Stratford Festival Mourns The Loss Of Marti Maraden
Stratford Festival has shared news of the death of Marti Maraden, an artistic director, actor and director of rare skill, as well as a beloved colleague and mentor. She died Thursday, August 31, while visiting family in Sweden, having suddenly fallen ill. She was 78 years old.
Review: GASLIGHT at Shaw Festival
A Victorian thriller melded with a dash of 21st century female fortitude makes up the fabric of the Shaw Festival's gripping new production of GASLIGHT. Over the years the Festival has mastered presenting these chilling stories in it's quaint jewel box Royal George Theatre. Memories of REBECCA and AND THEN THERE WERE NONE always pervade my memories in that theatre. Even at first glance, the dimly lit set primes the audience for an afternoon of intrigue and escapism to another era.
DAMN YANKEES, GASLIGHT & TOO TRUE TO BE GOOD Coming to The Shaw Festival
The Shaw Festival’s 60th season will continue with performances of the romantic musical comedy Damn Yankees, psychological thriller Gaslight and surreal tour de force Too True to Be Good. All three shows will begin welcoming audiences to preview performances in the coming days and weeks.
Shaw Festival Unveils 60th Season; Full Schedule
The Shaw Festival announced the 60th anniversary season. Get the full list of shows and dates here. “We have a lot to celebrate as we look forward to our diamond anniversary season. In what might be our most ambitious programme ever, we intend to show off the range of experiences available at The Shaw,” revealed Artistic Director Tim Carroll.
Nominations for the 2020 Dora Mavor Moore Awards Announced
At an online media announcement - pre-taped in front of Meridian Hall with physically distanced protocols in place - streamed June 8 on the Dora Awards YouTube channel, the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) announced 243 nominations for the 41st annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards.
BWW Review: Canadian Stage and Studio 180 Present SWEAT at the Berkeley Street Theatre
SWEAT is a work of social realism, that controversial genre of fiction, film, and drama that tries to be romance and documentary all in one. It casts light on an often ignored part of American society, that is, those disenchanted workers - and ex-workers - whose dreams have been disrupted by some thirty-odd years of decline in the country's once robust manufacturing industry. For those of us with a New York Times subscription, SWEAT will feel like a continuation of a familiar trope, a vivid illustration of an idea that's been described to us again and again, especially more frequently since 2016. SWEAT seems to be answering the question: Who are these angry, bitter people who have set the country on its current course, and how did they get that way?
BWW Review: BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY says what needs to be goddamn said at COAL MINE THEATRE
In life, we all get dealt a hand the moment we're born. The choice is whether to play it or try for better cards. Walter Washington never knew his own father, but he kept trading in his cards, refusing to become a wanderer, a deadbeat. He got a job on the force, an apartment, a family, a spoon collection. Still, the world kept dealing him 3's and deuces. Getting shot forced Walter into early retirement so he could watch his wife, Dolores, turn terminally ill and die before his eyes.
Coal Mine Theatre Presents BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY
All at once a sharp and powerful tale of family, gentrification, and social injustice, COAL MINE THEATRE is proud to announce its upcoming presentation of Stephen Adly Guirgis's Pulitzer Prize-winning BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY, directed by Gina Wilkinson Prize-winner Kelli Fox. The play, making its long-awaited Toronto Premiere, features remarkable performances by leading talent like Claire Armstrong, Sergio Di Zio, Allegra Fulton, Jai Jai Jones, Zarrin Darnell-Martin, Nabil Rajo, and Alexander Thomas. Presented at COAL MINE THEATRE, November 24 - December 22, 2019 (Opening night November 27).
Coal Mine Theatre Announces Its Sixth Season
COAL MINE THEATRE, Toronto's Off-Off Broadview Theatre, has just announced its extraordinary Season Six. THE COAL MINE will stage four critically acclaimed, and Toronto premiere productions in 2019/2020, all presented in their singular and intimate eighty-seat theatre in the east end of Toronto.
CAKEWALK Comes to The Blyth Festival
Back by popular demand- Cakewalk, one of our sweetest and most delicious comedies from when the Blyth Festival began, is coming back to the stage in celebration of the Festival 45th Anniversary Season. The revival runs June 26 to Aug. 10.
Rehearsals Now Underway for Tarragon's THE SUMMONED
Rehearsals are underway for Tarragon Theatre's world premiere of The Summoned by celebrated Canadian actor and screenwriter Fabrizio Filippo, now making his Tarragon playwriting debut with this twisted technological thriller that takes audiences on a whirlwind ride from the past and into the future of the digital age. Directed by Tarragon's Artistic Director Richard Rose, The Summoned previews from April 20, opens April 27 and runs to May 29 in Tarragon's Mainspace.
BWW Reviews: Shaw Festival's LIGHT UP THE SKY: Aging Script Not So Bright
The Shaw Festival is known for dusting off old chestnuts and breathing new life into them. Unfortunately, its new production of Moss Hart's LIGHT UP THE SKY is a chestnut better left in the attic to continue gathering dust. Compared to his successful plays, like THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER (with 739 Broadway performances) and YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU (838 performances), LIGHT UP THE SKY is a second string comedy that seems stale and dated. It's initial run on Broadway was only a modest success, running 200 performances, and revivals have not fared much better.
Nightwood Theatre's New Groundswell Festival to Return 9/8-14
Nightwood Theatre launches its 2014/15 season with the return of our popular festival of new works, the New Groundswell Festival, in The Historic Distillery District from September 8 to 14, 2014. Featuring workshop productions of Obeah Opera by Nicole Brooks and With Individual Desire by Susanna Fournier from an original idea by Kelli Fox and Sarah Kitz, the festival also features a National Play Reading Series, and late-night Saloon Salons on topical themes. The talents of more than 50 women artists will be showcased over the seven days of the festival.
KITCHEN RADIO Opens Blyth Festival's 40th Season Today
Blyth Festival opens its 40th Season with the world premiere of a new country musical, KITCHEN RADIO, written by Blyth's Artistic Director Marion de Vries and co-composer David Archibald. Directed by Kelli Fox, KITCHEN RADIO plays at Blyth Memorial Hall from today, June 25 - August 9.