House of Rebels Theatre (HoRT) started in 2014 as a group of theatre creators fresh off of their Bachelor’s Degrees yearned for a place to start producing their writing and have their voices heard. Having been an avid podcast listener and sound designer, co-creator Ross Hammond found that producing their writing in a digital environment, it meant that people could hear the trio’s writing anywhere, at any time. All it took was a microphone and a quiet room. That’s how HoRT began their journey into creating podcast radio dramas (otherwise known as “Pod-Plays”). Since then, original co-creators Hammond, Rachel Kennedy, and most recently Rebel’s head producer Julia Rocchi have been producing original work by Canadian voices. Two years and several projects later, they are once again pursuing the dream of producing original work for a live audience with King of the Castle in the Toronto Fringe Festival this June 29th – July 10th.

HoRT is committed to telling stories that question the conventions of everyday life. In doing so, they continue to help foster the voices of writers both emerging and established that may not find their voices represented on stages content to tell the same stories again and again. With past projects such as Mysteries in Transit and Murmurs 2015: Innocence, playwrights were challenged to create from a very specific starting point and produce original work that told a different story. In the case of Mysteries, they were simply asked to tell a story of travel, and in Murmurs, they were each given one of three prompts, assuring them that at least one other writer would be creating from the same starting point, but that they would ultimately tell different stories.

Now with the Toronto Fringe approaching, King of the Castle, HoRT’s inaugural stage play is set to challenge the perceptions of it’s audience. The perception of others, as well as their perception of what the self is. Premiering in The Factory Theatre’s Mainspace, the Rebels are excited to show you what it means to tell a story that you aren’t ready to hear.