Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Toronto, May 29, 2015 – Crow’s Theatre (Toronto) and Porte Parole (Montreal) are thrilled to announce details today of the World Premiere of their newest collaboration, The Watershed, at the Berkeley Street Theatre beginning July 7, 2015, part of the TORONTO 2015 PAN AM/PARAPAN AM GAMES arts and cultural festival PANAMANIA presented by CIBC. From the creators of the acclaimed SEEDS, The Watershed follows an artist and a country struggling to chart a sustainable course for environmental stewardship.
In The Watershed, Annabel - a Montreal documentary theatre artist - leads her own family on a cross-country journey, investigating the forces that are shaping the future of our natural resources. Encountering leading freshwater scientists, government officials, activists and business leaders along the way, The Watershed captures Canada in a moment of acute reflection.
The production features a distinguished cast of performers, many of whom are regular Crow’s collaborators, including Bruce Dinsmore (SEEDS), Alex Ivanovici (SEEDS), Tanja Jacobs (SEEDS), Tara Nicodemo (The Seagull), Ngozi Paul (‘Da Kink in My Hair), Eric Peterson (The Seagull, SEEDS), Amelia Sargisson (The Incredible Speediness of Jamie Cavanaugh), and Kristen Thomson (Someone Else).
A piece of verbatim theatre, The Watershed is written by Annabel Soutar, and ripped word-for-word from family conversations, media reports and candid interviews with experts. Annabel is one of Canada’s foremost documentary theatre artists and has produced over 10 original documentary pieces for her company Porte Parole Productions. The production is directed by Siminovitch Prize-winning director and Crow’s Theatre Artistic Director, Chris Abraham. The play is a commission for PANAMANIA, the arts and culture programme accompanying the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto, as part of AQUACULTURE, a specially curated selection of art works about water.
"One of the major arts and culture programming platforms for PANAMANIA is called AQUACULTURE,” comments Don Shipley, Creative Director of Arts and Culture for PANAMANIA. “This unique event celebrates water as a powerful and unifying force, an agent of change and an inspiration for artistic expression. It is also the connective tissue that unifies all of the 41 Pan American countries.
“I had the opportunity to see Annabel and Chris’s previous collaboration, the remarkable docudrama SEEDS, about GMO’s and the patenting of life forms and was incredibly inspired by the production, which made powerful and vital theatre of a critical current issue. There is something thrilling in bringing the truth and immediacy of documentary into a live performance experience and Chris Abraham and Annabel Soutar do it brilliantly. It is - without doubt - one of our most vital and important commissions and not to be missed.“
Chris Abraham, Artistic Director of Crow’s Theatre added, “We are honoured to present this project on the world stage as many eyes turn to Toronto. Working on the play for the past three years, has been truly eye opening. It has challenged me on every level. I am a character in it, and so is my daughter. To say that the play is about the future of water would be inaccurate. The play at its core is about conflicting visions of stewardship, and the different ways in which this concept can be understood.”
“The process of creating The Watershed over the last two years has been thrilling for me,” continued Annabel Soutar. “It was important to me to bring my family on this journey of discovery to learn about one of Canada’s most valuable natural resources. The play addresses a key Canadian issue: can the country continue to use its natural resources and preserve its legacy as an environmental steward?
“Sharing this story with a Canadian public – in English during PANAMANIA in July and then in French at Usine C in Montreal (November 2015) – hopefully inspiring Canadians to think on how to preserve our legacy, is something I’m very excited to do. ”
The Watershed will run from Tuesday, July 7 to Sunday, July 19 (Opening performance: July 12) at the Berkeley Street Theatre (26 Berkeley St.). Tickets from $15 to $40 are available by phone at 416-368-3110, online at crowstheatre.ca, or in person at the box office.
Production sponsors: Richard Rooney, the Hal Jackman Foundation, and the Midloch Foundation.
About The Watershed:
A PANAMANIA presentation produced by Crow’s Theatre and Porte Parole
Creative Team
Written by Annabel Soutar
Directed by Chris Abraham
Video Design by Denyse Karn
Sound Design by Thomas Ryder Payne
Lighting Design by Kimberly Purtell
Costume and Set Design by Julie Fox
Cast
Bruce Dinsmore
Alex Ivanovici
Tanja Jacobs
Tara Nicodemo
Ngozi Paul
Eric Peterson
Amelia Sargisson
Kristen Thomson
Photo: Hugh Baugh (centre) in War of the Clowns. ©2011.
2015-05-29
Toronto: Crow's Theatre and Porte Parole present the world premiere of "Watershed" July 7-19