The Common Ground – Toronto Fringe 2014 Press Release

From Press Release
Phenomenon Theatrix & The Toronto Fringe Festival present

4 teens. 2 queer parents. 1 musical dissertation. Playwright, director, and performer Dr. Ken McNeilly has turned 4 years and 400 pages of doctoral research into a brand new one-hour musical featured at the 2014 Toronto Fringe Festival, running July 2-13 at the Randolph Theatre. Tickets are available beginning June 12 via www.fringetoronto.com, by telephone at 416.966.1062 (ext.1), or at the door. THE COMMON GROUND: You’ll love it so much, you’ll wish you had gay parents, too!

A clever hybrid of theatre and thesis, this witty and heartfelt musical comedy follows four teens that reveal their families’ histories while exploring the advantages, pressures, and quirks of growing up in a queer-led family. Using verbatim quotes merged seamlessly with songs composed by the original researcher, THE COMMON GROUND is finally giving voice to a generation of young Canadian adults who have grown up often defined by their parents’ LGBTQ identities.

“It’s true, who knew? They’re good parents, too. Those gays and those lesbians know what to do!  They seem to excel at whatever they try, so what’s with the great hue and cry?” – Lyrics from “The Lit Review Smackdown”

Upon completion of his Ph.D. at the University of Toronto in 2012, Ken McNeilly knew his 400-page dissertation was filled with rich stories that were calling out for life beyond the dusty shelves of an academic library. Identifying as a gay male with aspirations of becoming a parent himself, Ken is working closely with one of his “queerspawn” interviewees, Sadie Epstein-Fine, who is also the show’s production manager and choreographer. This creative duo is excited to expose some hilarious, provocative, and profound truths through these research-inspired stories that promise to leave audience members with an appreciation of THE COMMON GROUND that unites us all.

Bringing these genuine tales to the stage are playwright/director/performer Ken McNeilly (A Bedfull of Foreigners & City of Angels, Pinnacle Playhouse; The Mousetrap, Lower Ossington Theatre), veteran singer/songwriter/actor Suzanne McKenney (It’s All About You, Trailrunner Productions; HGTV’s Toolbox Challenge), Julia Gartha (Finalist in CBC’s Over the Rainbow), Fiona Sauder (Enough, Bad Hats Theatre Company; The Country Wife, George Brown College), Ben Chiasson (Rent, Etobicoke School of the Arts), and Tegan Macfarlane (Muse, Little Black Afro). The show is stage managed by Brenda Duran with set/costume designs by Luke Pieroni and graphic designs by Moe Waqas.

Phenomenon Theatrix is a grassroots Toronto-based theatre company dedicated to the production of research-informed shows that are both entertaining and accessible.  THE COMMON GROUND is the company’s inaugural production.

Show Information for THE COMMON GROUND A Musical Dissertation
Venue: Randolph Theatre, 736 Bathurst Street, Toronto

Dates & Times:
Wed July 2 @ 10:30pm
Sat July 5 @ 11:00pm
Mon July 7 @ 4:45pm
Wed July 9 @ 8:45pm
Thurs July 10 @ 1:45pm
Fri July 11 @ 7:30pm
Sun July 13 @ 3:30pm

Tickets:
$10 at the door (cash only) or $12 in advance (Visa or MasterCard, service charge included)
Beginning June 12 via www.fringetoronto.com, by telephone at 416-966-1062 (ext.1), or at the door.
Show running time is 60 minutes.    **Please note that there is absolutely no latecomer seating**

Radical – Toronto Fringe 2014 Press Release

From Press Release
Primum non nocere —“Above all, do no harm.”
Renowned Canadian oncologist Dr. Vera Peters set the medical world against her by offering women a choice when it came to how their bodies were treated for breast cancer. Dr. Charles Hayter’s new play RADICAL examines Peters’ crucial struggle to persuade her patients and the medical community at large that mastectomies did not guarantee miracles, and that there was another way. RADICAL plays at the Tarragon Theatre MainSpace as part of the 2014 Toronto Fringe Festival. Tickets are available via www.fringetoronto.com,
by phone at 416-966-1062 ext. 1, or at the door.

Set in Princess Margaret Hospital in 1972, we meet Peters as she treats a tough-minded patient who refuses to get a radical mastectomy, a profoundly invasive and disfiguring procedure, and the only available treatment for breast cancer at the time. That chance encounter—and the fight it inspires—leads Peters to a discovery that will ultimately change the face of cancer treatment in Canada.

Making its world premiere at the 2014 Toronto Fringe Festival, RADICAL traces Peters’ remarkable journey from acclaimed researcher to medical activist, as she wrestles with memories of her own mother’s battle with cancer, and seeks to humanize a medical system that trivialized and dismissed the perspectives of women. Ultimately for Peters, the fight with cancer became one she faced in her own body as well as those of her patients.

Dr. Peters’ great contribution was allowing the voices of cancer sufferers to be heard. This is still a struggle today, even more so with the complexity of medical technology—and as a result her story resonates with anyone whose life has been touched by this terrible disease.

RADICAL features stage and screen actor Jane Smythe (Society of Skeptics, Theatre Smash; Paranormal Witness, Syfy/Cream Productions) as Vera, along with Sheila Russell (Rabbit Hole, Alumnae Theatre; Over the River and Through the Woods, Eastside Players), Susan Q Wilson (Ways to Kill Ethyl, Toronto Fringe 2012; After Mrs. Rochester, Alumnae Theatre), Jerrold Karch (Sunshine Boys, Encore Entertainment; Second City Touring Company), and  Jeff Yung (Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare BASH’d; The Story,Theatre Columbus).

Playwright Charles Hayter is a practicing oncologist in Toronto, dividing his time between medicine and playwriting. His solo show Lady in Waiting (dramaturged by Judith Thompson) won the award for Best Writing at the Fresh Fruit Festival in NYC in 2008. Hayter’s last full length play Eldorado Town had its world premiere at the 4th Line Theatre in Millbrook.  Joining Hayter on this production of RADICAL are well-known dramaturge Molly Thom, resident director of Shoestring Opera, and director Edward Chua, Director of Operations at Young People’s Theatre.

On average, 65 Canadian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer every day. 14 more will die from the disease. ~ Canadian Cancer Society

SHOW INFO for RADICAL:
Venue: Tarragon Theatre MainSpace, 30 Bridgman Ave, Toronto.

Dates & Times:
Fri, July 4 @ 10:30pm
Sat, July 5 @ 9:15pm
Sun, July 6 @ 7:00pm
Wed, July 9 @ 2:15 pm
Fri, July 11 @ 3:30pm
Sat, July 12 @ 8:00pm
Sun, July 13 @ 1:45pm

Tickets:
$10 at the door (cash only) or $12 in advance (Visa or MasterCard, service charge included)
Beginning June 12 via www.fringetoronto.com, by telephone at 416-966-1062 (ext.1), or at the door.
Show running time is 50 minutes.    **Please note that there is absolutely no latecomer seating**

Confessions of an Operatic Mute – Toronto Fringe 2014 Press Release

Excerpted from Press Release

Confessions of an Operatic Mute traces the path Briane Nasimok took from from his first visit to the O’Keefe Centre when he was 8 years old and vowing to get on that stage, to an anything but stellar public school performing career with roles ranging from A Boy to Policeman Number Two.

Appearing in a college revue that was so bad it closed during dress rehearsal he was “discovered” and offered a chance to join the Canadian Opera Company as a non-singing extra performer.  Although Briane’s knowledge of opera had been limited to Warner Brothers cartoons, he knew this would be his only chance to get on the O’Keefe stage a place that he had been yearning to reach for 13 years.

This turned into a career that allowed him to tour North America and after 287 performances he declared himself Canada’s Foremost Operatic Mute.

Briane also shares his personal stories of being bullied in childhood for being fat – and how that helped create the wit that later found him on stage at Yuk Yuks and appearing on Evening at the Improv with Howie Mandel and Jim Carrey. Mixed in is the story of his touching relationship with his father, a divorce lawyer in the 60’s, and the special relationship with his older sister Karen who got him to perform comedy routines at age 8.

Confessions, which previewed at the SouloTheatre Festivals in Toronto last May and in Totnes, England last July, is being remounted and improved by Dora Award winning director by Peter Moss – petermoss.ca

“Briane is a natural and powerful storyteller… veering into comedic mayhem”
R. Stephen, Windsor Square

Performance Dates
Wednesday, July 2, 2014 – 8:45pm
Friday, July 4, 2014 – 10:30pm
Saturday, July 5, 2014 – 1:45pm
Sunday, July 6, 2014 – 3:00pm
Monday, July 7, 2014 – 8:30pm
Wednesday, July 9, 2014 – 5:45pm
Saturday, July 12, 2014 – 12:30pm 

Venue
George Ignatief Theatre, 15 Devonshire Place. (Near Bloor and St. George.)

Ticketing
Tickets are $10 (cash-only) at the door, $12 in advance. Advance tickets may be purchased online (visa/amex), or from the Fringe Club box office (cash/visa/amex), located in Honest Ed’s Alley during the festival. Money-saving passes are also available; see website for details.

Be advised that there is absolutely no latecomer seating at Fringe shows.

 

Mute The Musical – Toronto Fringe 2014 Press Release

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From Press Release
Infinity Arts Productions & the Toronto Fringe Festival present

In the midst of a great bullying epidemic comes a fresh new voice: Alinka Angelova’s MUTE (The Musical). After three years of school tours, Infinity Arts Productions is bringing this inspirational tale of one girl’s fight to find her voice in a world that wants to silence her to the Toronto Fringe Festival. MUTE (The Musical) plays July 2-13 at Randolph Theatre.

Tickets are available beginning June 12 via www.fringetoronto.com, by telephone at 416-966-1062 (ext.1), or at the door.At a new school where her amazing voice stands as a threat to the class queen, Juliana finds herself bullied into silence. Devastated by the death of her beloved grandfather, she loses her inspiration as well as her voice.

For the first time in her life, she alone must find the confidence within to come out of the shell that has become her prison — or forever be MUTE.

Featured on Dragon’s Den in 2011, and Rogers TV (2013), MUTE has been raising voices and awareness about the effects of bullying not only on a person’s well-being and sense of self, but also their destiny.

“Silence is forgotten, but courage is remembered by all.”

While it may feel like High School Musical with a social conscience, MUTE comes by its heart honestly: playwright/director Alinka Angelova (Infinity Arts Productions), was inspired by her brother, composer Robert Chambers’ (Any Key Music System)  experience as a bully – often being on the receiving end of it herself. The way in which Robert was able to use his relationship with music to help overcome his urges to bully, and how they found reconciliation, inspired her to partner with him to write this musical.

“It is sometimes difficult to find a play to attend that is deep enough and real enough to capture the attention of today’s youth, especially our older students. MUTE is the perfect ‘in your face’ type of production that even high school students can connect with. The main storyline is simple enough that younger classes can understand it too.” – Teacher, Mapleview Heights Elementary School.

Asserting its voice for the first time on a professional stage, MUTE features choreography by Dora nominated Teisha Smith Guthrie (Long Live, Reason D’etre Productions), original cast member Robert Venton in the role of Grandpa (Lend Me a Tenor, Mystic Vision’s Stage Company), recurring cast members Rochelle Robinson (I Need To Know My Father, Marcia Brown Productions), Nicole McCafferty (Spring Awakening, Lower Ossington Theatre), and Preston Squire (At Last, Infinity Arts Productions).

Finding their MUTE voices for the first time are Holly Wyder (The Buddy Holly Story, Magnus Theatre), Jackie Rose-Brown (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Randolph Academy for the Performing Arts), Alyssandria Messina (Macbeth, Theatre Erindale), Roselyn Kelada-Sedra (Love’s Labour’s Lost, RADA), Freeyon Chung (JiggiJump/MathJam/PigMania, Education Arts Canada), Jennifer Boyce (Campground Confidential, McSweeneys Dinner Theatre), Luiz Monterei (Grease, St. Lawrence College), Sam Strelshik (Bye Bye Birdie, Toronto Youth Music Theater Company), Charlene Doreland (Filipino Idol), Kierans Jordan (Themes of Grief, Black Rabbit Theatre Company) and introducing Bryna Weiss (Into the Woods, Music Theatre Montreal) as Juliana.

Infinity Arts Productions was founded by Alinka in 2003. Producing original musicals and cabarets, it opened Infinity Performing Arts Academy in 2011. MUTE at the Toronto Fringe Festival is Infinity’s debut in professional theatre.

Show information for MUTE:
Venue: Randolph Theatre, 736 Bathurst Street, Toronto

Dates & Times:
Wed. July 2 @ 8:15pm
Fri. July 4 @ 3:30pm
Sun. July 6 @ 1:15pm
Mon. July 7 @ 8:15pm
Tue. July 8 @ 1:00pm
Fri. July 11 @ 5:15pm
Sat. July 12 @ 11:00pm

Tickets:

$10 for at the door (cash only) or $12 in advance (Visa or MasterCard, service charge included)
Beginning June 12 via www.fringetoronto.com, by telephone at 416-966-1062 (ext.1), or at the door.
Show running time is 60 minutes.    **Please note that there is absolutely no latecomer seating**

Komunka – Toronto Fringe 2014 Press Release

From Press Release

LIFE IN HOMOPHOBIC, SEXIST RUSSIA THROUGH THE EYES OF ITS PEOPLE IN KOMUNKA

Enjoy an evening in a Moscow kitchen with seven Russians engaging in real life conflicts around everyday issues:
gays and homophobes, working class macho guys and intellectuals, women and men. They fight, drink, and talk about immigration, human rights, Putin, the Ukraine, and gays. Sit around a table and have a drink with some very real and imagined Russians in Russia today!

Description.
Komunka is a devised play that invites you to observe life in a traditional communal Moscow apartment in Moscow. The characters – four families (six tenants living in four rooms) and an immigrant living in a box – are embroiled in many difficult, funny, violent and ultimately touching situations. In the Komunka household the battle lines gradually emerge as being pretty clearly drawn. Olga, the older actress, allies with the young out-of-the-closet gay man (Alex) and the young woman (Masha) who is abused be her husband. Olga encourages both of them to express themselves (which is against the law in Alex’s case) Sasha and Max both reinforce patriarchal patriotic sexism, cheering for Putin and for keeping a woman’s place in the home, as well as for the invisibility of gays. These views in the play are linked with nationalism and physical violence. Not co-incidentally, Max and Sasha also toast international crack-addict celebrity Rob Ford.

Story angle.
Yury Ruzhyev and Sky Gilbert are both openly gay performers who have made significant contributions to drag performance through their solo shows. Sky is a Dora Award winning writer, and Yury’s Viva Cabaret has toured the world. The play is very timely as it is focuses mainly on Putin’s aggressive nationalistic policies and their social implications. For people who care about what is happening in the world and the fate of a Europe that is now under threat from a man who many view as a powerful militaristic oligarch, this show is a must see. As we get closer to our Fringe show in June, tension will mount in the Ukraine, and around the world, as people everywhere try to come to terms with the threat coming from Putin’s Russia. This play takes a close look at the origins of that threat.

For the Russian and Ukrainian immigrant community in Toronto the play is a fascinating exploration of present day life in Russia and will spark memories of past experiences, as well as sparking discussion about present day issues.

Creators and players.
Since Komunka is about important world issues it could not help but be of passionate interest to a group of committed actors, featuring a TV writer/actor (Sean Pratt), two playwright/actors (Julia Porter and Andrew Pimento), a veteran Canadian comedian and actress of Wayne and Schuster fame (Penny Mahon) and young emerging Canadian acting talents (Matthew Sarookanian and Andrew Cromwell).

 

HOOLIGANS THEATRE in association with The Toronto Fringe Festival presents

K O M U N K A (comedy, drama)
A collective creation from an idea by Yury Ruzhyev. Directed by Sky Gilbert
Featuring: Andrew Cromwell, Peggy Mahon, Julia Porter, Andrew Pimento, Sean Pratt, Yury Ruzhyev, Matthew Sarookanian.
Stage managed by Bryan Clifford

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http://ruzhyev.wix.com/komunka
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Opens July 3rd runs to July 13th
HELEN GARDINER PHELAN PLAYHOUSE. 79 St George St.
Performances:
July 3 – 7:00pm
July 6 – 10:45pm
July 7 – 3:15pm
July 9 – 7:30pm
July 11 – 3:30pm
July 12 – 12:00pm
July 13 – 5:45pm
Tickets: $10

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)