Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Toronto, ON – The Junes Company is pleased to announce the world premiere of a new Canadian play, Aromas, written and directed by Toronto’s Andrew Faiz. Running nightly Tuesday, April 28 – Saturday, May 2, 2015, 8 p.m., with a matinee showing on May 2, 2 p.m., at the Alumnae Theatre Studio, 70 Berkeley St., the play, set in Dubai, Tokyo and many other points around the world, stars Andy Fraser (Willow Quartet - Papermill Theatre; The Uninvited Guest – Tarragon Extra Space; The Memory of Water, Wit, Criminal Genius - Alumnae Theatre Co.).
The one-woman play, running 75 minutes, with no intermission, is a candid look at professional sex work, and much more — faith and identity. “The play’s character Katalin is an immigrant, rootless. Her alter-ego, Chanel, is her version of her best self.” While the character Chanel is an escort, the play is not about the sex industry. It makes no social, moral or value judgements about sex workers. Besides being an emerging playwright/director (Kathryn: As Herself At Last – Toronto Fringe and Summerworks), Faiz is senior editor of the Presbyterian Record. He has worked in TV, documentary, newspapers, radio and magazines, as a journalist, editor and producer for over 30 years. He describes Aromas as a very personal dramatic play, his way of dealing with his mother’s death. Faiz was born in Pakistan; the parents’ passing marked the final distancing from those roots. As Chanel says in the play, “Sex is never about sex. It is about much so much more.” Faiz says his play is also about faith.
The run of the play in the Fall 2014 at the Red Sandcastle Theatre on Queen East inspired the small independent company to present the world premiere to Toronto audiences with an interest in the story of the different women of the play, and their search for a spiritual self through a physical journey.
Joining Faiz in the creative team is lighting designer Ed Rosing (The Kildeer, The Lady’s Not for Burning – The Alumnae Theatre), set and costume designer Brandon Kleiman (Rent – Sheridan College/Mirvish; Outstanding Production Dora-nominated Blind Date – World Stage at Harbourfront Centre) with original music by sound designer Richard Jones (Willow Quartet –Papermill Theatre), and stage management by Margot Devlin, this professional production is being staged at the Alumnae Theatre Studio in Toronto’s Distillery District.
Advance general admission tickets, including service fee and tax, are available online at TOtix: adults $20; student/senior/arts worker $15; and, hipTIX (students 14 – 29) $6.50. For more information, including video, see www.aromastheplay.com and the community page on Facebook.
Photo: Andy Fraser. ©2014 Tim Leyes.
2015-04-07
Toronto: The Junes Company presents a second run of "Aromas" by Andrew Faiz April 28-May 2