All posts by Catherine Gloria

Catherine Gloria is a New York based singer, actor, educator, and writer. She explores the intersection of performing arts in education as a means to address the multiple modalities of learning. Her goal is to provide accessible theatre and performing arts to all.

Lexi and the Flying b’s (Bird Brain Productions) 2019 Toronto Fringe Review

Poster image for Lexi and the Flying B's

This year, the Toronto Fringe Festival presents Lexi and the Flying b’s at the George Ignatieff Theatre, a show that is just as educational as it is charming. The main storyline follows Lexi (Marina Gomez), a fourth grader, who enters a project in the school science fair while brainstorming strategies to deal with her dyslexia. I appreciate how dyslexia was presented as a challenge with opportunities to develop strategies in this way, not as Lexi’s defining characteristic.

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Allegra and Serena present: Twinsations (Party Time Productions) 2019 Toronto Fringe Review

Picture of Sara and Alene Shanazarian in Allegra & Serena present: Twinsations

Allegra & Serena present: Twinsations, a 60-minute musical comedy playing at the Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace as part of the Toronto Fringe Festival, is a fun, light-hearted piece that will please all theatre enthusiasts.

Twins Allegra Shanazarian and Serena Shanazarian were on the path to become child stars of the ’90s. Always in the shadow of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, these two sisters can’t let go of the past. We follow Allegra and Serena in their attempt to find stardom in film and on Broadway.

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Monica vs. The Internet: Tales of a Social Justice Warrior (Rage Sweater Theatre Productions) 2019 Toronto Fringe Review

Picture of Monica Ogden in Monica vs. The Internet: Tales of a Social Justice Warrior

In a time when we spend more time on our screens than interacting with humans, Monica is the social justice warrior you didn’t know you needed.  Toronto Fringe Festival presents a 60-minute comedy Monica vs. The Internet: Tales of a Social Justice Warrior at the Tarragon Solo Room.

Award-winning Filipina storyteller Monica Ogden sheds light on activism in the age of the internet, mixed-race identity, and why white feminism is like Lays chips.

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Philip and Lucinda Dino-Show (The Grand Salto Theatre) 2019 Toronto Fringe Review

Photo of Myque Franz and Zita Nyarady

If you’re a wannabe Paleontologist looking to share your love of dinosaurs with the little ones in your life, check out family-fun 60-minute interactive presentation of dinosaur history in Philip and Lucinda Dino-Show playing at the Toronto Fringe Festival at the George Ignatieff Theatre.

The interactive piece transforms the audience into “Dinosaur Experts.” Philip and Lucinda are dinosaur explorers that debunk the Paleozoic Era with song, dance, and acrobatics.

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Mice at Centre Ice (Benny The Bullet Productions) 2019 Toronto Fringe Review

Photo of the Cast of Mice at Centre Ice

Mice at Centre Ice, a family-fun, 45-minute comedy presented at the George Ignatieff Theatre as part of the Toronto Fringe Festival,  exhibits teachable moments in sportsmanship, but falls short as stand alone theatre piece.

The premise of the show follows Benny the Bullet and the Mouse Hockey Leaguers who yearn to get the Cheddar Cup back from the Rink Rats. It is based on a beloved, best-selling children’s novel by Estelle Salata that also became an animated film.

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