WELL BORN Begins This Month at Artscape Youngplace

Mother-to-be Elizabeth is haunted by her inconclusive prenatal test results, the fact that she never knew her biological mother... and a talking plastic baby. Deeply personal and darkly comic, Well Born is a twisted dramedy about otherness, acceptance, and facing your fears.

Selected by Nightwood Theatre as the opener of their National Play Reading Series in the 2014 New Groundswell Festival and shortlisted for the 2014 Toronto Fringe Festival New Play Contest, Well Born premieres February 25-March 6 at the Artscape Youngplace (180 Shaw St). The cast and production team boast an incredible collective of artists, almost all of whom are women.

Emerging Toronto playwright Celeste Percy-Beauregard is the Artistic Director of SoCo Theatre, a company mandated to produce socially conscious theatre and the force behind the 2012 Fringe hit ENGLAND. When asked about the heart of her first full length play, she responds: "Well Born is not about right or wrong, or pro-life versus pro-choice. It is about the human desire to fit in."

Well Born is produced in association with Truth'n'Lies Theatre's Sophia Fabiilli and Michelle Alexander (the collaborators behind the 2015 Fringe hit The Philanderess, NNNNN and Second City Award for Best New Comedy). When asked how Well Born differs from The Philanderess, Fabiilli notes: "Celeste's play is much darker. It's weird and gut-wrenching, but I think it will have audiences gut-laughing, too."

SoCo Theatre and Truth'n'Lies recently hosted the sold-out event, Feminist Debaters, on January 31 2016. All proceeds from the event directly supporting the production.

MICHELLE ALEXANDER (Nightwood Theatre's Associate Artistic Director) is dramaturge and co-directs the production with DARWIN LYONS(Paprika Festival's Artistic Producer). SOPHIA FABIILLI (The Philanderess) stars as mother-to-be Elizabeth alongside MICHAEL MUSI (Liverand Retreat, Theatre Brouhaha) as her husband Chris. In search of answers after receiving troubling prenatal test results, Elizabeth sets out to find her birth mother only to be haunted by a life-size plastic baby doll, played by NIKKI DUVAL (Paul Gross' Hyena Road). Joining the cast is Dora Award Winner ASTRID VAN WIEREN (Come From Away, Belle Soeurs - The Musical) who finally sheds light on Elizabeth's identity.Well Born is CELESTE PERCY-BEAUREGARD's writing debut.

BY: CELESTE PERCY-BEAUREGARD
CO-DIRECTORS: MICHELLE ALEXANDER + DARWIN LYONS
CAST: NIKKI DUVAL, SOPHIA FABIILLI, MICHAEL MUSI, ASTRID VAN WIEREN

STAGE MANAGER: JEREMY LOUGHTON
DESIGNER: LAURA GARDNER

Artscape Youngplace, Studio 109

180 Shaw Street, Toronto, ON

Thursday, February 25 at 8:00 pm (opening)

Friday, February 26 at 8:00 pm

Saturday, February 27 at 2:00 pm* and 8:00 pm

Thursday, March 3 at 8:00 pm

Friday, March 4 at 8:00 pm

Saturday, March 5 at 2:00 pm and 8:00 pm

Sunday, March 6 at 8:00 pm

*Relaxed Performance: The 2pm performance on Saturday February 27 will have a relaxed attitude toward noise and movement from the audience. Patrons who meet any challenge attending the theatre (including but not limited to parents with babes in arms and individuals with an Autism Spectrum Disorder) are encouraged to attend. This performance is also open to the general public.

Tickets:

$25 General Admission | $20 Arts Worker | PWYC for Relaxed Performance (Saturday February 27 at 2:00 pm)

Tickets now on sale: www.SoCoTheatre.com

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