Fantasy Dinner Party: Who would ATP Artistic Director Vanessa Porteous Invite?

Given the opportunity to invite anyone for dinner who would the Alberta Theatre Projects artistic director pick?

The December holidays fall right in the thick of Alberta Theatre Projects’ busy winter season, when rehearsals are in full swing for the company’s Enbridge playRites Festival of New Canadian Plays, which starts February 1.

Artistic director Vanessa Porteous becomes something of a den mother for out-of-town actors during this time, inviting everyone over to her place for an annual “orphans’ dinner” on December 31. Here are some other guests (living and dead — it is, after all a fantasy dinner party) to whom she would gladly serve her signature spaghetti matriciana:

1. Harold Arlen, composer of the songs in The Wizard of Oz (playing at ATP until Dec. 31), 1905-1986

“A genius who started as a Tin Pan Alley piano-player, he composed over 500 songs, including some of my favourites: ‘Stormy Weather,’ ‘Let’s Fall in Love’ and, of course, ‘Over the Rainbow.’"

2. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composer, 1756-1791

“He could share the piano bench with Harold Arlen. Best sing-a-long ever.”

3. Alice Munro, Canadian author

“I just really, really want to meet her. Maybe she’d bring one of her famous pies for dessert.”

4. Alanis Obomsawin, documentary filmmaker, singer and storyteller from the Abenaki First Nation

“When I was little, Alanis used to tell me Nanabush tales to put me to sleep. At parties, she’d bring out her collection of masks and organize giant plays based on First Nations stories.”

5. Catherine The Great, Empress of Russia, 1729-1796

“I visited her palace, the Hermitage, in St. Petersburg this summer. She was an intellectual and Voltaire’s pen pal. She’d get the conversation going.”

6, 7, 8, 9. Frankie, Gord, Paul and Daniel, Porteous’ university friends

“We used to live together in a shared house. It had once been an African clothing store called Ujima, which means ‘our community’ in Swahili. The store sign still hung over the door. The members of an ujima are known as the mjimas. We mjimas only see each other once a year or so now. It would be great if they could come to my fantasy dinner party.”