Studio 180 Presents The Canadian Premiere of THE OVERWHELMING

Studio 180, the company that has brought Toronto audiences the powerful and provocative plays Stuff Happens, The Laramie Project, Blackbird and The Arab-Israeli Cookbook, returns to the Berkeley Street Theatre Downstairs with a chilling and brilliant new drama. The Overwhelming, by J.T. Rogers, was named one of the top ten plays of the year by Time Magazine and Time Out New York in 2007, and will finally have its Canadian premiere from March 8 to April 3, 2010.

ABOUT THE PLAY
The Overwhelming is a riveting examination of the mounting tensions in 1994 Rwanda and a war that cannot be comprehended or controlled. American academic Jack Exley travels to Rwanda to interview old friend Joseph Gasana about his struggle for good against daunting odds. But when Jack arrives in Kigali, he is unable to find the Tutsi doctor - or anyone who will even admit to having known him. Befriended by both locals and diplomats with veiled motives, Jack and his family become enmeshed in the tension, terror, professional risks and personal betrayals that they ultimately realize mark the start of a genocidal war.
The Overwhelming had its world premiere at London's prestigious National Theatre in 2006, in an acclaimed co-production with Out of Joint. That production subsequently toured the UK. Other productions have played throughout the United States and Europe, all to critical and popular success.

Playwright J.T. Rogers is an American writer and actor whose award-winning plays include Madagascar, Seeing the Elephant, White People and Murmuring in a Dead Tongue.

CRITICAL PRAISE FOR THE OVERWHELMING

"FOUR STARS! Achieves the emotional impact that TV news bulletins and newspapers rarely manage. Takes on the complexities of the 1994 Rwandan civil war and gives political theatre serious allure. Remarkable." - Evening Standard, London

"Powerful new drama. The Overwhelming strikes me as not only the best new play I've seen this year, but also, and this is the really startling thing, one of the most entertaining." - Daily Telegraph, London

"FOUR STARS! This fluid, fast-moving and superbly performed production grips like an old-fashioned thriller. More importantly, it leaves you with a real fear that, if we let it, history could repeat itself elsewhere in the world." - Mail on Sunday, London

"A gripping, edgy thriller... a visceral, deeply provoking work." - Time Out, London

"Shatteringly powerful but also unexpectedly entertaining... with the atmosphere, moral urgency, and hurtling momentum of a Graham Greene novel." - Sunday Telegraph, London

"I loved everything about... The Overwhelming." - The New Yorker

"Boldly invites theatergoers to consider a subject of harsh and abiding pertinence." - New York Times

"There's finally a play in town that makes thinking a pleasure again." - Variety

"FIVE STARS! You may not want to look - but you must! A fast, frightening, watchable play about the Rwandan civil war." - Daily Mail, London
THE STUDIO 180 PRODUCTION

Directed by Joel Greenberg, The Overwhelming features a stellar Canadian cast: Dorothy Atabong, Audrey Dwyer, Paul Essiembre, Mariah Inger, Sterling Jarvis, Hardee T. Lineham, Brendan McMurtry-Howlett, Karim Morgan, André Sills, David Storch and Nigel Shawn Williams.

The set design is by Michael Gianfrancesco, lighting design by Kimberly Purtell, sound design by Michael Laird and costume design by Erika Connor. The stage manager is Emma Laird.

ABOUT STUDIO 180

Studio 180 is a Toronto-based theatre company with the mission to produce socially relevant theatre that provokes public discourse and promotes community engagement. Over the past several years, the company has offered a series of Canadian premieres that tackled difficult and divisive issues and generated powerful audience and community responses.

Studio 180's acclaimed productions include The Laramie Project (2003 & 2004), The Arab-Israeli Cookbook (2006), Stuff Happens (2008 & 2009) and Blackbird (2008).

For more information about Studio 180, visit www.studio180theatre.com

The Overwhelming is produced in association with The Canadian Stage Company. The production is part of the Berkeley Street Project initiative, where Canadian Stage, Studio 180, Necessary Angel and Nightwood Theatre have partnered to transform Canadian Stage's Berkeley Street Theatre into a dynamic home for contemporary performing arts.

Performance Schedule: Monday to Saturday at 8 PM; matinees Wednesday 1:30 PM and Saturday 2 PM
The play runs 2 hours and 30 minutes
Berkeley Street Theatre Downstairs
26 Berkeley Street, Toronto
Tickets: $20 to $45 (limited pay-what-you-can available on Mondays)
Call the box office at 416-368-3110
Tickets Online at www.studio180theatre.com or www.canadianstage.com

 

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