Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Toronto, ON – The Theatre Centre and Why Not Theatre, along with partner companies Surface/Underground and Butcher’s Block Productions, announced an exciting collaboration for the fall theatre season: The November Ticket. Audiences can see three innovative, critically acclaimed plays at The Theatre Centre’s cultural hub (1115 Queen St. W) throughout the month of November for only $60 – making The Theatre Centre the place to be this November.
“This was a no-brainer for us,” said Franco Boni, artistic director of The Theatre Centre. “We believe so strongly in the artists that Why Not has programmed, and this opportunity to collaborate and share resources is completely in-line with both our own activities, as well as Why Not’s experimental producing model.”
The November Ticket begins with Governor General Award-winner Nicolas Billon’s gripping political thriller, Butcher directed by Weyni Mengesha, in a co-production from Why Not Theatre and Butcher’s Block. Coming to Toronto for the first time, Butcher premiered at Alberta Theatre Projects to rave reviews in 2014 and explores the uncomfortable notions of justice, revenge, and the fine line that separates them.
Next, The Theatre Centre will produce their first non-Canadian play in over 10 years with the Obie Award-winning play, We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884-1915 – by Jackie Sibblies Drury. Receiving its Canadian premiere directed by Ravi Jain, We Are Proud to Present… mixes the absurd with the serious in an inquiry into the first genocide of the 20th century, while veering dangerously into the present day.
The November Ticket is rounded out by the Toronto premiere of Jordan Tannahill’s Late Company, back by popular demand after a sold-out success of the original workshop production during SummerWorks 2013. An award-winning playwright, Tannahill recently received a Governor General’s Literary Award in 2014. Late Company, directed by Peter Pasyk, won the festival’s NOW Magazine Audience Choice Award and Best Production Award for Tannahill’s startlingly honest and naturalistic script about loss and the search for closure.
The November Ticket, available for a limited time, is on sale now. The $60 ticket is valid for a performance to each of the listed productions at anytime during their respective runs. With The November Ticket, audiences save 20 per cent off the price of single tickets. Performance dates can be chosen once single tickets go on sale this summer. Purchase by phone at 416-538-0988, or in person at The Theatre Centre Box Office (1115 Queen St. W).
This series compliments The Theatre Centre’s upcoming programming for 2015, which continues the company’s mandate to develop and foster new artists and their work, through various stages of development. This includes 6th Man Collective’s interactive basketball experience Monday Nights this July. Part-play, part-basketball game and part-choose your own adventure, Monday Nights returns after a successful run last fall.
September brings a presentation of STO Union’s production, What Happened to the Seeker. Written by Nadia Ross, the play was developed as part of the Tracy Wright Global Archive, a project by The Theatre Centre that challenges artists to explore a burning question and create a new work by travelling to, and engaging deeply with, communities and locations across the globe. For What Happened to the Seeker, Ross was sent to India and has written a scathing portrait of a generation trying desperately to revive its ideals after sacrificing them on the altar of free trade.
What Happened to the Seeker comes to Toronto after participating in Montreal’s Festival Transamériques, and fittingly leads into the latest edition of the Tracy Wright Global Archive in October, which has playwright Yvette Nolan traveling to New Zealand. More details about The Theatre Centre’s programming will be made available at theatrecentre.org.
Website: theatrecentre.org ; theatrewhynot.org
Twitter: @TheatreCentre; @theatrewhynot
Twitter Hashtag: #NovemberTicket
The November Ticket (full show descriptions and details)
Butcher
A Why Not Theatre and Butcher's Block co-production
"Ingenious, jaw-dropping..." - The Calgary Sun
4 out of 4 stars - The Globe and Mail
Written by Nicolas Billon
Directed by Weyni Mengesha
Starring John Koensgen, Michelle Monteith, Andrew Musselman and Tony Nappo
Who is the Butcher? A mysterious old man is dropped off at a police station, wearing a foreign military uniform, and a Santa hat, with a meat hook dangling around his neck. As a lawyer, a police officer, and a translator struggle to unravel the truth, they uncover a past that won’t stay buried, and a decades-old quest for justice that must be served. Haunted by events a world away, no one is who they seem to be.
We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884-1915
A Theatre Centre Production
“Devastatingly funny” - “Dangerous and primal and weird” - The Washington Post
Written by Jackie Sibblies Drury
Directed by Ravi Jain
A group of young actors come together to tell the little-known story of the first genocide of the 20th century, testing the limits of empathy as they explore their own stories, assumptions and prejudices. Eventually the full force of a horrific past crashes into the good intentions of the present, hitting closer to home than anyone ever expected.
Late Company
A Why Not Theatre presentation of a Surface/Underground production
“Best New Play” “Best Production” “Best Director” “Best Ensemble”
- NOW Magazine's SummerWorks Round-up
Written by Jordan Tannahill
Directed by Peter Pasyk
Starring Rosemary Dunsmore, Paul Fauteux, Richard Greenblatt, and Fiona Highet
One year after a tragedy, two families sit down to dinner. Far from finding the closure they seek, the dinner strips bare their good intentions to reveal layers of parental, sexual, and political hypocrisy. Written with sensitivity and humour, Late Company is both a timely and timeless meditation on a parent’s struggle to comprehend the monstrous and unknown in their child.
About The Theatre Centre:
The Theatre Centre is a nationally recognized live-arts incubator that serves as a research and development hub for the cultural sector. We provide artists with infrastructure and resources to make their art – from idea to production. The Theatre Centre is committed to new work and new ways of working. We are a public space, open and accessible to the people of our community, where citizens can imagine, debate, celebrate, protest, unite and be responsible for inventing the future.
About Why Not Theatre:
Founded in 2007, Why Not Theatre is a Toronto-based theatre company with an international scope. Under Artistic Director Ravi Jain, Why Not has established a reputation as a company synonymous with inventive, experimental, cross-cultural collaborations resulting in shows featuring new Canadian writing, company-devised and site specific shows alongside revitalized interpretations of classics. In recent years, the company has also become known for its presentation of international productions and workshops from diverse cultures and artistic practices, along with support for the development of local emerging artists and companies.
Photo: Jordan Tannahill.
2015-05-26
Toronto: The Theatre Centre and Why Not Theatre partner to create "The November Ticket"