“This all-woman powerhouse team brings it to this year’s Fringe. Buckle up for Buckle My Shoe.”

Excerpted from Press Release:

Forty-eight year-old Emma can’t sleep. A deep, passionate, explosive thirty-year secret must be confessed. Or not. Eighteen year-old Emma can help. Or does she need help herself? Only one woman can decide. Two playwrights. Two actors. One character. Buckle My Shoe.

Buckle My Shoe is co-written by award-winning veteran playwright Alexis Bernier (Theatre Ontario’s Playwrights Showcase Award) and newcomer Nastasia Pappas-Kemps (International Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards). The show stars Gina Clayton (Odyssey 5, I Was a Sixth Grade Alien, Patti and Degrassi: The Next Generation) and Lily Scriven (Billy Wigglesticks – Paprika Festival 2014) and is directed by Anna Pappas, Artistic Director of Ergo Arts Theatre (Antigone, If, Ithaca and The Odyssey Project).

Ergo Arts began in the mid 90’s as skazmos theatre. Its work in Toronto’s independent theatre community has spanned two decades, and includes the development of new Canadian plays and musicals, original adaptations of ancient classics, a reading series of modern classics, Theatre for Young Audiences, and experimental bilingual works (in Greek and English) using the writings of popular and classic Greek writers. The company has worked with many of Canada’s finest theatre talent, including Martha Henry, RH Thompson, Diana Leblanc, David Fox, Barbara Gordon, Oliver Dennis, Janet-Laine Green, John Bourgeois, Maria Ricossa, John Gilbert, David Gardner and director Sue Miner, to name a few.

Anna Pappas, Gina Clayton and Alexis Bernier have worked together many times. Their 2002 production of Breaking Character garnered the Patron’s Pick at the Toronto Fringe Festival. NOW Magazine’s Jon Kaplan called it, “One of the richest, most subtle scripts and performances at this year’s Fringe.” The three revive their decades-long collaboration with Buckle My Shoe – only this time, they’re adding two emerging artists to their group: Nastasia Pappas-Kemps and Lily Scriven. What unfolds is sure to be electric.

This all-woman powerhouse team brings it to this year’s Fringe. Buckle up for Buckle My Shoe.

Showtimes

• July 02 at 08:15 PM
• July 04 at 11:30 PM
• July 05 at 09:15 PM
• July 07 at 01:00 PM
• July 08 at 06:00 PM
• July 09 at 01:45 PM
• July 11 at 01:45 PM

Tickets for all Fringe productions are $10, $12 in advance. Tickets can be purchased online, by phone (416-966-1062, business hours only), in-person from the festival box office located in the parking lot behind Honest Ed’s, (481 Bloor West), or — if any remain — from the venue box office (cash-only), starting one hour before showtime.

The festival offers a range of money-saving passes for committed Fringers; see website for details.

Be advised that Fringe shows always start exactly on time, and latecomers are never admitted.

Photograph of (L -> R) Lily Scriven and Gina Clayton by Georgia Kirkos.

“Join Lenora’s adventures through therapy, hookups, and finding hope despite life’s challenges.”

Excerpted from Press Release:

Quarter Life Crisis the Musical is a tale of graduating in the era of unemployment, insecurity, and…Facebook. Join Lenora’s adventures through therapy, hookups, and finding hope despite life’s challenges.

Quarter life crises seem to be the theme of the millennial generation. Over 70 people applied to be involved with this production, many citing that they identified strongly with the themes in the musical. Song titles include: “I’m in Love with the Internet”, “I’ve Moved Back Into My Parents House”, “I’m in Love With My Therapist”, and more.

Playwright Jennifer Turliuk wrote one of Forbes Greatest Hits, and has also written for Venturebeat, Strategy Magazine and more. She wrote a 10-minute version of this musical which was in InspiraTO (Canada’s largest 10-minute play festival) in 2014. Composer and MD Lee Cohen is Musical Director at Second City who won the 2012 Shaw Festival Ragtime Piano contest.

Actor James Cheng performed in the 2010 Toronto Fringe with Asiansploitation as a writer/actor/singer and the troupe received Patron’s Pick and ‘Just for Laughs, Best Comedy of the Toronto Fringe’.

Showtimes

• July 01 at 08:15 PM
• July 04 at 05:15 PM
• July 06 at 01:00 PM
• July 07 at 06:30 PM
• July 08 at 03:30 PM
• July 10 at 09:15 PM
• July 12 at 12:00 PM

Tickets for all Fringe productions are $10, $12 in advance. Tickets can be purchased online, by phone (416-966-1062, business hours only), in-person from the festival box office located in the parking lot behind Honest Ed’s, (481 Bloor West), or — if any remain — from the venue box office (cash-only), starting one hour before showtime.

The festival offers a range of money-saving passes for committed Fringers; see website for details.

Be advised that Fringe shows always start exactly on time, and latecomers are never admitted.

“[T]his one-man show sees Hershfield relive the time he dared to chase his greatest dream: having his hero think he was cool.”

Excerpted from press release:

Sloanliness, a one-man comedy playing at this year’s Toronto Fringe, takes the classic story of meeting one’s hero and filters it through the extreme neuroses of writer-performer Dan Hershfield.

Dan Hershfield was working as a Second City performer aboard a cruise ship when a floating music festival offered him the chance of a lifetime: to hang out with his hero, Chris Murphy, of the acclaimed indie rock band Sloan.

Objectively, what followed were some pleasant conversations between the two. But from Dan’s perspective, it was an emotional rollercoaster, where every word exchanged was fraught with meaning and every interaction was fraught with peril. Would Dan come away from this experience with a lasting friendship…or a lasting shame?

With Sloanliness, playwright and actor Dan Hershfield (Courting, Second City Theatricals) offers a funny and poignant reflection on friendship, celebrity, and social anxiety. Under the expert direction of Fringe staple Chris Gibbs (The Power of Ignorance, Antoine Feval), this one-man show sees Hershfield relive the time he dared to chase his greatest dream: having his hero think he was cool.

Showtimes:

• July 01 at 10:00 PM
• July 03 at 03:00 PM
• July 04 at 05:00 PM
• July 05 at 01:00 PM
• July 08 at 08:15 PM
• July 10 at 08:45 PM
• July 11 at 04:30 PM
• July 12 at 05:45 PM

Venue: Tarragon Theatre (Solo Room), 30 Bridgman.

Tickets for all Fringe productions are $10, $12 in advance. Tickets can be purchased online, by phone (416-966-1062, business hours only), in-person from the festival box office located in the parking lot behind Honest Ed’s, (481 Bloor West), or — if any remain — from the venue box office (cash-only), starting one hour before showtime.

The festival offers a range of money-saving passes for committed Fringers; see website for details.

Be advised that Fringe shows always start exactly on time, and latecomers are never admitted.

Photograph of Dan Hershfield by Brian Crosby.

“[D]elves deep into the suspense, nostalgia and clichés of classic detective fiction and old-time radio mysteries”

Excerpted from Press Release:

Duotang Chesterfield’s Mystery Theatre delves deep into the suspense, nostalgia and clichés of classic detective fiction and old-time radio mysteries in their first live show at the Toronto Fringe Festival.

“Like Sherlock if he had PTSD, I loved it.” – Diana McCallum (co-creator of internet phenomenon Texts from Superheroes) on the DCMT Podcast.

Part Nancy Drew, part Sherlock Holmes, with more than a dash of CBS Mystery Theatre, Duotang Chesterfield’s Mystery Theatre LIVE! skillfully spoofs a mix of detective fiction styles – while never mocking. “We’re all big fans of the mystery genre,” says co-producer Josef Beeby; “so we enjoy playing with some of its stranger tropes.”

From July 1-12, Randolph Theatre will be the ‘Duotang Chesterfield Radio Station’ where audiences can view a live broadcast hosted by the mysterious Narrator (Leete Stetson). Stetson will be joined onstage by Nicole Byblow, Josef Beeby, Marika Lapointe, Justin Miller, Zara Jestadt, Rebecca Russell, and Grace Smith. “It’s fascinating getting to see voice actors perform, because we so rarely do, “ says Smith; “one minute you’re a 90-year-old British Countess; the next, a teenager from Nebraska!”

The production will be helmed by Director Aria Umezawa, Artistic Director of Opera 5 and creator of the popular web series Opera Cheats, with scripts contributed by cast-members Beeby, Stetson, and Smith, and Polly Phokeev (Seams – Summerworks 2015).

Can’t wait until the Fringe? Check out the back-catalogue of podcast episodes (iTunes or www.duotangmysteries.com) to tide you over. Creators Beeby, Smith, and Stetson came up with the idea for DCMT in March 2014 after noticing a dearth of high-quality radio-play-style offerings on iTunes. “If you want to listen to guys arguing about movies, you have lots of podcast options; if you want to hear something scripted, something with an arc to it, well that’s a little harder to find,” says Stetson. “We’re trying to fill that gap.”

Showtimes:

• Weds July 1 – 10:30pm
• Sat July 4 – 8:45pm
• Mon July 6 – 4:45pm
• Weds July 8 – 8:45pm
• Thurs July 9 – 1:45pm
• Fri July 10 – 7:30pm
• Sun July 12 – 12:00pm

Venue:  Randolph Theatre (Mainspace), 736 Bathurst St.

Tickets for all Fringe productions are $10, $12 in advance. Tickets can be purchased online, by phone (416-966-1062, business hours only), in-person from the festival box office located in the parking lot behind Honest Ed’s, (481 Bloor West), or — if any remain — from the venue box office, starting one hour before showtime. (Cash-only.)

The festival offers a range of money-saving passes for committed Fringers; see website for details.

Be advised that Fringe shows always start exactly on time, and latecomers are never admitted.

“Come enter our lab and find out what those rowdy kids from Gen Y-made!”

Excerpted from Press Release:

The 10/10/10 Project is a large-scale interdisciplinary piece that explores the idea of moving forward when the people we love don’t need us anymore. Inspired by postmodern chance procedures, 10/10/10 is a gathering point that combines the work of 43 emerging artists of 3 different mediums. Who knows what will be created?

In April 2014, 10 emerging writers from across Canada wrote 10 pieces using the prompt “There’s something here that shouldn’t be” These pieces were then given to 10 emerging composers who composed 10 unique musical tracks based on the essence of the writing they were given. Each piece of music was then matched with one of 10 emerging choreographers, who created a movement piece inspired by the music they received. The writers then returned to view these dance creations and each wrote a final piece inspired by the essence of the individual dance they had been assigned. During this process, none of the artists were allowed to talk to each other about the work they had exchanged, creating an ego-less and random creation environment.

Now, the 10 final pieces of writing, 10 pieces of choreography, and 10 pieces of music have all been combined to form one piece of interdisciplinary dance-theatre, facilitated by a director who is unable to speak with any of the creators as well, forced to find the through line based solely the presentation of work itself.

10/10/10 is inspired by the idea of imagined community: that even if we do not speak the same language or live in the same space, we can still find hopes, dreams, despairs and inspirations from the work of another who we may never meet. We can communicate without ego, crossing borders through our art.

Our award winning collection of artists (all between the ages of 18 and 33) have danced in Shawn Desmond videos and scored films at Cannes. They have worked with the Blyth festival, Theatre Aquarius, Buddies in Bad Times, their award winning work being produced in the Hamilton and Toronto Fringe Festivals, and the Summerworks Performance Festival. We even have an award winning Maclean’s writer on board all the way from Vancouver!

With 43 artists from across the country, 10/10/10 is the largest show at this year’s TorontoFringe Festival. Come enter our lab and find out what those rowdy kids from Gen Y-made!

Showtimes:

• July 3rd – 7:00 PM
• July 4th – 12:00 PM
• July 6th – 6:45 PM
• July 8th – 3:30 PM
• July 9th – 3:30 PM
• July 11th – 2:15 PM
• July 12th – 1:45 PM

Venue: Factory Theatre (Mainspace), 125 Bathurst.

Tickets for all Fringe productions are $10, $12 in advance. Tickets can be purchased online, by phone (416-966-1062, business hours only), in-person from the festival box office located in the parking lot behind Honest Ed’s, (481 Bloor West), or — if any remain — from the venue box office, starting one hour before showtime. (Cash-only.)

The festival offers a range of money-saving passes for committed Fringers; see website for details.

Be advised that Fringe shows always start exactly on time, and latecomers are never admitted.

Production photograph by Jordan Laffrenier. Photograph is of a workshop of this production, and does not necessarily reflect final casting.