Astrid Van Wieren & Richard Harte to Star in One Little Goat Theatre Company's 'UBU MAYOR'

One Little Goat Theatre Company has announced its cast for the world premiere of Ubu Mayor: A Harmful Bit of Fun, written, directed and composed by Artistic Director Adam Seelig.

Just in time for Toronto's highly anticipated municipal election, Ubu Mayor combines the radical spirit of Ubu Roi, French writer Alfred Jarry's outrageous masterpiece of 1896, with the internationally broadcast antics and obscenities of Toronto's mayor and brother, Rob and Doug Ford. This marks One Little Goat's first production featuring live music.

The Equity production opens Friday, September 12, 2014 and runs to Sunday, September 21, Tuesdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. at the Wychwood Theatre, 601 Christie Street, located in Artscape's Wychwood Barns. Tickets are $25; $20 for students, seniors and artists. Information and tickets may be obtained by calling One Little Goat Theatre Company at 416-915-0201 or visiting www.OneLittleGoat.org.

Ubu Mayor features 2012 Dora Award winner Astrid Van Wieren (This Wide Night, My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding) as Huhu; Michael Dufays (2013 Dora Award nominee for Arigato Tokyo) as Dudu; and Richard Harte (Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Boys in the Photograph, One Little Goat's Antigone:Insurgency) as Ubu, the play's mayor.

Director of the highly acclaimed The Charge of the Expormidable Moose ("a tour de force" -Globe and Mail) and writer of plays including Antigone:Insurgency (NNNN -Now) and Talking Masks (**** -Eye), Adam Seelig has now written his first "play with music." Seelig's original songs for the play include B-b-b-b-b-bacon, Etobicokaine, Plenty to Eat at Home and others.

Directing the music and live band for the production is virtuoso bassist Tyler Emond. Emond regularly works with leading musicians in various genres, including multi-gold album artist Matt Dusk, Jessica Stuart, Mr. Something Something and Randy Brecker. He is the 2007 recipient of Humber College's highest distinction in music, the Oscar Peterson Prize.

The design team for Ubu Mayor boasts numerous Dora nominations, with sets and costumes by Jackie Chau and lighting by Laird MacDonald.

Ubu Mayor combines the outrageousness of Alfred Jarry's dadaist classic with the widely reported sexist, racist, homophobic and alleged criminal scandals of Toronto's current mayor and his city councillor brother. Still, the play does not directly represent actual political figures.

"This is not journalistic theatre," says Seelig, "nor is it agitprop or verbatim theatre. People familiar with the recent mayoral scandals will appreciate how they're woven into the play. Those who aren't will simply enjoy Ubu Mayor for what it truly is: an all-out romp of asinine absurdity. With music."

Ubu Mayor involves a mayor (Ubu) whose wife (Huhu) is having an affair with his older brother (Dudu). Ubu wants Huhu to love him again and he wants what's best for the city, but both his love and political ideals are foiled by brother Dudu's machinations.

Adam Seelig is a poet, playwright, stage director, and founder of Toronto's One Little Goat Theatre Company. Born and raised in Vancouver, Seelig has also lived in northern California, New York, England and Israel. He is the author of the novella Every Day in the Morning (slow) (New Star Books, shortlisted for the 2011 ReLit Award). Some of his previous plays include Antigone:Insurgency (Toronto 2007) Talking Masks (Toronto 2009; published by BookThug) and Like the First Time (Toronto 2011; published by BookThug). Seelig is the recipient of a Commonwealth Fellowship and a Stanford Golden Grant for his work on Samuel Beckett's manuscripts. He is a 2013/2014 RBC Director at Canadian Stage.

One Little Goat, North America's only company devoted to contemporary poetic theatre, "has done audiences a huge service" (Toronto Star) through its highly interpretive, provocative approach to new and international plays. The company's Canadian and world premieres have garnered praise from the New York Times, Globe and Mail, Economist, Now and others. More information on the company is available at www.OneLittleGoat.org.

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