Trampoline Hall is a barroom lecture series started by Canadian author

Sheila Heti Sheila Heti (; born 25 December 1976) is a Canadian writer. Early life Sheila Heti was born on 25 December 1976 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Her parents are Hungarian Jewish immigrants. Her brother is the comedian David Heti. Her father wanted ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. It has been sold out consistently since 2001.

Format

Trampoline Hall is held every month at The Garrison, a club in Toronto's west end. The program consists of three talks each followed by a question-and-answer period, and is hosted by improv teacher and consultant Misha Glouberman. Speakers are chosen by a curator. Past curators include

Margaux Williamson Margaux Williamson (born in 1976) is a Canadian painter, filmmaker, and writer based out of Toronto. Williamson’s paintings are meant to be understood in part as "a philosophical investigation of the landscape around her, as well as dedicated rig ...

Life of a Craphead Life of a Craphead is an art duo consisting of Jon McCurley and Amy Lam, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They have presented work at The Power Plant, Gallery TPW, Hotel MariaKapel, Department of Safety, and the Banff Centre. Their work combine ...

, and

Xenia Benivolski Xenia Benivolski is a curator of contemporary art, sound and music, an art critic and a writer. She founded several collectives and art galleries in Toronto, including The White House gallery, 8-11 gallery, The Feminist Art Museum, and SUGAR. Ben ...

. Lecturers may speak on any subject from the mundane to the arcane, but are forbidden to speak on any area in which they are professionally expert. As a result, talks vary from the well-informed to the unstructured, with the lecturer's level of comfort and degree of preparation emerging as part of the "performance". Over a few months in 2010-2011, representative topics included "The History of 3D," " Suicide Notes," "Cultural Entropy in the

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," "The Perfect Baguette," and "Being an Asshole."

Reception

The show went on a 10-city tour of the US in 2002 and has played numerous shows in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. It has been written about favourably in

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

, the National Post, the Globe and Mail, and other publications."The Talking Trampoline"
Indie Week, November 13, 2002
"Eclectic Lectures Bounce from Topic to Topic"
by Gary Shampiro, New York Sun, Jul 9, 2004

References

{{reflist

External links

Trampoline Hall website
Events in Toronto Lecture series