Stage Door News
Stage Door News
TORONTO (November 10, 2014) – We invite you to join us for Tarragon’s annual Play Reading Week, an exciting celebration of plays-in-development by the talented playwrights associated with the theatre. See the latest works from the celebrated actor and writer Fabrizio Filippo, playwright-in-residence Anna Chatterton, the Tarragon Playwrights Unit: Marie Beath Badian, Rachel Blair, Alexandria Haber, Jessica Moss, Kat Sandler & Evan Webber, and RBC Tarragon Emerging Playwrights’ Competition winner Step Taylor.
This year these plays will be directed by Andrea Donaldson (Asst. Artistic Director at Tarragon) and Richard Rose (Artistic Director at Tarragon). Among others, they will feature Tom Barnett, Paul Braunstein, Nicola Correia Demude, Pippa Domville, Brendan Gall, Cara Gee, Ava Jane Markus, Daniel Karasik, Brenda Robins, R.H. Thomson*.
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 evolve into full productions as part of Tarragon’s seasons, and on to receive national exposure.
Play Reading Week runs from November 18 - 29, in Tarragon’s Near Studio. Admission is free, and no reservations are taken. Readings begin at 8pm and doors open at 7:30pm. Arrive early to claim your seat!
*Feature actors subject to change.
Schedule of readings**:
Tuesday, November 18: In the Tongues of Men: The Lost Works of Ran Caffrey by Rachel Blair
Wednesday, November 19: Model Wanted by Step Taylor
Thursday, November 20: On This Day by Alexandria Haber
Friday, November 21: Other Jesus by Evan Webber
Saturday, November 22: Mustard by Kat Sandler
Wednesday, November 26: Common: Part One by Marie Beath Badian
Thursday, November 27: Within the Glass by Anna Chatterton
Friday, November 28: The Summoned by Fabrizio Filippo
Saturday, November 29: i will miss you when you’re gone by Jessica Moss
**This schedule is subject to change
Play descriptions:
Tuesday, November 18th at 8 pm
In the Tongues of Men: The Lost Works of Ran Caffrey by Rachel Blair
Thirty years after his prolific and personal novel made him a controversial literary legend and changed his life and marriage, reclusive writer Ran Caffrey is visited by a young editor eager to publish a masterpiece.
Wednesday, November 19th at 8 pm
Model Wanted by Step Taylor (Winner of the RBC Tarragon Emerging Playwrights’ Competition 2013)
Ross is a bright, charming teenager on the verge of graduating high school. His roommate Joy thinks he’s a pretty cool kid. His mother Loretta lives for him. So why does he spend the night before his last exam drunk, naked, and posing for photos at a stranger’s house?
Thursday, November 20th at 8 pm
On This Day by Alexandria Haber
A young woman’s unexpected presence at a dinner party and her penchant for asking brutally honest personal questions forces two couples to confront key issues facing us in the 21st century: global warming, marital infidelity, organic vegetables, and actually listening to your partner.
Friday, November 21st at 8 pm
Other Jesus by Evan Webber
Other Jesus spells out episodes from the life of a spiritual teacher / magician in ancient Judea. It's a normal drama about labour. In particular, the labour of believing. Only the virtuosity of listening is rewarded – not in writing, speaking, or even imagining. By this it aims for a type of realism.
Saturday, November 22nd at 8 pm
Mustard by Kat Sandler
Mustard is a whimsical story about loss, family, growing up, and the lengths we’ll go to for the ones we love: a darkly comic fairy tale about an imaginary friend’s quest to stay in our world that asks us to re-examine our relationship with what is real.
Wednesday, November 26th at 8 pm
Common: Part One by Marie Beath Badian
“We didn’t plan to be here. Did you ever dream or wish that you’d be in a place like this? You and me, we hooked up because we’re here. Don’t wanna be here. But we’re here.” Originally commissioned and developed with Project: Humanity, Common: Part One is the first in a trilogy of plays inspired by kids killing time in the common room at Toronto’s largest youth homeless shelter.
Thursday, November 27th at 8 pm
Within the Glass by Anna Chatterton
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.
Friday, November 28th at 8 pm
The Summoned by Fabrizio Filippo
Following the death of a tech visionary, the most important people in his life are summoned to a cheap airport hotel for the ostensible reading of his will. What transpires is nothing short of a paradigm shift in the very fabric of these characters’ lives, and the future of technology.
Saturday, November 29th at 8 pm
i will miss you when you’re gone by Jessica Moss
Four women, a robot, and some young adult fiction: I Will Miss You When You're Gone is a lonesome country song about grief and connection amidst bureaucracy. Celeste tries to contact her dead mother Caroline, but instead is haunted by Evelyn. Evelyn jumped off the top of her office building, run by Erin. Erin just wants to get these files in order.
Photo: Dan Watson and Christina Serra. ©2014 Ahuri Theatre.
2014-11-10
Toronto: Tarragon Theatre announces Play Reading Week November 18-29