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Coal Mine Theatre Presents BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY

By: Oct. 23, 2019
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Coal Mine Theatre Presents BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY  Image

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).

Walter "Pops" Washington is a retired New York City policeman, and in the centre of many explosive conflicts. On the one hand are grand questions of life in urban centres and professional duty, including gentrification in an increasingly unaffordable New York City, and the ongoing discrimination case against his former employers at the NYPD. Such issues are balanced on the other hand by smaller conflicts between Pops and his jailbird son, his son's girlfriend, and a slew of bizarre characters that pass through his loaded apartment space, each a celebration of the flaws that make up human nature.

BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY has earned numerous awards and accolades since its debut in 2014, include the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play, and the 2015 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play. "Morality, love and friendship exist on a contingency basis for Pops," wrote The New York Times in its initial Critics Pick review of the piece, one of several outlets to emphasize Guirgis's talent for writing complex and multifaceted characters as well as family dynamics at once specific and universal.

Stephen Adly Guirgis (Playwright) is an award-winning American playwright, screenwriter, director, and actor. In 2006 he earned the PEN/Laura Pels Theater Award for a playwright in mid-career, and in 2016 he received a Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His past plays include Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train (2000), The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (2005), The Little Flower of East Orange (2008), and The Motherfucker with the Hat (2011). Kelli Fox (Director) has more than 30 years experience on stages across Canada and the US, including 13 seasons with the Shaw Festival and 3 seasons with the Stratford Festival. For two seasons (2017-2018) she served as Artistic Associate at Globe Theatre in Regina. She is the 2016 recipient of the Gina Wilkinson Prize awarded to Canadian women transitioning to directing from another discipline.

The powerhouse cast includes Claire Armstrong, a Dora Award-winning actor, whose recent credits include: Yaga (Tarragon Theatre, Dir. Kat Sandler); and The Penelopiad (The Grand Theatre, Dir. Megan Follows); Allegra Fulton recent credits include The Glass Ménagerie and Sex by Mae West; Jai Jai Jones has starred in several TV shows and films including Brady Bunch in the White House, The Natalie Cole Story, Desperately Seeking Santa, and the Emmy nominated Copper; Zarrin Darnell-Martin has performed in numerous theatre shows including Birdland's The Last Days of Judas Iscariot as St. Monica and Age of Arousal at the Shaw Festival; Alexander Thomas acted in the Dora Award-winning production of The Royale at Soulpepper Theatre, and For Both Resting and Breeding at Talk is Free Theatre in Barrie; Nabil Rajo has appeared in the television series Man Seeking Woman, Remedy, Rookie Blue and Suits. He is best known for his performance in the film Boost, for which he won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Actor. He also received a Dora Mavor Moore Award nomination for Outstanding Performance in Coal Mine Theatre's production of Superior Donuts; and Sergio Di Zio theatre credits include Toronto premieres of The Motherfucker With The Hat (Dora Award), This is War, Dying City, Scorched, and Léo (Dora nomination).

Featuring Set Design by Anna Treusch, Costume Design by Michelle Bohn, Lighting Design by Steve Lucas, Sound Design by Deanne H. Choi, Production Management by Laura Philipps, and Kayla Chaterji as Head of Props.



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