As most of you may know, (or check the "murals" tab in the column to your left),about twelve years ago I was commissioned to create a mural for Theatre Passe Muraille's bar area, this was probably my second or third contracted mural. This one project started a relationship with the Theatre that continues to this day, under Layne Coleman's stewardship and Jonathan Rooke's steady friendship, I became the resident scenic artist,painting almost all of their shows for the next five or six years, and every wall in the building except the ceiling. I was playwright in Residence for a year, that play went on to become the show "St.Christopher" which was produced on the mainstage in association with DVxT theatre and another show of mine, "Lemon Water" was produced by Greg Thomas and his partner Liz Dalgleish at Summerworks on the mainstage. Almost all of my time was spent there, in the Theatre or the Shop, it was a studio, a refuge, a club house, an office {a place to crash and sometimes a place for...} and so much more, so many of my closest friendships began at Theatre Passe Muraille. Artistic Director Layne Coleman left the position and a new Artistic Director, Andy McKim was hired. Andy is a great man, he accepted me into the Tarragon Playwrights Unit with only three "little" produced shows ( Two Rhubarbs, one Summerworks under my belt), he has nurtured playwrighting talent all over this city and deserves his own theatre.
Last week I was asked to do some signage for the Theatre, (which of course because of my loyalty to the building I did for free, so don't ask how much I charged) that night at the bar upstairs was Greg Thomas's Bachelor party, he and Liz are getting married, it was great to stand up at the bar (which I also painted) with so many friends that I'd met through TPM, looking at the back wall I did understand fully that it is a different place now, the mural has been painted over, I'm not mad at all, not in the least, it was high time for it to go, part of me does wish that I'd been told that it has been covered and another part wishes that they's ask me to do the job. It's a great, great place, you should go there and see a show.
Here are some additions to the mural at the Done Right Inn, people there love the Spy Vs. Spy and I didn't want to cover it completley so I decided to continue the Mad Magazine theme by adding characters by the great Don Martin. I feel there are enough, I couldn't have done any more that day as I was thick in the head with a cold and had to get home to freebase some neo citran.cheers Shoppers,
A.S.Hahn
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