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Fantastic Extravagance – Toronto Fringe 2014 Press Release

From Press Release

The Steady State Theatre Project Presents Fantastic Extravagance at the 2014 Toronto Fringe Festival.

Eden Montgomery – a Toronto-based, self-loathing novelist – is being haunted.

Written by emerging playwright Lara Stokes, Fantastic Extravagance, which was short-listed for the 2014 Toronto Fringe new play contest, follows the struggle of an up-and-coming author as she battles fame. Eden’s book has become a misunderstood best-seller and, while the public is marveling at her ironic genius, she is determined to take back her book.

And through it all, Eden is being haunted by Poppy, her novel’s protagonist whom she killed off… Maybe she shouldn’t have…

The Steady State Theatre Project has been working with Lara Stokes on developing this play through its programming over the last two years, and is so excited to bring this hilarious gem to the Fringe, which be directed by Maya Rabinovitch (Don’t Look, I Will Not Hatch!) and will feature Lindsey Clark (Scheherazade, Post Eden) and Jon Blair (The Sketchersons, Sunday Night Live).

“Fringers will love Fantastic Extravagance. This play’s hilarious self-deprecation matched with its connection to the very audiences and artist who attend the Fringe in Toronto is sure to have them rolling in the aisles.” Says director Maya Rabinovitch. “I’m so glad to have the chance to help young artists churn out new works like this through my company (Steady State).”

Steady State has been well-known to Fringes across Canada with productions like I Will Not Hatch! (Outstanding Director/Ensemble/Production – NOW Magazine’s Fringe Wrap), Reflections on Giving Birth to a Squid (Best of Fest – Edmonton Journal, Best Original Production, honourable mention – Montreal Fringe/Centaur Theatre), and Double Double (FOUR STARS – NOW Magazine). Roger Levesque of the Edmonton Journal said of Steady State’s 2012 show, “My fondest memory from last year’s Fringe… I can’t recall ever laughing so hard at the Fringe…” Fantastic Extravagance is sure to be another Fringe success for this young company.

Venue: Randolph Theatre – 736 Bathurst St.

Dates: July 3 @ 7:00pm, July 4 @ 11:00pm, July 6 @ 5:15pm

July 8 @ 5:00pm, July 10 @ 12:00pm, July 11 @ 9:15pm, July 13 @ 1:45pm

Tickets: $10 – visit www.FringeToronto.com or call (416) 966-1062

http://steadystatetheatre.com

52 PICK UP – Toronto Fringe 2014 Press Release

From Press Release

The Howland Company presents…

By: TJ Dawe & Rita Bozi
Directed by: Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster & Paolo Santalucia

July 2nd – July 13th, 2014 at The Tarragon Theatre in association with The Toronto Fringe Festival

TORONTO (April 17th, 2014) – The Howland Company is proud to announce its inaugural production and Toronto premiere of 52 PICK-UP in association with The Toronto Fringe Festival.

52 cards. 52 scenes. 1 complicated relationship.

In a blend of sharp writing and improvisation 52 PICK UP swerves from romantic comedy to heartbreak at the drop of a card, as two people navigate through their relationship. How it works: 52 scene titles are written on an ordinary deck of playing cards. At the top of each show two actors toss the cards in the air and the story unfolds in the order in they are picked up. No two shows will ever be the same!

Award winning playwrights, TJ Dawe (Medicine, The F Word/What if?) and Rita Bozi (Trouser Parts, Bloodline), highlight the hysterical and heartbreaking truth about falling in love in this 75-minute show.

Directed by Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster & Paolo Santalucia (both recently seen in Soulpepper Theatre’s Idiot’s Delight and Of Human Bondage), 52 PICK-UP features an exciting alternating cast including; Alex Crowther, Ruth Goodwin, James Graham, Cameron Laurie, Adrian Morningstar, Hallie Seline, and Kristen Zaza.

About The Howland Company:

The Howland Company is a Toronto-based theatre ensemble made up of twelve artists. Our curiosity is in stories that impact our generation. Through our own development as an ensemble and by bringing people together through workshops and readings, we seek to build a community ready to take on tomorrow’s challenges.

Bi-weekly, The Howland Company hosts an open event called The Reading Group, where artists are encouraged to connect with fellow members of the Toronto theatre community and discover new plays together.

For more information about The Howland Company or The Reading Group check out

www.howlandcompanytheatre.com

 

 

ANCIENT HISTORY – Toronto Fringe 2014 Press Release

From Press Release

aware! productions presents

ANCIENT HISTORY

By David Ives

New Toronto-based company presents the Canadian Premiere of ANCIENT HISTORY – an early gem by the comic genius, David Ives, award-winning author of VENUS IN FUR.

Ruth and Jack. Two tall, thin, witty thirty-somethings who “are the same person” – the perfect match. Two lovers who never fight, can hum the Mendelssohn Octet and quote the Marx brothers by heart. Two lovers in Paradise, celebrating Ruth’s birthday….until a marriage proposal and cultural differences threaten to drive them apart. Can their “alikeness” triumph over their differences?

Written by David Ives, the mastermind behind such hits as ALL IN THE TIMING and the Tony award-winning VENUS IN FUR, this lesser-known gem premiered on Broadway in 1989, was revised and remounted in 1996, and has never been professionally produced in Canada. A tightly-written script with endless witticisms, puns, and intellectual repartee, ANCIENT HISTORY is a hilarious, hard-hitting two-hander that leaves no holds barred in both humour and heartbreak.

Producer/actor Tiana Leonty and Director Richard Beaune came across this play while completing their MFA degrees at York University, and teamed up with York BFA grad – Assistant Director Alexandra Augustine. Rounding out the company are actor Zack Amzallag and Stage Manager Virginia Cardinal. Beaune is the Artistic Director of Keystone Theatre (The Last Man on Earth), where he directed Dora award-winning The Belle of Winnipeg, and is also directing Gold Fever at this year’s Fringe. Leonty (playing “Ruth”), is an Edmonton Fringe Festival veteran making her Toronto stage debut. Amzallag (playing “Jack”) recently appeared in Teatron Jewish Theatre’s Handle with Care and makes his Toronto Fringe debut.

aware! productions has assembled an all-star team to uncover the beauty, brutality, and finesse of this little-known masterpiece for Toronto audiences for the first time. Can Ruth and Jack continue to live in paradise? Or, in six months, will they be…ancient history?

aware! productions, in association with The Toronto Fringe Festival presents Ancient History, by David Ives
Directed by Richard Beaune, Assistant Director Alexandra Augustine
Featuring Zack Amzallag and Tiana Leonty

Stage managed by Virginia Cardinal

Opens July 3, 2014 and runs to July 13, 2014 at ROBERT GILL THEATRE – 214 College Street, 3rd Floor. Theatre is air conditioned.

Performances:

Thursday, July 3, 2014 – 8:15pm
Sunday, July 6, 2014 – 3:30pm
Monday, July 7, 2014 – 10:30pm
Tuesday, July 8, 2014 – 6:45pm
Thursday, July 10, 2014 – 1:45pm
Friday, July 11, 2014 – 2:15pm
Sunday, July 13, 2014 – 4:30pm
Running time: approx. 85 min. Please note that there is absolutely no latecomer seating.

Tickets: Purchase online: fringetoronto.com.
By Phone: 416-966-1062
In Person: During the Festival Box Office in the parking lot behind Honest Ed’s (581 Bloor St W).

 

 

Baker’s Dozen – Toronto Fringe 2014 Press Release

From Press Release

 

ADAM SQUARED PRODUCTIONS and the Toronto Fringe Festival presents…

BAKER’S DOZEN
We all know the story of Butcher, the Baker and the Candlestick Maker, right? But now, rub­a­dub­dub…the Baker has been found
dead in the tub, his husband the Butcher stands accused of murder, and no one knows what’s happened to the Candlestick Maker…
A single puppeteer transforms one puppet into twelve jury members, each struggling with our flawed judicial system, their own
personal problems, their gnat-­like attention spans, and their intolerance of other people (and of lactose). A man’s future rests in their hands in this one­-man, one-­puppet courtroom dramedy.
Baker’s Dozen is the third collaboration between actor / puppeteer ADAM FRANCIS PROULX (Avenue Q, Songs of Sinatra),
director NICOLE STAMP (TVO, Second City), and veteran puppeteer MIKE PETERSEN (Fraggle Rock, Labyrinth) after they met
working on the first Canadian production of Tony Award­ winning musical Avenue Q, in a critically­ acclaimed production:

“Adam Proulx, who inhabits the two male leads, is a big­​-voiced charmer who manages to differentiate two very different characters.” -Fab Magazine review of Avenue Q

“Delivers the goods… Proulx delivers [a] strong puppet performance.” -NOW Magazine review of Avenue Q

BAKER’S DOZEN at the TORONTO FRINGE
Written and performed by Adam Francis Proulx
Directed by Nicole Stamp
Puppet Consultation by Mike Petersen
Produced by Jennifer Walls
Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace
Wednesday, July 2nd, 10pm
Friday, July 4th, 4:15
Saturday, July 5th, 5pm
Monday, July 7th, Midnight
Tuesday, July 8th, 8:30pm
Wednesday, July 9th, 3pm
Friday, July 11th, 7pm
Sunday, July 13th, 4pm
WE’LL SEE YOU IN COURT!

 

Tikva’s Orchestra – Toronto Fringe 2014 Press Release

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From Press Release

TIKVA’S ORCHESTRA

Award-winning artists create a new story of hope.

lab le jeu presents Tikva’s Orchestra: the story of a Jewish cellist who is determined to save the players in her orchestra during the Nazi attacks of Kristallnacht in WWII. Directed by Ginette Mohr (The Truth about Comets – ‘Best of Fringe’ 2013), and starring Thomas Morgan Jones (Dora Guthrie Award Winner) and Alisa Walton (TVO’s Polka Dot Shorts – GEMINI Award Winner), Tikva’s Orchestra is a new collaboration that incorporates physical theatre, aerial acrobatics and original music.

 

Tikva’s Orchestra speaks to personal and universal truths about the human spirit and perseverance in the face of unimaginable difficulties. Moreover, the play includes phenomenal acrobatics, elegant physical theatre, a newly composed orchestral work by composer David Mesiha (Jesse Award Winner) and lighting design by Jason Hand (Siminovitch Prize in Theatre) for an engaging and enthralling performance.

Through long hours and a sense of adventure, we have been devising the play and bravely delving into new territory to create imagery with bungee and rope apparatus. We are investigating the artist’s relationship to their art as a source of sustenance and perseverance, and how and where humans draw strength in the face of extreme discrimination.

 

Lab le jeu inc.

in association with The Toronto Fringe Festival proudly presents

Tikva’s Orchestra

Written by Alisa Walton, Ginette Mohr and Thomas Morgan Jones

Directed by Ginette Mohr

Performed by Alisa Walton and Thomas Morgan Jones

Stage Managed by Tamara Protic

Music Composition/Sound Design by David Mesiha

Lighting Design by Jason Hand

Wardrobe and Prop Design by Ellen Roach

 

001 Alisa Walton in  Tikvas Orchestra . photo by Ginette Mohr

Alisa Walton in ‘Tikva’s Orchestra’, photo by Ginette Mohr

 

Opens JULY 2nd and runs to JULY 11th

The Annex Theatre – 730 Bathurst Street, Toronto

 

Performances:

 

Wednesday, July 2 @ 10:30pm

Saturday, July 5 @ 5:15pm

Sunday, July 6 @ 12:30pm

Monday, July 7 @ 6:45pm

Wednesday, July 9 @ 4:00pm

Thursday, July 10 @ 9:15pm

Friday, July 11 @ 12:00pm

 

Please note that there is absolutely no latecomer seating.

 

Tickets:

 

At-the-door tickets are $10 and available at The Annex Theatre one hour prior to show time – cash sales only.

Advance tickets are $12 and go on sale June 12th, 2014.

 

Purchase online: fringetoronto.com

By Phone: 416-966-1062

In Person: At the Festival Box Office in the parking lot behind Honest Ed’s (581 Bloor St W).

 

For interviews and high resolution images, contact Ginette Mohr media@tikvasorchestra.com 647-386-2428

 

Visit www.tikvasorchestra.com

 

lab le jeu’s mandate is to create new work and pioneer apparatus and the ensuing movement vocabulary to elevate theatrical imagery in unexpected ways. Bravery and strong imaginations are at the heart of this company, and the people who work with us show a dedication to pushing physical and emotional limits.