Our feature initiative “Start, Stop, Continue for 2014: A Conversation Starter for the Theatre Arts Community” is back featuring the following voices: D. Jeremy Smith of Driftwood Theatre, Tina Rasmussen of World Stage, Holger Schott Syme of dispositio.net, Claire Armstrong of Red One Theatre Collective, Nina Kaye of Unspoken Theatre and Drew O’Hara & Jade Douris of Everybody to the Theatre Company. Read more in our features!
A Note from Editor in Chief – Hallie Seline:
2013 was an exciting year and 2014 has started with no shortage of encouraging moments for the Toronto theatre/arts community. We saw small venues develop and prosper across the city with national recognition from the Globe and Mail, and we saw the community come together showing support and strength in numbers, whether it was to stand behind Buddies in Bad Times Theatredemanding more questions when their Rhubarb Festival was suddenly denied funding, or by getting down and dirty to help get indie venue The Storefront Theatre back on its feet after amajor flood. Amongst these exciting moments, there is no shortage of challenges we are also knocking up against. Be it funding, debating the relevance of theatre on CBC Radio, or the concern that with the growing number of independent theatre companies that we may be spreading ourselves too thin, thus generating the every person for themselves attitude, we believe that there is a lot of discussion to be had about where we stand as a theatre arts community and where we should hope to go next.
I feel like this is an exciting pivotal time in the Toronto theatre arts scene and after having received immense feedback from our first instalment, my hope is to continue to develop this dialogue with another group of theatre artists (from different theatrical backgrounds, emerging to more established etc.) about their thoughts on the state of theatre in Canada, specifically Toronto, right now.
This is a discussion starter in which our participants identify what they think the Toronto theatre scene should Start, Stop and Continue to help theatre in Toronto prosper. This is just the beginning of the conversation. Help us to make this conversation grow to involve as many diverse voices across our community as possible and hopefully this will help us all move forward in 2014 in a supportive and productive way.
Everybody to the Theatre Company unintentionally greeted me with piano chords and harmonized voices as the cast rehearsed a musical interlude for their upcoming show, Theatre on a Theme: Love. This unique show is EtoTCompany’s second production, following the success of their first show Theatre on a Theme: Failure (September 2013).
“The interesting thing about the theme of love is how much it is related to pain. This show isn’t just a happy stroll through the park, under the stars,” director Drew O’Hara says of his cast. “The company have brought some really personal stuff to the work.” Artistic Director O’Hara founded Everybody to the Theatre Company with several members of his Ryerson acting class. The soon-to-be graduates were looking for a creative outlet and something they could call their own. O’Hara had conceived the idea of constructing a show called “Theatre on a Theme” where new, short plays would be woven into a whole, cohesive performance.
This winter the company put out its second call for submissions on the theme of “Love”. The plays have to be 5-10 minutes in length and use up to any of the three men and three women of the company (and of course be based around the selected theme). “When the audience watches through the lens of a theme, it allows them to make the connections for themselves,” said director Drew O’Hara. “It gives our audiences a more immediate connection to the actors and to the show. The experience of seeing Theatre on a Theme is more personal.”
Everybody to the Theatre wants to explore the theme of love in all its facets. Though many of the submissions were romantic, and that aspect is not ignored in the performance, O’Hara looked for plays that explored love in many forms. “The goal is that hopefully we’re going to find something for everybody,” said Artistic Producer Jade Douris. “But there are as many different kinds of love as there are people.“
Then something amazing happened when the call for new plays was posted for Theatre on a Theme: Love website. “The submission post went viral in the United States,” O’Hara said. None of the company knew how it had happened. Somehow the call for plays about love made its way into the right hands. Everybody to the Theatre Company was rewarded with almost two hundred plays from LA to New York, from Ohio and Michigan and from Halifax to Texas to Toronto.
Artistic director O’Hara selects the plays for each show by searching for the most unique perspectives, the variety of character or shows that may compliment and contrast each other. “We got so many submissions in the last ten days,” said producer Jade Douris. “Sometimes we just couldn’t cast the show, say a grandmother and grandchild scene, but for the most part it wasn’t easy. We read all of them.”
Everybody to the Theatre Company’s mandate reflects its name as they focus on bringing theatre to different audiences. Theatre on a Theme searches to find stories from as many different voices as possible. The playwrights range in age from 19-65 and include a past Dora nominee, a graduate of two masters programs, not to mention both experienced and amateur playwrights.
Two members of the company have their own work included in Love. “Owen and I both wrote for this show for the first time,” says Jade Douris pointing to founding member and actor Owen Stahn. Stahn smiles and admits, “Yeah, I’m still pretty self-conscious about that.” They laugh, grin and shift in their chairs.
Not to mention that the company still balances a full semester of theatre school. The collective process can be challenging and the company works hard to knit the plays into a cohesive whole. Honesty is key. “It requires you to bring a lot of passion and energy to rehearsal and risk getting completely rejected by your peers,” O’Hara says of the process. “Most of us learn to let go,” Jade Douris smiles as she teases Owen. Owen mourns for a vignette of his that was cut from Failure, the company’s first production. “By the end of the process, we learned that failure is an absolute part of life and a critical part of growing,” Owen says. “You can escape it, but you can also just embrace it.”
These intrepid artists have plans for future themes, but plan to adjust them depending on the social climate or what life throws at them. They hope to one day bring their shows to as many audiences as possible. After the performance in Toronto, Theatre on a Theme: Love is travelling to Peterborough to perform at the Theatre on King. Showtime is at 9:30pm, tickets are $15 or $10 if you see The Dumb Waiter, the show performing before theirs.
If you see an Everybody to the Theatre show and think of a theme you would love to see, visit their website and drop them an email. They are always open to hearing suggestions from their audiences.
Theatre on a Theme: Love
Presented by Everybody to the Theatre Company
When: Sunday February 23rd at 2pm and 8pm Where: Unit 102 Theatre (376 Dufferin Street) Tickets: Visit their website: www.everybodytotheatrecompany.com $10 in advance, $15 at the door.
Everybody to the Theatre Company rehearses in the UCRC Studio. It’s a lovely studio space on Saint Clair West and has great, affordable rental prices, (http://www.uppercanadarep.com/#!rentals/cij8).
Whether it’s with your family, friends, lover, significant-other or you’re treatin’ yo self, we’ve listed our different date suggestions for these lusted-after February shows plus some February events we’re swooning over! These shows are On Our Radar, Toronto, and we think you should Fall in Love With Theatre all over again this February!
Did the nudie promo pictures convince you yet? If you didn’t catch Genesis & Other Stories in their sold-out run in last summer’s Fringe Festival, lucky for you they have brought it back for a February re-mount in the Red Sandcastle Theatre after a revised run in the Hamilton Fringe. If you did catch it, you know you’ll want to see it again! Laugh-out-loud funny, thought-provoking and feel-good family fun… well… It’ll get you talking!
This is our On the Laugh-track to Love date recommendation.
“After his father’s death, Christopher, a theology student, leads a misfit cast of amateur actors in a production of his late father’s play: a hyper-sexed version of Adam and Eve set in 1960’s USA. Slapstick, satire, and meta-theatre frame a surprisingly complex story about lonely people trying to fill roles that do not suit us. Christopher tries to convince everyone including himself that he is committed to his religion and its strict views on sexuality, and capable of directing and producing his father’s bizarre script. Despite everyone’s best intentions, a break up, forgotten lines, and a crisis of faith conspire to sabotage the production. The primary focus of Genesis is on laughter, but the show is only funny because of the pain and struggle of Chris and the other characters. A hilarious romp that is sure to get you thinking, whether you’re religious, theatrical, or somewhere in between.”
“Comically disastrous… very funny. Things could only go worse if the theatre collapsed.” – Jon Kaplan, NOW Magazine
Where: RED Sandcastle Theatre (922 Queen Street East) When: February 5th-15th Wednesday-Friday 8pm, Saturdays 7pm & 9pm Tickets: $15 at the Door, $10 in Advance at www.totix.ca or call (416) 845-9411 For more information, visit: www.aimforthetangent.com
Killer cast, intriguing promotional poster, “puppetry & Vaudeville charm” set in the Klondike? After being big fans of After Miss Julie, we’re excited to see what Red One Theatre brings us next and Shrew seems to be just the ticket.
This is our Rowdy Buddies at the Shakespeare Show date recommendation.
“The beautiful and gentle Bianca has no shortage of admirers, but her mother insists that she will not marry until her older sister, Katharina, is betrothed. The only problem is that Katharina is the wildest, loudest, maddest shrew in the Klondike. It’s a low-down showdown with honky-tonk, puppetry, slapstick, and Vaudeville charm, and one of these gunslingers will either go broke or strike gold.
In his directorial debut, rising Stratford Festival star and RedOne Theatre veteran Tyrone Savage gathers together Toronto’s premier emerging talents for the first time in this one-of-a-kind production.”
Where: The Storefront Theatre (955 Bloor Street West) When: February 15th – March 2nd, 2014 8pm (Sunday PWYC Matinees – 2pm) Tickets: $19.99 Advance tickets available @ www.secureaseat.com
Call your Grandma, call your mother… Hell, call EVERYONE and take them to the theatre this month. Rob Kempson has written a charming, funny and moving musical about unconditional love that will have you beaming one minute and reaching for a box of tissues the next.
This is our Reconnecting With Family date recommendation.
“Inspired by the traditional song cycle form, The Way Back to Thursday is a musical about unconditional love that crosses generations, genders and lifetimes.
Cameron and his Grandmother have a special tradition – movie nights every Thursday. Together they escape into the glamour and romance of the Golden Age of film. But as Cameron grows, so does the distance between them.”
Where: Theatre Passe Muraille (16 Ryerson) When: Now to February 8th Tickets: Pwyc-$32.50. 416-504-7529
Sharp, odd, hilarious and the tightest staging, design and performances that we’ve seen in one show in a while – The Ugly One is a must-see before it closes mid-February. We can’t and we won’t stop chatting about it. Theatre Isn’t Dead said it perfectly: “Non-theatre folks will dig it too. I can almost promise that.” –Blog Theatre Isn’t Dead.
We deem this our Theatrical Rejuvenation date aka. Win-over-that-friend-who-is-too-cool-for-theatre-with-the-cool-theatre-show date recommendation.
“You can’t sell anything with that face.” A razor sharp satire about getting ahead in the world. With mesmerizing speed, this award-winning work by one of Germany’s hottest playwrights catapults us into a narcissistic world obsessed with beauty, image and plastic surgery.”
U.N.I.T. Productions is excited to announce the remount of Of Mice and Morro and Jasp!
Morro and Jasp feel the pinch of the recent economic downturn and decide to try to make ends meet by staging John Steinbeck’s classic tale Of Mice and Men. Can the clown sisters stick to the story? Will they both make it out alive? This winter, find out for yourself!
This is our Friends Until The End date recommendation.
Where: Factory Studio Theatre When: Jan 28 to Feb 8, Tue-Sat 8PM, Thur 1PM, Sat 2PM Tickets: $25 Regular Price / $20 Student, Senior, Arts Worker PWYC Preview Jan 28 www.factorytheatre.ca 416-504-9971
Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster, Hailey Gillis, Gregory Prest & Dan Chameroy. Photo Credit: Cylla von Tiedemann
With 1920’s flair, song, dance and love amongst wartime, this is our Indulging in Delights date recommendation.
“A cast of wonderfully eccentric and international guests – countesses, arms dealers, showgirls, revolutionaries, charlatans and lovers – spend a fateful weekend in a resort hotel in the Italian Alps. While songs are sung and dances danced and loves rekindled, the dark clouds of war come rolling in.”
Read our latest Artist Profile with Paolo Santalucia & Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster “From Academy to Company in Soulpepper’s “Idiot’s Delight” here: https://inthegreenroom.ca/artist-profiles/
the dreamer examines his pillow is a surreal, intimate look at the beautiful and dark forces of love. The play explores the aftermath of love, whether it’s after an explosive affair between two lovers, or the dwindling, harsh lack of love from a widowed father to his daughter. Poetic, lyrical and rough – the dreamer examines his pillow is one of contemporary theatre’s finest looks at intimacy and need. It sounds to us like the perfect antithesis to Hallmark’s version of Valentine’s Day!
This is our Dark Surrealist Valentine’s Day date recommendation.
Where: The Box Toronto (89 Niagara Street) When: February 7th-16th Fridays & Saturdays 8pm, Sundays 2pm Tickets: dreamer.brownpapertickets.com
LABOUR
Written by Eric Welch and Ryan Welch. Based on the original short story by Ryan Welch with further realization by The Coyote Collective Company, presented by Coyote Collective
LABOUR looks at the Sisyphean life of factory day-workers, who see no choices but to go to work every day, and have resigned themselves to a life of the same. For these four characters, commodification has completely changed the way they think about life, love, and happiness.
This is ourSocially Consciousdate recommendation.
Where: Theatre Passe-Muraille Backspace When: February 5th to the 9th. 5th-7th 7:30pm, 8th 2pm & 7:30pm, 9th 2pm Tickets: $20, Student/Senior $15, PWYC: Saturday, February 8th 2:00pm, Opening and Media Night: Wednesday, February 5th
Tickets available for purchase at artsboxoffice.ca or at the door.
Events We’re Crushin’ On:
The 35th Rhubarb Festival
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre presents their 35th annual festival of new works in contemporary theatre, performance art, dance, and music. For two weeks artists transform the Buddies neighbourhood into a hotbed of experimentation, sharing new works in contemporary theatre, performance art, dance, and music with adventure-loving audiences.
New to the festival this year is a new series of Open Space Projects will animate unexpected spaces around the Buddies neighbourhood and make new artistic connections between five historic queer institutions here in Toronto.
When: February 12th-23rd Where: Buddies in Bad Times Theatre & around the neighbourhood Tickets: Open Space Projects & Artist Talks – Free Young Creators Unit – PWYC Week One Mainstage Projects – $10 Week Two Evening Passes – $20
Roar
Written & performed by Spencer Charles Smith, presented by Straight Camp
“Roar – a solo play about beefy, burly, brawny love”
SYNOPSIS – A boy’s campy quest for furry love, Spencer will explore his unapologetic desire for ‘bearish’ men, critique the problematic spectrum of identities within the Bear community (Bear, Cub, Otter, Panda, Muscle-Bear, etc.) and hopefully deconstruct notions of hegemonic masculinity.
Above all, it’s a love letter.
This is a staged-reading of Spencer’s latest draft of Roar and he is eager to hear your feedback. A talk-back will follow the presentation. And drinks. Featuring a special pre-show presentation: “Kid: A Queer Fable”, written, illustrated and performed by Katie Sly
Where: Videofag (187 Augusta Ave) When: Wednesday February 5th 8pm, Thursday February 6th 8pm Tickets: PWYC (at the door)
“Six actors, 18 theatre pieces that vary in length from 10 minutes to 10 seconds. What do you get? A hilarious, heart-wrenching, fast-paced, occasionally musical, exciting night at the theatre. Following the success of Theatre on a Theme: FAILURE, the Everybody to the Theatre Company gang will bring you Theatre on a Theme: LOVE, just in time for Valentine’s Day.”
A one-night only staged reading of the classic sci-fi epic told in the Bard’s style.
“This sublime retelling of George Lucas’s epic Star Wars in the style of the immortal Bard of Avon. The Saga of a wise (Jedi) knight and an evil (Sith) lord, of a beautiful princess held captive and a young hero coming of age, Star Wars abounds with all the valor and villainy of Shakespeare’s greatest plays.” This is the play you are looking for. Lightsaber fights included! Themed drinks/food/entertainment too – say whaaat!
Where: The Storefront Theatre (955 Bloor Street West) When: February 7th Doors at 7pm, Show at 8pm
Tickets: $10 in advance online www.secureaseat.com or $15 at the door.
The Howland Company Reading Group – February:
February 9th Charles Mee’s “Big Love”, February 23rd Jez Butterworth’s “Jerusalem”
“Bi-weekly, The Howland Company hosts an open event called The Reading Group, where artists are encouraged to gather, meet, reconnect and work with fellow members of the Toronto theatre community and ultimately read a play together.
The readings are a laid-back, social way to work with peers and continue to develop our craft. Scripts are provided and parts are assigned and exchanged on the fly. All are welcome to participate in reading or sit back and listen.”
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