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.

Playlistings for the Week of September 23, 2019

Shows that Caught Our Eye in Toronto for the Week of September 23, 2019

Well, theatre season is in full swing. So many places have launched their seasons, #JFL42 is in full swing, even the Toronto Biennial of Art has performances for you to check out (although, admittedly it’s a pretty difficult website to navigate). There is just so much art happening in Toronto. It makes me a happy camper.

We’ve collected some of what’s up for offer this week and it’s here for you below. And, in case you’re curious, I have highlighted the things in red that makes me wish there were several versions of me and unlimited childcare in this world so I could just spend all my time enjoying art always…

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Remembering Wayne Leung (1981-2019) Mooney on Theatre’s Managing Editor 2012-2019

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collage of photos of Wayne Leung for a memorial post on Mooney on Theatre

Paying tribute to Wayne Leung (1981-2019): passionate theatre advocate and MoT Managing Editor

I first met Wayne in 2011 when I interviewed him for the position of Assistant Editor at Mooney on Theatre. I remember sitting across from him with my Managing Editor at the time, Mira Saraf, and feeling like I was interviewing myself. It was an eerie feeling. His philosophies on theatre and business felt like a complete match for mine. Even the examples he used when answering questions often felt like word-for-word matches to ones I’d used in my own interviews for other positions.

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July 9 Rave Roundup for the 2019 Toronto Fringe Festival

image saying daily raves

While you absolutely shouldn’t only stick to shows with rave reviews (there’s so much great stuff playing at the Toronto Fringe Festival!) they do give you a place to start.

Personally, I’m a big fan of picking a show that I’m pretty sure is going to be a good one and then just taking a chance on whatever is playing before or after it at the same venue. I have seen some really great stuff that way that otherwise wouldn’t have been on my radar.

In the meantime, here are some shows our writers have been raving about to get you started.

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July 8 Rave Roundup for the 2019 Toronto Fringe Festival

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image saying daily raves

Week two of the 2019 Toronto Fringe Festival. *phew*

We’ve finished reviewing all the shows (except the two that requested no reviews).  And now you have a list of 148 reviews you can read through. You may have noticed some have a little thing next to them that says ‘Rave Review!’ So what’s that about?

We very purposefully don’t use a star rating system here at Mooney on Theatre (but if we did, surely they’d be moons, yes?). We believe that a review only captures one person’s opinion, and my 5-star review might be someone else’s 3-star review, and with so many writers covering Fringe, there would be no way to provide consistency in those ratings.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with star ratings, I just made a decision a long time ago that they don’t fit in with Mooney on Theatre’s approach to things. During Fringe though, when there are so many reviews to read through, we needed something to let readers see at a glance which shows writers are raving about.

This week we’ll be taking some time to highlight those shows; starting right now.

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Radioactive Spyder (RS Productions) 2019 Toronto Fringe Review

photo of radioactive spyder company by Mila Gillis-Adelman

Radioactive Spyder at KidsFest at Toronto Fringe Festival is a musical developed in part by the grade 5 and 6 students of Equinox Holistic Alternative School, and performed by performers 10 – 15 years old from Spyder Theatre Company. It was an hour of 15 incredibly talented kids singing and dancing and having a blast. It was an hour well-spent.

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