a few words … from Montréal

Paper tickets. To theatre and dance performances. To concerts and art exhibits. I used to keep them, when paper tickets were all there were. I would use them as bookmarks or stash them away in a purse I rarely used. I’m not sure why I kept them all. To conjure up a fond memory, later, I guess, of the shows, of the venues, of friends or family with me that day, that night.

I started this blog post planning to write about some upcoming shows (at Place des Arts in Montréal), but I got distracted when my mind turned to those old paper tickets. I ended up ruffling through one of my rarely used purses, just curious … and this is a selection of what I found:

• MAI Prototype (Marina Abramović, Luminato Festival, Trinity Bellwoods Park) — Serbian performance artist, best known, perhaps, for The Artist Is Present performed at the MoMA in New York City.

• Kim’s Convenience (Soulpepper Theatre Company, Young Centre for the Performing Arts) — A play by Ins Choi (South Korean-born Canadian) that would later become a successful television series.

• Needles and Opium (Robert Lepage, Canadian Stage, Bluma Appel Theatre) — From award-winning Québecois multi-disciplinary artist, the play is “a meditation on art, love and addiction” that brings together the lives of Jean Cocteau and Miles Davis.

• Player One: What is to Become of Us (Douglas Coupland, Chan Centre for the Performing Arts) — One of the Massey Lectures (which you can listen to via the CBC archives), by the Canadian writer widely acknowledged for popularising the term, “Generation X.”

• Cher (Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas) — In case you thought I didn’t have any pop culture tickets … with six decades of performing under her belt (her fishnets, fringe, leather, lace, you name it), “Cher” is all that needs to be said.

In a strange way, a paper ticket can capture something, it seems. Collective memory in some form? Or maybe it’s like a pin on a map: I was there. More than anything, though, I think it serves as a quiet testament to the work done by the people — all of them — who make going to a show possible. From the biggest name(s) on the marquee (or digital promo material), to those appearing only in the fine print (the crew and creatives on site and off), to the names we may not find at all (including the person who asked you for your ticket when you entered the venue).

To commemorate that, the paper tickets are worth keeping, I think.