All posts by Megan Mooney

Megan loves being in the thick of all things theatre, but her ultimate goal is to promote theatre to the world of non-theatre people. It was the same when she was the theatre writer for blogTO, or the Fringe Correspondent for CBC Radio One‘s Here and Now, as it is as the founder of Mooney on Theatre. Her basic belief is that there is theatre/performance out there for everyone to love, they just need to find it. This is not to be confused with the idea that everyone should love theatre for theatre’s sake, in fact, as obsessed as she is with theatre, even *she* doesn’t love all types of theatre.

Beneath the Bed – Toronto Fringe 2019 Press Release

From Press Release

Theatre Born Between Presents:
Beneath the Bed by Gabe Golin

Running July 4th – 14th at Scadding Court Community Centre (Room 4) As part of this year’s Toronto Fringe Festival

“Beneath the Bed was an extraordinarily creative piece of theatre. It is a both a dark exploration of childhood trauma and also a celebration of the power of imagination as the best defence against the things that threaten us. Truly an impressive feat for a young playwright! I can’t wait to see how this develops!” – David Matheson, Coordinator of the Theatre and Drama Studies Program (Sheridan
College)

Fresh off of their My Entertainment World nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance for Vitals, Theatre Born Between comes to life with Beneath the Bed in this year’s Toronto Fringe Festival! In the aftermath of a trauma, a young child meets a monster living under their bed and together they discover through searching the stars that this too will pass. An exploration of childhood and imagination, grief and loss, Beneath the Bed is a twisted tale exploding with music, wit, heart, and joy. Theatre Born Between first presented a workshop production of Beneath the Bed at the 2016 Beck Festival. Directed by Theatre Born Between co-founder, Bryn Kennedy.

“Returning to the world of Beneath the Bed after our workshop almost three years ago has felt like coming home to an old friend. These characters, in the infinite empathy and compassion they express for one another, have welcomed me back and it has been a joy to explore them again with a powerhouse ensemble of emerging artists. Our understanding of this fantastical world has only deepened and with our shift to a site-specific venue, we are excited to bring audiences closer to the monsters and make-believe than ever before. Imagination and possibility wait around every corner in this play and we hope that you will get wrapped up in the journey with us.”
– Bryn Kennedy, Director and Co-Founder

Show Information:
Beneath the Bed is part of this year’s Toronto Fringe Festival, running July 4th to 14th at Scadding Court Community Centre (Room 4).
Tickets available online at https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/beneathbed
Scadding Court Community Centre (Room 4)
707 Dundas St W,
Toronto, Ontario
M5V 3A8

Show dates/times:
Thursday July 4 – 7:00pm
Friday July 5 – 8:00pm
Saturday July 6 – 2:00pm
Sunday July 7 – 2:00pm
Monday July 8 – 7:00pm
Tuesday July 9 – 8:00pm
Thursday July 11 – 8:00pm
Friday July 12 – 2:00pm
Friday July 12 – 8:00pm
Saturday July 13 – 3:30pm
Sunday July 14 – 2:00pm
Running time of 60 minutes

This show is age-accessible. We welcome audience members of all ages.
Tickets are available through the Toronto Fringe, both online and at their box office.

Featuring:
Graham Conway (Peter Pan, Bad Hats Theatre – Dora Award
Winning for Outstanding Direction, Production and Ensemble Performance) Erin Humphry (Breathing Corpses, Coal Mine Theatre) Keaton Kwok (Marry Me Marry Me Marry Me Marry Me, House + Body) Elizabeth Staples (White Girls in Moccasins, Rhubarb Festival, The Stranger, Summerworks/DopoLavoroTeatrale) John Wamsley (Timothy Findley’s The Wars, The Grand Theatre) Lindsay Wu (Blithe Spirit, Theatre Erindale)

Creative Team:
Directed and produced by Bryn Kennedy
Produced/Marketing/Movement by John Wamsley
Composed by Lucas Penner
Stage Managed by Caitlin Brenneman

Theatre Born Between:
Theatre Born Between is a Toronto-based theatre company interested in creating work that focuses on bringing the inner emotional realities of the play and its characters to the surface – the seen and unseen.

Our mission is to create a platform for diverse emerging artists from all communities to explore the boundaries of theatrical practice through a blending of styles such as movement, verbatim text and
fantastical realism. Co-founded by Bryn Kennedy and John Wamsley. For further information about Theatre Born Between or this production of Vitals, visit theatrebornbetween.com!

An Utterly Stupid Indefensible Thing – Toronto Fringe 2019 Press Release

Sock Monkey

New Theatrical Thriller, An Utterly Stupid Indefensible Thing, Debuts at Crow’s Theatre

Homer Bloom is campaigning to be the next Student Union President of his university. Today he’s shooting an interview with the help of a nameless and mysterious media student. But things take an unexpected turn when a buried past comes to light.

As part of the 2019 Toronto Fringe Festival, Sock Monkey Collective will debut their latest theatre creation, An Utterly Stupid Indefensible Thingat Crow’s Guloien Theatre from July 4th to July 14th. This sixty-minute theatre show is a dramatic thriller starring Sock Monkey creators Marc-Andre Blanchard and Scott Kuipers. The story, written by Blanchard, is as clever and charming as it is haunting, tackling themes of social activism, victimization, and individual authenticity.

This is Sock Monkey’s second production with the Toronto Fringe Festival, following their critically acclaimed drama The Brother’s Gentle (NNNN – Now Magazine), which debuted in the Festival’s 2018 season. “The strong performances and compelling writing bring the audience right into the story.” (Mooney on Theatre) Before Sock Monkey, Blanchard took first place in the Ottawa Little Theatre National Playwriting Competition with his one-act drama, WORM. And Kuipers has written/created five produced theatre shows. After successfully helming Sock Monkey’s first original play as co-producers, writers, and actors, they are excited to do it again with their latest work, An Utterly Stupid Indefensible Thing.

Sock Monkey, in association with The Toronto Fringe Festival presents

An Utterly Stupid Indefensible Thing

At Crow’s Guloien Theatre, 345 Carlaw Ave., Toronto, ON.

Performance Dates:

Thursday July 4th @ 10:00pm

Saturday July 6th @ 4:30pm

Monday July 8th @ 9:30pm

Wednesday July 10th @ 7:45pm

Friday July 12th @ 3:15pm

Saturday July 13th @ 8:30pm

Sunday July 14th @ 5:45 pm

Tickets now on sale!

Purchase online: https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/utterly-stupid-indefensible-thing?fbclid=IwAR2CJKc8-2m9EseebToi0OFXuW4eVIIC_qAbQ44jDm8WwxVc3aK2sFhBdWg.

By Phone: 416-966-1062

Or At the Guloien Theatre Box Office, 345 Carlaw Ave., Toronto, ON

An Orchid and Other Such Lilies and Lies – Toronto Fringe 2019 Press Release

From Press Release

A Group of Young Artists Confront Their Grief and Fears around Adulthood in the Darkly Humorous “An Orchid and Other Such Lilies and Lies

Feeling themselves age and their time shorten, a pair of elderly men drive off into the middle of the desert to do an exorbitant number of drugs and go out with a bang. During their last hurrah, they reminisce on their lives together, filling in the gaps of each other’s memories and creating a colourful tapestry of fact, fiction, light, and loss.

An Orchid and Other Such Lilies and Lies has undergone many transformations, as Daniel Halpern wrote numerous versions of the play to reflect his own tumultuous relationship with aging and grief in different stages of bereavement.

The show is produced by the BodyCube Arts Collective, whose members have produced works in New York, Germany, Toronto, and Nova Scotia.

This genuine and brutally honest piece of theatre kindly requests your attention and attendance during
its run with Toronto Fringe.

BodyCube Arts Collective in association with The Toronto Fringe Festival presents:
An Orchid and Other Such Lilies and Lies
written by Daniel Halpern
directed by David Woroner
stage managed by Beth Airton

Opens July 5th runs to July 14th
Factory Theatre Studio
125 Bathurst St, Toronto, Ont.

 

Performances:
July 5, 5:30 pm
July 6, 1:30 pm
July 8, 9:45 pm
July 10, 8:00 pm
July 11, 4:00 pm
July 13, 4:30 pm
July 14, 6:00 pm

 

After the Beep – Toronto Fringe 2019 Press Release

From Press Release

CRINGE FEST: ADOLESCENT ANSWERING MACHINE ARCHIVE MADE PUBLIC

AFTER THE BEEP at the TORONTO FRINGE FESTIVAL

LINK TO INFO ON TORONTO FRINGE WEBSITE

Victoria, BC (June 10, 2019) – Pamela found cassettes from the answering machine she had as a teenager in the 1990s. Instead of a ritual burning, she’s sharing this archive of adolescence in After the Beep – her one-person cringe fest. Part confessional, part show-and-tell, it’s Watergate Tapes meets The Breakfast Club. It’s a show for anyone who was ever a teenager or had an answering machine.

Yes, she had to contact everybody whose voice is now in the show and yes, it was awkward.

Pamela Bethel is based in Victoria, BC where the show premiered at UNO Fest in 2017. It has since played at the Victoria Fringe (2017) Winnipeg Fringe, Nanaimo Fringe (2018). This year After the Beep plays the Toronto Fringe and Vancouver Fringe.

Pamela Bethel

in association with The Toronto Fringe Festival presents

After the Beep

written and performed by Pamela Bethel directed by Geoffrey Ewert dramaturgy by Andrew Bailey

sound advice from Brian Linds & Carolyn Moon design consultant Erin Macklem

development and production support from Theatre SKAM more about Pamela at pamelabethel.ca

Opens JULY 4 runs to JULY 13

TARRAGON THEATRE EXTRASPACE (30 Bridgman Ave.)

Performances:

July 4, 10:00pm

July 6, 3:00pm

July 7, 7:45pm

July 9, 8:45pm

July 10, 6:00pm

July 11, 2:15pm

July 13, 6:15pm

Purchase online: https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/after-beep

By Phone: 416-966-1062 In Person: During the festival at POSTSCRIPT, the patio at the Toronto Fringe (Hockey Rink at 275 Bathurst Street)

Comedy Records Presents: Jay & Eytan – Toronto Fringe 2019 Press Release

From Press Release

TORONTO GROWN COMEDY DUO RETURNS FROM NYC!
Comedy Records Presents: Jay & Eytan

Jay & Eytan are a New York based professional comedy duo, originally from Toronto. They showcase a perfect blend of sketch and stand up comedy in their one hour headlining act – packed with energy, countless punchy premises, and just the right amount of spice. From quick off beat impressions, to honest & relatable stand up, to fully choreographed musical numbers, they go right for the jugular when it comes to the laughs.

Jay & Eytan met at the Humber College Comedy Program in 2004 and trained under SNL & SCTV alumni, Joe Flaherty & Robin Duke. They have since been performing sketch comedy together at The Second City in Toronto, The PIT, Upright Citizens Brigade, and New York Comedy Club, honing their craft and building an undeniable chemistry. Because Jay & Eytan mainly work their sketch material in stand-up clubs, they’ve developed a stand-up comic’s approach to sketch comedy, bringing stand-up jokes to life, and filling sketches with punchlines.

Jay Wells L’Ecuyer & Eytan Millstone are the creators, directors and stars of the show. They’ve written & performed live sketch with Canadian greats Colin Mochrie & Scott Thompson, have had two sketch comedy albums reach #1 on the iTunes Canada Comedy charts, and their web series, “Jay & Eytan”, has won multiple awards at the New York No Limits Film Festival, The New York Short Film Festival, and the Portland Comedy Film Festival. They have had sketches featured on the front page of Funny or Die, College Humor, as well as multiple features on The Comedy Network, MTV, and E-Talk.

Jay & Eytan bring a high energy laugh riot that has been tested across North America, so if you’re looking for a comedy at this years festival, then this is the one!

Comedy Records in association with The Toronto Fringe Festival presents:
Jay & Eytan
written by, directed by, and starring Jay Wells L’Ecuyer & Eytan Millstone

Opens July 3rd and runs to July 13th
THE RANDOLPH THEATRE – 736 Bathurst St.

Performances:
July 3rd, 10:30pm
July 6th, 8:00pm
July 7th, 1:00pm
July 9th, 5:00pm
July 10th, 6:45pm
July 12th, 2:45pm
July 13th, 4:30pm
Please note that there is absolutely no latecomer seating.

Tickets:
On sale June 6th.
Purchase online: fringetoronto.com
By Phone: 416-966-1062
In Person: During the festival at POSTSCRIPT, the patio at the Toronto Fringe. Located in the Hockey Rink at 275 Bathurst Street (Dundas + Bathurst).