From Press Release

Theatre Passe Muraille
2013/14 Season Announcement

On Monday April 8th, Artistic Director Andy McKim announced Theatre Passe Muraille’s 2013/14 season at the company’s annual fundraising gala event. The season presents a balanced approach of fresh new voices (Rob Kempson, Rosamund Small, Mitchell Cushman) and established theatrical  powerhouses (Louise Pitre, George F. Walker, Linda Griffiths). It also features more than a dash of song and dance.

TPM has always valued a variety of artistic voices and forms. Richard Ouzounian of the Toronto Star said, “Under Andy McKim, Theatre Passe Muraille has become the most totally eclectic theatres in town, offering a home to every kind of work imaginable…it makes for an explosion of joy like nowhere else.” This year the company has gone all out, presenting a new musical, a cabaret, an off-site production, a remount, a new comic drama, a youth theatre production, and a new play with both dance and music. All this in a way that is uniquely TPM.

Moss Park is written by George F. Walker and will be co-produced with Vancouver’s leading company for young audiences, Green Thumb Theatre. Moss Park has all of Walker’s edgy and unflinching dialogue; set in a world where young people are struggling to survive in today’s cruel financial climate. McKim, asked Louise Pitre to go beyond a conventional cabaret to create On The Rocks, a show that looks into her own soul; unbound by the confines of someone else’s script. McKim is also thrilled to welcome back Anita Majumdar in a production that pairs Bollywood dancing with an indictment of shadism in the industry. Same, Same But Different will be dynamic and sexy, while questioning social standards; a great TPM combination.

The company is also looking back and looking forward. Returning to the stage is Pamela Sinha’s Crash, winner of four Dora Mavor Moore Awards. TPM is staging this remount before its cross Canada tour this fall. TPM, welcomes new voice Rob Kempson for his first fully staged musical, The Way Back to Thursday. The long awaited Heaven Above, Heaven Below by Linda Griffiths, which was postponed last year due to her struggle with cancer will now come to light. And finally —it wouldn’t be Theatre Passe Muraille without a site-specific show— Vitals by Rosamund Small, an in association production with Artist in Residence Mitchell Cushman and his award winning company Outside the March. Vitals will take our audiences on a journey “beyond our walls” into the  world of our city’s EMS workers.

For McKim, this season highlights the diverse range of artists at TPM. “I have the joy of working everyday with extraordinary artists. This upcoming season is no exception, as we will showcase everyone from mature artists confident in their craft to emerging artists busting out with the power of a fresh voice. I am excited about the many artistic viewpoints and styles that we have marshaled for our community.”

Theatre Passe Muraille 2013/14 Season
 
On The Rocks
September 25 – 28
Presented by Theatre Passe Muraille
Written and conceived by Louise Pitre
All original songs written by W. Joseph Matheson, Louise Pitre and Diane Leah
Starring Louise Pitre with W. Joseph Matheson and Diane Leah

The grand lady of Canadian musical theatre bares all! Louise Pitre has created a new, disarmingly personal account of a little French-Canadian girl’s journey through the many stages of heartbreak. From Jimmy Webb to David Bowie to Jacques Brel to Harold Arlen, this is a mixed cocktail of raw emotion.

Then, hear the story through her own words. Louise is joined by her writing/composing partners, to present a cycle of original works – more personal, more revealing than someone else’s songs could ever be. Cheers: one to drown the sorrow, one to toast tomorrows.

Crash
September 26 – October 19
By Pamela Mala Sinha
Directed by Alan Dilworth
Lighting and Set Design by Kimberly Purtell
Video Design by Cameron Davies
Sound Design by Debashis Sinha
Starring Pamela Mala Sinha

After the loss of a loved one, a woman must face the shattering memories of a past trauma. Crash is the fractured unraveling of memory; blending projections, myth, and dance into a riveting narrative about family, faith and love. “Can’t remember isn’t the same as forget. Forget is, don’t want to remember. Can’t remember is, don’t want to forget.”

Theatre Passe Muraille is thrilled to remount Pamela Sinha’s tour de force solo show, with six nominations and four Dora Mavor Moore Awards including Outstanding New Play and Performance by a Female in a Principal Role.

Moss Park
October 31 – November 16
Green Thumb Theatre and Theatre Passe Muraille
By George F. Walker
Directed by Patrick McDonald

Bobby and Tina are back with baby in tow, and their struggles to make ends meet continue. A fast-paced dark comedy, Moss Park is an intimate look at two young people as they confront an uncertain future.

In this follow up to Tough!, celebrated Canadian playwright George F. Walker takes Bobby and Tina on a journey as they try to map a life that doesn’t include poverty.

Heaven Above, Heaven Below
November 14 – December 7
Theatre Passe Muraille in association with Duchess Productions
By Linda Griffiths
Directed by Karen Hines
Starring Linda Griffiths and Layne Coleman

Twenty years after dealing with an unplanned pregnancy, a couple run into each other at the wedding of a mutual friend. Her boyfriend couldn’t make it. His wife and young son are in bed. They meet in her room. There is wine, then scotch, then weed, then coke, then sex.

Linda Griffiths’ told the first half of the story in her play The Darling Family, which shocked and moved Theatre Passe Muraille audiences in 1991. If The Darling Family was last rites, Heaven Above Heaven Below is the wake.

The Way Back to Thursday
January 16 – February 8
By Rob Kempson
Directed by: Briana Brown
Orchestrations & Musical Direction by: Scott Christian
Starring Rob Kempson and Astrid Van Wieren

Inspired by the traditional song cycle form, The Way Back to Thursday is a musical about unconditional love that crosses generations, genders, and lifetimes.

Cameron and his Grandmother have a special tradition – movie nights every Thursday. Together they escape into the glamour and romance of the Golden Age of film. But as Cameron grows, so does the distance between them.

Same Same, But Different
February 14 – March 8
Theatre Passe Muraille and Alberta Theatre Projects In Association with Nightswimming
By Anita Majumdar
Directed by Brian Quirt
Starring Anita Majumdar and Anthony Malarky

Infused with the rhythm and passion of Bollywood music and dance, Same Same, But Different is comprised of two intersecting stories that take you behind the scenes of Indian cinema.

In the first story, Canadian-born Bollywood starlet Aisha confronts her own prejudices about nationality, skin colour and family – and realises that her dreams of stardom won’t come without sacrifice. The second explores the story of Aisha’s mother, Kabira, and her own life-changing encounter with the world of Bollywood.

Vitals
April 29 – May 18
Outside the March in association with Theatre Passe Muraille
By Rosamund Small
Directed by Mitchell Cushman
Starring Katherine Cullen

Anna’s daily routine is life, death, bureaucracy. Every call she receives is an emergency. How much trouble is our city in?

One of Toronto’s leading independent theatre companies Outside the March (Terminus, Mr. Marmalade, Passion Play) teams up with playwright Rosamund Small, who burst onto the scene last year with her verbatim look at Occupy Toronto. In the past, OtM has invited audiences into kindergarten classrooms, amidst underground hacker spaces and to sit onstage at The Royal Alex. Now we’re sending you out into Toronto on an EMS emergency call, with this brand new site-specific  experience.

Ticket Information:
Season subscriptions on sale
416-504-7529 or visit www.artsboxoffice.ca