Stage Door News
Stage Door News
We invite you to join us for Tarragon's annual Play Reading Week, a celebration of plays-in-development by the talented playwrights associated with the theatre. Come out to see the latest works from the 2013 Playwrights Unit, longstanding Tarragon playwright Diane Flacks, playwrights-in-residence Kate Cayley, Anna Chatterton and Maria Milisavljevic, and the RBC Tarragon Emerging Playwrights' Competition Winner, Jessica Anderson.
Tarragon is home to one of the longest standing and most acclaimed play development programs in Canada. Many of the plays featured in Play Reading Week go on to development in our WorkSpace program, enjoy full productions as part of Tarragon's seasons, and receive national exposure. Play Reading Week runs from November 19 to 30, 2013 in Tarragon's Near Studio. Admission is free, and no reservations are taken. Arrive early to claim your seat!
Schedule of readings:
Tuesday, November 19 @ 8 pm: The Bakelite Masterpiece by Kate Cayley
Wednesday, November 20 @ 8 pm: Within the Glass by Anna Chatterton
Thursday, November 21 @ 8 pm: The Colts by Jordi Mand
Friday, November 22 @ 8 pm: Memento Mori by Amy Lee Lavoie
Saturday, November 23 @ 8 pm: Abyss by Maria Milisavljevic
Tuesday, November 26 @ 8 pm: The Gods and Calvin Brewer by Jessica Anderson
Wednesday, November 27 @8 pm: Left, Right? by Adam Paolozza
Thursday, November 28 @ 8 pm: Waiting Room by Diane Flacks
Friday, November 29 @ 8 pm: El Retorno/I Return by Marilo Nuñez
Saturday, November 30 @ 8 pm: Pudenda by Gord Rand
**This schedule is subject to change**
Play descriptions and playwright bios:
The Bakelite Masterpiece by Kate Cayley
Tuesday, November 19 at 8 pm
In the wake of the liberation of Holland, an art dealer is charged with collaboration for selling a priceless Vermeer to the Nazis. Facing execution, he claims he painted the picture himself - a remarkably convincing fraud. Determined to uncover the truth, his prosecutor enters into a risky bargain that tests all her convictions about art and forgery, truth and lies, faith and doubt.
Kate Cayley is a playwright, poet and fiction writer. She is a playwright-in-residence at Tarragon Theatre, and her play After Akhmatova was produced at Tarragon in 2011. Her first collection of poetry, When This World Comes to an End, was recently published by Brick Books and was named one of the season's best collections by The Globe and Mail. She is the artistic director of Stranger Theatre, and has co-created, written and directed eight plays with the company.
Within the Glass by Anna Chatterton
Wednesday, November 20 at 8 pm
Two couples meet after a tragic mistake at a fertility clinic: the future happiness of all four rests on the decision only one woman can make.
Anna Chatterton is a librettist, playwright and performer. Her work has been commissioned and produced by the Canadian Opera Company, World Stage/Harbourfront Centre, Tapestry Opera, Theatre Passe Muraille, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, The Theatre Centre, Soundstreams, Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, VOICE ++ and The Sound Symposium. Anna is a co-founding member of Independent Auntie, a company-in-residence at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. She is currently Playwright-in-Residence at Tarragon Theatre as well as at Tapestry Opera.
The Colts by Jordi Mand
Thursday, November 21 at 8 pm
Two celebrated professional hockey players share a looming secret from their childhood. An encounter with someone from their past calls into question their decision to keep their secret for so many years, and the true cost of justice.
Jordi Mand's first full-length play, Between the Sheets, premiered as part of Nightwood Theatre's 2012/2013 season, and is slated for production in New Zealand and Vancouver next year. Her upcoming projects include Nightswimming/Theatre Yes's Elevator Project (Edmonton, 2014) and UnSpun Theatre's The Speedy (World Stage, 2014). Jordi is a Resident Artist of Theatre Passe Muraille and Playwright-in-Residence with Nightswimming. Jordi graduated from the National Theatre School of Canada.
Memento Mori by Amy Lee Lavoie
Friday, November 22 at 8 pm
A mortician, Mort, locks himself in the basement of his home to prepare the body of a mysterious client. As the outside world tries to break in, strange things are born in the dark: the furnace, a child's accordion and a Matador-emblazoned rug come alive to usher Mort through a journey of grief and finally, surrender.
Amy Lee Lavoie is a graduate of Bishop's University and the National Theatre School of Canada. Last season, her play Stopheart premiered at Factory Theatre where she developed it as playwright-in-residence. Rabbit Rabbit, conceived in her first year at NTS, was part of Infinitheatre's Pipeline series, CanStage's Ideas and Creation Festival, SummerWorks and the Edmonton Fringe. It received its premiere production with Infinitheatre, earning Amy Lee two MECCA's for Best Text and the Revelation Award.
Abyss written and translated by Maria Milisavljevic
Saturday, November 23 at 8 pm
Karla is missing. Vlado, Sophia, and Sophia's sister - the play's narrator - leave the safety of their apartment to search for their missing friend. As their story slowly unravels, it becomes clear that the narrator isn't as reliable as she seems and Vlado has been keeping a secret. Abyss is the winner of Germany's prestigious 2013 Kleist Promotional Award for Young Dramatists.
Born in Arnsberg, Germany, Maria Milisavljevic is an award-winning playwright, theatre creator and director. Her latest play Brandung (Abyss) received the 2013 Kleist Promotional Award for Young Dramatists and is currently showing at the Deutsches Theater Berlin. Maria has worked with various theatres and companies across Germany and in London's West End. At Tarragon, Maria has worked as a script reader, script coordinator and assistant director. She is currently Tarragon's International Playwright-in-Residence.
The Gods and Calvin Brewer by Jessica Anderson
Tuesday, November 26 at 8 pm
Seventeen-year-old Calvin creates a world that balances epic mythology with reality in order to communicate with his mother, a former classics professor struggling with mental illness. The Gods and Calvin Brewer is the winner of the 2012/2013 RBC Tarragon Emerging Playwrights' Competition.
Jessica Anderson is a playwright and arts administrator originally from Oakville, Ontario. Jessica received the 2012 RBC Tarragon Emerging Playwrights Award for her full-length play The Gods and Calvin Brewer. Her short plays and one-acts have been produced in festivals in Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary and Sydney, Australia. Her full-length play My Purple Wig will premiere Off-Off Broadway at the Lion Theatre in November. She is currently a member of the 1000 Islands Playwrights Unit.
Left, Right? by Adam Paolozza
Wednesday, November 27 at 8 pm
A Brechtian comedy about Capitalism, the obsolescence of partisan politics and the anxious search for authentic political discourse in highly mediated times.
Adam Paolozza is an award-winning actor, director and writer. He is artistic director of TheatreRUN, a Toronto-based company dedicated to creating original work and touring. Adam co-created Spent with Theatre Smith-Gilmour and Why Not Theatre (Dora Award, Outstanding Performance - Ensemble) as well as The Double (Dora Award nomination, Outstanding New Play) and Artaud: un portrait en décomposition which played in Toronto at Summerworks and in China. Adam was Tarragon's 2012/2013 Urjo Kareda artist-in-residence, and is a graduate of École Jacques Lecoq.
Waiting Room by Diane Flacks
Thursday, November 28 at 8 pm
Dr. Andre Malloy embarks on a groundbreaking medical experiment despite the objections of his Fellow, Dr. Melissa De Angelo. Meanwhile, Chrissie and Jeremy wonder if Dr. Malloy has what it takes to save their baby Jessie: for all his brilliance, the doctor seems callous and distracted. When every choice leads you into the unknown, what are you willing to risk to save a life?
Diane Flacks is a writer/performer who is known for her four critically acclaimed solo shows and her Chalmers nominated collaboration with Richard Greenblatt: Sibs, as well as Care, both at the Tarragon Theatre. Other Tarragon credits include her solo show, By a Thread, her play, Gravity Calling, and the collective creation, The Theory of Relatives. Diane has written and performed in theatres across the country, and created and written for numerous Canadian TV series including Kids in the Hall (for which she was nominated for an Emmy), PR, Listen Missy, and The Broad Side.
El Retorno/I Return by Marilo Nuñez
Friday, November 29 at 8 pm
El Retorno/I Return begins in present day with a crisis, propelling each member of the Fuenzalida family to examine a critical moment in their history - when the decision to return to dictatorial Chile in the 1980's was abandoned. Using verbatim text and fiction, the play explores childhood memory, exile, identity, revolution and the nature of choice in the 21st century.
Marilo Nuñez is a playwright, director and producer. As founder and artistic director of Alameda Theatre, a company mandated to produce and develop Canadian theatre with a distinct Latin American perspective, she has developed the De Colores Festival of New Works, Nueva Voz: A Latino Youth Initiative and El Barrio, an online database of Latino Canadian artists. Playwright's Canada Press published her first play, Three Fingered Jack & the Legend of Joaquin Murieta, in Fronteras Vivientes (Living Borders), a Canadian anthology of Latin American playwrights
Pudenda by Gord Rand
Saturday, November 30 at 8 pm
Forty-year old phys-ed teacher Gary Adams discovers the dark side of time when an affair with his young volleyball star threatens to destroy his life. Though it's not certain any physical transgression has taken place, Mr. Adam's behaviour raises the spectre of another kind of guilt. Pudenda explores the male mid-life crisis in all its awkward and ruinous glory.
Gord Rand is an actor, writer and director. He has written three - and directed two - acclaimed and controversial plays: Orgy in the Lighthouse, Pond Life (nominated for a Dora Award), and The Trial of Thumbelina (NOW Magazine's Outstanding New Play). His short films include The Nincompoops, The End, Pull My Finger, Does It Help? and To Sir, With Jizz: The Justin Cider Story. His feature documentary debut Goodness in Rwanda received the Audience Choice Award at the Reel World Film Festival in 2013.
Photo: Tarragon Theatre. ©2011 RedPat.
2013-11-06
Toronto: Plays announced for Tarragon Play Reading Week 2013 November 19-30