The Plays, Panels and Workshops
Small World Music Centre
Artscape Youngplace- Studio 101
180 Shaw St Toronto
Grapeland
by Claire Ross Dunn^
When small-town Daffodil slips on a cow patty and bonks her head, she starts to see Elvis, much to cosmopolitan Ivy’s consternation, who has big-city plans that don’t include her dotty sister, rural Ontario, Elvis, or cow patties. Grapeland is about the need for big problems – whether they be familial, romantic, or concerning the precariousness of rural life – to be solved with equally big leaps of faith. And hopefully those leaps are nowhere near a cow patty.
Dramaturged by: Beverley Cooper
Monkey Wrench
by Shelley M. Hobbs^
Vic and their ne’er-do-well cousin Dawn embark on a mission to rescue Vic’s Mom from Vic’s abusive Dad. Aided and abetted by the town's fiercest ladies, the cousins' efforts culminate in a confrontation at the family farm involving fabric, feral pigs, and metal Creatures of Doom.
Dramaturged by: Marcia Johnson
Directed by: Chantal Forde
With: Gina Clayton*, Deborah Drakeford*, Marcia Johnson*, Daniel Karasik*, Kate Werneburg*,
Running time: Approx. 65 min
Contains discussion of an abusive relationship and some coarse language.
Recommended for audiences ages 14 and up.
Duecentomila
by Kai Taddei^
Seventeen-year old Kat has just decided to become a Satanist. Meanwhile, her cousin Eli is trying to find a way to come out as transgender to his strictly Roman Catholic Italian family. When Kat's attempts at ally-ship land Eli in serious trouble, both cousins are left to ask: how do we juggle multiple conflicting identities? Is it even possible?
Directed and Dramaturged by: Paula Wing*
With: Aisha Evelyna, April Leung, River Oliveira, Elia Pappas
Running time: Approx. 90 min
Recommended for audiences ages 14 and up.
Panel: Theatre School 101: Renovation/Reinvention
Training Our Industry for 2020 and Beyond
Moderator: Tanisha Taitt
Panelists: Gabriella Albino, Marie Beath Badian, Marcia Johnson, Emerjade Simms, athena kaitlin trinh, Paula Wing
HOW I BECAME A TRAMP
BY Vicki Zhang^
Cuicui, a young woman born into Confucius' hometown, contends with traditional womanhood. With lofty career aspirations, she strives for success until an arranged marriage and a philanderer send her into a downward spiral.
Dramaturged by : Marcia Johnson
Directed by: Susan A. Lock*
With: Shiong En Chan*, Shuyi Jia, Stephanie Jung*, Nam Nguyen, Richard Tse*
Running time: Approx. 85 min
Recommended for audiences ages 14 and up.
Mighty
by Kit Mckeown
“1916. Hot, dry Tennessee. My name is Mary and I am accused of murder.
I am an elephant.”
Mary has grown up in the circus and always loved performing. When an incident during a parade lands her chained up next to the county jail, she must reconsider her understanding of herself and all she knows. Mighty is a one-woman show based on a true story about power, loss, memory, and rage.
Dramaturged by: Beverley Cooper
Directed by: Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster*
With: Catherine Fitch*
Running time: Approx. 65 min
LectureD Demonstration: Introduction to Intimacy Training by Siobhan Richardson
Siobhan Richardson is an Intimacy Director and co-founder of Intimacy Directors International. She is currently the only person in Canada recognized as an Intimacy Director by Tonia Sina, founder of the Intimacy For The Stage method. Siobhan has built an impressive resume in this field, including several directing, choreography, and teaching credits across Canada, Europe, and the United States. Siobhan is also an actor, fighter, singer, dancer, and a fight director/stage combat instructor through FDC.
GASH
by Caitie Graham^
Cata wakes up with an angry tattoo on her leg. When the memory of everyone involved is clouded by drinking, denial, or desire, whose version of the truth is Cata supposed to believe? GASH is a fierce exploration of a young girl's sexuality, an act of violence that devastates a friendship, and the question; can truth be subjective?
Dramaturged by: Elyne Quan
Directed by: Lisa Karen Cox*
With: athena kaitlin trinh, JD Leslie, Tony Ofori*
Running time: Approx. 65 min
This play examines the nature of sexual consent and boundaries. The language used, and the events described, reflect the mature subject matter it explores.
GASH is intended for audiences ages 14 and up.
PANEL: The Business of PLaywriting and how to talk about your work
Moderator: Joanna Falck, Literary Manager at Tarragon Theatre
Panelists: Rebecca Burton, Membership & Professional Contracts Manager at Playwrights Guild of Canada, Matt McGeachy, Company Dramaturg at Factory Theatre, Myekah Payne, Company Dramaturg at Obsidian
Geologic Formations
by mia susan amir^
Melding intimate personal narrative, cognitive neuroscience, documentary research, and the absurd, Geologic Formations is a transdisciplinary performance work exploring the present-unseen.
When Bricks finds photos in her Saba’s album documenting Jewish life in Białystok, Poland, following the defeat of the Nazis, she undertakes a journey that crosses and collapses time and geography, to talk to ghosts, to decode what shapes our perceptions, uncovering the way socio-political events haunt and shape the individual and collective body.
Historically inspired, Geologic Formations is a response to the contemporary rise of fascism.
Directed and Dramaturged by: Anita La Selva*
With: Kate Gordon*, Lilia Leon, Jajube Mandiela, Julie Tepperman*, Erica May Wood*
Running time: Approx. 50 minutes
Between a Wok and a Hot Pot
by Amanda Lin
Bubble tea. Kimchi. Hot pot. It’s cool to be Asian right now. While serving a hot pot dinner to her audience, Amanda reminisces on when it wasn’t so cool to be Asian, and delves into the complicated topic of identity and cultural appropriation in food and art.
Dramaturged by: Elyne Quan
Directed by: Marjorie Chan*
With: Amanda Lin and Kenzie Tsang
Workshopped with April Leung
Running time: Approx. 65 min
Contains some coarse language.