Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Sterling Studio Theatre’s 2013/14 season has had many highlights. In its second season, Sterling Studio Theatre has produced more than 14 plays including original Canadian work. Sterling Studio Theatre has welcomed some of Canada’s finest actors to the stage, with multiple guest directors, musicians and artists joining the collective. As the Sterling Studio Theatre season draws to an end, they are proud the present Lanford Wilson’s Burn This from April 10 – 20, 2014 (with an invite-only VIP Media Preview on April 9, 2014).
Originally commissioned for the Circle Repertory Company in 1987, Burn This featured an incredible cast including Joan Allen and John Malkovich. After more than a 5-year absence from the Toronto stage, Sterling Studio Theatre is thrilled to bring Burn This back for Toronto audiences.
Burn This is a heartfelt drama set in a Manhattan industrial loft shared by Anna, a dancer turned choreographer, and her two gay roommates, Robbie and Larry. Anna’s collaborator, Robbie, has just been killed in a freak boating accident and she is left to pick-up the pieces with Larry. Robbie's older brother, Pale, bursts on to the scene to collect his belongings but stays to transform the lives of everyone he meets.
Having quickly established herself in the Toronto independent theatre community over the past two years, with over 21 produced plays and with 9 slated to follow, founding Co-Artistic Director of Sterling Studio Theatre Collective and award winning film and theatre Director Sophie Ann Rooney, (Ravenscroft, Snow Angel, Interior: Panic, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, The Glory of Living – Sterling Studio Theatre; The House of Plenty – Beaumont Stage, Vancouver; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Grease – Paris, France) brings Burn This to the main stage as her final directorial work of the season.
An exciting cast joins Ms. Rooney for this production. Ashleigh Rains brings her training and dance experience from Canada’s National Ballet School to the role of Anna. Burn This marks Ms. Rains’ second appearance on the Sterling Studio Theatre stage having previously performed in Noah Davis’ You Said Love as Julie. Ms. Rains’ select theatre credits also include This is for you, Anna (Cranes Performance Group), and The Nutcracker (The Hummingbird Centre, The National Arts Centre). Recent film and television credits include Bitten (Space), Flashpoint (CTV), and Murdoch Mysteries (CBC). Kyle Labine, a staple on Canadian televisions, having regularly appeared on classic series like Road to Avonlea (CBC) and Goosebumps (YTV) – for which he was nominated for a Hollywood Reporter Young Star Award - and more recently Murdoch Mysteries (CBC), Alphas (Network) and Lost Girl (Network), assumes the role of Pale. Mr. Labine is the owner of Sterling Studio Theatre.
After graduating from the prestigious The New School of Drama (New York City), JasonStroud has performed in the Toronto production Raw (Toronto Fringe Festival), is an associate producer for the Queer Ideas Salon and Short Film Series and has managed the Toronto International Film and Video Awards. Mr. Stroud plays Larry. Sean Connolly Affleck joins the cast as Burton. Mr. Connolly is a graduate of the Lee Strasberg Institute and HB Studio. He has also trained and performed with LABrynth Theatre in New York City, and recently appeared in the critically acclaimed production of Shoreditch Madonna at the Storefront Theatre, for which he was well reviewed. Recent film and television appearances include Saving Hope (NBC) and Real Inglorious Basterds.
Burn This will feature live, original music performed and composed by cellist Geoff Ball.
BURN THIS by Lanford Wilson
Directed by Sophie Ann Rooney
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9 – VIP Media Preview, by invitation only.
THURSDAY, APRIL 10 – SUNDAY, APRIL 20 (Dark Mondays)
8PM
$20 TICKETS (available for purchase online or at the box office, cash only)
STERLING STUDIO THEATRE
163 Sterling Road, Unit 5 (north alley entrance)
Illustration: Alana Pancyr.
2014-03-06
Toronto: Sterling Studio Theatre closes its second season with Lanford Wilson's "Burn This" April 10-20