Info: An Edward Norton Tweet: In the fall of 2020, Edward Norton tweeted out a hateful rebuke of the 45th President. We decided to film it. This video serves as an introduction to the chaos of my performance style as well as a taste of the power of theatrics. I believe in the power of storytelling. (Rated PG 13. Length: 3:09 min)

About the artist:

Justin Otto is a Winnipeg-tested; Toronto based artist whose work is primarily theatrical performance and devised creation; his interests revolve around pushing new Canadian work, emphasizing a closer look into masculinity, the working class, what existing writing can be re-imagined into saying, and actual chaos. A graduate of the University of Winnipeg, BA (Hons) in theatre performance.  

Justin’s performances and writing have been showcased across Canada, from Equity houses, The Magnetic North Theatre Festival, the Canadian Fringe circuit and many a production, workshop or reading in Winnipeg. His play The Manic Pixie Dream Girl was awarded Best New Play from the Winnipeg Fringe Festival. A company member of Peachy Keen Productions, Prairie Kid Productions, and Co-Artistic Director of Have You Seen This Theatre(?). Most recently Justin was seen as Malvolio in Tim Crouch’s award-winning solo piece I, Malvolio (“I, Malvolio is by far one of the most interesting shows of the festival… perhaps even the past few years” – Winnipeg Free Press, “You feel at any moment he could explode” – Slotkin Letter).

Recently he has performed with Prairie Theatre Exchange, Marriage: A Demolition in Two Acts, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and acting/co-producing a sold out run of Harry Rintoul’s, Brave Hearts, at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival. In film he can be seen starring in Prairie Kid Productions (IndieFest Award Winner) film This Is Why We Fight and the award winning Alter Boys, soon to be a Telefilm funded miniseries. Currently a member of the Tarragon Theatre Extended Young Playwrights Unit & host of the podcast Love Is…

**Before the pandemic Justin was set to star in the World Premiere of Siberian Summer at the Segal Centre & the Canadian Premiere of Annie Baker’s The Antipodes.

I came to the theatre as a means of escape. Theatre, at a young age, or acting of any form, felt like what a working class kid living out of a trailer park might call “fucking stupid”. Growing up in rural Manitoba, all I really had around me were drunks, baseball fans, and some of the greatest storytellers you’ll never meet. And there are those days where I think that dark thought maker might be right. I primarily focused on the first two (drunk, playing third base), mastering them. But storytelling, that has always been the ultimate goal. To make someone laugh like my uncle charmed strangers, or tell eloquent lies like my father, or hear like only my mother can. I came to the theatre
because growing up where I did there was no place to see it, no one to talk about it. I came like a flame to dry underbrush. I see it as a trade. A job that leaves your inner workings carved and calloused like my father’s construction blackened hands.

To make a donation, please go to Theatre Lac-Brome : https://theatrelacbrome.ca/make-a-donation/

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