“[A]  multisensory performance experience, exploring how memory functions, how it collapses, and what we become when our memory begins to fade.“

Excerpt from press release:

Who are you when you have no memory of yourself? What do we become when our histories disappear?

“How Often Do I Dream…” is a multisensory performance experience, exploring how memory functions, how it collapses, and what we become when our memory begins to fade.

When actor/writer Katie Dorian’s beloved “Opi” developed dementia she realized that her identity was interwoven with his.  Opi’s story of coming to Canada on November 28, 1961, as a cold-war refugee, and everything that both preceded and followed from that has formed part of her own distinct individuality. Mapping her interactions with her Opi as he slowly disappeared, Dorian struggles with the loss, the change in family roles and the dissolving family history to draw universal truths about the nature of memory, identity and family.

Told with compassion, humour and heartache, How Often Do I Dream…, is an award winning (Best Solo Show, Atlantic Fringe Festival 2014) collaborative creation by Dorian and director Alexis Milligan.  Dorian is an accomplished young actor who has worked with 2b Theatre, Zuppa Theatre, and Anthony Sherwood. Milligan is an internationally noted artist both in theatre and dance.

Showtimes:

Wednesday July 1, 6:30 pm
Friday July 3, 4:45 pm
Saturday July 4, 6:45 pm
Sunday July 5, 2:45 pm
Tuesday July 7, 3:15 pm
Wednesday July 8, 10:00 pm
Friday July 10, 3:30 pm
Saturday July 11, 8:00 pm

Venue: Tarragon Theatre Solo Room

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.

Photo provided by company.

“[A] a funny and poignant look at middle age, solitude and finding your own voice.”

Excerpted from press release:

A woman inexplicably finds herself stranded on an island with only a seagull for company and, between attempts at being rescued and finding distractions to occupy her, she reflects on her experiences as a parent and teacher and starts to wonder if there’s a point to going back to it. A little schtick, a little storytelling, Washed Up is a funny and poignant look at middle age, solitude and finding your own voice.

The unexamined life may not be worth living but sometimes it takes extraordinary circumstances to precipitate those moments of self-reflection. This story is about those “Is that all there is?” moments we all struggle through at regular points in our lives.

Joanne Latimer is the co-founder of NightShift Theatre, and recently directed its successful production of George F. Walker’s Problem Child. Latimer, who played the original Mrs. Vitale in Second City’s long-running hit Tony and Tina’s Wedding, is no stranger to comedy but is not well acquainted with silence. This is her first ever self-created solo show!

Showtimes:

July 2, 2015 -7:45pm
July 4, 2015 -3:15pm
July 5, 2015 -4:30pm
July 6, 2015 -2:15pm
July 8, 2015 -10:00pm
July 9, 2015 -4:30pm
July 10, 2015 -8:45pm
July 12, 2015 -2:15 pm

Venue: Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace (16 Ryerson Ave.)

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.

Photo provided by the company.

“[A] wildly funny and absurd dark play that serves as a cautionary tale of the powerful bond between one household and one primate.”

Excerpted from press release:

If you like your family, you are going to love You and That Fucking Gorilla. Beth Torrance is a doting wife and mother who suddenly finds herself under intense and unyielding attack from everyone she loves after showing a lack of enthusiasm for the family’s unusual new pet. You and That Fucking Gorilla is a wildly funny and absurd dark play that serves as a cautionary tale of the powerful bond between one household and one primate.

The piece was initially conceived for an undergraduate playwriting course at Queen’s University in 2012, and is now making its way to the Toronto Fringe Festival. Tia McGregor, then a third year drama student, was stumped over what to write about for class and was searching for inspiration laying in bed and staring at her bedroom walls as she drifted in and out of sleep. She found it in a mixed media print tacked to the wall featuring the words “You and That Fucking Gorilla”, by Scottish/American artist David Fullarton. The concept for the play was born from McGregor’s deep consideration of why anyone would ever need to say, “…you and that fucking gorilla”.

The Fringe Festival is much like a Debutante Ball, as it is host to House of Squalor Productions’ official coming out into the Toronto theatre scene. House of Squalor Productions is made up of playwright Tia McGregor, who was a part of the 2014/2015 Obsidian Theatre Playwright’s Unit; director Rebecca Moran, who is currently an associate at Larissa Mair Casting and Associates; and producer Brittany Allan, who holds administrative positions at both the Whistler Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival.

You and That Fucking Gorilla manages to explore the burdens of motherhood in a severe and poignant way, while always remaining a comedy first. This play will make you laugh very hard; it will also make you want to call your mother and love your family dog just a little less.

Showtimes: 

July 1, 10:30pm
July 4, 1:45pm
July 6, 1:15pm
July 7, 6:30pm
July 9, 12:00pm
July 10, 9:15pm
July 11, 5:45pm

Venue: Factory Studio Theatre (125 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 (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.

Photo by Don Albin.

“Cream of Comedy-nominated sketch troupe, The Weaker Vessels, bring their sharp, dark, and unorthodox comedy,Public Displays of Narcissism, to The Toronto Fringe.“

Excerpted from press release:

The Weaker Vessels, known for their delightfully dark humour, explore the hilarious ways narcissism rears its beautiful head in their latest sketch comedy revue, Public Displays of Narcissism. This subversive show about self-obsession, weaves together the heartfelt, the absurd, the carnal, and the forbidden as Cream of Comedy-nominees, The Weaker Vessels, bring their best sketches to The Toronto Fringe.

Look on as Joe Carter sits alone with a bottle of whiskey watching the ’93 World Series on an endless loop…Peer into the neurotic minds of a couple on a first date…Witness a group of doctors obsess over a pen…See what happens to these characters and more when the disease of narcissism takes over.

Toronto-based comedians, Lance Byrd, Jeff Clark, Nadine Djoury, Matt McCready and Colin Sharpe, write and star in this, their 6th full-length revue, directed by Second City Alumni Frank McAnulty.

Watch The Weaker Vessels’ unmask their secret shames in Public Displays of Narcissism as they discover their own reflection and drown in their ego. What will happen when the mirror is reflected onto you?

Showtimes:

July 2, 18:00
July 4, 13:30
July 5, 18:15
July 7, 18:45
July 8, 20:15
July 9, 21:45
July 10, 15:30
July 11, 13:00

Venue: Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace (16 Ryerson Ave.)

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.

Photo by Mike Carter.

This double feature explored the fragility of the human mind, on stage in Toronto

Through New Order & The Grand Hysteric, playwright Sheldon Rosen offers a fascinating glimpse into the repressed emotions hidden in the deep recesses of the human mind. Both the plays are thought-provoking and intense to say the least.

They present scenarios of what happens when these emotions come out of hiding and we’re forced to face them. They are disturbing yet engaging in raising poignant questions about sanity and ‘normalcy’ of thought and experience.   Continue reading Review: New Order & The Grand Hysteric (NovelSidewalk Productions) →