Preview: Paprika Festival

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Toronto’s 12th Annual Paprika Festival for emerging young and local theatre artists

The Paprika Festival, Toronto’s only theatre festival celebrating the work of young and emerging artists, returns to the Tarragon Theatre Extra Space March 27th to April 6th, 2013 with an ambitious programming line-up.

Celebrating its twelfth birthday, the Paprika Festival will showcase work by some of Canada’s most exciting young artists under the age of twenty-one. This year’s Festival features eleven full productions and six staged readings. All productions are original work created by over one hundred young artists selected from every corner of the Greater Toronto Area, and even as far afield as Ottawa.

My personal highlights of the 12th Annual Paprika Festival include:

  • Genesis and Other Stories, a new play by Paprika veteran and Associate Director Rosamund Small, which began its journey with Paprika four years ago as a play-reading. An amateur church theatre troupe prepares to put on a mid-century Adam and Eve adaptation, with a diverse collection of characters in the company.
  • This Play Is Like. As someone with a severe peanut allergy, This Play Is Like definitely caught my eye. The show is about a woman who is dealing with the effects of a peanut allergy, and how it sets her apart. What happens when you don’t quite fit into your environment?
  • This Is Your Script, a new collective creation by this year’s Creators’ Unit—a weekly program made up of individual participants from across the city.

In addition, Britta Johnson’s new musical-in-development, Life After, will be performed at a special fundraising event on April 5th. Life After features Canadian icon Sheila McCarthy and Toronto stage favourite Trish Lindström.

There will be play readings in the Tarragon’s upstairs Rehearsal Hall, starting at 6:30pm nightly. Admission is Pay-What-You-Can, and there are no tickets to these events. Playwrights featured include Romina Julian, Benjamin Feldman, Toby King, Sabrina White and Jennie Egerdie.

Studio Cabaret Series events will follow performances in the upstairs Rehearsal Hall, starting between 9:30-10pm each evening, and running until 11pm. These events are free! For a complete listing of Studio Cabaret Series events, please visit the website.

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