Tickets on Sale Today for Toronto's SOULPEPPER ON 42ND STREET Festival Off-Broadway

Tickets go on sale today, April 11, for the US debut for SOULPEPPER, Toronto's largest and most celebrated theatre company, in a four-week engagement Off-Broadway at The Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42nd Street in New York City, it was announced by Albert Schultz, SOULPEPPER's Founding Artistic Director.

A true repertory program of plays, musicals and concert performances, featuring a company of over 65 artists, the festival, entitled SOULPEPPER ON 42nd STREET, will be presented July 1-July 29, 2017. For tickets, visit www.soulpepper.org or call 888-898-1188.

This month-long season of stage works from SOULPEPPER continues the profound Canadian moment being experienced in the US presently - in the political realm (Canada's open-arm acceptance of refugees from the Middle East, for instance), and in the arts (the success of Come from Away on Broadway).

SOULPEPPER's US premiere coincides with the 150th birthday of Canada as a nation, and is expected to be the largest Canadian artistic expression in the US during Canada's sesquicentennial celebration. It will showcase a diverse collection of Canada's finest theatre, literary and musical artists. In recognition of the deep 150-year-old friendship between both nations, SOULPEPPER will have opening weekend celebrations on July 1 and July 2, recognizing July 1 as annual Canada Day.

SOULPEPPER maintains a stable year-round repertory company of over 40 artists, and employs more than 350 artists each year. SOULPEPPER is considered a national civic theatre and is widely-known for its award-winning productions of new plays, contemporary works, and revivals, several of which will be presented during the 2017 summer season in New York.

As it does in its own theatre in Toronto - with its three theatres, cabaret venues, café and library - SOULPEPPER will occupy, in rep, all stages of The Pershing Square Signature Center during its 2017 New York season. As well, it will engage the New York community in workshops, symposia, master-classes and outreach events throughout the month.

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The company's celebrated productions comprising the SOULPEPPER ON 42ND STREET festival are:

MAINSTAGE:

KIM'S CONVENIENCE
On stage beginning July 1
Written by SOULPEPPER Academy graduate Ins Choi and directed by SOULPEPPER Academy Graduate Weyni Mengesha, this comedy-drama is the most successful new Canadian play in recent history, and depicts the life of a Korean-Canadian family making a new life in a corner store in downtown Toronto. This award-winning play is also the basis of the hit new SOULPEPPER/Thunderbird television series on Canada's national CBC network.

Watch KIM'S CONVENIENCE trailer, and check out KIM'S CONVENIENCE in rehearsal.

OF HUMAN BONDAGE
On stage beginning July 1
For the first time anywhere, W. Somerset Maugham's classic novel is adapted for the stage by Canadian playwright Vern Thiessen, and directed by Artistic Director Albert Schultz. In 2014, this production set a record by winning seven Dora Awards (Toronto's Tonys) including Best Production, Best Play, Best Direction, Best Ensemble and Best Design.

Watch the OF HUMAN BONDAGE trailer, plus an interview with director Albert Schultz and a chat with playwright Vern Thiessen!

SPOON RIVER
On stage beginning July 7
An original musical based on Spoon River Anthology by American poet Edgar Lee Masters, adapted by Albert Schultz and Mike Ross, with original music by Mike Ross. In 2015, this production was named Best New Musical at both the Dora Awards and at the Toronto Theatre Critics' Awards.

See the SPOON RIVER trailer and check out the show in rehearsal.

CAGE
On stage beginning July 12
A stage, even the one within our mind, is a cage that defines, limits, and reveals. Inspired by apes, Zen Buddhism, and the ideas of avant-garde composer John Cage, this experimental meditation on time, space, memory, and the human animal is performed by SOULPEPPER Founding Member Diego Matamoros with designers Lorenzo Savoini and Richard Feren.

Go inside rehearsal for CAGE!

ALLIGATOR PIE
On stage beginning July 16
An award-winning SOULPEPPER adaptation of the wonderfully whimsical children's poems of Canada's "Father Goose", Dennis Lee (also known for writing the lyrics for Jim Henson's "Fraggle Rock"). This delightful piece of music theatre is a delight for the child in all of us.

Watch the ALLIGATOR PIE trailer and go inside rehearsal for the show!

CRASH
On stage beginning July 21
After the loss of a loved one, a woman must face the shattering memories of a past trauma. CRASH by Pamela Mala Sinha is the fractured unraveling of memory; blending projections, myth, and dance into a riveting narrative about family, faith and love. Winner of four Dora Awards, including Outstanding Performance.

A BRIMFUL OF ASHA
On stage beginning July 25
After winning over crowds around the globe, this play makes its New York debut. SOULPEPPER Resident Artist Ravi Jain shares the stage with his real life non-actor mother, Asha, to tell each other's side of Asha's attempt to arrange Ravi's marriage. Presented in association with Why Not Theatre in collaboration with Richard Jordan Productions.

SOULPEPPER CONCERTS:
A series of original works mixing music, narrative and visual design to create unique
"docu-musical" events, featuring...

TRUE NORTH: A CONCERT OF CANADA
On stage beginning July 1
Opening on Canada's 150th Birthday (July 1, 2017), this concert will use beloved Canadian songs as the spine of an examination into the values of a nation.

THE SECRET CHORD: A Leonard Cohen EXPERIENCE
On stage beginning July 19
Canada recently lost one of its most beloved artists. Montreal-born Leonard Cohen's extraordinary life and artistry will be examined and celebrated by a company of remarkable multi-disciplinary performers.

NEW YORK - THE MELTING POT
On stage beginning July 21
This concert is a love letter from Toronto's artists to the city of New York. It traces the contributions of refugee cultures to the creation of the soundtrack of the 20th century right here in Manhattan.

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Founded in 1998 by Mr. Schultz and 11 other theater artists, SOULPEPPER grew from its initial two-production season in downtown Toronto to an annual year-round slate of approximately 20+ productions presented in the company's multi-theater complex in a renovated distillery in Toronto's Historic Distillery District in the fringes of downtown Toronto. Now operating on an annual budget of $12 million, SOULPEPPER was the first tenant to anchor what is now a thriving, fully-integrated neighborhood of housing, restaurants, shops and arts.

As a national civic theatre, SOULPEPPER has a uniquely complex mission. From its inception the company has existed not only as a producer of theatre, but as a generator of "belonging" through a vast array of civic outreach programs and youth mentorship.

The company is home to the Soulpepper Academy, the only full-time, multi-year paid artistic training program in North America for the training of Actors, Composers, Designers, Directors, Playwrights and Producers. Last year Soulpepper announced "Project imagiNation", the largest commissioning project in the history of the performing arts in Canada.

Reaching over 130,000 patrons annually in its Toronto home, the company also tours across Canada from coast to coast, and is fast establishing its presence as a National Theatre, in and outside of the country.

In the last two years SOULPEPPER has begun the creation of digital and broadcast programming based on its mainstage activities. Its works have been adapted for radio, film, and podcasts. The company's recording of Spoon River was awarded the Silver Medal at the New York Festival of Radio, and in October of 2016 SOULPEPPER's first television series. "Kim's Convenience," began airing on the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC), the national network, where it is now a hit new series in Canada.

The Pershing Square Signature Center, the permanent home of Signature Theatre, is a three-theatre facility on West 42nd Street designed by Frank Gehry Architects to host Signature's three distinct playwrights' residencies and foster a cultural community. The Center is a major contribution to New York City's cultural landscape and provides a venue for cultural organizations that supports and encourages collaboration among artists throughout the space. In addition to its three intimate theatres, the Center features a Studio Theatre, rehearsal studio, a bookstore, and the Signature Café + Bar, open to the public from noon-midnight Tuesdays - Sundays. For more information on renting the Center, visit www.signaturetheatre.org/rentals.

Photo Credit: Cylla von Tiedemann

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