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.
I write about a book I like, Andrew Forbes' The Utility of Boredom, and possibly lament my own inability to write about baseball in a meaningful way despite it taking up about 80% of my mental/cell phone battery energy.
Read MoreRecently, some of my incredible playwriting students at the University of Victoria asked me to recommend books about playwriting.
Read MoreThe full filmed performance of Sewing the Earthworm (Harman/Brock) with Carla Huhtanen and Jennifer Nichols is now online. And it's real good.
Read MoreA new poem, Sunrise with Sea Monsters, inspired by the J.M.W. Turner painting for Paul Vermeersch's poetry project Sunrise with Sea Monsters.
Read MoreWell, I'm moving to Victoria for a bit....
Read MoreCheck out the libretto (the words!) for Tap Ex: Metallurgy before you come and see the show.
Read MoreIs Tap: Ex Metallurgy, opening on November 19 in Toronto a metal opera? No. It's way cooler.
Read MoreI'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.
Read MoreI've been writing a bunch of "sci-fi" poems as of late, including "But What Did Their Skin Look Like?" recently featured on the Dusie Blog. Maybe this is about to get out of hand...
Read MoreI'm really happy with the acknowledgement given to everyone involved with our song cycle, Sewing the Earthworm, in the Summer 2015 issue of Notations.
Read MoreGareth Williams's TedX talk at the University of Edinburgh, describing Breath Cycle, our opera project for singers with cystic fibrosis.
Read MoreClick here for Sewing the Earthworm, the poems which accompany the CMC Centretracks recording composed by Brian Harman.
Read MoreOn April 17, the Canadian Music Centre will release Sewing the Earthworm through its Centretracks label. I'm happy to finally share the cover art by Paul Vermeersch, made especially for this iTunes release.
Read MoreSewing 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).
Read MoreThe books I read in 2015, in a list, in case someone is watching....
Read MoreMy untitled Halloween poem, which won the third place prize in Truedell Public School's 1986 poetry contest. Recently unearthed, this poem was probably my first, and definitely not my worst .
Read MoreCajoled 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.
Read MoreMy 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.
Read MoreIn 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.
Read MoreMy 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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