From Press Release
aware! productions presents
ANCIENT HISTORY
By David Ives
New Toronto-based company presents the Canadian Premiere of ANCIENT HISTORY – an early gem by the comic genius, David Ives, award-winning author of VENUS IN FUR.
Ruth and Jack. Two tall, thin, witty thirty-somethings who “are the same person” – the perfect match. Two lovers who never fight, can hum the Mendelssohn Octet and quote the Marx brothers by heart. Two lovers in Paradise, celebrating Ruth’s birthday….until a marriage proposal and cultural differences threaten to drive them apart. Can their “alikeness” triumph over their differences?
Written by David Ives, the mastermind behind such hits as ALL IN THE TIMING and the Tony award-winning VENUS IN FUR, this lesser-known gem premiered on Broadway in 1989, was revised and remounted in 1996, and has never been professionally produced in Canada. A tightly-written script with endless witticisms, puns, and intellectual repartee, ANCIENT HISTORY is a hilarious, hard-hitting two-hander that leaves no holds barred in both humour and heartbreak.
Producer/actor Tiana Leonty and Director Richard Beaune came across this play while completing their MFA degrees at York University, and teamed up with York BFA grad – Assistant Director Alexandra Augustine. Rounding out the company are actor Zack Amzallag and Stage Manager Virginia Cardinal. Beaune is the Artistic Director of Keystone Theatre (The Last Man on Earth), where he directed Dora award-winning The Belle of Winnipeg, and is also directing Gold Fever at this year’s Fringe. Leonty (playing “Ruth”), is an Edmonton Fringe Festival veteran making her Toronto stage debut. Amzallag (playing “Jack”) recently appeared in Teatron Jewish Theatre’s Handle with Care and makes his Toronto Fringe debut.
aware! productions has assembled an all-star team to uncover the beauty, brutality, and finesse of this little-known masterpiece for Toronto audiences for the first time. Can Ruth and Jack continue to live in paradise? Or, in six months, will they be…ancient history?
aware! productions, in association with The Toronto Fringe Festival presents Ancient History, by David Ives
Directed by Richard Beaune, Assistant Director Alexandra Augustine
Featuring Zack Amzallag and Tiana Leonty
Stage managed by Virginia Cardinal
Opens July 3, 2014 and runs to July 13, 2014 at ROBERT GILL THEATRE – 214 College Street, 3rd Floor. Theatre is air conditioned.
Performances:
Thursday, July 3, 2014 – 8:15pm
Sunday, July 6, 2014 – 3:30pm
Monday, July 7, 2014 – 10:30pm
Tuesday, July 8, 2014 – 6:45pm
Thursday, July 10, 2014 – 1:45pm
Friday, July 11, 2014 – 2:15pm
Sunday, July 13, 2014 – 4:30pm
Running time: approx. 85 min. Please note that there is absolutely no latecomer seating.
Tickets: Purchase online: fringetoronto.com.
By Phone: 416-966-1062
In Person: During the Festival Box Office in the parking lot behind Honest Ed’s (581 Bloor St W).