Vanessa Porteous, artistic director of Alberta Theatre Projects, has the inside guide to the top 5 things you need to know about this year’s playRites Festival fest.

1. Opening this Saturday, The Highest Step In the World by Eric Rose and David van Belle (pictured) is the 99th world premiere held at the festival since it launched.

2. What do a chisel, a love letter, a flight suit, and a wax figure of Abraham Lincoln all have in common? Each object changes someone’s life forever, in each of the four plays premiering at the festival.

3. Come early to check out Each Other, a performance installation in progress by Eric Moschopedis and Mia Rushton in the Martha Cohen Theatre lobby. Take one of the handmade objects away with you and follow the instructions. You become part of the art.

4. Don’t miss Blitz Weekend (Canada 's best theatre party) March 5-7. Eat pancakes in the lobby, hear artists talk about their work and listen to readings of new plays in progress.

5. Join in on a barely civilized food fight this Friday during the Lawson Lundell Celebrity Hors D’oeuvres fundraising event. Some of the city’s best restaurants pair up with Calgary celebrities who then compete to see who can sell the most appies.

Until March 7, tickets at www.atplive.com or call 403-294-7402.

Technically it’s a playlist on our iPod, but to honour the old-school medium, here’s our top five tunes by Calgary acts we can’t seem to get enough of recently.

1. “Morningside” off Woodpigeon's just released album Die Stadt Muzikanten. While at Nina Ricci, designer Olivier Theyskens used a song off Woodpigeon’s first album for his spring/summer 2009 runway show.


2. “Had Enough of It” by The Dudes. Former Calgarian and Broken Social Scene songstress Lisa Lobsinger makes an appearance on this tune from their 2009 Blood Guts Bruises Cuts, the rock ode to the band’s tough year.

3. “Anatomical Literacy” by Jordan Klassen. This young artist released his first full-length album, Tempest and Winter, last year and had us swooning over his charming melodies with the first listen.

4. “New Years Eve” by Dojo Workhorse. We dare you to try not to sing along to this feel-good tune by Dan Vacon’s other ensemble (he’s also part of The Dudes). We so hope “she” kissed him that fateful New Year’s Eve.

5. “Suzie I Love You” by Michael Bernard Fitzgerald. With that raspy voice and adorable look, Fitzgerald makes us all wish we were named Suzie.

All songs available on iTunes.

Last time we saw Aron Hill’s work it was a bird’s-eye view of sorts with his intricate pencil drawings of the winged creatures.

But the multi-dimensional artist is taking a different approach to nature in his new show, Taste the World and Digest It.

Inspired by personal travel photographs, Hill returns to a more traditional mode of painting with playful oil canvases of romantic scenes abroad in countries such as Nicaragua. Family members including his mother (pictured in “Liz”), his father and wife make appearances, casually lounging or walking along in the scenes.

Until January 16 at Newzones Gallery, 730 11th Ave. SW, Calgary, 403-266-1972, www.newzones.com

Even if you’re still holding out for a Warhol or a Picasso check out this weekend’s Alberta College of Art and Design (ACAD) Winter Show and Sale for up-and-comers to add to your collection.

Starting tomorrow at 4 p.m., the college’s main hall will be packed with hundreds of works by ACAD students from all departments including painting, printmaking, sculpture, glasswork and jewellery, all for prices that will not break the bank, or the “art fund.”

Warhol and Picasso were emerging artists at one time, after all.

Until November 29, Alberta College of Art and Design, 1407 14th Ave. NW, Calgary, 403-284-7600, www.acad.ab.ca

When you’re a teen, every crisis is the end of the world. There’s puberty, popularity and plenty of school projects to stress over. And for almost 13-year-old Claudia, there’s also her parents’ divorce.

Presented by Alberta Theatre Projects, I, Claudia is an outstanding one-woman show about the tribulations of adolescence and finding solace in unlikely places. 

Beware: the memories of teen angst will flood back in waves.

Runs until November 8 at the Martha Cohen Theatre, 205 Eighth Ave SE, Calgary; for tickets call 403-294-9494.

We already have Pedro Almodóvar’s Broken Embraces (pictured) and Jane Campion’s Bright Star on our must-see list, but as the Calgary International Film Festival opens this Friday, the fest’s Executive Director Jacqueline Dupuis gives us her insider flick picks.

White Night Wedding
“The film felt a bit like coming home for me,” says Dupuis referring to the movie’s Icelandic landscapes that felt familiar and distantly Canadian. The comedic melodrama centres on a dysfunctional family and one man’s desperate attempt to find true love in his small and remote Icelandic community.

Gigantic
A quirky love story starring indie darlings Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine), Zooey Deschanel (500 Days of Summer), and John Goodman who, as he so often does, steals the show. A perfect date night flick about what happens when two people come together and have to deal with each other’s equally crazy families.

Passenger Side
High on banter and entertaining on every level, this Canadian independent film is about two brothers, who, though distant in lifestyles, share a strong bond and on this particular day, quite the adventure.

My Suicide
Far from the typical teen-angst movie and somewhat tenuous at first blush, it’s a rollercoaster ride of experimental and stylistic filmmaking juxtaposed with a dark and meaty story which leaves you inspired to question everything.

I Killed My Mother
Written, directed, produced and starring 16-year-old Quebecois filmmaker Xavier Dolan, it’s a raw and intimate portrayal of homosexuality, coming of age and the intense relationship he shares with his mother.

The film festival runs September 25 to October 4, 2009. Order tickets and see schedules at calgaryfilm.com

Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet, Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma and Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy—onscreen Jane Austen gets us every time. But starlets and silver screen hunks aren’t the only reasons to revisit the classics.

The Winchester Austen collection includes the famed author’s six tomes in a modern, gentle-on-the-eyes typeface, each with an introduction by a renowned Austen scholar.

There are also colour timelines of Austen’s world, maps of her England and illustrated sections focusing on a main theme in each story (regency fashion in Emma and the church in Mansfield Park, for example).

Sold separately (from $12.99 each) the journal-like simple black covers with soft cursive writing and an elastic closure are lovely on their own, or look delightful as a set.

Now back to Mr. Darcy.

At Chapters, www.chapters.indigo.ca

If the wax sculptures at MadameTussauds make you a tad nervous that they’re about to come to life, wait till you see the work of Evan Penny.

The Toronto-based figurative sculptor, who studied at the Alberta College of Art and Design, is renowned for his detailed silicone renderings of the human body, complete with every wrinkle, hair, pore, crease and spot. Penny, along with sculptor Stephan Balkenhol, is showcasing his work until Saturday at the Trépanier Baer Gallery.

Just don’t get too close, you never know what might happen.

Runs until June 20, Trépanier Baer Gallery, 105-999 Eighth St. SW, Calgary, 403-244-2066, www.trepanierbaer.com

There's no better way to turn 25 than dancing the night away—just ask the quarter-century-old Decidedly Jazz Danceworks.

In celebration of its silver anniversary, DJD's newest production, twentyfive, honours the company's most memorable moments in music, dance and choreography.

In addition to some new numbers, DJD performs excerpts from the 1992 tribute to Big Miller, No Small Feets and other audience favourites. Tonight, a pre-show chat will be held about the making of twentyfive and the company’s history.

And yes, they can dance.

twentyfive runs until June 14 at Max Bell Theatre (tickets from $36), 403-245-3533 www.decidedlyjazz.com

The well-edited wine display at 100 Wines by David Walker makes for more of a gallery ambiance than wine shop.

Tomorrow, the wine boutique launches an adjoining art space appropriately christened Gallery 101 that will house the non-grape varietal type of art.

First up are six local artists, including Amanda Meador (her piece pictured), who have created pieces interpreting the urban landscape.

Every six weeks a new show will focus on unsigned artists—it’s your chance to discover the next Basquiat at a steal.

Urban Landscapes opening, Thursday, May 28 (6-8 p.m.), Gallery 101, 1109 Olympic Way SE, Calgary, 403-452-8820, www.davidwalkerwines.com