From press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Convection Productions Presents

May 27th, 2013

Toronto Critic Award Winning Artists and

Canadian Fringe Festival Favourite Laura Anne Harris

Present The Homemaker

Critically acclaimed solo performer Laura Anne Harris is very pleased to be presenting her newest solo show, The Homemaker at the 25th Annual Toronto Fringe Festival for three special performances.

 After their huge success at the Next Stage Festival this past January, Jenni Walls and Laura Anne Harris team up again in the Annex Theatre.

Two charismatic performers and two dynamic cabarets! Fringe and Next Stage Festival starlets Jenni Walls and Laura Anne Harris present their two solo shows, Liza Live! and The Homemaker in one venue! Two different characters from vastly different circumstances; one familiar face, Liza Minnelli who was born a star, the other, Janet Cardinal, an isolated housewife in Saskatchewan who has always dreamed of being on stage. Both Ms. Walls and Ms. Harris are exploring each character’s triumphs and deep vulnerabilities, which will make for a memorable Fringe experience.

Based on a legend in Ms. Harris’ family, The Homemaker, explores the life of Ms. Harris’ Aunt whose name appears as Janet Cardinal in the play.

Janet Cardinal is a French-Canadian homemaker from Leoville, Saskatchewan who wants to share her life story as a show! The story of her marriage to her husband and to alcohol is told through cabaret ‘acts’ of poetry, dance, puppetry and song within her kitchen.

Ms. Harris has trained in clown and physical theatre with Helen Donnelly, Adam Lazarus, Giusspeppe Condello and Francine Cote. Theatrical clown balances darker and lighter themes very effectively on stage. Even though this play does not use the traditional red nose, “red nose clown” and bouffon directly influence the playful nature of the storytelling.

Through family stories Ms. Harris learned her Great Aunt was really fun and happy when she was drunk. She would always sing the song, ‘Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag’ around her immediate family. But behind that happy tipsy demeanor was a woman who struggled with an unhappy marriage and addiction to alcohol. This play acts as a tribute Ms. Harris’ Great Aunt and examines the struggles of being a 1960s homemaker, the justifications for some of her life decisions as well as the limitations of an unbalanced relationship.

The Homemaker, created and performed by Laura Anne Harris

Directed by Morgan Norwich

Assistant Directed by Darcy Stoop

Annex Theatre, 730 Bathurst St, Toronto ON

Only Three Performances!

Thursday July 4th 8:45pm

Sunday July 7th 8:00pm

Thursday July 11th 12pm

For information about tickets please visit:

fringetoronto.com

For more information or interview requests, please contact:

Laura Anne Harris at 1-ˇ416-ˇ820-ˇ9383 or by email lauraanneharris@hotmail.com

Photo by Neil Muscott

“[A] hilarious look at the world of touring children’s theatre.”

From press release:

Solo performance sensation Jeff Leard is coming back to the Toronto
Fringe Festival (July 3-14) with a hilarious new autobiographical tale about the travails of a children’s theatre company touring through northern Rocky Mountains.

In The Show Must Go On, Leard relates war stories of the six months he spent in a van with a hot young ingénue and a grizzled veteran of the school circuit, bringing a production of Rumplestiltskin to
schools in BC’s isolated mountain communities. Over more than 5,000 kilometers travelled, Leard performed for incontinent children, was nearly stampeded to death by a herd of caribou, and was robbed
at gunpoint of all his belongings – all in the name of bringing art to kids.

Leard is best-known to Fringers for his hit solo show Gametes & Gonads, a high-energy physical comedy that turned the human reproductive system into a multi-character sci-fi epic in the vein of Star Wars, which toured Canada and played at the Toronto Fringe in 2011. The Show Must Go On sees Leard once again display his mastery of athletic physical comedy, mime, character voices, and brutally funny observations to tell a personal story about the power of art to transform both the artist and the audience.

Leard, a Victoria native who now calls Toronto home, created the show with direction from his father James Leard, a fixture of the Victoria theatre company and owner of Story Theatre Company, which creates
children’s shows to tour to elementary schools in British Columbia.

The Toronto Fringe is just the beginning for The Show Must Go On, which is touring the Fringe Circuit across Canada this summer, playing festivals in London, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, and Victoria.

The Show Must Go On, presented by the Random Samples Collective
 (in association with the Toronto Fringe Festival) plays the following dates at the George Ignatieff Theatre (15 Devonshire Place):

• July 5, 7 PM
• July 6, 11 PM
• July 8, 2:45 PM
• July 9, 7 PM
• July 11, 9:45 PM
• July 12, 1:45 PM
• July 13, 11:30 PM

Tickets are$10 and can be bought at the door, or purchased in advance at fringetix.ca or by phone at 416-966-1062, extension 1. Additional fees apply to advance purchases.

Please note that latecomers are never seated at Fringe performances.

Photograph of Jeff Leard by Dahlia Katz.

“You are not going to believe what happened at The Oak Room.”

From press release:

Inspired by the playwright’s own experience of being stranded in a snowcovered small town, The Oak Room (“Best New Play” – Toronto Fringe 2013) is a genre-defying slice of Canadiana: a sort of “Northern Gothic” tale, streaked with sardonic humour, cryptic plotting, and shocking violence. Written for a cast of five men and set in a single room, this play examines notions of memory, masculinity, and the power of storytelling.

Hot off his success directing Red One Theatre’s Geography of a Horse Dreamer (“a non-stop roller coaster ride of laughs and chills” – Now Magazine), Amos Crawley brings focus and energy to this thrilling project. His powerhouse cast features some of Toronto’s best established and emerging talent, including Daniel Roberts, Nigel Hamer, Ari Millen, Carlos González-Vio, and Sandy Crawley.

Continue reading The Oak Room – Toronto Fringe 2013 Press Release →

“A cross between Dame Edna and Billy Connolly with a dollop of Eddie Izzard.”

From press release:

From critically acclaimed comedian Mike Delamont comes the hit one
man show GOD IS A SCOTTISH DRAG QUEEN. A 2012 Just For Laughs Best Comedy Award Nominee, this show has sold out Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Montreal, and Orlando and will finally make it’s Toronto debut as part of the 2013 Toronto Fringe Festival.

Based on a character created by comedian Mike Delamont and Ride The Cyclone crator Jacob Richmond, God, dressed in a floral power suit, comes down to skewer everything from Justin Bieber and the Mayans to Monkeys and the Pope in an unforgettable hour of hilarity.

Continue reading God is a Scottish Drag Queen – Toronto Fringe 2013 Press Release →