Tarragon Double Bill: Little One & Other People's Children

Opening this week at Tarragon is a double bill of mighty weight from predominant Canadian playwright Hannah Moscovitch. Hannah Moscovitch is one of the most prolific playwrights of her generation and considered one of the strongest voices in the country. Her Governor General-nominated East of Berlin premiered at Tarragon to great acclaim, and toured successfully for two seasons. This prodigious young talent’s most recent play, The Children’s Republic, premiered at Tarragon in 2011 rave reviews. Here are the two pieces that have just begun previews; check out the previews below and for tickets CLICK HERE: 

Show Descriptions: 

Little One

by Hannah Moscovitch
directed by Natasha Mytnowych

PREMIERE | IN CO-PRODUCTION WITH THEATRE CRISIS

Two adopted siblings grow up together in affluent Ottawa. Claire and Aaron love each other with all their hearts. But for some people, loving and destroying are the same thing. A new production of this stylish thriller, reworked since making a splash at SummerWorks 2011.

                                   

Other People’s Children

by Hannah Moscovitch
directed by Paul Lampert

PREMIERE | IN CO-PRODUCTION WITH THEATRE PANIK

When Ilana returns to work, she and her husband Ben hire a live-in nanny to care for their young daughter. At first, Ilana is touched by how well her daughter takes to Sati, but the strength of their bond quickly becomes alarming.

Preview: A Brimful of Asha

Returning to The Extra Space at Tarragon is a season highlight from last year, A Brimful of Asha. We haven't seen the piece yet but we have heard through the community that performances are strong and the humour plentiful. Check below for details or click here for tickets:

Show Description/Press Release:

This acclaimed (and very Canadian) laugh-out-loud true story returns after a sold-out extended run this past season. Real-life mother and son, Asha and Ravi Jain, tell the tale of how Ravi’s parents planned a surprise trip to India to intercept him on his vacation and arrange his marriage. Ravi resents the intrusion but, as far as his parents are concerned, it’s time for him to get a wife.

The title A Brimful of Asha comes from a song written by British alternative rock band Cornershop (www.cornershop.com) in 1997 and is based upon the history of film culture in India. Asha is my mother's name. In Hindi it means Hope. This play is about the challenges that arise out of the hope for happiness that you want for your parents (or for your kids).

A BRIMFUL OF ASHA

A Why Not Theatre Production

Written and performed by Ravi Jain and Asha Jain
Directed by Ravi Jain
Set Design by Julie Fox
Lighting and Video Design by Beth Kates (Playground Studios)
Production Manager Joey Morin
Interview Videos by Kate Fraser and Nabil Shash (Heartist Productions)

Weekend Theatre Picks

Looking for a show to see this weekend?  Well look no further than Tarragon Theatre's Miss Caledonia. A one woman show developed and performed by Melody A. Johnson, Miss Caledonia, was first seen at the 2010 Summerworks Festival where it was a critical hit.  This time around Ms. Johnson brings her much developed piece about small town life and 1950's pageantry, to Tarragon until November 22nd.  The show has been a hit with local critics and audiences.

Miss Caledonia  is the story of a small town girl with big time dreams.  Peggy Ann idealizes Debbie Reynolds, and wants to become a star too.  And just like her idol she dreams of being discovered while competing in beauty pageants.  A timely and well developed comedy Ms. Johnson soars in Miss Caledonia.  

Miss Caledonia  written and performed by Melody A. Johnson
musical accompaniment and original score by Alison Porter
and directed by Rick Roberts and Aaron Willis
Click here for ticket information and performance information.


Also this weekend at Soulpepper are two very different offerings.  Samuel Beckett's classic but bleak Endgames  and Alligator Pie  a family friendly and life affirming adaption of work by classic children's poet Dennis Lee.  Both shows opened at The Young Centre of Performing Arts last weekend and run for several weeks.  Click here for information for both shows.

Endgame - Directed by Daniel Brooks
Featuring Diego Matamoros, Eric Peterson, Maria Vacratsis and Joseph Ziegler

Alligator Pie - Poems by Dennis Lee
Created by and featuring Ins Choi, Raquel Duffy, Ken MacKenzie, Gregory Prest and Mike Ross

Preview: No Great Mischief at Tarragon

Opening last night at midtown's Tarragon Theatre...

Haunted by the stories and songs of their Scottish ancestry, two brothers seek to reconcile their past in this sweeping saga of familial loss and love. A bittersweet rumination on the ties that bind, this evocative memory play takes us from a squalid Kensington Market rooming house in Toronto to Cape Breton’s stormy shores and the deep mines of Elliot Lake.

No Great Mischief premiered at Tarragon Theatre in 2004 and subsequently was presented in Ottawa, Vancouver and Halifax.

No Great Mischief
by David S. Young
adapted from the novel by Alistair MacLeod
directed by Richard Rose

On until October 21st on the Mainstage
TARRAGON THEATRE
30 BRIDGMAN AVENUE

For more info please click here!

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!!!

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

Preview: Was Spring

Cylla von Tiedemann photo

One of our favourite playwrights Daniel MacIvor is premiering one of his pieces midtown at the Tarragon Theatre. The show runs until May 6 at the Tarragon Extra Space, 30 Bridgman Ave. For tickets or more info please click the header!

Show Description:

TORONTO PREMIERE

Three women clash over a tragic event in their past. Somewhere in the pain there is love, but when you've been betrayed by your own dreams and a lifetime's worth of guilt, can you still find it?

WAS SPRING
written and directed by Daniel MacIvor
set and lighting design by Kimberly Purtell
costume design by Shawn Kerwin
sound design by Verne Good
starring
Clare Coulter
Caroline Gillis
Jessica Moss

Preview: The Golden Dragon

The Golden Dragon  is on now until February 19th at Tarragon Theatre.  This one act play, is set at dinner at the bustling Golden Dragon restaurant. While diners enjoy their savoury meals the kitchen staff works frantically to hide an illegal young immigrant who is desperately searching for his lost sister.  Could the answer to his questions be just a few tables away?...

The Golden Dragon  is by Roland Schimmelpfennig
translated by David Tushingham
and directed by Ross Manson
set and costume design by Teresa Przybylski
lighting design by Thomas Ryder Payne
choreography by Heidi Strauss
assistant director Leora Morris
cast: David Fox, Lili Francks, Tony Nappo, Anusree Roy,  and David Yee

Roland Schimmelpfennig is a renowned playwright in Europe.  Originally from Germany, he received the Mulheim Dramatists Prize for The Golden Dragon.  This is the Canadian Premiere. Click here for ticket and showtime information.  The box office can be reached at 416.531.1827

Head to Tarragon for Play Reading Week

All this week at Tarragon Theatre are free readings, as part of the annual Play Reading Week. Readings are upstairs at 8pm nightly, except Sunday's reading which will take place at 2:30pm.

Tonight - Everyday Neurotics by Haley McGee. We first heard about Haley when she was reviewed here, for her play Oh My Irma. Tonight she is reading from her newest work. Should be fun! And did we mention it's FREE.

The line-up for the week can be found here. Or by clicking the header.

Preview: The Children's Republic

Opening this week at Tarragon is another piece from the scorching hot young Canadian Playwright Hanna Moscovitch. We are looking forward to seeing what Ms. Moscovitch delivers here.

Show Description:

Dr. Janusz Korczak, revolutionary champion of children and signatory to the League of Nations' Declaration of the Rights of the Child, meets his match in a defiant boy named Israel. When war threatens the children in Korczak's Warsaw orphanage, it is Israel who comes to the rescue. In the face of looming catastrophe, Israel gives his teacher the greatest gift of all: courage.

Hannah Moscovitch is currently playwright-in-residence at Tarragon. She is considered one of the strongest young voices in the country and was nominated for the prestigious international Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Her works include East of Berlin, Essay and The Russian Play.

For tickets or for more information please click the header!

The Children's Republic
By Hannah Moscovitch
Directed by Alisa Palmer
Starring Peter Hutt, Mark Correia, Elliot Larson, Kelli Fox, Amy Rutherford, Katie Frances Cohen, Emma Burke-Kleinman
A CO-PRODUCTION WITH
HAROLD GREEN JEWISH THEATRE COMPANY
November 8–December 18
30 Bridgman Avenue

Preview: The Sankofa Trilogy

Opening to VERY strong reviews at Tarragon in the Extra Space is The Sankofa Trilogy. The sankofa trilogy features three extraordinary stories of three powerful women—Mugdu Sankofa, her daughter Sekesu and her granddaughter Benu—and their resolute belief in blood and truth. One of North America's most celebrated storytellers, d’bi.young anitafrika is an award-winning afrikan-jamaican-canadian playwright, actor, educator and dub poet. d’bi.young weaves together pieces of her own life with the herstory and mythology of her Jamaican heritage. The performer describes her work as biomyth monodrama, where the term biomyth represents biography—pertaining to the accounting of one’s own lived experience—and mythology pertaining to the poetic reinterpretation of a lived experience, as well as the use of orature, folklore, myth and magic in the process of reinterpretation. “Biomyth is the poetic space between what we interpret as real and what we deem make-believe. It is magic making!” says d’bi.young.

d’bi.young will host an informal question and answer period after each of her performances.

the sankofa trilogy
written and performed by d'bi.young anitafrika

featuring word!sound!powah!
in repertory with blood.claat, and benu
TRILOGY PREMIERE
On until December 4th
For tickets or for more info please click the header!

Preview: Name in Vain

André Alexis' world premiere production Name in Vain opens tomorrow night at Tarragon Theatre. After several weeks of preview performances the show is set to open in the upstairs studio. Name in Vain is part of the Decalogue series being presented at Tarragon. This is the second production in the series. The Decalogue series is an exploration of morality as set down by the Ten Commandments (the Decalogue.)

Set in a monastery, Name in Vain is the story of an enraged monk who breaks his vow of silence to defy the second commandment. His outburst shocks the rest of the monks and throws the monastery into turmoil. Much of the play is silent placing a heavy reliance on physical expressions of emotion. Alexis' approach was to explore the force of words by limiting how the play would use them. It is a powerful look at the effect of words and the meaning behind them.

Name in Vain is part of Tarragon's ExtrExtra Space Series

Written by André Alexis

Directed by Richard Rose

Starring Eric Goulem, Walter Borden, Sergio Di Zio, Dean Gilmour, and Richard MacMillan.

October 19th - 30th 2011

Click the header for dates, times and ticket information.

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: Forests

A really exciting opening is taking place at midtown's Tarragon Theatre. The same writer who conceived the masterpieceIncendies, Wajdi Mouawad, has his 2006 piece Forests being produced.

Show Description:

When Aimée learns that she has an unusual brain tumour, she decides to risk her life to have her child, only to die when her daughter Loup is a teenager. Enraged and grief-stricken, Loup reluctantly begins a quest to discover the origin of her mother’s mysterious illness. In a story that spans six generations and two continents, Wajdi Mouawad demonstrates that the bonds of family are not merely biological and cannot be contained: they are borne of love, sacrifice and deep commitment, and endure beyond the death of any single member.

For tickets please click the header.


Forests

Written by Wajdi Mouawad
Translated by Linda Gaboriau
Directed by Richard Rose
Starring: Terry Tweed, RH Thomson, Jan Alexandra Smith, Liisa Repo-Martell, Alon Nashman, Brandon McGibbon, Sophie Goulet, David Fox, Vivien Endicott-Douglas, Matthew Edison, Dmitry Chepovetsky
Set and costume design by Karyn McCallum
Lighting design by Kimberly Purtell
Composition and sound design by Thomas Ryder Payne
Assistant director Sasha Kovacs
Apprentice stage manager Suzanne McArthur
photography by Cylla von Tiedemann
At the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto
Forests runs until May 29.

Preview: After Akhmatova

On stage now at Tarragon is After Akhmatova. This world premiere production was written by Cate Cayley and is being directed by Alan Dilworth. The story focuses on Alan, a young American academic who travel to the U.S.S.R to interview Lev Gumilyov. Alan thinks he knows all there is to know of Lev's late mother Anna.

Anna, was a poet who became famous for her love poem Requiem, an ode to her imprisoned son, and a dangerous condemnation of Stalin. But as Alan searches for information he becomes entangled in Lev's relationship with his mother, Requiem and its impossible legacy. He unravels a story of a mother's love, and public cry, and a son's betrayal.

Click the header for more ticket information. After Akhmatova runs until May 1st, at Tarragon.

Preview: More Fine Girls

Tarragon Theatre presents the World Premiere of More Fine Girl's. In this follow up to, The Attic, the Pearls & 3 Fine Girls, we find the three sisters ten years after the fight that drove them apart, coming together again. A tragedy has befallen them, forcing them back to one another in an attempt to rescue each other. Set in the basement this time, our three sister improvise their way through hardship to come together in the name of family.

The Attic ... garnered five Dora Award nominations, and was appreciated by audiences and critics alike. Be sure not to miss this charming and hilarious exploration of aging, sisterhood and loss. More Fine Girls runs through April 3rd. Click the header for more ticket information.

Preview: The Misanthrope

A new adapted version of the classic Molière work The Misanthrope is opening this week at Tarragon. In this interpretation; "Molière's fierce satire about personal and aesthetic integrity is set in today’s celebrity culture machine. Despite the Misanthrope’s biting critique of the film industry, he has fallen in love with a rising starlet. Torn between desire and unflinching morality, our contemporary anti-hero strikes out at hypocrisy in a world shamelessly built on it. Will love or misanthropy triumph?" (Tarragontheatre.com)

Sounds really interesting to us, we are checking the show out on Thursday and will let you know what we think!

The Misanthrope
By Molière
Tarragon Theatre
30 Bridgman Avenue Toronto
In a version by Martin Crimp
Directed by Richard Rose
Starring Patrick Galligan, Stephen Gartner, Michelle Giroux, Stuart Hughes, Brandon McGibbon, Julian Richings, Maria Ricossa,Andrea Runge and David Storch

For tickets or more information regarding The Misanthrope please click here.

The Year of Magical Thinking performance added

Due to an overwhelming demand for tickets Tarragon has decided to add another performance of The Year of Magical Thinking. The added performance will be on December 12th at 7pm.

The Year of Magical Thinking has been getting really strong reviews from all the mainstream press:

Click here to read the Toronto Star article.

Click here to read the Globe and Mail's article.

For tickets please click the header!

Preview: The Year of Magical Thinking

In this dramatic adaptation of Joan Didion’s award-winning memoir, a recent widow struggles with the sudden loss of her husband of forty years and their only child. Seana McKenna reprises her critically acclaimed performance.

The Globe and Mail loved this show, click here to read the article!

From The Belfry Theatre Company in Victoria, British Columbia
The Year of Magical Thinking
Written by Joan Didion
Directed by Michael Shamata
Starring Seana McKenna
At Tarragon Theatre
The Year of Magical Thinking runs in Toronto until Dec. 12

Click the header for tickets!

(Courtesies of Tarragontheatre.com)

Preview: Wide Awake Hearts

The world premiere of Wide Awake Hearts is taking place this week at the Tarragon Theatre. Written by Brendan Gall and directed by Gina Wilkinson Wide Awake Hearts tells the tale of a successful screenwriter and producer, A (Raoul Bhaneja) who casts his wife, B (Lesley Faulkner), and best friend, C (Gord Rand), as lovers in his newest feature film. When B and C's on-screen intimacy spills over into real life, things get complicated. A wonders if he wrote the relationship into existence or if it had been there all along.

Starring: Maev Beatty, Raoul Bhaneja, Lesley Faulkner, Gord Rand

Director: Gina Wilkinson
Set, Costume & Video Designer: Lorenzo Savoini
Lighting Designer: Bonnie Beecher
Sound Designer & Composer: Mike Ross
Stage Manager: Beatrice Campbell

Playing until December 12th.
Tarragon Extra Space

For tickets click here.