From Press Release

TARRARE’s real name and precise diagnosis remain a mystery but medical records and urban legend have given inspiration to Suspicious Moustache Theatre’s newest Fringe freak show about a man whose appetite and adventures are so fantastical one might almost disbelieve they are lifted from the history books. TARRARE’s insatiable appetite (including cats, stones, and corpses) stalks him from the streets to the sideshow, from the army to behind enemy lines, and finally, to the hospital.  An hour with TARRARE promises to be an astonishing story of love, hunger and shame that feeds our appetite for the extraordinary and grotesque.

“The weirdest thing at the Fringe” – Culture Vulture Victoria

After garnering much praise (“A nifty and nasty piece of work by some talented up’n’comers” – The Visitorium) and Pick-of-the-Fringe Best Family show (Victoria Fringe Festival 2011) for their earlier play, Struwwelpeter, Suspicious Moustache bring their latest Tim-Burton-esque world of weird to the Toronto Fringe Festival. TARRARE’s creative team includes director Darcy Stoop (Struwwelpeter, Suspicious Moustache; Scheherazade, Nobody’s Business; The Homemaker, Convection Productions), designer Cat Haywood (NOW magazine’s Outstanding design award for Life of Jude, SummerWorks 2013; nominated for Best Costume Design for Twelfth Night, Phoenix UVic) and playwright/actor Liam Volke(nominated for My Theatre Award for Best Actor for Bent, Hart House). Joining in the macabre madness are John Fray (nominated for My Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actor forTurtleneck, safeword), Scott Clarkson (The Tim Drum, UnSpun; We Are the Bomb, Brouhaha;The Making Of, Modern Underground), Kristoffer Pedlar (Prayers for the New World, Glasswater; Yellowface, Fu-Gen; Empire of the Magic Beansalks, Vampire Frog), and Cydney Penner (Goodnight Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet, Hart House; The Washing Machine, Red Betty; Antigone, Soup Can). Given this creative team’s track record of award-winning weird, you may find yourself like TARRARE – hungry for more!

Suspicious Moustache Theatre Company was founded in 2011 in Victoria, BC, by directorDarcy Stoop, designer Cat Haywood and playwright/actor Liam Volke. They create original plays which explore the dark and whimsical side of the human experience. The company relocated to Toronto in 2013.

From Press Release

The LACTORS’ Studio and the Toronto Fringe Festival present

From Press Release

Criminal Theatre in association with Aluna Theatre and the Toronto Fringe Festival Presents TRUE by Rosa Labordé

Directed by: Rosa Labordé

True is written and directed by award-winning playwright Rosa Labordé(Leo, Hush, Like Wolves) whose return to the Fringe as a playwright marks her first since her comedic hit Sugar. She was last seen as a director on the festival circuit with her acclaimed production of Sarah Ruhl’s Melancholy Play. True stars an exceptional ensemble of actors; Layne Coleman (Goodness, The Walls of Africa, Heaven Above, Heaven Below), Shannon Taylor (The Road To Mecca, The Jones Boy, Pride and Prejudice), Ingrid Doucet (Where’s my Money, Melancholy Play, The Happy Woman), Scott McCord (Jump, Hotel Loopy, Naked Hamilton, The Eleventh Hour) and a return to the stage for Sabrina Grdevich (Old Man’s Band, Hamlet, Slings and Arrows, Intelligence).

From Press Release

NYC-Based Shelby Company Makes International Debut With Award-Winning Real Dead Ghosts

Shelby Company is proud to announce the Canadian premiere of Real Dead Ghosts at the 2014 Toronto Fringe Festival. Graham and Amber are a young married couple who promise to spend their anniversary in a secluded cabin away from work, friends and other distractions. But disappointments, secrets and regrets bubble to the surface when they’re haunted by past choices and future responsibilities. A modern day ghost story. Unfinished business kind of shit.

Real Dead Ghosts is written by award-winning playwright Jonathan A. Goldberg (Sousepaw) and directed by Courtney Ulrich (White Hot). The cast features Lara Hillier (EXIT/ENTRANCE) and Nathaniel Kent (Trevor). The design team includes April Bartlett (scenic), Deanna Frieman (costumes), Kevin Brouder (sound) and Dan Henry (lighting). It is produced by Shelby Company. It premiered at the 2014 FRIGID New York Festival to sold-out houses and was awarded the Audience Choice Award.

Real Dead Ghosts will play at Venue #9 – The Robert Gill Theatre, located at 214 College St., 3^rdFloor  (St. George St. Entrance) on Wednesday, July 2 at 7:00pm, Thursday, July 3 at 10:30pm,Sunday, July 6 at 5:45pm, Wednesday, July 9 at 12:15pm, Thursday, July 10 at 5:45pm, Friday, July 11 at 9:45pm, and Saturday, July 12 at 8:45pm.

Tickets are $10 for General Admission, $8 for Students/Seniors. Tickets go onsale on June 16, 2014 and can be purchased by visiting www.fringetoronto.com or calling the Toronto Fringe Box Office at (416) 966-1062 x1. For more information about the show and the producing company please visit www.shelbycompany.org.

Jonathan A. Goldberg (playwright) has had work seen at HERE, Ars Nova, Dixon Place, The Public Theater and many other venues.  His play The Jew and the Demon won the Rita and Burton Prize for Theater.  His short work was featured at Ephemerama at the Magnet Theater and he won the Israel Baron Award for How to Shoot a Bull Moose. He’s had plays developed by the Inkwell in Washington DC and won the 2013 In Process Short Play Festival at Hudson Valley Shakespeare.  His playSousepaw has received critical acclaim around the country. He is a contributor to #serials at The Flea. He won the 2012 L Magazine short fiction contest and has an MFA in playwrighting from NYU Tisch.

Courtney Ulrich (director) is a New York-based Director. Recent credits include Tommy Smith’s White Hot and #serials at The Flea Theater where she is a Resident Director. In New York, she has worked with New Dramatists, Target Margin Theater, The Foundry Theatre, Rising Circle Rep, The Culture Project and Powerhouse/NYSAF at Vassar College, in LA with Cornerstone Theater Company, and in DC with Sojourn Theatre Company and Arena Stage.

Shelby Company was founded in December 2008 in NYC. They are a playwright-centric theatre company devoted to creating new works for the stage. Over the past five years they have produced over a dozen original works in nine US states. Selected productions include Fallsway (MN Fringe 2013); Font of Knowledge (MN Fringe 2012); Sousepaw: A Baseball Story (17 Frost Space, Brooklyn 2013; MN Fringe, IndyFringe and SF Fringe 2011); The Land Whale Murders (Theatre 3, 2010); The Luck of the Ibis, The Mike and Morgan Show and You May Be Splendid Now (Access Theatre 2010); My Father Is A Tetris Game (HERE Arts, 2009); Winnemucca (three days in the belly) (San Jose Stage, MN Fringe and FringeNYC 2009); and New Beulah (The Creek and the Cave, Planet Connections 2009; The Pear Ave. Theatre 2010). As well as full-length productions, Shelby Company has produced a monthly comedy show, Ephemerama, which has amassed nearly 100 short comedic plays and played to sold-out houses all over the USA.

From Press Release

At age 11, Susan Freedman snooped in her mother’s closet and found a shoebox full of love letters written between1927 and 1937 by her parents when they were just 19 years old. Susan thought they were hilarious – and embarrassing. Today, can the letters spill the secrets of their inspiring marriage – and shed light on Susan’s own marital misadventures? Come to SPILLINGFAMILY SECRETS, playing July 2-13 at the Tarragon  Solo Room as part of the 2014 Toronto Fringe Festival. Tickets are available via www.fringetoronto.com or 416-966-1062 ext. 1, or at the door.

Sixty years later that shoebox of letters is Susan’s – given to her by her mother who said:“You’ve read them anyway!” Amid laughter and tears, Susan pared the letters down to the excerpts she felt best told their love story – and caused her to look at her own romantic life with fresh eyes. “Getting to know my parents at age 19 was an amazing gift.“  SPILLING FAMILYSECRETS is a touching remembrance of her parents’ love, and a wry, witty look at how Freedman’s own marital mistakes are a stark and funny contrast to her parents’ idyllic match.

This is Susan Freedman‘s fourth one-woman Fringe comedy. Her three previous shows have had critically acclaimed sold-out runs across the Canadian Fringe circuit. Directed by Dora-winning writer/performer Rondel Reynoldson (Stage: White Trash Blue Eyes, Platform 9. Film: Man of Steel, Warner Bros.)

“Funny and heartwarming” ~ Montreal Gazette

“Freedman is wise and witty company” ~ Edmonton Journal 
     
“Evokes both uninterrupted laughter and inner reflection” 
~Vancouver Province

SPILLING FAMILY SECRETS reminds us all that our parents really were young once; they experienced youthful romantic hopes, dreams, and disappointments just as we do. They were people long before they were parents, and their lives have wonderful stories to tell us…and unexpected lessons we may learn while we’re laughing.

Full Media kit is available HERE.

SHOW INFO for SPILLING FAMILY SECRETS:
Venue: Tarragon Theatre Solo Room, 30 Bridgman Ave, Toronto.

Dates & Times:
Wed, July 2 @ 6:30pm
Fri, July 4 @ 4:45pm
Sat, July 5 @ 6:45pm
Sun, July 6 @ 2:45pm
Tue, July 8 @ 3:15pm
Wed, July 9 @ 4:45pm
Fri, July 11 @ 3:30pm
Sat, July 12 @ 8:00pm

Tickets:
$10 at the door (cash only) or $12 in advance (Visa or MasterCard, service charge included)
Beginning June 12 via www.fringetoronto.com, by telephone at 416-966-1062 (ext.1), or at the door.
Show running time is 45 minutes.    **Please note that there is absolutely no latecomer seating**