Multipurpose rumpusroom

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The Multipurpose Rumpusroom was an alternative arts facility (often called a "B room") first established by The Nebulous Rebels Performance Association in Sepetember 1986. The venue itself was a small art deco building that looked like a small movie theatre situated in the center of a large vacant lot in a run down part of downtown Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Heavily inspired by the Ten Foot Henry's Performance Appreciation Club, operated by Kieth Marion, Damon Johnson and a Band called The RipChords in Calgary in the early 1980's, it operated with a three year mandate to "explore and develop innovative performance and technological frontiers" at 9523 Jasper Avenue. While predominantely self funding, the venue benefited from "matching grant" support provided by city, provincial and federal government funding organisations. The venue was considered to be Edmonton's first alternative youth arts facility and was a popular gathering spot for Western Canada's indy sub culture. It was the only place in a 300 km radius where performance artists, poets, actors, directors, musicians and independent music groups, who wanted to explore alternatives to the mainstream, could present their ideas.

The venue had a "Warholesque" feel about it and was programmed with an annual schedule events from Thursday through Sunday, weekly, that included film screenings, poetry readings, plays, multimedia performances, art installations and music concerts. Many bands from the West Coast of America and Canada would include the venue on their tour itineraries while they were trying to "get seen". It was a common occurrence that a band would show up and get added to the bill un announced which made for some very uneven evenings of entertainment.

Bands that appeared on the stage included San Francisco's Beat Nigs, S.N.F.U., Junior Gone Wild, Mike Macdonald, Deja Voodoo, Sonic Youth, and many others that travelled the highways and "B-rooms" in search of fame. The other days of the week the facility was used by the two theatre companies that shared the space, The Nebulous Rebels, an experimental theatre laboratory, and The Interlude Mime Company, a children's theatre, as a production and administration facility. Administration included the organsiation of educational school tours for children (the venue's prime focus), provincial, national and international theatrical tours of successful shows that had been presented in or produced by the venue, publicity and promotion of local artists and bands. Production activities included the creation and development of new and classic theatrical plays through intensive workshop processes that included casts of actors, dancers and musicians ranging in size between 4 and 35 people.

The theatrical calendar for the three years included:

Reasonable Facsimile. An original physical theatre production that explored the possibility the idea of computer enhanced education and the social divide it might create, in the future. The Apple Mac and the idea of personal computing had only just been introduced to the world.

Marat Sade by Peter Wiess

To Be a Servant or A Master. A Commedia dell Arte presented in the traditional manner by a cast and crew of 10.

Conditioned Response. An exploration of the culture of fear and how governments and media use it to control populations.

The Windwalkers. An Indian dreamscape presented on stilts and developed using the techniques of Eugenio Barba and Jerzy Grotowski

The Cosmic Garbage Bin. A children's puppet show featuring a full size space ship that crash lands on the stage right before the kids. The story of an alien and an earthiling who must overcome their fear of each other so that they may team up to fight a bigger menace, Voracious Ted The Garbage Monster.

The Citizens Tango. A one man physical theatre play that incorporated video and 16 mm film to tell the story of a corporate executive's fall from grace. This show went on to tour throughout Canada's network of alternative art galleries.

Ubu Roi by Alfred Jarry

At its peak, the venue had a full time staff of 15 people.

It closed in 1989.