Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Straight from a series of sold-out workshops and celebrated performances in New York City and Tel Aviv, the SOULO THEATRE FESTIVAL returns joyously to its Toronto home turf this spring. Anchored by a Gala Opening Night performance of Rebecca Northan’s new One Woman Show, TROUBLEMAKER, at the Aki Studio (Daniels Spectrum), the 2015 SOULO THEATRE FESTIVAL takes over the Red Sandcastle Theatre May 21-24. It’s an all-star lineup of solo shows … plus panels, lectures and workshops aimed at helping you take your story to the next level!
SOULO Theatre encourages anyone interested in solo theatre — performers, writers, teachers, and audience members — to join us on this remarkable journey of storytelling and discovery. Register for workshops and purchase tickets for performances now to ensure your spot! Festival Passes and performance / workshop admissions are available via www.soulo.ca/festival2015
Performances: ONLY ONE Performance per Show!
Thursday May 21
Aki Studio at the Daniels Spectrum
8pm: Rebecca Northan’s TROUBLEMAKER
Rebecca Northan has always been accused of being a "troublemaker". What IS trouble, really? Brat? Shit disturber? Revolutionary? Trickster? There's "good trouble", and then there's "BIG TROUBLE". Maybe practising good trouble is the thing that prepares us for real trouble when it shows up in our lives. 4 STARS – The Calgary Herald
9-11pm: Opening Night Gala & Reception
Friday May 22
Red Sandcastle Theatre
7pm: Gerard Harris – A TENSION TO DETAIL
A storytelling show about why we tell stories rather than face reality head on, what we do to mitigate the insidious mental malware that holds us all back, and how to cook lobster without feeling like a murderer.
9pm: Zabrina Chaves – A NURSE’S WORST NIGHTMARE
A hilarious and insightful look at the life of Zabrina Chevannes, a Comedian, Nurse and mother of two. This solo show will take you on a journey through her childhood in a Jamaican family with an autistic sister, to a nurse’s darkest time in life, fighting demons of mental illness.
Saturday May 23
Red Sandcastle Theatre
6pm: Double Bill: FRACTURED and THE ARCHIVIST
Nicola Elbro – FRACTURED
A wide-eyed tom-boy, with a strong sense of adventure and a lack of common sense spends the first 13 years of her life in and out of casts. At the age of 14 she experiences death of a young friend for the first time and the adventure is put on hold. Over a decade later, she finally attempts to combat her fear of death and loss by volunteering at a camp for children with cancer…naturally.
Shaista Latif – THE ARCHIVIST
What do we chose to remember and what do we chose to forget? A decade after leaving Covenant House, Shaista Latif revisits her past. This is a story about memory, loss, trauma and awareness. Mature content, language advisory: 14+
7:30pm: Izad Etemandi-Shad – LOVE WITH LEILA
The story of a charming, flamboyant and bearded Persian woman, who lives to please her parents and lose herself in love. Leila knows exactly who she is, proudly living her life out loud. But when Leila meets her Prince Charming, falling in love for the first time, her world is turned upside down. Is love really all it’s cracked up to be? WARNING: This show may contain nuts
9:30pm: Rebecca Perry – CONFESSIONS OF A REDHEADED COFFEESHOP GIRL
Meet Joanie Little: feisty redhead and anthropology graduate. She’s stuck working as a barista in corporate coffee shop. Eager to use her vocational skills, Joanie turns her coffee shop upside down and starts reporting her findings on the “creatures” (customers) of her “Coffee Shop Jungle” as though she were Jane Goodall herself, bushwhacking through the African jungle to study the chimpanzees! Hilarity ensues! Bosses are angered! The local news has a field day! Jazzy tunes, co-worker showdowns and life lessons in under an hour. This is for anyone who’s ever had a job they couldn’t stand.
Sunday May 24
Red Sandcastle Theatre
11am-12:30pm Tracey Erin Smith Masterclass Showing (PWYC)
Solo performers studying with Tracey present their work in this special PWYC performance.
7pm: Sandy Simona – LOST IN LVOV
LOST IN LVOV brings to life several generations of an educated Jewish family as it transitions from the former Soviet Union to a new life in America, which is often overwhelming, often hilarious, always meaningful. They find joy in keeping some old customs and adapting to new ones--or resisting them. The family maintains its spirit and traditions throughout the stories; that are held together by music and Gypsy dance, and a tour de force whirlwind performance by the beneficiary of her family's rich history, the young actress who enters the arts despite the entreaties to enter a more sensible profession.
9pm: James Brian Judd – KILLER QUACK
Dean Faiello was a handsome con artist posing as an Upper East Side dermatologist until he killed a patient, hid her body, and fled to Costa Rica. Years later, James Judd, who was one of Faiello’s victims, began receiving Faiello’s letters from prison. KILLER QUACK is a true story of deception, murder, and forgiveness.
10:00pm: Closing Night Party at The Velvet! (all are welcome)
Workshops: All at The Red Sandcastle Theatre (922 Queen St East)
Friday May 22
Lecture (5-6pm)
Diane Flacks
Award winning pioneer of Canadian solo theatre, Diane Flacks talks about her one-woman shows, how she creates them and what life is like as a working Canadian theatre artist and playwright. There will be time for questions.
Saturday, May 23
Panel (1-2pm)
The Power Panel - Come meet the North America Stars of The Solo World. Learn: How they create. Secrets about touring…and how to have a hit! (Guest Stars TBA)
Workshop (2:30-3:30pm)
Selling Your Show Without Selling Your Soul - Learn how to promote yourself and feel great about it! A workshop on how to sell your show without selling your soul, led by Tracey Erin Smith, and marketing experts (TBA)
Sunday May 24
Workshop (1-2:30pm)
Tracey Erin Smith & John Lazarus
SOULO 101 - Join Tracey Erin Smith and her first solo teacher, the award-winning playwright and Professor John Lazarus for a fantastic introduction to the art and craft of creating your one-person show. Through fun and practical exercises you will get to know yourself and your show. You'll get some great tips and advice about personal style, story structure and marketing from our combined 40 years of creating and teaching solo.
Workshop (3-4pm)
Punch Up Your Pain - Martha Chaves
Workshop (4:30-6pm)
Travelling Stories - Sandy Simona
By fusing elements of Eastern European ensemble physical theater, improvisation, world music, poetry, dance and personal narrative, this introduction to solo storytelling workshop provides students with tools which aid a creation process for developing solo performance material inspired by their own writing.
SOULO Theatre is an award-winning theatre company, training facility and international theatre festival of one-persons shows in Toronto. SOULO Theatre has helped thousands of people around the globe share their life stories on stage in a moving and entertaining ways. SOULO was founded in 2002 by Tracey Erin Smith at Ryerson University. In 2014 SOULO Theatre won Best Small Theatre, NOW Magazine 2014.
SOULO Founder Tracey Erin Smith is an award winning performer, writer and teacher who believes in crazy-wisdom and practices reverent irreverence. Smith is the founder of the award-winning SOULO Theatre Company, the Artistic Director of Toronto’s SOULO Theatre Festival, SOULO NYC and the Co-Founder of the Totnes SOULO Theatre Festival in England. Smith recently won a Broadway World Toronto Award for her latest solo show, MEMENTO MORI. Her plays have been Critic’s Pick in BackStage Magazine NYC, a two time winner of ‘Best of the Toronto Fringe Festival’, and the ‘Audience Choice Award’ in New York City’s Frigid Festival. Smith presents SOULO Theatre Workshops internationally. www.soulo.ca
PERFORMANCE and WORKSHOP information
for The SOULO THEATRE FESTIVAL 2015
Venue:
Opening Night Gala & Performance:
Aki Studio at the Daniels Spectrum (585 Dundas St East)
Remainder of Festival: The Red Sandcastle Theatre (922 Queen St East)
Dates: Thursday May 21 – Sunday May 24, 2015
Tickets:
Full FESTIVAL Pass: $200
(admission for one to everything, including Opening Night gala)
SHOW Pass: $90
(admission for one to all solo shows except Opening Night & Masterclass)
WORKSHOP Pass: $65
(admission for one to every Workshop/Panel)
Single tickets (Performance OR Workshop): $15 (advance) / $20 (walk-up)
Opening Night Gala tickets: $50 (advance) / $60 (walk-up)
Workshop and Performance tickets available shortly via www.soulo.ca/festival2015
2015-04-22
Toronto: SOULO Theatre Festival runs May 21-24 in Toronto