Fast cars and even faster women. Evil Hot Rod by Cat Crew Inc, playing virtually at the 2021 Toronto Fringe Festival, is like if the T-Birds in Grease went evil. In this musical radio play set in 1950s New York, Tony Raggione is proud of his new hot rod purchase, despite what all his buddies say. This ride, Carmilla, may look like a hunk of metal that likely won’t make it off the lot, but Tony is determined to make her a lightning roadster… even if she happens to be evil.
Writer PJ Prudat’s 30-minute monologue is a cry from the heart. It’s family lore and cultural ode, storytelling and memory as rebellion, and, most importantly, a way to “no longer be invisible.” It is relevant, required viewing.
(Content warning: this show, and therefore this review, mentions violence against Indigenous culture and bodies by settlers and colonizers.)
Mangoes From the Valley, created by Aryana Mohammed and produced by Junebug Productions, is a heartbreaking portrait of Maria (Renee King), a Venezuelan woman in Trinidad, forced into sex work by circumstance.
Please note that this review discusses content (sexual assault, violence) that may be triggering to some readers.
For everyone who loves Twilight, The Hunger Games, Divergent and the host of other wildly popular YA trilogies and series comes Every Young Adult Novel Ever: The Musical, a charming, self-aware, little semi-improvised bit of fun playing at this year’s Toronto Fringe Festival.
Mangoes From the Valley
North of Smokey