Laurentina’s Funhouse – Toronto Fringe 2011 Press Release

From press release

YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU STEP INTO…LAURENTINA’S FUNHOUSE!

How many plays invite you to walk around the creator’s home? In the tradition of Rebecca Northan’s “Blind Date,” Laurentina’s Funhouse transforms a Kensington Market apartment into a circus, and an intimate audience of 20 strangers into friends and fellow performers.

Growing up in the circus, it has always been Laurentina’s dream to run away and become an accountant. After keeping her longing hidden and suppressed for years, Laurentina has found a fitting internship, and set up roots in Toronto in her first sedentary home. She has invited her favourite people for a walk around her new Funhouse (home just wouldn’t feel comfortable without a Cabin of Curiosities or an animal kingdom in the kitchen) and one last ballyhoo before her retirement. Will she succeed in her new life? Or will she feel homesick and give up? Answers to these questions and more (such as her circus skill itself) will be discovered with input from the audience in a show that is never the same twice.

“I like to blur the lines between performer and observer,” says Stein. “I believe that everybody has the talent, the ability, and the creativity to be their own star — but so many people hide it, or just don’t use it. I want people to get back in touch with their inner child, that freedom, that joy. Everyone can feel an awe of the circus again — and I want these 60 minutes to reignite that spark.”

Trained in the arts of improvisation, theatre, public speaking, and clowning, Lauren Stein has been teaching improv classes for over two years. She has spent a month on a circus farm, co-produced two webseries, produced a theatre festival, and co-hosts a weekly variety show. After completing her BA inDrama from the University of Guelph, she received improv training from Impatient Theatre Company, Second City, and Artistic New Directions in New York State. Prepare for the house tour of a lifetime in this intimate, interactive, and largely improvised theatrical extravaganza.

Laurentina’s Improv Club

in association with The Toronto Fringe Festival presents

Laurentina’s Funhouse

written by Lauren Stein

directed by Lauren Stein

starring Lauren Stein

Runs from July 6-17

51 Kensington Avenue, 2nd Floor

Performances:

Wednesday, July 6 – 8 pm

Thursday, July 7 – 7:30 pm

Sunday, July 10 – 12 pm

Monday, July 11 – 5 pm

Wednesday, July 13 – 7 pm

Friday, July 15 – 6 pm

Sunday, July 17 – 3 pm

Ticket Prices:

$10

Tickets:

10 advance tickets for pre-sale; 10 available at the door one hour prior to showtime.

Advanced tickets can be purchased at www.FringeToronto.com or (416) 966-1062.

YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU STEP INTO…

LAURENTINA’S FUNHOUSE!

How many plays invite you to walk around the creator’s home? In the tradition of

Rebecca Northan’s “Blind Date,” Laurentina’s Funhouse transforms a Kensington Market

apartment into a circus, and an intimate audience of 20 strangers into friends and

fellow performers.

Growing up in the circus, it has always been Laurentina’s dream to run away and

become an accountant. After keeping her longing hidden and suppressed for years,

Laurentina has found a fitting internship, and set up roots in Toronto in her first

sedentary home. She has invited her favourite people for a walk around her new

Funhouse (home just wouldn’t feel comfortable without a Cabin of Curiosities or an

animal kingdom in the kitchen) and one last ballyhoo before her retirement. Will she

succeed in her new life? Or will she feel homesick and give up? Answers to these

questions and more (such as her circus skill itself) will be discovered with input from

the audience in a show that is never the same twice.

“I like to blur the lines between performer and observer,” says Stein. “I believe that

everybody has the talent, the ability, and the creativity to be their own star — but so

many people hide it, or just don’t use it. I want people to get back in touch with their

inner child, that freedom, that joy. Everyone can feel an awe of the circus again — and

I want these 60 minutes to reignite that spark.”

Trained in the arts of improvisation, theatre, public speaking, and clowning, Lauren

Stein has been teaching improv classes for over two years. She has spent a month on a

circus farm, co-produced two webseries, produced a theatre festival, and co-hosts a

weekly variety show. After completing her BA in Drama from the University of Guelph,

she received improv training from Impatient Theatre Company, Second City, and

Artistic New Directions in New York State.

Prepare for the house tour of a lifetime in this intimate, interactive, and largely

improvised theatrical extravaganza.

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