NO GREAT MISCHIEF and More Set for Tarragon Theatre in 2012-2013

Tarragon Theatre announces its 11-play, 2012-2013 season of contemporary plays, including a mini-festival of new works by Hannah Moscovitch; a Tarragon writing debut from David Yee; returning artists David S. Young and Asha and Ravi Jain; and work from Melody A. Johnson, John Mighton, Michel Nadeau and Morris Panych.

The season highlights interconnectivity -- on a personal and global scale. These are plays that travel the world - from a decrepit downtown apartment in Toronto that conjures memories of Cape Breton and Scotland, to a cataclysmic event that begins in Indonesia but reverberates around the planet. En route, they touch down in such differing locales as rural Ontario, India, Afghanistan and 19th century Vienna. The stories they tell may relay individual and separate experiences, but in the telling, they simultaneously reflect our commonality and connection. The season includes:

IN THE MAINSPACE

NO GREAT MISCHIEF             
by David S. Young, adapted from the novel by Alistair MacLeod, directed by Richard Rose
September 11-October 21, 2012 (opening September 18)

Haunted by the stories and songs of their Scottish ancestry, two brothers seek to reconcile their past in this saga of familial loss and love. NO GREAT MISCHIEF premiered at Tarragon Theatre in 2004 and was subsequently presented in Ottawa, Vancouver and Halifax.  

THE LITTLE YEARS                                                       
by John Mighton, directed by Chris Abraham
November 7-December 16, 2012 (opening November 14)

John Mighton, a Siminovitch Prize winner for Playwriting, returns to Tarragon after the acclaimed 2005 production of Half Life. Growing up in the 1950s, Kate is fascinated by time and space, interests dismissed as unbecoming to a young woman of her time. While her brother achieves literary renown, Kate slowly abandons her dreams and heartbreakingly grows from precocious teen to troubled woman. Only her diaries shed light on her youthful self to her equally precocious young niece.   

THE AMOROUS ADVENTURES OF ANATOL
by Arthur Schnitzler, adapted and directed by Morris Panych
JAN 1-FEB 10, 2013 (opening January 9)

In this Toronto premiere the young, incurably romantic-and indecisively neurotic-Anatol pursues each woman as if she is "the one," without commitment or care. With Anatol's eye ever-wandering, the bemused Max tries to counsel his incorrigible friend.

AND SLOWLY BEAUTYŠ                                             
By Michel Nadeau in collaboration with Marie-Josée Bastien, Lorraine Côté, Hugues Frenette, Pierre-François Legendre, Véronika Makdissi-Warren and Jack Robitaille
Translated by Maureen Labonté, directed by Michael Shamata
February 20-March 31, 2013 (opening February 27)  Toronto Premiere

A Belfry Theatre/National Arts Centre English Theatre co-production

When Mr. Mann wins tickets to Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's The Three Sisters in an office draw, he knows he must go - even though he rarely goes to the theatre. In those few precious hours, something unexpected stirs inside of him and his quiet yearning for happiness blossoms.  

CARRIED AWAY ON THE CREST OF A WAVE
by David Yee, directed by Nina Lee Aquino
APR 16-MAY 26, 2013 (OPENS APR 24)        
"Because we are all connected. And we are, none of us, alone."

in this world premiere a singular, cataclysmic event--the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami--illustrates the interconnectedness of all things. From an escort in Thailand to a Catholic priest in India to a housewife in Utah, this play asks, "what happens when the events that tie us together are the same that tear us apart?" David Yee, a playwright-in-residence at Tarragon, is co-founder and artistic director of fu-GEN Asian Canadian Theatre Company.  

 

IN THE EXTRA SPACE

MISS CALEDONIA                                                 
written and performed by Melody A. Johnson
directed by Rick Roberts and Aaron Willis, musical arrangements and original score by Alison Porter
October 16-November 25, 2012 (opening October 24)
 
produced by Lunkamud in association with Tarragon Theatre

Melody Johnson is well-known to Tarragon audiences, appearing in In the Next Room this past season. She takes on the role of Peggy Ann Douglas, a woman desperate to escape the stall-cleaning, hay-baling drudgery of 1950s life on Rural Route 2. Can she sing, twirl and pivot her way into the hearts of the pageant judges to set her on her path? A 2010 SummerWorks hit.

A BRIMFUL OF ASHA                                                     
Written and performed by Asha and Ravi Jain; directed by Ravi Jain
November 28-December 16, 2012 (opening November 29)
 
a Why Not Theatre Production

"You don't get to choose any member of your family: your brother, your father, your mother.
You are stuck with them till death do you part. Why do you need to choose your wife?"

This true story returns after a sold-out extended run this past season. Real-life mother and son, Asha and Ravi Jain, tell the tale of how Ravi's parents planned a surprise trip to India to intercept him on his vacation and arrange his marriage. Ravi Jain is an award-winning actor, director, producer, and Artistic Director of Why Not Theatre. Asha Jain is his mother and until A BRIMFUL OF ASHA, had never performed on a stage.

A MINI-FESTIVAL 
Four plays celebrating the work of Tarragon Playwright-in-Residence Hannah Moscovitch

Hannah Moscovitch is one of the most prolific playwrights of her generation and considered one of the strongest voices in the country. Her Governor General-nominated EAST OF BERLIN premiered at Tarragon to great acclaim, and toured successfully for two seasons. Her most recent play, THE CHILDREN'S REPUBLIC, premiered at Tarragon this season.

THIS IS WAR                                 
directed by Richard Rose
December 28, 2012-February 3, 2013 (World premiere opening January 3)  

It is 2008. Canadian Forces are holding Panjwaii, the most volatile region of Afghanistan, with very little support from NATO-ISAF. Captain Stephen Hughes is always looking for the next threat, knowing it can come any time from any direction. He just didn't expect it would come from within. After Tarragon, the production tours to Prairie Theatre Exchange, Winnipeg.

World premiere double bill: OTHER PEOPLE'S CHILDREN & LITTLE ONE
February 14-March 24, 2013 (opening February 20) (Roseneath Theatre's IN THIS WORLD replaces LITTLE ONE for the final week of the double bill)

in co-production with Theatre PANIK and Theatre Crisis

OTHER PEOPLE'S CHILDREN
directed by Paul Lampert
February 14-March 24, 2013 (opening February 20)      

When Briony returns to work, she and her husband Richard hire a live-in nanny to care for their young daughter. At first, Briony is touched by how well her daughter takes to Sathi, but the strength of their bond quickly becomes alarming.

LITTLE ONE
directed by Natasha Mytnowych
FEB 14-MAR 17, 2013 (OPENS FEB 20)     

"I have a lot of fond childhood memories of the whole family together in the ER."
Two adopted siblings grow up together in affluent Ottawa. Claire and Aaron love each other with all their hearts. But for some people, loving and destroying are the same thing.

 
IN THIS WORLD
directed by Andrew Lamb
MAR 19-24, 2013

This production is a complex exploration of race, class and sex as experienced by two urban, contemporary girls in high school.

Tarragon Theatre is known for its 40 years of creation, development and production of new Canadian work. More than 190 plays have premiered at Tarragon, including work by Morwyn Brebner, Kate Cayley, David French, Brendan Gall, Michael Healey, Ravi Jain, Wendy Lill, Joan MacLeod, Daniel MacIvor, Hannah Moscovitch, Morris Panych, James Reaney, Erin Shields, Jason Sherman, Judith Thompson and David Young, among many others. Tarragon presents new plays from all parts of the country, revives significant Canadian plays and produces international work, contemporary and classical. Tarragon has also been a pioneer in presenting Québecois plays in translation, notably works by Carole Fréchette, Michel Tremblay and Wajdi Mouawad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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