Stage Door News
Stage Door News
July 21, 2016, TORONTO – Richard Rose, Artistic Director of Tarragon Theatre, is pleased to announce today the casting for the first three productions in Tarragon’s 2016/17 season.
Tarragon opens its 46th season with The Watershed, the critically acclaimed play by Montreal documentary theatre artist Annabel Soutar, produced by Crow’s Theatre and Porte Parole, who created this extraordinary work that investigates the forces shaping the future of our natural resources. It earned raves in its premiere last summer as part of the PANAMANIA Festival and will tour to Montreal and elsewhere following its run at Tarragon. Chris Abraham, Artistic Director of Crow’s, again directs. The Watershed features Kristen Thomson (Dora, ACTRA and Genie-award winning actor and creator of I, Claudia) in the central role of Annabel, supported by a talented ensemble including Eric Peterson (Billy Bishop Goes to War), Alex Ivanovici (co-founder of Porte Parole Theatre), Amelia Sargisson (Seeds, also for Porte Parole), Bruce Dinsmore (Seeds, also for Porte Parole), Laura Condlln (Toronto Theatre Critics Award winner for Tarragon’s An Enemy of the People), Ngozi Paul (actor, co-creator and executive producer of Global’s ‘da Kink in my Hair) and Tanja Jacobs (Seeds, also for Porte Parole).
The first Extraspace production of the season is the Toronto (and Ontario) premiere of The Circle, a hard-hitting play about youth and belonging set in a high-school garage party by one of Canada’s most exciting new young voices, Calgary’s 27-year-old Geoffrey Simon Brown in his Tarragon and Toronto debut. Peter Pasyk, Tarragon’s Urjo Kareda Resident Artist for 2013-14, directs. The Circle features an exciting cast of new generation actors, many in their Tarragon debut: Nikki Duval (original NTS cast of The Circle, Hart House’s Hamlet), Jakob Ehman (Dora Award nominated actor, writer, director and founder of HUMANZOO), Daniel Ellis (Pacific Opera Victoria’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Vivienne Endicott-Douglas (Tarragon’s Forests, ACTRA award nominee), Brian Solomon (Dora and Gemini-nominated actor and dancer) and Jake Vanderham (composer of Judith Thompson’s Elektra in Bosnia, co-creator of SummerWorks ‘14 And Now, The End).
Following in the Mainspace is the penetrating dramatic comedy that garnered raves on Broadway: The Realistic Joneses about two suburban couples who seem to have even more in common than their identical homes and shared last names. It is written by Brooklyn-based Will Eno, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for Thom Pain (based on nothing) which Tarragon produced in 2007. After a lauded run on Broadway in 2014 that earned three Drama League nominations and two Drama Desk awards, it now makes its Canadian premiere. Richard Rose, Tarragon’s Artistic Director, directs. The Realistic Joneses features Tom Barnett (Tarragon’s An Enemy of the People), Susan Coyne (Stratford, founding member of Soulpepper, playwright of Tarragon’s Kingfisher Days, Alice’s Affair), Patrick McManus (Shaw Festival’s Our Town, Uncle Vanya) and Jenny Young (Tarragon’s Waiting Room).
The Watershed
PANAMANIA hit kicks off National Tour in Tarragon debut
Mainspace
Presented by Tarragon Theatre
Produced by Porte Parole (Montreal) and Crow’s Theatre (Toronto) with support from La Coop fédérée
by Annabel Soutar
directed by Chris Abraham
featuring Laura Condlln, Bruce Dinsmore, Alex Ivanovici, Tanja Jacobs, Ngozi Paul, Eric Peterson, Amelia Sargisson, and Kristen Thomson
September 20 – October 30, 2016 (Opens September 28, 2016)
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 an increasingly polarized Canada in a moment of acute political reflection.
From the creators of the hugely successful play Seeds, Crow’s Theatre (Chris Abraham, Artistic Director) and Porte Parole (Annabel Soutar, Artistic Director), The Watershed follows an artist and a country struggling to chart a sustainable course between economic growth and environmental stewardship.
“★★★★ - Chris Abraham and his creative team have crafted a fast-flowing, continually inventive production.” — The Globe and Mail
The Circle
Toronto premiere
Extraspace
by Geoffrey Simon Brown
directed by Peter Pasyk
featuring Nikki Duval, Jakob Ehman, Daniel Ellis, Vivienne Endicott-Douglas, Brian Solomon, and Jake Vanderham
October 18 – November 27, 2016 (Opens October 26, 2016)
Welcome to Ily’s high school garage party: there’s the genius, the drug dealer, the runaway, the kid with ADHD and the son of a priest. Everyone’s a total mess, but it’s better than being alone on a Friday night in suburbia. When it premiered at Calgary’s Alberta Theatre Projects in 2015, critics called it “Electrifying . . . . gritty, ground breaking theatre” (Calgary Sun). This remarkable debut by Calgary-based playwright Geoffrey Simon Brown (who was 26 at the time) is an explosive SOS from an orphaned generation desperately looking for a place to belong.
The Realistic Joneses
Toronto premiere
Mainspace
by Will Eno
directed by Richard Rose
featuring Tom Barnett, Susan Coyne, Patrick McManus, and Jenny Young
November 9 – December 18, 2016 (Opens November 16, 2016)
Meet the Joneses – Bob and Jennifer, and their neighbours, John and Pony – two suburban couples who have even more in common than their identical homes and shared last names. With compassion, great humour and a fine eye for the quirks of contemporary life, The Realistic Joneses dives deep below the surface to expose the extraordinary heroism of the everyday.
“Plays as funny and moving, as wonderful and weird as The Realistic Joneses, do not appear often on Broadway; a pleasurable rush virtually unmatched by anything I’ve seen this season.” – Charles Isherwood, The New York Times
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Tickets range from $28 - 65 and can be purchased online at www.tarragontheatre.com, or by phone at 416-531-1827. Tarragon offers the most flexible subscription packages in the city with savings of up to 40%, allowing patrons to choose their productions, change their dates free of charge, and offering many different price points to suit all schedules and budgets. Visit the website or call Patron Services today for more information.
Rush tickets are sold for $20 cash only, in person at the theatre two hours before showtime. This year Tarragon will also be offering online rush tickets at varying discounts, 24h prior to the show. Both Rush ticket options are subject to availability.
Audiences are invited to venture Beyond the Stage with a regular Lecture Series, a Talkback Week for each production, Tarragon Tasting Nights hosted by local food and beverage companies, and other events and activities. Tarragon’s Workspace continues to grow as a centre for experimentation, exploration and extensive play development for Tarragon, independent artists, collectives and theatre companies.
For more information on Tarragon’s events and activities, visit www.tarragontheatre.com/calendar.
Tarragon Theatre’s 2016/2017 Season Sponsor is BMO Financial Group. The 2016/17 Season Media Sponsor is NOW Magazine.
The Watershed is sponsored by the John McKellar Foundation and the Stavro Family Foundation. The Circle is sponsored by the Polar Foundation. The Realistic Joneses is sponsored by Laura Dinner & Richard Rooney.
Tarragon Theatre gratefully acknowledges annual operating support from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council.
Photo: Kristen Thomson.
2016-07-21
Toronto: Tarragon Theatre announces casting for fall of 2016/17 season