All posts by Lauren Stein

(Don’t Splash) Shelley Rae – Toronto Fringe 2013 Press Release

From Press Release

SHELLEY RAE MAY BE A MERMAID,
but she is not your maid by any means.

FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY! Come and see a glimpse of Shelley Rae! Discovered near shark-infested Cuban waters, this mermaid is like nothing you’ve ever seen. Please remember: DO NOT water her, DO NOT feed her, and certainly DO NOT indulge her—unless you are parched with curiosity and willing to pay the price.

 

(Don’t Splash) Shelley Rae is an interactive and unique theatre piece that absolutely depends on the audience to propel the narrative. Luxuriating in a pink kiddy pool in the middle of an 8’ x 8’ shed, Shelley Rae is ready to answer all your questions! Do you want to know how a mermaid speaks English? How mermaids reproduce? What are the hopes and dreams of a mermaid lost on land? The conversation depends on you! Stop by to see this unique immersive theatre project being performed at The Fringe Club. But a word of caution, Shelley Rae has her own agenda and sadly, due to her covetous nature, unrefined language, and bestial appearance, children are not permitted.

 

Written by Jaime Hernandez Lujan and directed by Nicholas Potter, (Don’t Splash) Shelley Rae is Vertebrae, Undone’s inaugural production. The two have collaborated on two previous productions: Pearl in a Pink Dress for Theatre Erindale’s Beck Festival, and, more recently, the award winning Marianne, Are You Asleep? for the 2013 University of Toronto Drama Festival which took home three prizes, one being Best Production.

 

Starring Kaitlyn Alexander. The three are currently enrolled in the Theatre and Drama Studies joint program at UTM/Sheridan and will all be appearing in Theatre Erindale’s upcoming 2013/2014 season. Kaitlyn Alexander has recently appeared as Mistress Quince in Theatre Erindale’s smash-hit, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

 

(Don’t Splash) Shelley Rae, the once in a lifetime experience pulled straight from a storybook more grim than Grimm.

 

Vertebrae, Undone
in association with The Toronto Fringe Festival presents

(Don’t Splash) Shelley Ray

Written by Jaime Hernandez Lujan

Directed by Nicholas Potter

Starring Kaitlyn Alexander

 

Opens  JULY 3rd to JULY 13th, 2013

THE FRINGE CLUB, 581 Bloor Street West, Toronto

 

Performances:

July 3rd, 9:00pm, 9:25pm, 9:50pm

July 5th, 9:00pm, 9:25pm, 9:50pm

July 6th, 2:30pm

July 7th, 9:00pm, 9:25pm, 9:50pm

July 8th, 7:00pm, 7:25pm, 7:50pm

July 9th, 3:30pm, 3:55pm, 4:20pm

July 10th, 7:00pm, 7:25pm, 7:50pm

July 11th, 9:00pm, 9:25pm, 9:50pm

July 12th, 7:00pm, 7:25pm, 7:50pm

July 13th, 2:30pm, 2:55pm, 3:20pm

Tickets:

All AlleyPlays are PWYC. Seating limited but frequent. 

 

Follow the exploits of Shelley Rae on Twitter! www.twitter.com/MeetShelleyRae

Strolling Player – Toronto Fringe 2013 Press Release

From Press Releasestrollingplayer
Strolling Player at the Toronto Fringe Festival
From enchanted boy at his father’s theatre to actor bringing Shakespeare to the White House, through death and divorce, Oscar Wilde and Harvey Fierstein, falling off the stage and falling in love, Richard Sheridan Willis recounts the passions and absurdities of one actor’s life.
 
There’s the paparazzi stalking a doomed marriage. A backstage brawl and a wedding ring, flung into a parking lot. Debilitating tours across America. Rehearsal in New York on 9/11, a performance for George W. Bush, a break-up in Venice. A beautiful, dark Northern Ontario girl, a wedding on a lake. Encounters with Daniel Day Lewis, Richard Burton, Dr. Who, Oscar Wilde. And Shakespeare, his first love. Always, there is Shakespeare.
********
 
Richard Sheridan Willis has appeared on Flashpoint, Law & Order, Nikita, Dr. Who, Lost Girl, and numerous other TV series. He has just finished acclaimed performances in Washington DC at the Folger Shakespeare Theatre as the Chorus in Henry V and Malvolio in Twelfth Night. Originally from England, he married the Canadian writer, Heidi Reimer and moved to Canada 5 years ago.
 
Lucas Wilson is Strolling Player’s Technical Director and is best known for his work as an illusionist. He has appeared on Canada’s Got Talent and made a successful pitch on The Dragon’s Den. According to The Guinness Book of World Records, Lucas is officially the world’s fastest straitjacket escape artist. www.theillusionist.ca.
 
Lisa Dent-Couturier is the General Director of Compass Theatre Productions. In addition to her work on Strolling Player, she can be found preparing for Compass’ 2013- 2014 Season which begins with a tour of The Little Prince and ends with performances at the Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts.  She will be dividing her time between Toronto and Stratford where her son Arden is playing the young Tommy in the Stratford Festival’s “Tommy” directed by Des McAnuff.
 
Robert Richmond directs Strolling Player. His off-Broadway hit production of Comedy of Errors was brought to La Jolla Playhouse by Des McAnuff. This year he directed the critically acclaimed Henry V at the Folger Shakespeare Theatre in Washington DC, which became the best-selling show in the theatre’s history. He has just directed Twelfth Night at the Folger and will return there to direct Richard III in 2014. www.robertrichmond.com, DreadfulSorrymovie.com
STROLLING PLAYER at the TARRAGON EXTRA SPACE
30 Bridgman Avenue, Toronto
July 3 – 13, 2013
Wednesday July 3 6:30pm
Friday July 5 3:30pm
Sunday         July 7 8:15pm
Monday         July 8 4:30pm
Wednesday July 10 12:00pm
Friday July 12 5:15pm
Saturday July 13   10:30pm
Please note that there is no latecomer seating.
Tickets:
$10 at the door (cash only). Available at TARRAGON EXTRA SPACE starting one hour prior to show time.
$11 in advance ($9 + $2 service charge, VISA or MC). On sale June 15th, 2013.
Purchase online: fringetoronto.com By phone: 416-966-1062, ext. 1
In person during the Festival: Box Office in the parking lot behind Honest Ed’s (581 Bloor St W)

This Prison Or: He CameThrough the Floor – Toronto Fringe 2013 Press Release

From Press Release

thisprisonACTIVIST THEATRE TROUPE BRINGS THE PRISON TO THE FRINGE

Hot on the heels of a 33-show cross-country tour that spanned theatres, churches, high schools and prisons, Theatre of the Beat has come home to Ontario to perform their first comedy – This Prison: Or He Came Through the Floor. Founded in 2011, Theatre of the Beat has quickly gained a reputation as a Social Justice theatre troupe that engages tough topics that people don’t usually talk about. After previously tackling pacifism, globalisation, and how communities respond to crime, Theatre of the Beat is now exploring fundamentalism, and what it’s like to be trapped in inherited worldviews.

This Prison Or: He Came Through the Floor tells the story of a deranged prisoner on death row, and the man who has come to rescue him. Combining tea-time and philosophy, This Prison explores Plato’s allegory of the cave using a witty script, slapstick comedy and a memorable set.

Written by Johnny Wideman, and starring Johnny Wideman and Benjamin Wert, Theatre of the Beat will bring ‘This Prison’ to the Toronto, Winnipeg and Edmonton Fringe festivals. Last year, Theatre of the Beat performed ‘Gadfly: Sam Steiner Dodges the Draft’ at the Montreal, Edmonton and Vancouver Fringe festivals. Co-written by Johnny Wideman, and co-starring Johnny and Benjamin, ‘Gadfly’ received a nomination for ‘Best English Script’ at the Montreal Fringe, as well as positive reviews  across the country.

This Prison Or: He Came Through the Floor can be seen during the Toronto Fringe Festival at the Robert Gill Theatre. The showtimes are the following:

Wednesday July 3rd at 8:45 PM
Saturday July 6th at 11:45 PM
Sunday July 7th at 4:00 PM
Tuesday July 9th at 10:45 PM
Thursday July 11th at 1:45 PM
Friday July 12th at 11:30 PM

For tickets, call the Fringe at 416-966-1062 or go to www.fringetoronto.com. Tickets are $10 at the door, $11 in advance.

The Final Trick of a Shoddy Magician – Toronto Fringe 2013 Press Release

shoddymagicianIt’s Just Plain Shoddy!

“The Final Trick of a Shoddy Magician”

Act 3.6.1 Productions is proud to present our breakout show, “The Final Trick of a Shoddy Magician”! In this show, we treat the audience to a character born out of sketch comedy and perfected using influences from clown and vaudeville style physical theatre. We take you back to Toronto in the 1920’s. Our play within a play follows the comeback show of our hero, The Great Operatini. Watch him attempt his most daring trick and see that his moniker “The Shoddy Magician” is absolutely not an understatement! Continue reading The Final Trick of a Shoddy Magician – Toronto Fringe 2013 Press Release →

Adventures of a Professional Corpse – Toronto Fringe 2013 Press Release

From Press Release
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The Adventures of a Professional Corpse
Gone today, here tomorrow
A fresh spin on the wildly popular pulp fiction magazines of the 1930s and 40s, whose contemporary cultural influence ranges from graphic novels, to fashion to slang.
Meet James, a devoted son who quits university to save the family farm. With the help of an exotic elixir that lets him feign death, he quickly learns there’s a good living to be made from dying.  Inside the genre’s world of socialites, wise crackers, shady dames, and gangsters, you’ll go on a ride from 4H club to country club to nightclub. Inspired by the serial from “Weird Tales” written by Napanee Ontario’s own “King of the Pulps”, H. Bedford-Jones.