Preview: Legally Blonde at the Lower Ossington Theatre

Opening tonight and running till March 31st is, Legally Blonde: The Musical.   Shows areTuesdays through Saturdays at 8pm.  Sundays at 4 pm.  Tickets are $45-$60.

This production was cast locally and is produced by the Lower Ossington Theatre.  If you haven't seen this show yet, now is your chance.  This one would make a great girl's night out!

For ticket information call 416.915.6747. Or visit the website here!

Preview: Matt & Ben

I think this sounds wonderfully intriguing and funny. Check it out this weekend at the Alumnae Theatre (70 Berkeley Street)!

Matt & Ben by Mindy Kaling and Brenda Withers is a one act play with two females playing the roles of a pre-famous Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, and the hijinks that ensue when a completed screenplay for an orignal movie entitled “Good Will Hunting” falls from the sky with their names on the front cover. Is this a test? A message from God?

For tickets please click the header!

Matt & Ben
Directed by Reid Vanier
Starring Adele Dicks and Kristy LaPointe
Stage Manager: Hannah Metcalfe
December 17 &18 at Alumnae Theatre/ 2pm and 8pm.
Tickets $15

Preview: CRUSH

This piece is getting some good reviews folks and there is only 4 more days left to check it out!!!

CRUSH is a story of desire, denial and violence. When Martin moves into Ronny and Sandra’s trailer park on the edge of a small Ontario city, he captivates them both. Their longing for love and need to escape collide with homophobia and desperation as the play accelerates toward its startling conclusion. CRUSH is loosely based on the true story of the Jenny Jones Show "Secret Admirer" murder, in which Scott Amedure was killed by Jonathan Schmitz after they taped an episode of the talk show together.

Optic Heart Theatre is thrilled to present CRUSH by Hume Baugh, from December 1-11 at the Factory Studio Theatre. First premiered at Summerworks in 2008, CRUSH is newly reworked and updated for its Factory debut.

Please click the header for more info and to purchase tickets!

CRUSH
Written by Hume Baugh
Directed by Mark Cassidy
Factory Theatre
Toronto, ON
On until December 11th!

War Horse Toronto Rehearsals Begin!!!

What an exciting day for many local theatre artists who began work today on the upcoming production of War Horse in Toronto!

Rehearsals have officially commenced!

For info or tickets to the piece please click the header!

Preview: HALLAJ

Opening this past week at Buddies is the fascinating little piece, Hallaj. It is arriving at Buddies from the company that is said to be; "One of the most important theatre companies in the country right now, presenting the best of a new, intercultural Canada to the country and the world" (Canadian Theatre Review).

Show Description:

Hallaj tells the story of the legendary 10th century Sufi mystic, Mansur e-Hallaj, whose poetry and teachings inspired the love of his people and the wrath of the religious orthodoxy. In the current age of political and social upheaval in the Middle East, Hallaj offers a powerful message of compassion from a culture so often perceived as "other". Hallaj marks Modern Times Stage Company's return to Buddies for the first time since their stunning production of Macbeth in 1995.

Show Times: Tuesday-Saturday 8:00pm, Sunday 2:30pm. For tickets or for more info please click the header!

Buddies in Bad Times Theatre proudly welcomes
a Modern Times Stage Company production
HALLAJ
By Peter Farbridge and Soheil Parsa
Directed by Soheil Parsa
Featuring Stewart Arnott, Steven Bush, Peter Farbridge, Carlos González-Vio, John Ng, Beatriz Pizano, Costa Tovarnisky and Bahareh Yaraghi
On stage until December 4th

The Test from The Company Theatre

A wonderful company in the city is back this year with a very intriguing piece. The Company theatre brought us Through the Leaves last year and we are excited to see what they deliver on stage this year with The Test.

This is the first video in their four-part mini-documentary series by director Mike Schultz, which captures a behind-the-scenes look at the rehearsal process for the upcoming production of The Test." The piece will be starring Eric Peterson, Sonja Smits, Gord Rand, Liisa Repo-Martell and Philip Riccio.

For more info or to purchase tickets please click the header.

The Company Theatre (Part One) from The Company Theatre on Vimeo

Preview: HARDSELL 2.0

Opening this weekend at the Factory Theatre is the final show in the trilogy of plays from Rick Miller this autumn.

Show Description:
HARDSELL 2.0 is an adaptation of HARDSELL, a 2009 play co-created by Daniel Brooks and Rick Miller. “HARDSELL 2.0 explores the issue of 'control',” says Miller, “how our behaviour can be controlled by marketing forces, and how difficult it is to maintain a semblance of control in an out-of-control world. To that end, Daniel Brooks has agreed to allow me to take full control of this current evolution of HARDSELL.” HARDSELL 2.0 is a completely new theatrical experience: part lecture, part circus sideshow, part multimedia extravaganza. Miller strikes at the heart of the dominant stories of today: the global financial crisis, Occupy Wall Street, the mass rebellion against greed, the commodification of everything and the lies inherent in advertising.

HARDSELL 2.0 plays Tuesday - Saturday, 8 p.m., and Sunday, 2 p.m., October 13 – 23 in the Mainspace Theatre.

For more info on the show and to purchase tickets please do click the header!

Preview: In the Next Room or the vibrator play

The opening season show at Tarragon has hit the stage friends. Here is the show description below and for more info or to book tickets please click the header! I am really intrigued by this choice I must say. The piece runs until October 23rd.

At the dawn of the age of electricity an ambitious doctor uses a newfangled device—the vibrator—to induce paroxysms in his female patients. His young wife is fascinated with the sounds emanating from the next room. Can this new gadget solve the age-old problems of love?

A co-production with The Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre (Winnipeg).

CANADIAN PREMIERE
Written by Sarah Ruhl
Directed by Richard Rose
Starring:
Trish Lindstrom
Melody A. Johnson
Marci T. House
David Storch
Elizabeth Saunders
Ross McMillan
Jonathan Watton

Preview: The Maids

Jean Genet, Playwright, The Maids - photo by Tanja-Tiziana, doublecrossed.ca


Another exciting year is about to begin at Buddies. Dora Award winning director Brendan Healy is back opening the season with Jean Genet's The Maids. The piece (show description below) sounds really dark and provocative. We need not forget that this psychosexual thriller is brought to us by the creative team behind last season's explosive production of Sarah Kane's Blasted.

Show Description

1933. French police find Madame Lancelin and her daughter face down, in their living room, mutilated. Upstairs, two maids are found naked, huddled together in one of two single beds. Their motive: self-defense against an abusive mistress. This true story was the inspiration for queer iconoclast Jean Genet's masterpiece. A powerful statement against servitude.

For tickets please click here.


Buddies in Bad Times Theatre presents
THE MAIDS
By Jean Genet
Translated by Martin Crimp
Directed by Brendan Healy
Starring Diane D'Aquila, Ron Kennell and Maria Ricossa
Production Designer Julie Fox
Lighting Designer Kimberly Purtell
Music and Sound Design Richard Feren
Stage Manager Laura Baxter

September 17 - October 9, 2011

Preview: Chocolate Woman Dreams the Milky Way

Show Description: The Chocolate Woman Collective’s latest creation is Chocolate Woman Dreams the Milky Way. This innovative and unexpected blend of physical theatre and visual story-weaving takes you on a trip down the rabbit-hole, Kuna style. Experience the magical blend of creation, conflict, and curing in a night of theatre that celebrates feminine strength from a distinctly indigenous perspective.

Written by Toronto playwright and performer Monique Mojica and directed by internationally renowned Kuna actor and director Jose A. Colman.


**Tickets are available for purchase through TO Tix online at totix.ca or at the booth. Tickets may be reserved by calling 647-717-6129 or emailing wnanibush@gmail.com.

Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse
79 St. George Street
Opens: June 2nd, 2011
Closes: June 19th, 2011

Performances:
Tuesday-Saturday at 8 PM
Sunday at 2 PM
Phone: 647-717-6129
Adult: $20
Student: $10
Senior: $10

Preview: Zadie's Shoes

Opening last week over at Factory Theatre and running until June 5th is Dora Award nominee Zadie's Shoes. The show is getting universal acclaim from all the top critics in the city and we highly recommend checking it out! Allegedly the show has been tweaked and adjusted and all elements are really working well together, including a new cast.

Show Description:

One of the most successful Canadian plays of the last decade, Zadie’s Shoes tells the story of Benjamin - a compulsive gambler who’s just lost the money for his girlfriend’s “alternative” cancer treatment. With only 72 hours to win it back, a desperate Benjamin finds himself at synagogue for the first time since his Bar Mitzvah, praying for a miracle and a sure-fire winner. Zadie’s Shoes presents a hilarious yet moving look at the nature of luck and the power of faith.


Zadie’s Shoes

Written by Adam Pettle
Directed by Jordan Pettle and Adam Pettle
Starring Joe Cobden, Patricia Fagan, William MacDonald, Harry Nelken, Shannon Perreault, Geoffrey Pounsett and Lisa Ryder


For tickets please click the header!!!

Preview: The cosmonaut’s last message to the woman he once loved

Another avante garde style of performance art has opened at the Bluma Appel Theatre as part of the current Canadian Stage series. Some critics are loving it while some are not. If you like challenging pieces of theatre then check this one out!

Show Description:

In 1991, a Russian cosmonaut was stranded in the Mir Space Station for almost 300 days, a victim of the collapsing Soviet State. David Greig uses this piece of little-known history as a springboard to tell the stories of a group of strangers, lovers and families. The cosmonaut’s last message… follows the intertwined lives of two forgotten cosmonauts who are orbiting the planet, a Scottish couple confronting their failed marriage, a young pole dancer searching for love, a French scientist obsessed with UFOs, a pregnant policewoman and a Norwegian businessman as they try, in their own way, to communicate.


Tickets from $22 to $99 are available in person, by phone 416.368.3110, or online by clicking here!

The cosmonaut’s last message to the woman he once loved in the former Soviet Union
Bluma Appel Theatre
(27 Front St. E),
April 16 to May 14, 2011
Written by: David Greig
Directed by: Jennifer Tarver
Assistant Director: Birgit Schreyer Duarte
Set and Costume Designer: Julie Fox
Dialect Designer and Coach: Eric Armstrong
Lighting Designer: Robert Thomson
Production Designer: Jeremy Mimnagh
Movement Consultant: Susanna Hood
Stage Manager: Nancy Dryden
Assistant Stage Manager: Sandy Plunkett
Starring Tom Barnett, Raoul Bhaneja, Fiona Byrne, David Jansen, Tony Nappo, Sarah Wilson

Preview: The Situationists

Playing at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is the new Sky Gilbert piece, The Situationists.

Show Description:

A male professor and his female student debate about how to create a truly revolutionary act. They are joined by a young male radical who declares that sex is the only way to provoke real societal change. As the threesome attempts to instigate radical situations, they find themselves embroiled in one. Have they succeeded in their cause?

Provocateur extraordinaire, Sky Gilbert, finds inspiration for his latest work in the ideas of the Situationist International, the infamous political and artistic movement which tore France apart in 1950s and 1960s.

Please click here for more info and tickets.

Buddies in Bad Times Theatre proudly welcomes
A Cabaret Company production
The Situationists
Written and Directed by Sky Gilbert
Starring Gavin Crawford, Haley McGee and Gil Garratt
Set Design by Andy Moro
Costumes by Sheree Tams
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre,
12 Alexander Street, Toronto
Runs until Sunday, April 24, 2010
Wednesday – Saturday at 8 pm, Sunday at 2:30pm (P.W.Y.C).
Tickets are $16.00 – $27.00
Can be purchased in person at the Buddies in Bad Times Theatre box office

Preview: SPIN

Photo by: Tanja-Tiziana

Opening this week is a show that Liza and I have been desperately waiting for all winter! We saw Evalyn Parry perform in the fall at an appreciation gathering for Kyle Rae. We instantly knew we liked her and both of us couldn't wait to see her again. Her show SPIN opens this week at Buddies and we have heard nothing by glowing things about it.

Show Description:
Through a series of songs played live on a vintage bicycle, SPIN recounts a theatrical cycle of stories about bikes, women and liberation. Inspired by the incredible true tale of Annie Londonderry, the first woman to ride around the world on a bicycle in 1894, SPIN blends theatre, music and technology in a unique tribute to the bicycle as muse, musical instrument and agent of social change.

Written and performed by critically-acclaimed actor, singer and songwriter, Evalyn Parry (Breakfast, Clean Irene & Dirty Maxine), SPIN features Parry’s unique talents as vocalist and raconteur. Parry’s outspoken, personal and political performances are inspired by a powerful vision of social activism. Called “equally funny and dangerous” by CBC Radio, her irreverent wit holds nothing sacred.

For tickets and more info click here!

For more info on Evalyn Parry please click here!

Buddies in Bad Times Theatre
in association with OutSpoke Productions presents

SPIN
Written and Performed by Evalyn Parry
Directed by Ruth Madoc-Jones
Musicians Anna Friz and Brad Hart
Production Design Beth Kates
And Starring The Bicycle

March 15 – 27, 2011
Wed-Sunday at 8pm
$20
Buddies in Bad Times
12 Alexander Street
Toronto Ontario

The Boys in the Band

Playing this weekend at Buddies:



For info and tickets please click here!

Preview: Brothel #9

Opening tonight is the world premiere of Brothel #9, Presented by the Factory Theatre Company. The show is a powerful drama from playwright Anusree Roy, one of the most exciting new voices in Canadian theatre.

Show Description:

In Roy's powerful and riveting drama, Rekha, a young South Asian woman, travels from her village to Calcutta to take a job making light bulbs only to discover she has been sold into a brothel. There she grapples with her destiny and strives for freedom in the face of fear.

Brother #9
Written by Anusree Roy
Directed by Nigel Shawn Williams
Dramaturgy by Iris Turcott

Feb 26, 2011 - Mar 27, 2011
Factory Theatre, Mainstage
125 Bathurst Street, Toronto
Times: Tues-Sat at 8pm, Sun at 2pm, Sun PWYC
Cost: $15-$40. Sundays Pay What You Can ($28 in advance)

For more info and/or tickets please click here!

Preview: L'Orchestre d'Hommes-Orchestres Joue a Tom Waits

Opening this week at The Theatre Centre!

The Theatre Centre presents the multi-instrumentalists from Quebec L'Orchestre D'Hommes-Orchestres who will be performing their unique, carnivalesque tribute to Tom Waits. They perform with over 100 ordinary objects as instruments and bring an element of risk and unpredictability to every performance.

Check out this video below for a taste of how brilliant these performers are:



LISTING INFORMATION:
VENUE: The Theatre Centre, 1087 Queen Street West, Toronto, ON, M6J 1H3
TITLE: The Theatre Centre presents L’Orchestre d’Hommes-Orchestres performs Tom Waits
DATES & TIME: March 2 - 5, 2011, Wednesday – Saturday, 7:30pm
DESCRIPTION: Armed with nearly 100 objects as invented instruments, L’Orchestre d’Hommes-Orchestres perform – in madcap scenes of unbridled energy – a powerful tribute to the world of Tom Waits.
TICKETS: $25
BOX OFFICE: 416-538-0988
Tickets AND INFO: Click here!

Preview: Project Humanity's The Middle Place

EAP is very excited to be see Project Humanity's The Middle Place tonight. We have heard nothing but wonderful things about the show and we are really intrigued by its subject matter and staging choices.

Show Description:

In 2007, a young, white, middleclass playwright ventured into one of Toronto’s roughest neighbourhoods with a video camera to interview youth about life in a shelter. The result is The Middle Place, a touching and brutally real examination of the aspirations, frustrations and bravery of these homeless youth. Without sentimentality or condescension, this docu-drama explores the heart-wrenching lives of its subjects through their own words. Five actors bring to the stage the extraordinary voices of sixteen homeless youth, three tireless caseworkers and one outsider in this disquieting yet humorous and hopeful play.

For tickets please click here!

Project Humanity's The Middle Place
Berkeley Street Theatre
February 14 to March 12
Written by Andrew Kushnir
Transcribed by Andrew Kushnir and Catherine Murray
Directed by Alan Dilworth
Performed by Akosua Amo Adem, Antonio Cayonne, Jessica Greenberg, Andrew Kushnir and Kevin Walker

Preview: Mojo

Opening to strong review in NOW is this small little gem called, Mojo. This is said to be a dark and gritty comedy that looks at the harsh, backrooms of the British rock scene in the 1950s.

Now Toronto says that "the action centres on five low-life club employees who find their boss brutally murdered in a turf war. As the angry, paranoid group – all hopped up on pills, booze, greed and fear – try to figure out what happened and plot their next move, intense physical and psychological competition unfolds between them" (nowtoronto.com).

It sounds like an interesting piece of theatre and Now gave it a very strong review so we thought it was worth discussing on the blog. It is important to support smaller works so check this out if you can!

We suggest emailing torontomojo@gmail.com if you have any questions.


MOJO
By Jez Butterworth (Red One Theatre)
At Ezra’s Atlantic (326 Carlaw, unit 122, meet at Lola Bar, 1173 Dundas East)
To December 19
$20

Preview: Studies in Motion

Andrew Wheeler
Photo Credit: Tim Matheson

"The ground-breaking Vancouver-based Electric Company Theatre presents a physically and visually explosive multimedia spectacle inspired by the life, work and ghosts of the father of modern cinema. In 1885, Eadweard Muybridge sets out to catalogue animal movement and human gestures, but he is haunted by the ghosts of his past and the rational scientist that he has attempted to become must face the naked animal that remains inside him. This spellbinding profile of the man who froze time explores themes of memory, identity, and the quest for meaning". (canadianstage.com)

We are really excited about Studies in Motion at Canadian Stage. Muybridge was such an influential figure from the early cinematic years and the juxtapositioning and intergration of medias to reveal his life seems like the perfect way to explore such an fascinating subject matter.

For tickets click here!

Studies in Motion
Bluma Appel Theatre
27 Front Street East

Director: Kim Collier
Written by Kevin Kerr
Choreographed by Crystal Pite
Costume Design: Mara Gottler
Composer: Patrick Pennefather
Original Set, Lighting & Video Design by Robert Gardiner
Lighting Adapted by Adrian Muir
Stage Manager: Jan Hodgson
Assistant Stage Manager: Jennifer Swan