Hazards – Toronto Fringe 2013 Press Release

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From press release:

We are besieged by hazards, real and imagined, those outside ourselves, and the ones inside our minds – from corrosive substances to not knowing which fork to use; from freefalling into love to meeting your personal Waterloo; from a meteor hitting earth to handwriting that begins to look like your mother’s, even though she’s left-handed and you are right-handed. HAZARDS, a one-woman show created by New York Times best-selling author Mina Samuels, will play at the Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse as part of the Toronto Fringe Festival July 5-13, 2013. Tickets are available beginning June 17 via www.fringetoronto.com by telephone at 416-966-1062 (ext.1), or at the door.

Inspired by the warning signs we encounter every day, HAZARDS dives into the chaotic soup of our minds, exposing our worries, from the personal to the universal, and our deep-seated fear of humiliation if we are “found out.” A performance piece in the absurdist tradition, HAZARDS combines spoken word with sometimes-frenetic, sometimes-beseeching movement, bringing us face-to-face with the question of our own significance in the universe.  And the answer is: YES!

HAZARDS’ playwright/performer Mina Samuels (Do You Know Me?) is also a successful author in both fiction and non-fiction genres, publishing a novel, The Queen of Cups, in 2007; Run Like A Girl: How Strong Women Make Happy Lives in 2011, for which she appeared on The Today Show; and co-authoring the New York Times bestseller The Think Big Manifesto with Michael Port in 2009. Returning to her first creative love – live theatre – Mina pairs up with director Lisa Chess (Do You Know Me?) to bring HAZARDS to the Toronto Fringe stage.

More information is available via www.minasamuels.com. Follow HAZARDS on Facebook for an ongoing irreverent celebration of the hazards we encounter in our everyday lives:www.facebook.com/HazardsPerformancePiece.

Show information for HAZARDS:

Venue: Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse
79A St. George St (St. George just below Harbord)
Performances: Friday July 5 – 5:15pm
Saturday July 6 – 7:30pm
Sunday July 7 – 9:00pm
Tuesday July 9 – 3:00pm		 Wednesday July 10 – 9:15pm
Thursday July 11 – 12:15pm
Saturday July 13 – 11:00pm
Please note there is absolutely no latecomer seating.
Tickets: $10 at the door (cash only)
Or $11 in advance ($9 + $2 SC, Visa or Mastercard)
beginning June 17 via www.fringetoronto.com or 416-966-1062 ext. 1
Photo of Mina Samuels by Nancy Adler.

Review: Zombie Toronto (Bad Dog Theatre)

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A triumphant finish for Zombie Toronto at the Comedy Bar

So, you’re stuck in the middle of the city, plagued by an army of the undead. There’s absolutely no support from the military or any other form of emergency services, and at any moment you’re likely to run into at least one of these flesh-eaters. What do you do?

That was the premise of Zombie Toronto, which had its closing performance Wednesday night at the Comedy Bar.  As one of Bad Dog Theatre’s many improv shows, Zombie Toronto stood out as one of the company’s more memorable productions thanks to its mix of unapologetically silly slapstick humour and no-holds-barred approach to social commentary.

Continue reading Review: Zombie Toronto (Bad Dog Theatre) →

Review: Birdbath (Still & Moving Theatre)

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“Birdbath” at Toronto’s Red Sandcastle is a charming production, full of personality.

Still & Moving Theatre is presenting Birdbath by Leonard Melfi at Toronto’s Red Sandcastle Theatre. Melfi, a deceased American playwright, has written many plays but Birdbath, first produced in 1965, is the most well-known of his work.

I attended the opening night on June 19th with my mother, Alice. We walked into the small venue and saw three long rows of chairs. The chairs were facing one side of the room designed as an old fashioned diner. I was handed a pamphlet and saw the description: “…a short, sweet, disturbing night at the theatre”. Having watched the play, I would say the description was very fitting.

Continue reading Review: Birdbath (Still & Moving Theatre) →

My High-Heeled Life: Or, How I Learned to Keep Worrying and Love My Stilettos – Toronto Fringe 2013 Press Release

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Hot off the plane from NYC, Sparking Fuse Presents:
My High-Heeled Life: Or, How I Learned to Keep Worrying and Love My Stilettos

Have you ever had an accidental orgasm in the shoe department? Or wondered when Uggs and flip-flops became acceptable dinner attire? In a world full of options, why do we opt to cope rather than celebrate? And how do we navigate our obsession with finding True Happiness? Perhaps it begins one pair of impossibly high stilettos at a time…

Sparking Fuse is proud to present the debut of Katharine McLeod’s solo play My High-Heeled Life: Or, How I Learned to Keep Worrying and Love My Stilettos as part of the 2013 Toronto Fringe Festival, opening July 4, 2013 at The Solo Room at the Tarragon Theatre. A Canadian actress living and working in NYC, McLeod brings her blend of story-telling, observational comedy, and wry humor to the festival in a play about “shoes, women and making it through the 21st century.” Originally developed at the University of Washington in Seattle, earlier versions of the show also appeared in NYC’s United Solo Festival and the Network One Act Festival, where it was a Semi-Finalist in 2012.

New York acting credits for McLeod include Wonder of the World, Jane Austen’s Persuasion, the DARE Project and Dear Harvey: A Play About Harvey Milk, winner of FringeNYC’s 2010 Overall Excellence Award for Ensemble Acting.  Regionally, McLeod has appeared in Pride and Prejudice (Actors Theatre of Louisville), Private Lives (Two River), Comedy of Errors (Vermont Shakespeare), Twelfth Night and All’s Well That Ends Well (Shakespeare in the Square/Flower City Festival).

My High-Heeled Life was developed in collaboration with Rod Ceballos, a veteran American director now based out of Toronto. He has worked at theaters as varied as Shakespeare Festivals of Chicago, Cincinnati and Idaho, Virginia Shakespeare Festival, Rose Theatre/Flower City Theatre Festival, The Empty Space Theatre, Fly on the Wall Theatre, and BirdLand Theatre.

A Canadian living in the US, and an American living in Canada, McLeod and Ceballos have been collaborating for over 10 years, and bring a unique perspective to their observations on society, women and what it means to be a 21st century global citizen. Additionally, they will also be working together on Mr. Ceballos’ Toronto Fringe Production, INGE SNAPSHOTS: MID-AMERICA MID-CENTURY, BUS RILEY’S BACK IN TOWN and GLORY IN THE FLOWER, presented by The Remnants Theatre Company.

For further information visit www.katharinemcleod.com or www.fringetoronto.com

Sparking Fuse

in association with The Toronto Fringe Festival presents

My High-Heeled Life: Or, How I Learned to Keep Worrying and Love My Stilettos

Written and performed by Katharine McLeod

Directed by Rod Ceballo

Opens July 4, 2013 and runs to July 14, 2013

THE SOLO ROOM at the Tarragon Theatre (2nd Floor) 30 Bridgman Ave

Performances:

July 4, 6:00pm                       July 7, 6:15pm                           July 10, 6:30pm                        July 13, 6:15pm

July 6, 3:15pm                       July 8, 7:30pm                           July 12, 7:00 pm                       July 14, 12:30pm

 

Please note that there is absolutely no latecomer seating.

Tickets:

At-the-door tickets: $10

At-the-door tickets are available at THE SOLO ROOM (Tarragon Theatre) 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.

Purchase online: fringetoronto.com.

By Phone: 416-966-1062, ext 1.  In Person: During the Festival Box Office in the parking lot behind Honest Ed’s (581 Bloor St W)

Review: Feng Yi Ting (Lincoln Centre Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, Currents – Art & Music, and Luminato)

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Toronto’s Luminato Festival presents Feng Yi Ting; a Chinese opera directed by Atom Egoyan

When Luminato announced it was presenting Feng Yi Ting, a Chinese opera sung in Mandarin and directed by Canadian director Atom Egoyan, it piqued my interest. I grew up with my grandparents in the house and I remember they’d often listen to Chinese opera records and watched bootlegged performances of traditional Chinese operas recorded on grainy Betamax video cassettes.

I have to admit I never developed a taste for Chinese opera. I suspect many Western theatre- and opera-goers won’t have had much exposure to traditional Chinese opera either and that’s why I found the concept of a Western director directing a Chinese opera primarily for a Western audience so intriguing.

Continue reading Review: Feng Yi Ting (Lincoln Centre Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, Currents – Art & Music, and Luminato) →