Liza Live! – Toronto Fringe 2013 Press Release

From Press Release

lizaliveLiza Live! is a Liza impersonation done right by the firecracker talent of Jennifer Walls. Walls’ earth-shaking set of pipes alongside an impersonation that steers clear of parody and goes all in for a loving, caring portrait of Liza.” – Michael Lyons, FAB Magazine

Experience Liza Minnelli like you’ve never seen her before.  Featuring music and memories from one of the most dynamic (and dysfunctional) female stars of the last 60 years, Liza Live! is a hilarious and heart warming look into the life of a woman who when the going got tough, the tough hit the stage.

After her sold out run at the Next Stage Festival, Jennifer Walls gives you Liza Minnelli like you’ve never seen her before.

LIZA LIVE!

Don’t worry. Just stick with me. I’ll never let you down. I won’t. Just believe me, not what you read. Just believe what you see, all right?Liza Minnelli

 

Annex Theatre

730 Bathurst St

July 8  –  3:15pm

July 9 – 10:15pm

July 12 – 4:30pm

July 13 – 2:15pm

Conceived, performed and produced by Jennifer Walls

Featuring Donavon LeNabat and Jamie Bird

Directed by Byron Laviolette – Original Dramaturgy by Ryan G. Hinds

Stage Managed by Sonia Vaillant – With additional writing by Shane Hollon

Weaksauce – Toronto Fringe 2013 Press Release

From Press Release

weaksauceA coming-of-age comedy of first times, second chances and third wheels.

Acclaimed humourist Sam Mullins (CBC’s The Irrelevant Show, CBC’s Definitely Not the
Opera) is proud to be back at the Toronto Fringe with his new solo show Weaksauce.

It was the summer Sam turned 16… It was his first time away from home. He got his first summer job. He fell in love for the first time. He was involved in a love triangle for the first time. He lost his virginity. And then he got into a fistfight with a monkey – a literal monkey. Y’know… Regular ‘becoming a man’ type stuff.

“A very funny and touching show about the nature of love and growing up.” -PLANK
“This show has a big heart.” -Colin Thomas, Georgia Straight

From the creator of 3-time BEST OF FEST WINNER Tinfoil Dinosaur

PASSE MURAILLE BACKSPACE
Thu, July 4th 930pm
Sat, July 6th 315pm
Sun, July 7th 245pm
Mon, July 8th 730pm
Wed, July 10th 445pm
Thu, July 11th 430pm
Fri, July 12th 1030pm
Sun, July 14th 215pm

 

Saint Francis Talks to the Birds – Toronto Fringe 2013 Press Release

From Press Release

saintfrancis

David Ives’ Saint Francis Talks to the Birds

Marks RPP’s 10th Toronto Show, First Fringe Show and Finds Out What Life is Like If We Were Birds

Royal Porcupine Productions first Fringe outing certainly captures the spirit of what a Fringe show should be; an absurdist comedy with a drag-king performance of a famous Saint in a life or death situation chatting it up with two actors decked out as full beak-and-feather birds performed by an emerging company and written by a recent Tony nominee.

 

If it seems like RPP knows what to do at the Fringe that should come as no surprise; company co-founder and Artistic Director Adam Bailey directed last year’s Fringe hit The Enchanted Crackhouse (deemed one of the 25 shows most worth seeing in the 2012 Fringe by Mooney on Theatre) and has been a part of several avant-garde performance groups over the years. The company itself has given several international plays their Canadian premiers including Terrorism, Crazy Gary’s Mobile Disco and The Shadow of a Boy and has done some very fringy productions such as a run of No Exit at the Big Bop’s Holy Joe (Now a CB2). Core artistic members Annemieke Wade, Cameron Johnston and Tanya Rigely(formerly Tanya Lynne), each of whom have given notable performances in the past, form the back-bone of the production as St. Francis and a pair of birds with marital issues. The last time Cameron Johnston and Tanya Rigley performed with each other, it was buck naked in a dramatically charged scene of sexual dominance; Christopher Hoile noted for Eye Weekly  that, “The subtlety of their…acting almost makes one forget they are both completely nude”.  Now they will appear fully clothed thanks to costumes by Ima Barbosa (The F Word).

 

Despite being a comedy Mr. Bailey credits dealing with the death of his grandmother to his choice of material. Also no surprise as the company has a history of pairing dark material with comedic treatment. David Ives’ play deals heavily with mortality and faith all while keeping a manic, farcical energy that is bound to entertain the hardiest Fringer.

 

Make sure to catch what is sure to be a highlight of the Fringe and RPP’s funniest play to date.

 

Royal Porcupine Productions
in association with The Toronto Fringe Festival presents

Saint Francis Talks To the Birds

written by David Ives

directed by Adam Bailey

featuring Annemieke Wade, Cameron Johnston and Tanya Rigely
costume design by Ima Barbosa

stage managed by Rachel Liley

 

Opens  July 4th runs to July 14th

Helen Gardiner Phelan; 79 St George St Toronto

 

Performances:

Thursday July 4th at 7pm

Saturday July 6th at Noon

Sunday July 7th at 10:45pm

Monday July 8th at 2:45pm

Wednesday July 10th at 7:30pm

Friday July 12th at 3:30pm

Sunday July 14th at 7:30pm

Please note that there is absolutely no latecomer seating.


Tickets:

At-the-door tickets: $10

At-the-door tickets are available at YOUR VENUE starting one hour prior to show time – cash sales only.

 

Advance tickets: $11

50% of tickets are available for sale in advance.

Advance tickets go on sale June 15th, 2013.

One Side of an Ampersand – Toronto Fringe 2013 Press Release

From Press Release

onesideoftheampersand

Flying Radio Theatre is proud to present its debut production, One Side of an Ampersand, by Julie McCann, as part of the Toronto Fringe Festival at the Randolph Theatre, July 3rd-14th. Co-directed by Julie McCann and Jasmin Goode, and featuring Zoe Brownstone, Hilary McCormack, Rebecca Perry, and Chris Whidden, One Side of an Ampersand is produced by a team of current and recently graduated Ryerson Theatre School students.

With the international focus on achieving marriage rights for people lesbians and gays, it’s easy to forget that not every relationship is as easy as “meet, fall in love, get married.” Alice (Hilary McCormack) and Helen (Zoe Brownstone) are quite happy with their no-strings-attached, casual, whatever-this-is-who-needs-labels relationship, thank you very much. But when Helen offers Alice a key to her apartment, Alice revolts, and the two of them battle over whether this new stage in the relationship will keep things as they are, or make them Helen & Alice, each trapped on One Side of an Ampersand. A visit from recently engaged Daisy (Rebecca Perry) sparks a heated debate over marriage. The situation grows more complex when Helen’s former lover from university (Chris Whidden), freshly departed from his wife, comes back into the scene to try to re-kindle long lost love. Julie McCann’s new play questions the normative, hetero-approved model of happiness, and offers a fresh, funny, and warm look at a loving, non-traditional relationship.

Flying Radio Theatre is a new company devoted to developing original works that explore relationships in our changing society. By focusing on non-tradtional relationships we aspire to start conversations about the roles of love, sex, and gender in today’s world. Julie McCann’s One Side of an Ampersand is our first production.

Five Rules to Break at Fringe

The first rule of Toronto’s Fringe theatre festival is not to follow any

The notion of there being a “proper” way to “do” Fringe is odd, right? Here’s a festival dedicated to independent and outside-the-box arts: how can you possibly have rules? Doesn’t that completely miss the point?

But the truth is that, yes: Fringe has rules. And not just rules about sex in the beer tent. There are unspoken rules: things we all do, patterns to our behaviour, assumptions we all make.

And some of these unspoken rules are very, very silly.

queue

Rule 1: Stand in line to get a good seat.

If there’s one thing people know about optimal Fringe technique, it’s the importance of standing in line. Do you want to get a bad seat? Of course not: so get there early, and stay put!

This advice is completely, completely wrong.

A typical Fringe venue might seat 30 people. In a venue that small, there aren’t any bad seats. In fact, if you can keep a secret, the best seats for most Fringe shows are right down in the very front row–and people usually avoid them like the plague!

So why are you standing around in the sun? You’re in the Annex! The neighbourhood’s bursting at the seams with book stores, art galleries, coffee shops, neat little parks, discount stores, and pleasant, leafy streets which are just perfect for idle wandering.

You might need to wait in a line to get a ticket. And Fringe never seats latecomers, so you absolutely must be back at the venue a few minutes before the curtain. But once you’ve got your ticket, go explore! Go taste! Go read, go gaze, go walk, go do literally anything but stand around waiting for the doors to open. You’ll thank yourself later.

Continue reading Five Rules to Break at Fringe