Stage Door News
Stage Door News
When asked in a press conference why it was a priority for him to have a gender-balanced cabinet, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau succinctly, and oh-so-cooly, quipped, “Because it’s 2015.” His quote subsequently went viral, being turned into memes, Buzzfeed articles, and other such internet kitsch.
But was Canada in 2015 as progressive as this quote would suggest? Is inequality (gender, racial, ability, age, national, religious, sexual, economic, etc., etc., etc.,) a thing of the past? Probably, definitely not.
With Wrecking Ball #20, we decided to continue the conversation, inviting artists to address the issues that went unresolved in 2015: the issues that were invisible to the general public, the issues we chose to collectively ignore, and the issues we naively thought had been resolved.
Over the past couple years, under a new generation of leadership, the Wrecking Ball has shifted its focus, presenting new work by not only esteemed playwrights from across the country, but also by comedians, dancers, and performance artists of all kinds.
There is also an opportunity for you to have your say with “Time Bomb”! This new initiative gives individual WB audience members the spotlight for exactly 30 seconds to have their say on the issues, the performances, or just something they wanted to get off their chest.
Wrecking Ball #20 Presents…
Because It’s NOT 2015
Presented in association with The Pia Bouman School’s Scotiabank Studio Theatre
ONE PERFORMANCE ONLY
MONDAY January 25th, 2016
The Pia Bouman School’s Scotiabank Studio Theatre | 6 Noble Street, Toronto
Box Office opens at 7:00pm | Show starts at 8:00pm
Pay what you can. No advanced sales.
(Proceeds from this event will go to the Actors' Fund of Canada)
#WB20 | thewreckingball.ca
Political theatre direct from the zeitgeist to the stage.
Wrecking Ball #20 will feature:
Melissa D’Agostino
Tsholo Khalema
Shaista Latif
Kat Letwin
En Lai Mah
Justin Miller
Joseph Recinos
You!
Wrecking Ball #20 is an intimate evening hosted at the Pia Bouman with very limited seating.
In Wrecking Ball #20, a selection of Toronto’s most relevant and daring performance artists will have one week to create a piece, and one additional week to rehearse works connected to the surplus of issues that these trio of elections present.
Founded by director Ross Manson and playwright Jason Sherman in 2003, The Wrecking Ball has been the premiere event in Canada for showcasing political works for a decade. As the birthplace of new plays by Hannah Moscovitch, Michael Healey, Roland Schimmelpfennig, Erin Shields, Judith Thompson, Colleen Wagner, David Yee, Bea Pizano, Tara Beagan, Nicolas Billon, Donna-Michelle St Bernard, Jordan Tannahill, and Sky Gilbert to name a few - there is no other event like it challenging theatre artists to respond to and address the vox populi.
On the occasion of the previous three Federal elections The Wrecking Ball went National; with ‘Wrecking Balls’ hosted by theatre artists in most major cities across the country. In 2008, 2011, and 2015 these pan-Canadian dramatic responses to our politics garnered widespread national media attention. The Wrecking Ball is no longer a Toronto phenomenon, but an autonomous theatrical movement joined by a desire to explore current political questions, issues, desires and dreams upon the stage.
2016-01-19
Toronto: Wrecking Ball #20: Because It's NOT 2015 to be held January 25