Coming to Toronto Fringe 2009: Circus

Cabbage Under Heavy Fire
presents
Circus

“You shouldn’t go down to the circus at night”

The Circus is coming to the Toronto Fringe! So don’t run away, you can join it right here, tonight. See what happens when a town is captivated by this new arrival and follow the journey of a young boy seeing it all for the very first time. Will the young boy let his excitement carry him away? Will the ominous warnings of his blind mother be heeded and will she survive? Will the ringmaster’s true intentions ever be explained?

Sebastian Kroon brings his one man carnival and circus show to town. Featuring a young outcast, his mother and the ringmaster, ‘Circus’ takes the audience on a journey into the minds of three individuals that understand the same truth, but can’t speak the same language. Taking the town into the macabre, mysterious and malicious, ‘Circus’ shows us the dark side of ‘carnies’ and the struggle to understand personal existence.

Sebastian Kroon is an actor, playwright, musician, who grew up on a farm in Alberta.
He studied acting at Red Deer College and attended Studio 58 where he received the Gertrude Langridge scholarship. He currently resides in Vancouver, BC.

Come see Circus performing July 3rd – 11th at the Factory Studio 125 Bathurst St. during the Toronto Fringe Festival.

Friday        3rd     11:15pm
Saturday    4th     7:45pm
Monday     6th     7:00pm
Wednesday    8th     12:30pm
Thursday     9th     9:30pm
Friday         10th     2:00pm
Saturday     11th     3:30pm

For tickets and further information visit http://www.fringetoronto.com/

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Company History
Cabbage Under Heavy Fire began in the summer of 2002 when Sebastian Kroon took over his parents dining room for a week and wrote his first play, TLC. Since then CUHF has acted mainly as a developmental platform for emerging artists: producing a number of short works by Kroon, as well as other new plays and existing works directed by Kroon. In 2004 the company moved its headquarters to Vancouver, BC where it remains today. Most recently CUHF has been branching into the realm of private acting coaching, with students landing roles in theatres around Vancouver. Circus marks the first full-length production for CUHF with many exciting new projects for the fall including: the workshops of Leviathan, and The Hanging Show, and continued development of Pan, My Dad is Superman, and Solomon Under the Bridge.

For more information email Sebastian Kroon:
cabbageunderheavyfire@hotmail.com

Director/Stage Manager Bio
Christina Kozak is a multidisciplinary artist. In her spare time, works in a variety of mediums including photography, film, theatre, sculpture and textile. She has also co-founder (co-creator) a new multi art experimental company called Garage Collective, celebrating its first summer!  Her most recent productions include assistant directing and video work for ‘Throw Like a Girl’ by the Garage Collective. Assistant director for ’36 View’ with The Actors Repertory Company. Directing ‘Foul Murder’ for the Fringe Festival. She also is the producer and festival co-ordinator for Voices Forward Festival, which will be joining forces with Planet in Focus and the Diaspora festivals this year, and she is the assistant to the programmers for the Toronto Jewish Film Festival, which just celebrated its 18th year.

Actor Bio
Sebastian Kroon is from a farm outside of Standard, Alberta but after graduating from Studio 58 some years ago, now lives in Vancouver. He toured all over Canada as an actor doing everything from children’s theatre to Shakespeare and as a bass player in the punk rock disaster Ribby McFly. Most recently he appeared as an operator in Skydive at the National Arts Centre for the Magnetic North Theatre Festival, and as a featured actor in the world premier of John Murphy’s True Story which one reviewer called “so brilliant that it shines a whole new light on theatre”. Sebastian’s yet unpublished plays have been described by critics as “pure theatre” and “true genius.” This is his first trip to the Toronto Fringe, but he’s hoping to make a habit out of it.

Show Synopsis
Circus is a trip down memory lane. The memory of a young outcast suffering from gaps in his lane. When the circus comes to town he just has to go and the flashbacks start. We meet his mother, we think, who speaks only in rhyme and warns him of the dangers of the circus. We meet the ringmaster of the circus who is constantly dissuading the boy from entering the main attraction.  Why shouldn’t he go to the circus?  What are his mother and the ringmaster trying to keep from the boy?

As a town becomes more and more obsessed with the Circus, the boy becomes more and more drawn into the mysteriously macabre world, failing to notice the ominous warnings of those around him. As his journey continues we see three individuals that understand the same truth, but can’t speak the same language and  how this journey helps the boy.