Canadian Stage presents Robert Lepage's Autobiographical Spectacle 887

After mesmerizing audiences in a sold-out run at the 2015 Panamania Festival, Canadian Stage brings Robert Lepage's critically-lauded 887 back to Toronto for a limited engagement April 7 to 16 at the Bluma Appel Theatre. Written, directed, designed and performed by Quebec theatre visionary Robert Lepage (Needles and Opium, Far Side of the Moon), 887 combines the technical wizardry of his company Ex Machina with a highly-intimate autobiographical foray into the world of memory. Presented in English.

"Canadian Stage is a proud Toronto home for Robert Lepage and the ever-imaginative troupe of theatrical magicians that make up the multi-award-winning Ex Machina," said Canadian Stage Artistic and General Director Matthew Jocelyn. "Following Needles and Opium and The Andersen Project, we are delighted to give Toronto one more chance to witness the spectacular hypnotic marvels, and deeply thoughtful storytelling of 887 - one of Lepage's most personal works to date."

Lepage's first solo production since The Andersen Project (presented by Canadian Stage in 2011), 887 plunges audiences into the depths of the renowned director's personal past: From his early years growing up in 1960s Quebec amidst the rise of the FLQ, Lepage constructs a life's worth of stories, questioning the underlying mechanisms and relevance of certain memories. Why do we remember the phone number from our youth yet forget our current one? How does a childhood song withstand the test of time? Revealing the historical and social realities that shaped his own identity, and that of our country's, 887 also invites us to reflect on the nature of personal and collective memory and the people and places that fade over time.

887 takes its name from the street address of Lepage's childhood home on Murray Avenue in Quebec City, dazzlingly re-created on stage as a giant tech-saturated memory palace filled with miniature characters under the creative direction of Steve Blanchet, with Music and Sound Designer Jean-Sébastien Côté, Lighting Designer Laurent Routhier and Image Designer Félix Fradet-Faguy.

Working collaboratively with Lepage, Québec-based theatrical laboratory Ex Machina continues to be at the forefront of new multidisciplinary performance, inventing new artistic forms from the gathering of scientists and playwrights, set painters and architects, and between artists from Québec and the rest of the world. Along with 887, current Ex Machina productions include a re-mount of The Far Side of the Moon (on tour in the UK) and QUILLS: Doug Wright's controversial work on censorship with Robert Lepage as the Marquis de Sade.

887 will be on stage at the Bluma Appel Theatre at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts (27 Front Street E) from April 7 to 16 (Media night: Friday, April 7). Performances run Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 8 pm, Fridays at 7pm, and with matinees on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 1pm beginning April 8. There will be a special post-show talkback with Robert Lepage and the creative team following the April 13 8pm performance. Tickets from $39 to $114 are available online, by phone at 416.368.3110, or in person at the Berkeley Street box office. For details visit www.canadianstage.com/online/887

Commissioned by the Arts and Culture Program of the TORONTO 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am Games. In co-production with le lieu unique, Nantes; La Comète - Scène nationale de Châlons-en-Champagne; Edinburgh International Festival; Århus Festuge; Théâtre de la Ville-Paris; Festival d'Automne à Paris; Romaeuropa Festival 2015; Bonlieu Scène nationale Annecy; Ysarca Art Promotions - Pilar de Yzaguirre; Célestins, Théâtre de Lyon; SFU Woodward's Cultural Programs, on the occasion of Simon Fraser University's 50th Anniversary, Vancouver; Le Théâtre français du Centre national des Arts d'Ottawa; Le Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, Montréal; Tokyo Metropolitan; Theatre Théâtre du Trident, Québec; La Coursive - Scène nationale La Rochelle; and Canadian Stage, Toronto.

About Ex Machina
Ex Machina is a multidisciplinary company bringing together actors, writers, set designers, technicians, opera singers, puppeteers, computer graphic designers, video artists, contortionists and musicians. Ex Machina's creative team believes that the performing arts - dance, opera, music - should be mixed with recorded arts - filmmaking, video art and multimedia; that there must be meetings between scientists and playwrights, between set painters and architects, and between artists from Québec and the rest of the world. Ex Machina wants to rise to the challenge and become a laboratory, an incubator for a form of theatre that will reach and touch audiences from this new millennium. La Caserne, a multidisciplinary production centre in Quebec City, opened in 1997 under Robert Lepage's leadership. In their new quarters he and his team created and produced Geometry of Miracles (1998), Zulu Time (1999), The Far Side of The Moon (2000), La Casa Azul (2001), a new version of The Dragons' Trilogy (2003) andThe Busker's Opera (2004). These were followed by The Andersen Project (2005), Lipsynch (2007), The Blue Dragon (2008), Eonnagata (2009), Playing Cards (2012) (SPADES and HEARTS each exploring a universe inspired by the asset the suit represents) and a new staging of Needles and Opium (2013).www.lacaserne.net

About Canadian Stage:

Founded in 1987, Canadian Stage is one of the country's leading not-for-profit contemporary performing arts companies, sharing new, innovative stage work from Canada and around the world. Led by Artistic & General Director Matthew Jocelyn and Managing Director Su Hutchinson, Canadian Stage produces and presents a new hybrid of multidisciplinary performance that pushes the boundaries of form and style, integrating theatre, dance, music, multimedia and more. Canadian Stage is dedicated to reinforcing the presence of Canadian art and artists within an international cultural dialogue, by acting as a home, incubator and exporter of leading Canadian and global performance. The company stages an annual season at three historic locations: the Bluma Appel Theatre; the Berkeley Street Theatre; and the High Park Amphitheatre, home to Shakespeare in High Park. Offering a range of education, artist training and community outreach programs, Canadian Stage is committed to cultivating tomorrow'sartistic innovators and audiences. For more information, visit www.canadianstage.com.

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