nuit Blanche North 2014). They have also created dynamic projection designs for four of Ross Petty s annual pantomime (a Toronto tradition), and have coproduced a number of live productions. They are commited to creating beautiful and fun productions for families, and for the stage, stadium or mountain top!

12 The ToyBox contact info web: telephone: snail mail: 39 Parliament Street, Suite 410 Toronto, ON M5A 4R2