32nd Annual High Performance Rodeo Kicks Off in Calgary

The popular 32nd annual High Performance Rodeo, Calgary's International Festival of the Arts running to January 3 to 28, 2018 at various venues throughout Calgary, will feature a collection of the boldest and brightest artists from the realms of theatre, dance, comedy and music. More information and tickets can be found online at www.hprodeo.ca and by calling 403-294-9494.

The schedule of performances and events for Week 1 is as follows:

FESTIVAL OPENER | Hot Brown Honey | Briefs Factory (Brisbane, Australia)
Briefs Factory comes to the Festival all the way from Brisbane, Australia with their show HOT BROWN HONEY. Equal parts theatrical masterpiece and social activism, a stellar posse of phenomenal women smash stereotypes in an unapologetic celebration of our similarities and differences. Recipients of the 2016 UK's Total Theatre Award for Innovation, Australia's Helpmann Awards for Best Cabaret Performer, and Green Room Awards for Best Production and Best Design, HOT BROWN HONEY have lit centre stage at the most prestigious venues and festivals across the globe including Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Arts Centre, Brisbane Festival, Tiger Dublin Fringe, Auckland Pride Festival and Hull Freedom Festival to name a few.

Onegin | Arts Club (Vancouver, Canada)
Theatre Calgary and the One Yellow Rabbit Performance Theatre present Onegin, by Amiel Gladstone and Veda Hille, based on the poem by Pushkin and the opera by Tchaikovsky. This passionate retelling of a Russian classic will blow your mind. Innovative and in-your-face, this is musical theatre at its best. A runaway hit in Vancouver last season, Onegin is undeniably charming and unreservedly sexy. Don't let this lover get away.

Reassembled, Slightly Askew | Shannon Yee (Belfast, Northern Ireland)
The Rodeo welcomes several international works to the Festival this year - particularly from Ireland with the assistance of Culture Ireland - beginning with Shannon Sickels' Reassembled, Slightly Askew, from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Reassembled, Slightly Askew is an autobiographical, audio-based artwork about Shannon's experience of falling critically ill with a rare brain infection and her journey of rehabilitation with an acquired brain injury. Audiences are immersed into 'Reassembled...' individually, wearing headphones while lying on hospital beds. The audio technology makes the sound three-dimensional, causing listeners to feel they are Shannon, viscerally experiencing her medical journey and re- integration into the world with a hidden disability. It is a story of terror, discovery, and humor, but above all, hope.

10-Minute Play Festival | Downstage (Calgary,Canada)
The High Performance Rodeo's festival favourites are back. Downstage returns to Martha Cohen Theatre with the always popular 10-Minute Play Festival.

Participating companies include Calgary Young People's Theatre, Chromatic Theatre, Downstage, Handsome Alice, Swallow-A-Bicycle, and Verb Theatre.

Rodeo Passes and all tickets - including $15 Wednesday tickets - are on sale. Purchase them online at hprodeo.ca; by calling 403-294-9494; or at the Arts Commons Box Office.

www.hprodeo.ca