GCTC Unveils Spring 2021 Programming

Between now and the end of April, GCTC takes to the digital world with a flurry of online activity including concerts, plays, and hybrid mash-ups of both.

In addition to previously announced shows by Margo MacDonald (The Elephant Girls, March 23-27) and Origin Arts (Haviah Mighty, March 27), our GCTC TV programming features the critically acclaimed The Cave, a song cycle composed by John Millard with lyrics by Tomson Highway; Negotiations with Existence, a new hybrid performance adaptation by local author Timothy Trieste; Guilt, a live stream from Diane Flacks; Our Fathers, Sons, Lovers and Little Brothers, a cutting piece that won the 2019 Dora for Outstanding New Play; and Chase the Ace from hit GCTC show Bed & Breakfast creator Mark Crawford. All tickets are Pick-Your-Price starting at $5.

It all begins with The Cave, from March 29 - April 1. This performance, recorded with a pre-pandemic live audience at Toronto's Luminato Festival, celebrates Tomson Highway's incendiary wit with its unconventional staging, soaring vocals and a five-piece band. The Cave will be available from 6:00pm to midnight, March 29 - April 1, with a special interview segment featuring Tomson Highway, John Millard and dramaturge Martha Ross, on March 30. GCTC artistic director Eric Coates is eagerly looking forward to hosting this interview.

"Tomson Highway's work has beguiled me for decades and I can't think of two more delightful allies than John and Martha to join him on the creative ride," says Coates.

Diane Flacks will perform her new solo script, Guilt, in a live stream on April 8. Her smash-hit script, Unholy, had been scheduled for GCTC's 2020 season, but has been postponed indefinitely. In the meantime, we are delighted to provide audiences with access to Diane's latest work in development in an up-close and intimate performance, live from her own living room. Anyone who is familiar with Diane as a writer and performer (Sibs, Unholy, Random Acts, Care, By a Thread) will be eager to see her latest take on the human condition-and those who don't know her work will be thrilled by this introduction.

Local author, songwriter, record and video producer Timothy Trieste, launches Negotiations with Existence, a series of hybrid performances, blending literature, video and music. Four chapters from Trieste's prose explore the artist's relationship to the act of writing, while simultaneously tackling the act of being. Negotiations with Existence will be released over the course of four weeks, beginning on April 14.

Makambe K. Simbaba, playwright and performer of Our Fathers, Sons, Lovers and Little Brothers delivers an live streamed version of this searing piece on April 22. Winner of the 2019 Dora Award for Outstanding New Play for Theatre for Young Audiences, it's a story that confronts the ongoing violence suffered by the Black community.

Slimm, a seventeen-year-old Black boy in a hoodie suddenly finds himself in the first moments of his afterlife. He calls out for God. God does not respond. What happens next is a sacred journey through the unknown, as Slimm grapples with the truth of the life he lived and the death he didn't choose. Our Fathers, Sons, Lovers and Little Brothers is a protest for all Black life beyond headlines and hashtags, a prayer for all families left behind, and a promise to the community that all Black lives matter.

Mark Crawford, actor and playwright who created the hit, Bed and Breakfast (GCTC, 2019), is working on a new script about an urban transplant who finds himself unexpectedly owning a small town radio station in Chase the Ace. Mark's gentle wit belies an incisive edge that drives all of this material. This new script will be live streamed from his home in Stratford on April 29 and he looks forward to a Q&A, hosted by Eric Coates, after the event.

Stay tuned for updates, as GCTC TV plans to add some more events to this lineup before the end of April. For tickets and information, visit gctc.ca.

Performance schedule:

• The Elephant Girls by Margo MacDonald - recorded: March 24-27

• Haviah Mighty (Origin Kitchen Concert) - live stream: March 27, 7:30pm

• Guilt by Diane Flacks - live stream: April 8, 8:00pm

• Negotiations with Existence by Timothy Trieste - recorded: April 14 - May 5

• Our Fathers, Sons, Lovers and Little Brothers by Makambe K. Simbaba - live stream: April 15, 8:00pm

• Cranium Festival feat. BLAKDENIM (Origin Kitchen Concert) - live stream: April 24, 7:30pm

• FemmeVox 4 - live stream: April 25, 2:00pm

• Chase the Ace by Mark Crawford - live stream: April 29, 8:00pm

Tickets are on sale at GCTC's box office at 613-236-5196 or online at gctc.ca. Pick-Your-Price options range from $5, $15, $25, to $40.

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