Heather studied film at Humber College and English and Theatre at UTSC. She works as a stage manager, usually watching from the booth or lurking backstage. She has written for various websites since 2009. Unofficially, she’s also a total nerd with an obsession with sci fi TV series, fantasy novels, Dungeons and Dragons, and and video games. Follow her on Twitter at @bluealbow4eva.
This festival does not put on full-scale productions, rather, it consists of readings – the actors are not in costume, do not act out the scene, and read directly from the script. This is something you should be aware of going in. This serves to highlight the focus on the playwrights rather well. Each day an excerpt from a play is read, followed by a full read-through of another play.
Last night, I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the black tie gala and show Best of Arabesque at the Fleck Dance Theatre in the Harbourfront Centre. The show was held in celebration of two milestones: the 15th anniversary of the founding of Arabesque Dance Company and Orchestra, and the 30th anniversary of the dance career of the company’s founder, Yasmina Ramzy.
The National Theatre of Great Britain, National Angels, Bob Boyett and David Mirvish have announced the all-Canadian cast of the Canadian premiere production of the National Theatre of Great Britain’s Olivier and Tony Award-winning production War Horse. War Horse begins performances at the Princess of Wales Theatre on February 10th and opening night is February 28th, 2012.
There are thousands of names in the phonebook. How many of those people would be willing to donate to a good cause? This is the premise for People4Change, a play that follows three young people – Dale (Colin Edwards), Lisa (Alisha Stranges) and Jaelene (Marissa Zinni) who team up to make a difference in the world after witnessing a death on the subway tracks, and whose efforts to collect money over the phone for charity change all of their lives in drastic ways. People4Change is playing in the Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace until September 24th.
Toronto mayor Rob Ford has made repeated promises to “stop the gravy train”. Recently, the City Manager has made recommendations that foster the opinion that the arts are, in fact, “gravy” and apparently not a vital part of our city. Today, the Toronto Arts community held a press conference to respond to the recommendations.
The Alameda Theatre Company’s De Colores Festival of New Works is Canada’s premiere festival for Latin-American playwrights and is the first playwrights unit in Canadian history to feature Latin-American/Canadian writers.
