Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Here are events taking place in the second week of the New Groundswell Festival:
In Conversation with Mary Vingoe
Mary Vingoe is a pillar of the Canadian stage. In her experience as founding Artistic Director of Magnetic North Theatre Festival, founding Artistic Director of The Eastern Front Theatre in Halifax and co-founder and past Artistic Director of Nightwood Theatre; it is apparent that today’s theatrical landscape has been much affected by the work of this extraordinary artist. In her roles as writer and director, she continues to challenge audiences across the country, with her unique voice and unabashedly political work. Please join us as current Artistic Director, Kelly Thornton, sits down for an “In Conversation” with Mary Vingoe. They will discuss how the world of theatre production has changed in the last 30 years; what about Mary’s journey has been the most surprising and why telling stories from a woman’s perspective is still relevant and indeed, necessary today. Come for the conversation and stay for the 8pm performance of Adam’s Rib. Also, make sure to catch the reading of Refuge, a new work by Mary Vingoe at 5pm on March 21st.
Friday, March 22, 7pm, Upstairs Berkeley Street Theatre, 26 Berkeley Street, FREE EVENT
CBC’s Anna Maria Tremonti In Conversation with Carmen Aguirre
Carmen Aguirre is a Vancouver-based artist who has written and co-written twenty plays, including Chile Con Carne, The Trigger, and The Refugee Hotel. Her first book, Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter has won awards across the country and around the world, including CBC Canada Reads 2012 and is a #1 national bestseller. Her most recent play, The Trial of Tina Modotti, is currently being read as part of Groundswell’s Reading Series (March 22, 5pm) and mines the life of the iconic revolutionary artist. Like Tina herself, Carmen’s work provokes questions around “the role of art in the face of human suffering.” Please join us as we sit down “in conversation” with Carmen Aguirre and explore the questions we must ask ourselves. Is art making a revolutionary act? Should it be? What do we do from here? Come for Carmen and stay for the 8pm performance of Adam’s Rib!
*presented in partnership with Alameda Theatre Company
Saturday, March 23, 7pm, Upstairs Berkeley Street Theatre, 26 Berkeley Street, FREE EVENT
Solo Show Masterclass with Carmen Aguirre
Join award winning theatre artist, Carmen Aguirre, as she leads you through a masterclass on developing a one person show from a biological place. You will learn the tools to make your piece active, not self-indulgent and you will be encouraged to explore things from a physical place. The goal is to leave with a monologue and a plan toward developing a full narrative.
*presented in partnership with Alameda Theatre Company
Saturday, March 23, 11-5pm, Nightwood Studio, 9 Trinity Street, Studio 315, Distillery District
*registration required. Please visit our Artist/Masterclasses page for registration details or CLICK HERE
Emerging Artist Round Table
Join theatre heavy-weights around the table to discuss the challenges of being an up and coming theatre artist. No need to be polite, or aim to please, let’s talk dirty!
Saturday, March 23, 5pm, Upstairs Berkeley Street Theatre, 26 Berkeley Street, FREE come one come all!
Readings Series:
The Enchanted Loom by Suvendrini Lena
Thangan is a Sri Lankan Tamil poet living in Toronto. Humbled by intractable epilepsy, he makes a desperate decision to have surgery in order to stave off the dissolution of his family. In his seizures, the image of his three year old son, Kavalan, whom he lost during the civil war appears. If he stops the seizures through surgery, will he lose his only connection to his child?
Saturday, March 16, 5pm, Nightwood Studio, 9 Trinity Street, Studio 315, Distillery District, PWYC
Four Sisters by Susanna Fournier
After massive war and widespread plague, Sarah, a former brothel owner in the ghetto, tries to raise four little girls left orphaned by the women she once employed. When a doctor reveals the girls are plague positive she offers to treat them for free with an experimental new drug. In three acts spanning over fifty years, this play chronicles 6 women attempting to reconcile the echoes of their past, present and future in a violent world calling out for revolution.
Tuesday, March 19, 5pm, Nightwood Studio, 9 Trinity Street, Studio 315, Distillery District, PWYC
Refuge by Mary Vingoe
Refuge tells the story of a former soldier from Eritrea who has arrived in Canada without papers and seeks refugee status. Seen through the eyes of the couple that take him in and the lawyer who represents him, the play lays bare some of the shortfalls of the refugee system as it exists in Canada today. Refuge combines two distinct aesthetics: ‘verbatim’ text drawn from a set of interviews done for CBC radio into the fictional world of the characters involved.
Thursday, March 21, 5pm, Nightwood Studio, 9 Trinity Street, Studio 315, Distillery District, PWYC
The Trial of Tina Modotti by Carmen Aguirre
The Trial of Tina Modotti is an examination of the famous 1920s photographer and revolutionary’s life. It explores the tension between giving one’s life to one’s art and giving one’s life to a cause. The role of art in politics and politics in art was a core query in her life. The play asks the question: what is the purpose of art in the face of human suffering?
*presented in partnership with Alameda Theatre Company
Friday, March 22, 5pm, Nightwood Studio, 9 Trinity Street, Studio 315, Distillery District, PWYC
Write From The Hip Readings
Write from the Hip, our emerging playwrights program, presents two provocative new works for the stage. Groundswell will mark the first public workshop readings of Leah-Simone Bowen’s The Flood and Clara Pasieka’s Bejide.
Sunday, March 24, 5pm, Nightwood Studio, 9 Trinity Street, Studio 315, Distillery District, PWYC
Photo: Mary Vingoe.
2013-03-21
Toronto: Events at the New Groundswell Festival March 21-24