Wayne Leung (1981-2019)
Wayne was the Managing Editor of Mooney on Theatre from 2012 - 2019 and will be sorely missed. His death from an apparent heart attack was a loss not just to Mooney on Theatre, but also to the Toronto Theatre Community at large. You can read our publisher Megan Mooney's tribute to him here here.
Wayne was a writer, editor and corporate communications professional who was thrilled to be a part of the Mooney on Theatre team. Wayne loved theatre ever since his aunt brought him to a production of Les Misérables at the tender age of ten . . . despite the fact that, at that age, the show’s plot was practically indiscernible and the battle scenes scared the bejeezus out of him. Wayne’s current list of likes ran the gamut from opera, ballet and Shakespeare to Broadway musicals, circus and Fringe theatre. Outside of the theatre Wayne’s interests included travel, technology and food.
I’ve taken an interest in site-specific theatre recently and have chosen to see a few site-specific works at this year’s Toronto Fringe Festival. Big Metal Box is one of the shows that piqued my curiosity. It’s an anthology of four mini plays staged inside a large storage locker.
The four performances that make up Big Metal Box aren’t really related in any way other than the fact that they share a setting. Starting off with a specific location and then writing a series of short plays set in that location feels like the type of play writing exercise you’d undertake in theatre school. Continue reading Big Metal Box (Apocryphal Productions) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review→
We live in a fame-obsessed culture. The popularity of the Kardashians and Paris Hilton point to the fact that we somehow value fame as a legitimate goal in and of itself. Nobody’s Idol presented by Alexandra Lean as part of the 2013 Toronto Fringe Festival attempts a satirical examination of our society’s fetishization of fame. Continue reading Nobody’s Idol (Alexandra Lean Productions) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review→
The adoption of web and mobile technologies has revolutionized many aspects of our lives. MSM [men seeking men] presented by lemonTree Creations as part of the 2013 Toronto Fringe Festival examines how gay dating and hook-up culture has been influenced by online platforms.
The show is a piece of stylized dance-based verbatim theatre conceived and directed by Indrit Kasapi and performed by eight dancers; Cole Alvis, Aldrin Bundoc, Corrado Cerruto, Andrew Hartley, Ryan G. Hinds, Louis Laberge-Côté, Cyril Limousin, and Nico Racicot.
The company started with transcripts of online conversations between men who seek other men and used layering and repetition of choreography to create interpretive scenes based on the transcripts and performed to a soundtrack provided by a DJ spinning live (DJ Scooter). Continue reading MSM [men seeking men] (lemonTree Creations) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review→
I’ve taken an interest in site-specific theatre recently and have chosen to see a few site-specific works at this year’s Toronto Fringe Festival. Big Metal Box is one of the shows that piqued my curiosity. It’s an anthology of four mini plays staged inside a large storage locker.
The adoption of web and mobile technologies has revolutionized many aspects of our lives. 