The Rise and Fall of Target Canada Dramatized by Thirty Community Members

Live verbatim documentary chronicles the enthusiastic launch and ultimate failure of the Target Canada chain of department stores performed by The Passionate Players in and around Toronto's Historic Regent Cinema.

The Passionate Players - a community theatre fundraising initiative from two of Canada's leading immersive theatre companies Outside the March and Convergence Theatre - returns Nov. 29th to Dec. 2nd for their fifth production, this time the World Premiere of A COMMUNITY TARGET. Written and compiled by emerging Canadian playwright Robert Motum, the play is directly lifted from interviews with scores of former Target Canada customers and employees, from cashiers all the way to the CEO and everyone in between.

On January 15, 2015, less than two years after they opened their first Canadian stores, Target announced that they would be discontinuing operations in Canada. At the time, the story was analysed by every business critic and financial pundit on television; they spoke about numbers, shareholders, and stocks. What was strikingly absent from this conversation, however, were the voices of the 17,600 Canadians who had just lost their jobs and had their lives upheaved. A COMMUNITY TARGET shares these stories in an intimate, personal and communal way.

The production will be performed in and around one of Toronto's oldest cinemas and one-time vaudeville house - The Regent Theatre, on Mount Pleasant Ave. just north of Davisville. The production will be staged in a promenade style, giving audience members the opportunity to explore every inch of this historic building - true to the immersive identities of the two producing companies: Outside the March (Dr. Silver, Jerusalem, TomorrowLove) and Convergence Theatre (The Unending, The Gladstone Variations, Yichud). The production will be co-directed by OtM's Artistic Director Mitchell Cushman, Convergence's Co-Artistic Director Aaron Willis and OtM's Associate Artistic Director Griffin McInnes, and designed by OtM's Dora-Award Winning Head of Design Nick Blais.

True to the people at the heart of its story, A Community Target will feature a cast of thirty community members - non-professional performers who are participants in the The Passionate Players Program. Now in its fifth year, The Passionate Players is a benefit endeavour from Outside the March and Convergence Theatre. The program offers community members interested in gaining hands-on experience in theatre the opportunity to train and participate in a full-fledged production. All proceeds from the production go to supporting the not-for-profit creative endeavours of both companies. Previous Passionate Players Productions include ReCast: Scenes from TomorrowLove & AutoShow (2017), Our Town (2015), A Midwinter Night's Dream (2014) and The Lady from Maxim's (2013).

A Community Target plays at the Regent Theatre (551 Mount Pleasant Rd, Toronto, ON) on:

November 29 at 8:30PM

November 30 at 8:30PM

December 1 at 2PM & 8:30PM

December 2 at 2PM

Note: The main floor of the Regent Theatre is wheelchair accessible.

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