All posts by Katee Reid

Katee Reid is an assistant editor at Mooney on Theatre who joined the team in 2018.

4’33” in Baghdad – Toronto Fringe 2018 Press Release

From Press Release:

Following a staggering success at the 2018 St-Ambroise Montreal Fringe Festival where they took home the Runner-up Prize for the MainLine Creativity Award, Thought Experiment Productions’ Ülfet Sevdi and Nicolas Royer-Artuso look forward to pleasantly puzzling Toronto audiences with 4’33” IN BAGHDAD, a subtle scholarly striptease disguised as saucy TED Talk style stand-up comedy.

Theoretically grounded, conceptual and experimental, the performance cleverly couples themes of war, invasion, imperialism and academic research with avant-garde art theory, sound art and imposed sound installations (though, not necessarily in that order!)

Following its updated incarnation as a 40-minute multidisciplinary performance that debuted to great acclaim this past June at the Montreal Fringe Festival, 4’33” IN BAGHDAD is now set to entice (and entrap!) Toronto audiences ahead of its publication in the Canadian Theatre Review.

Details

  • 4’33” in Baghdad plays at the Factory Theatre Mainspace. (125 Bathurst St.)
  • Tickets are $13, including a $2 service charge. The festival also offers a range of money-saving passes and discounts for serious Fringers.
  • Tickets can be purchased online, by telephone (416-966-1062), from the Festival Box Office at Scadding Court (707 Dundas St. W.), and — if any remain — from the venue’s box office starting one hour before curtain.
  • Content Warning: Gunshots.
  • This venue is wheelchair-accessible through a secondary route.
  • Be aware that Fringe performances always start exactly on time, and that latecomers are never admitted.

Performances

  • Friday July 6th, 3:15 pm
  • Saturday July 7th, 7:30 pm
  • Sunday July 8th, 10:30 pm
  • Tuesday July 10th, 1:15 pm
  • Wednesday July 11th, 9:45 pm
  • Friday July 13th, 5:45 pm
  • Sunday July 15th, 3:30 pm

First Dates – Toronto Fringe 2018 Press Release

From Press Release: 

First Dates ​is about the humour and heartache inherent in the search for connection.

Different couples. Different generations. Different results.

Beautifully penned by Wes Berger, ​First Dates ​shares ​honest, playful and moving stories about the broken-hearted many, the open-hearted few and our search for connection in these fragile times. The play features an ​amazing cast of actors and production team from the theatre community.

All of us search for connection and companionship; we yearn to love and be loved. We search for it, find it and lose it. Everyone has stories to share. Stories about the blunders, triumphs and awkward moments of dating, relationships and everything in between. ​First Dates ​features characters of different sexual orientations, different generations and different experiences navigating love and relationships. ​First Dates ​is honest, relatable, funny and moving.

Carefully seeded throughout the play are intimate and hopeful songs written and performed by ​Aaron Berger ​brother to Wes and winner of a Niagara Music Award forBest Original Songwriter.

We hope you’ll come on a ​first date​ with us!

Details

  • First Dates plays at the St. Vladimir Institute. (620 Spadina Ave.)
  • Tickets are $13, including a $2 service charge. The festival also offers a range of money-saving passes and discounts for serious Fringers.
  • Tickets can be purchased online, by telephone (416-966-1062), from the Festival Box Office at Scadding Court (707 Dundas St. W.), and — if any remain — from the venue’s box office starting one hour before curtain.
  • Content Warnings: Mature language; Nudity.
  • This venue is wheelchair-accessible through a secondary route. After the building’s business hours, a staff member will need to escort you through this route, so plan to arrive at least 15 minutes early for evening shows.
  • Be aware that Fringe performances always start exactly on time, and that latecomers are never admitted.

Performances

  • Friday July 6th, 3:15 pm
  • Saturday July 7th, 9:15 pm
  • Monday July 9th, 5:00 pm
  • Tuesday July 10th, 1:00 pm
  • Thursday July 12th, 7:30 pm
  • Friday July 13th, 11:00 pm
  • Saturday July 14th, 3:30 pm

 

ANDY WARHOL MUSICAL: IN REHEARSAL – Toronto Fringe 2018 Press Release

From Press Release:

Andy Warhol’s Silver Factory defined an era and launched a movement in many art disciplines — film, visual art, theatre, music, dance, life in general. ANDY WARHOL MUSICAL explores the ethos of the Silver Factory and the people who created that scene.

Based on verbatim quotes — sourced from media interviews, documentaries, journals and other materials — ANDY WARHOL MUSICAL  gives us the wild collection of beauties, talkers, artists, poets, musicians, dancers, philosophers, models, drag queens, socialites and amphetamine takers who were at the Silver Factory.

Among the real-life people whose actual words tell the show’s stories are:
• Billy Linich, a loyal and loving friend to Warhol;
• Gerard Malanga, Warhol’s assistant in silk-screening who also created the dances in front of the Velvet Underground along with Mary Woronov;
• Ondine, a friend of Billy’s and the star of many Warhol films;
• Brigid Berlin, a longtime friend of Warhol and an artist in her own right;
• the female superstars – Baby Jane Holzer, Edie Sedgwick, Ultra-Violet, Viva and Nico;
• the drag queens – Candy Darling, Holly Woodlawn and Jackie Curtis;
• Freddie Herko, a brilliant dancer and the first drug casualty in the group;
• an assortment of art curators, patrons, biographers, and other celebrities who frequented the Silver Factory.

ANDY WARHOL MUSICAL is written and directed by Vinetta Strombergs, whose previous Fringe show, THE MUSICAL OF MUSICALS THE MUSICAL was a sell-out hit at the 2013 Fringe Toronto and then transferred for a commercial run at the Panasonic Theatre. Her immersive production of STUPID FUCKING BIRD was a critical success and popular hit at a pop-up venue on King Street West.

The songs and music are by Robert Swerdlow and come from his seminal early 1970s musical JUSTINE, which was performed at the Global Village, a warehouse space in Toronto very much in the style of the Silver Factory in New York. That musical was renamed LOVE ME, LOVE MY CHILDREN and transferred to New York, where it had a very successful Obie-Award-winning Off-Broadway run, starring Salome Bey. The songs and music are from this earlier musical and have been further developed, with new arrangements by Peter Nunn, a member of the group Honeymoon Suite. The choreography is by accomplished musical theatre director, choreographer and performer Gino Berti. The set design and projections are by the dean of Canadian theatre designers, Jim Plaxton.

Details

  • Andy Warhol Musical: In Rehersal plays at the Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace. (16 Ryerson Ave.)
  • Tickets are $13, including a $2 service charge. The festival also offers a range of money-saving passes and discounts for serious Fringers.
  • Tickets can be purchased online, by telephone (416-966-1062), from the Festival Box Office at Scadding Court (707 Dundas St. W.), and — if any remain — from the venue’s box office starting one hour before curtain.
  • Content Warnings: Mature language; Sexual content; Gunshots.
  • This venue is wheelchair-accessible. Accessible seating is in the very front row.
  • Be aware that Fringe performances always start exactly on time, and that latecomers are never admitted.

Performances

  • Wednesday July 4th, 7:00 pm
  • Saturday July 7th, 5:45 pm
  • Sunday July 8th, 12:00 pm
  • Tuesday July 10th, 6:15 pm
  • Wednesday July 11th, 11:30 pm
  • Thursday July 12th, 1:45 pm
  • Saturday July 14th, 9:15 pm

Grade 8 – Toronto Fringe 2018 Press Release

From Press Release:

Going back to her thirteenth year for inspiration, performer Lara MacMillan presents her storied concert Grade 8 at the 2018 Toronto Fringe Festival. She is one of the site specific (BYOV) offerings at this year’s Fringe and has chosen to mount the show in a classroom studio at Artscape Youngplace (180 Shaw St.). The building was formerly Givins-Shaw Elementary School and where MacMillan taught grade eight music twenty years ago. “I’m really looking forward to performing the show in a school classroom which is similar to the school I attended as a grade eight student,” says MacMillan. “And, it provides an extra level of meaning for me that it will take place in a school where I taught music for two years.”

A singer-songwriter with two full length CDs to her credit Miss Mercury (2008) and Lara MacMillan (2013)), Lara has been experimenting with storytelling in a more theatrical/ cabaret way for a number of years. She started with a straight up tribute show Lara Loves Leonard – a Cohen Cabaret where she performed a selection of his songs and poems. Then came Lara Loves Lennon and Lara Loves Lightfoot”When I did the Lennon show I shared some of my personal stories between his songs and poetic writings and after the show a good friend said “You should do more of that” and I thought…. yes! That’s what I want to do, connect personal story and public song.” For years fans of her original music shows enjoyed the patter from the stage as much as the songs themselves.

She tried with middling success to bring a long story arc to Lara Loves Lightfoot “I was trying to do two things in one show,” she says. “It was a tribute show on the one hand and on the other: stories from my nineteenth year living in Banff. As much as I love Lightfoot’s music it wasn’t what I was listening to that year, so there was a disconnect for me.” Grade 8, which MacMillan has already performed at the Stratford SpringWorks Festival and London Fringe, ends up being a different kind of tribute show, one that celebrates a year (1980-81). MacMillan calls the form a storied concert and loves how it has come to life. “Really it’s a one-woman-show-juke-box-musical and were talking 1980 radio-play so the music is SO much fun.”

When MacMillan started pulling stories together for Grade 8 she found that the central theme was the friendship she had had with one of her classmates, Sean. “There came a point when I realized that my show was his story as much as it was mine and I had to reach out to him to ask for his blessing.” The two had been connected on social media but had not seen each other in over thirty years. “I sent him the synopsis and held my breath,” she laughs. I really didn’t know what I would do if he said “Hell no!” – I guess I’d have had to re-write it.” Turns out Sean not only gave his blessing but travelled from Windsor to Stratford with his family for the show. “That was magic,” says Lara. “And a little emotional for all.”

What is the main take away for MacMillan now that the show is up on it’s feet? “It’s great to spend an hour with the thirteen-year-old me,” she says. She was a hell of a kid.”

Details

  • Grade Eight plays at Artscape Youngplace. (180 Shaw St.)
  • Tickets are $13, including a $2 service charge. The festival also offers a range of money-saving passes and discounts for serious Fringers.
  • Tickets can be purchased online, by telephone (416-966-1062), from the Festival Box Office at Scadding Court (707 Dundas St. W.), and — if any remain — from the venue’s box office starting one hour before curtain.
  • The Fringe Festival considers this venue to be wheelchair-accessible.
  • Be aware that Fringe performances always start exactly on time, and that latecomers are never admitted.

Performances

  • Saturday July 7th, 8:00 pm
  • Sunday July 8th, 2:00 pm
  • Monday July 9th, 7:00 pm
  • Tuesday July 10th, 7:00 pm
  • Wednesday July 11th, 8:00 pm
  • Thursday July 12th, 7:00 pm
  • Friday July 13th, 8:00 pm

PLAYS IN CAFES (SHADOWPATH) – TORONTO FRINGE 2018 PRESS RELEASE

From Press Release:

Plays In Cafés is returning to the Toronto Fringe for the 4th time. The signature series, created by Shadowpath’s Artistic Director, Alex Karolyi, launched in Newmarket in 2006. It has since provided a platform for new works and has frequented dozens of cafés in six different municipalities in York Region. In 2015, Plays In Cafés expanded its reach into Toronto and Vancouver via the Fringe!

Part of Shadowpath’s new work development is to nurture female theatre creatives. Plays In Cafésshowcases the Shadowpath Femme5 with an all-female production team and new plays created by women and directed by the unstoppable, Rosanna Saracino.

This year, Plays In Cafés has a new venue partner – Poetry Jazz Cafe, introducing a jazz trio to the production. Guests receive a menu where each item tells a story. The audience then charts the artistic course of action by ordering their entertainment off the menu. Three of the five possible plays will be performed each night and an evening of theatre and song shall be served throughout the venue. The flavour of plays includes rich, bitter, dry, sweet and spicy

Shadowpath was founded in 2002 and is a charitable arts organization that turns everyday spaces into creative places. Plays In Cafés is Shadowpath’s version of café theatre, integrating the performing arts with café culture. Shadowpath received the 2016 Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Award for Innovation in Newmarket and the 2016 Creativity Connected Award for Best Innovation in Richmond Hill.

Details

  • Plays In Cafes plays at the Poetry Jazz Cafe. (224 Augusta Ave.)
  • Tickets are $13, including a $2 service charge. The festival also offers a range of money-saving passes and discounts for serious Fringers.
  • Tickets can be purchased online, by telephone (416-966-1062), from the Festival Box Office at Scadding Court (707 Dundas St. W.), and — if any remain — from the venue’s box office starting one hour before curtain.
  • Content Warnings: Mature language; Audience participation; No minors admitted; Unconventional venue.
  • The Fringe Festival considers this venue to be wheelchair-accessible.
  • Be aware that Fringe performances always start exactly on time, and that latecomers are never admitted.

Performances

  • Thursday July 5th, 7:00 pm
  • Friday July 6th, 7:00 pm
  • Saturday July 7th, 7:00 pm
  • Tuesday July 10th, 7:00 pm
  • Wednesday July 11th, 7:00 pm
  • Friday July 13th, 7:00 pm
  • Saturday July 14th, 7:00 pm