Final chance to see STOCKHOLM

British playwright Bryony Lavery's 2007 play Stockholm has only a few more performances at the Tarragon Extra Space. The piece comes from Nightwood Theatre and is directed by Kelly Straughan and stars Melissa-Jane Shaw and Ryan Hollyman. The show, which has been garnering stellar reviews, tells the story of Todd and Kali, a couple who seem perfect on the surface but have a powerful distrust and desire underneath. Author of more than twenty plays in the past thirty-five years, Lavery is known for her work's underlying feminist themes and heafty women's roles. Her 1998 hit Frozen was nominated for the Tony for Best Play, and 1992's Her Aching Heart was acclaimed by the queer community. For more info or to purchase tickets please click here!! And an FYI - this Saturday matinees is Pay What You Can!!!

Preview: Toronto Festival of Clowns

Toronto, ON (March 07, 2012) – The freaks are back to take over Toronto and this time it’s an international invasion. For four days only, some of the world’s top clowns, bouffons and physical theatre performers will be unleashed in Toronto for the seventh annual Toronto Festival of Clowns.

The festival, running from May 31 to June 3^rd, 2012 is filled with imaginative, outlandish, peculiar and hilarious shows.  All performances will take place in Toronto’s Pia Bouman Studio Theatre in the heart of Queen West’s Arts District.

This year, the Toronto Festival of Clowns goes international, with the premiere of a bouffon play by Master Clown Teacher Philippe Gaulier, directed by his son Balthazar.

Over 100 performers will shock and delight audiences in both full length productions and cabaret performances, including:

La Gnole de Tante Christine est Imbuvable (Aunt Aggie’s Gut Rot is Undrinkable) – Paris
Jayne Walling and Julie Maingonnat star in the modern bouffon play by world-renowned artist, Philippe Gaulier. This is the story of two women trying to have a baby, despite one being infertile and the other a virgin. Directed by Balthazar Gaulier, this work is performed in French with English surtitles.

Fools For Love - Edmonton
A romantic comedy in red-nose starring Edmonton-based performers Christine Lesiak and Adam Keefe and directed by Jan Henderson. Rocket and Sheshells are best friends on a hilarious roller-coaster ride that will plummet straight into your heart.

Bleed - Toronto
Today, something about Norman is off. Today, he didn’t go to work. Today, he stayed home. Now he is beginning to bleed. A hit at this year’s Rhubarb Festival and starring Phil Luzi, Bleed is directed by the festival’s Artistic Director Adam Lazarus.

Yorkville Bitches take on afFORDability - Toronto
Rob Ford is dead and the Yorkville Bitches (Suzanne Roberts Smith, Jamie Ebbs and Jesse Stanley) welcome you to his celebration of Life. This socialite trio intends to festoon the funeral proceedings with their own personal flavour and turn the memoriam into the see and be “scene” event of 2012!

Saucisse: A Foo Musical - Toronto
Foo, one of Toronto’s most beloved clowns, returns to this year’s festival in her own full-length show. Foo, a skeptical, nomadic peddler strikes an unlikely friendship with Saucisse, a new-age vegetarian pig. Directed by Susanna Hamnett and starring Helen Donnelly.

Each night of the festival features a hugely popular cabaret that brings together some of the most exciting performers in the clowning world. In true festival tradition, the Red Nose District will kick off the weekend with the beloved clown duo Morro and Jasp. Friday night, the freaks and outcasts take the stage for a satirical Night of Bouffon and Saturday night features the only west end performance of the exceptionally popular, one-of-a-kind Lunacy Cabaret – where anything and everything can and does happen.

The Festival closes with a Student Soiree that will feature the best work to come out of recent physical theatre workshops across the country and the presentation of the third annual Mark Purvis Bursary that funds a student’s future study in physical performance.

Founded in 2006, the Toronto Festival of Clowns provides new and established clowns and physical performers the opportunity to create and showcase their work. Producers Adam Lazarus and Dave McKay aim to create awareness of the various forms of physical theatre under the umbrella of “clown”, such as red-nose, mime, bouffon, busking, movement, slapstick, commedia del arte, vaudeville, mask and character work.

Past participants of this powerhouse festival of physical theatre include John Turner of Mump and Smoot, David S. Craig, Christel Bartelse, Rachelle Elie, Leah Cherniak, Rick Roberts, The Red Bastard, Fiona Griffiths, Michelle Smith and Dean Gilmour, Ginette Mohr, Anand Rajaram, Edwige Jean-Pierre, Keystone Theatre, Ravi Jain, Adam Paolozza, Sue Morrison and Melissa D’Agostino.

Toronto Festival of Clowns
Scotiabank Studio Theatre at Pia Bouman School
6 Noble Street

May 31st – June 3rd, 2012
Tickets: All full-length shows and cabarets are $10 each

Tickets are available at the door

For more information please visit www.torontofestivalofclowns.com

Next Stage Deadline Extended to Friday

Hello All Theatre Lovers & Makers

We have some exciting news…The 6th annual Next Stage Theatre Festival (NSTF) has extended its application date to Friday, May 25th at 5:00pm!!!

 The Next Stage Theatre Festival is now in its 6th year and was created to encourage artists who have participated in Canadian Association of Fringe Festival (CAFF) member festivals to move beyond the summer production model and showcase their work to a wider audience, including discerning artistic decision makers who could be interested in programming their shows on main stages across the country.  In five years, we have seen incredible success – audiences have grown by more than 130% and more than a third of our productions have gone on to other stages.

NSTF is interested in projects from emerging and established artists from any genre and style who are developing new work and exploring new artistic avenues, and who are challenging traditional definitions of theatre.  Please note we are accepting applications this year for our Ante-Chamber series, performed in the Factory Theatre bar space – these shows should be low-tech and appropriate for a bar venue.
 If you are interested in applying please click here for rules, regulations and application.

HATCH 2013 Applications Available Now

Harbourfront Centre Invitation for Artist Proposals

HATCH 2013 - Where New Performance Begins

Deadline for Proposals: June 20, 2012 @ 6:00 pm

TORONTO, ON (May 23, 2012) – Harbourfront Centre is pleased to announce an open call for proposals from Toronto-area artists and companies working in the field of performance for the HATCH 2013 season, guest curated by Trevor Schwellnus.

HATCH is designed to incubate and foster invention and innovation in the local performance community. Entering its ninth year, this programme has become an important element in the milieu of local performance development. Past HATCH projects include Hannah Moscovitch’s The Russian Play, Jess Dobkin’s Everything I’ve Got and Maggie MacDonald and Stephanie Markowitz’s Paper Laced With Gold.

HATCH is a key initiative in Harbourfront Centre’s mission to develop local artists and their unique practices. The HATCH residency and mentorship programme provides resources and professional assistance to a new generation of engaging and innovative contemporary artists to reach the next stage in the development in their work and careers.

Harbourfront Centre invites projects from emerging creators as well as established artists engaging in new collaborations or entering into new artistic territory. We encourage performance proposals from artists working across all disciplines, including, but not limited to, dance, theatre, performance art, music, etc.

Companies and artists selected to participate in HATCH will receive a one-week residency in Harbourfront Centre’s Studio Theatre. HATCH is not about an opportunity for staging a fully finished piece but about using the week to develop a new or existing piece of work.
Use of the residency period is at the discretion of the artist and needs of the project (i.e.
workshop, rehearsals, performance, etc.) at least one presentation of the work for the public and/or invited audience.

HATCH is seeking proposals from professional performance creators from across the GTA at any stage in their career. Proposals should demonstrate a clear artistic mandate, for either a new project or entering the next phase of an ongoing project. HATCH is interested in artists/companies whose work is contemporary in nature and committed to the development of inventive and creative performance based art.

This year’s guest curator, Trevor Schwellness is a Toronto-based Stenographer, designing sets, lighting and video for performance with independent artists. He is Artistic Producer of Aluna Theatre and was Designer-in-Residence at the Theatre Centre. Schwellness has collaborated in theatre and dance and has been nominated for 11 Dora Mavor Awards, winning three of them, a Harold and a Children’s Choice Award. His most recent work was Ajax & Little Iliad by Frank Cox-O’Connell and Evan Webber at Harbourfront Centre’s World Stage.


Full criteria, qualification information and instructions for applicants can be found here.  Or by calling 416.973.4237.


Completed applications should be delivered in person, by mail or courier to:

HATCH Proposals
Tanya Carinci
Performing Arts, Harbourfront Centre
235 Queens Quay West
Toronto, ON M5J 2G8

Deadline: June 20, 2012 @ 6 pm

Listen Up: SummerWorks Launch Party

It's Tonight Opera Fans.

The young artists of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio take on the lead roles in
their own performance of George Frideric Handel’s Semele tonight, May 23, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.  This special performance is a valuable and exciting step in developing the next generation of Canadian opera stars as they take to the main-stage in this “scenically
stunning” (New York Times) production by famed Chinese visual and performance artist Zhang Huan.  All tickets are accessibly priced at only $22 or $55.

Under the direction of the same artistic team as the main stage cast, including conductor Rinaldo Alessandrini, director and set designer Zhang Huan and costume designer Han Feng, the artists of the
Ensemble Studio perform Semele with the full COC Orchestra and Chorus. Zhang’s Semele draws on parallels between Greco-Roman mythology and Chinese legends, as well as Buddhist concepts of karma and reincarnation, to create a true interaction of Eastern and Western cultures. The production’s centerpiece is a 450-year-old Ming Dynasty ancestral temple salvaged by Zhang from a small town in China, and used to tell this operatic tale of a love affair between the god Jupiter and the mortal princess Semele.

The title role of the flighty, narcissistic and naïve Semele is shared by two rising young sopranos: Mireille Asselin and Ambur Braid. (We've had the pleasure of seeing Ms. Braid at OperaNation, and can say firsthand that she is fantastic.) Commanding the stage as Jupiter is tenor Christopher Enns, and mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb brings her vivacity and passion to the roles of Jupiter’s jealous wife, Juno, and Semele’s sister, Ino.  Cast as Juno’s messenger, Iris, is soprano Jacqueline Woodley.  Bass-baritone Philippe Slydemonstrates his dramatic and musical versatility in the roles of Cadmus, Semele’s father, and Somnus, the god of sleep. Rounding out the cast is guest artist Ryan Belongie, who sings Semele’s jilted suitor, Athamas.

The Real World?

It has been playing for a few weeks now and not only did it open to strong reviews, it also has the the incredible Meg Tilly as a starring cast member. Something to maybe check out over the long weekend? For tickets please click here.

Show Description:

Should or can playwrights truly "write what they know"? If they use their family members as characters in a play, whose play is it? Whose truth is it? And what happens when those family members stand up to their artist son and object to their theatrical selves? The Real World? remains a groundbreaking play about art, autobiography and authority.

Michel Tremblay has been a dominant figure in Québec theatre since the late 1960s; his plays have been performed around the world. Tarragon was the home for many of his English-language premieres, including Hosanna, Les Belles-Soeurs and Albertine in Five Times, and has produced 13 of his plays. Tarragon is reviving this Canadian classic nearly 25 years after it premiered in English on our stage. A PLAY IN ONE ACT. THERE WILL BE NO INTERMISSION.


The Real World?
By Michel Tremblay
Translated by John Van Burek and Bill Glassco
Directed by Richard Rose
REVIVAL
Starring:  Matthew Edison, Cara Gee, Sophie Goulet, Tony Nappo, Cliff Saunders, Jane Spidell and  Meg Tilly