David James Brock

Theatre, Opera, Poetry, Film

David James Brock is a Canadian writer of opera, theatre, poetry, and film.
Author of poetry collections Everyone is CO2 and Ten-Headed Alien.
Co-creator of Breath Cycle, an opera for cystic fibrosis.

Opera gets Fucked Up (Tap: Ex Metallurgy)

I'm currently working on Tap:Ex Metallurgy, a cool project from Tapestry New Opera, the incredible composer Ivan Barbotin, and members from the Canadian band Fucked Up. I'm looking forward to this one. I'm the project's librettist (word), and the process of collaborative idea generation and writing has been unlike any project I've worked on thus far. I think it's gonna be a good one.

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Recording Sewing the Earthworm

Sewing the Earthworm, a song cycle for soprano and piano, was first performed in the fall of 2011 as part of the inaugural season of the Canadian Art Song Project. This past week, we got the original creative team together for a proper recording at University of Toronto's Walter Hall, and I am excited to finally have this as a supplement to the text, which was written specifically to be set to music (and which appears on pages 17-21 of my poetry collection, Everyone is CO2. Ah hem).

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Playwriting, Baseball Memorabilia & the 1985 Kansas City Royals

Cajoled by the Kansas City Royals first World Series appearance since 1985, I take a personal history time travel to baseball’s role in my first attempts at playwriting. Then the closer comes in: a few photos of baseball nostalgia related to the 1985 Major League baseball season.

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Toronto Fringe Festival: Centre of the Universe

My play Centre of the Universe opens at the Toronto Fringe on Wednesday, July 2 and runs until Sunday, July 13. It’s a site-specific show, and there are 14 chances to see it (except opening night, which is sold out!).

Synopsis: The CN Tower has collapsed after an organized attack on Toronto. Four people who were in a bar when the attack happened have been cut off from the rest of the world. The last communication they received: stay indoors. Wondering who would attack the city—and why—four people contemplate survival, sex, death, and the lives they no longer have.

Location: Labyrinth Lounge, 298 Brunswick Ave

Buy tickets in advance on the Fringe Toronto website.

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Breath Cycle: A Singer's Perspective

In 2012, composer Gareth Williams and I conceived Breath Cycle, a new opera project for singers with cystic fibrosis. Cystic fibrosis is genetic, and though it affects many of the body’s systems, it most notably affects the lungs. As part of our work exploring the connection between voice and breath, Gareth and I have been very fortunate to write words and music for some incredibly inspiring singers.

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Making an Old Play New

My new play Snow Bride opens tonight and will run until May 18 at the Box Toronto (see details on my Events Page). Snow Bride is a new play, but an old play—one which I began writing specifically for Katie Hood for the 2006 Uno Festival of Solo Performance in Victoria, BC when the only thing I wrote was plays—when I was focused on being a “serious playwright” with all that entailed (e.g. scowling, jaw clenching, scarf wearing).

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New Book, New Blog

April was a cool month, and it was also poetry month—a poetry month made even more special for me by the release of my first collection, Everyone is CO2.

So far, the book has taken me to Picton, Queen West on a week night, Waterloo, University of Toronto, and Montreal (it was my first time in Montreal, so the book has already done a lot of its work for me). And yes, maybe I sold a copy of the book at my sister’s wedding in Jordan, Ontario.

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