Stage Door News
Stage Door News
As the artistic leaders of The Worker’s Theatre movement in Canada during The Great Depression, Dorothy Livesay (Dee) and Eugenia Watts (Jim), upon whom Tara Beagan’s new play Jesus Chrysler is based, grew up as good friends and were some of Toronto’s original radical organizers. Based out of U of T’s Hart House Theatre, the two were part of a group that staged agitprop plays that traveled throughout South-Western Ontario in Jim’s car, which they called The Jesus Chrysler.
These performances were sometimes done for a handful of interested onlookers and sometimes performed for thousands: When they performed in solidarity with mostly immigrant women cannery workers on strike in St. Catharines they were run out of town by the police. When they performed during the Stratford furniture strike at The Brooks Steam Motor plant they did so for an audience of 3,500, or twice the number that would pack a sold-out Stratford Festival Theatre today.
Eventually these artists went on to stage Eight Men Speak, widely viewed by cultural historians as a key event that motivated the release of Communist leader Tim Buck and his colleagues from the Kingston Penitentiary and signalled the end of the use of the draconian law Section 98, which could be used to jail anyone the state deemed “seditious”. Later in the 1930s, they became inspired by NYC’s Group Theatre and the works of Clifford Odets. Founding a new theatre group called Theatre of Action, they presented the Canadian premiere of Waiting for Lefty and a number of anti-fascist works.
By 1937, Jim had left for Spain where a civil war raged and she hosted a radio show, wrote articles for a progressive newspaper and drove an ambulance. Dee went on to become a major poet after the war, winning two Governor General awards and eventually becoming an officer of The Order of Canada.
Jesus Chrysler explores the complex relationship between these women and focuses on an imagined episode in and around the founding of the Theatre of Action.
Written by: Tara Beagan & Directed by: Michael Wheeler
Starring: Margaret Evans*, Aviva Armour-Ostroff* and Jeffrey Wetsch*
Produced by: Aislinn Rose
Costumes & Set Design by: Scott Penner
Sound Design by: Verne Good
Lighting Design by: David DeGrow
Stage Managed by: Dini Conte*
Assistant Director: Laura Nordin
Movement Coach: Leora Morris
*Appearing courtesy of CAEA
Legendary activist and director Eugenia “Jim” Watts and poet Dorothy Livesay are embroiled in a mix of socialist organizing, sexual relationships, theatre rehearsals, and personal betrayal…
A world premiere by Dora-Award winning playwright Tara Beagan, Jesus Chrysler is an immersive production that revolves around Toronto activist and director Eugenia “Jim” Watts and poet Dorothy Livesay. An unsung icon of 1930s Toronto theatre, Jim had her work banned by a Prime Minister before enlisting in The Spanish Civil War, becoming its sole female ambulance driver. Livesay went on to become a two-time Governor General Award winner for poetry and an Officer of The Order of Canada. Jesus Chrysler invites you to explore their complex relationship in a show that engages with and questions the intersection of art and politics.
Location
Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace
16 Ryerson Avenue, Toronto ON
Dates
Tuesday November 29th & Wednesday November 30th:
Previews – 7:30pm
Thursday December 1st: Opening Night – 7:30pm
Tuesdays through Sundays – 7:30pm
Saturday & Sunday Matinees – 2pm
Closes Sunday December 11th – 8pm
Tickets
Tickets available though Arts Box Office
www.artsboxoffice.ca
416.504.7529
$15 – $30
*Due to the immersive nature of this production, seating in the Backspace is limited*
Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwRSPLg4QlM
2011-11-28
Toronto: Praxis Theatre with TPM presents world premiere of “Jesus Chrysler”