Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Go ahead and stare... Bad Dog Theatre takes people-watching to another level with this new unscripted comedy from the creative team responsible for the acclaimed hit Toronto, I Love You. Inspired by the iconic impressionist painting by Georges Seurat, “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of la Grande Jatte”, La Grande Jatte plays with the voyeuristic pleasure of presuming the stories of strangers seen in a public setting.
“When watching theatre, we connect dots, make assumptions of logic and emotional associations - liberally borrowing from our own personal bias and points of reference. Just as we do in our everyday lives and interactions both with strangers and intimates,” says director Julie Dumais Osborne. “In an improvised theatre setting, there is no pre-written script. No pre-authored story. There is total freedom to speculate, to revise, to reinterpret the same moment from multiple angles, through multiple lenses. To indulge in voyeuristic storytelling. To assemble something resembling a cohesive narrative from a multitude of otherwise unconnected details. This is one of the things I love about impressionism: the invitation for the viewer to assemble a cohesive image as only suggested by colour unbound by defined outlines.
Seurat’s painting is interesting in another way, too. That painting was almost the equivalent of reality tv in its day, allowing viewers to gaze at non-traditional portraiture subjects for the time: regular people enjoying leisure activities. Similarly, improvised theatre invites audiences to watch characters (and, ultimately, the performers themselves) be affected emotionally in the ways that, in our real, everyday lives - we would endeavour to hide in social settings. The audience is both passive and complicit in moments of real change and affectation for those onstage.”
La Grande Jatte is produced with the support of the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council, was first workshopped with the international ensemble at the 2015 Vancouver Improv Festival and received its first Toronto staging at the Rhubarb Festival (Buddies in Bad Times) in February of 2016. Stacked with improv heavy-hitters hailing from across the country, the Canadian Comedy Award-nominated Bad Dog Repertory Players specialize in creating new unscripted show formats that showcase Toronto & the Canadian experience (including: This Canadian Life, You Are Here, 63 South and People City). Since their inception in 2012, they’ve performed in Vancouver, Regina, Montreal, Ottawa, as part of NxNE & JFL42, and they were named Best Improv Troupe in NOW Magazine’s Best of Toronto Readers’ Choice Poll in 2013, an honour for which they have been shortlisted for the past three years.
What critics said about Toronto, I Love You (Bad Dog’s last large ensemble piece directed by Julie Dumais Osborne):
“Bad Dog Repertory Players allow their audience to laugh at their city out of joy, rather than cynicism.” - Toronto Star
“What was most surprising about Toronto, I Love You was how wonderfully heartwarming it was. While many improv shows dwell in the land of the ridiculous or outrageous, Toronto, I Love You lives in one of whimsy. It’s truly a love letter. And while of course allowing the improv to go where it will, resulting in some truly side-splitting moments, there is an underlying spirit of love. It’s a show that’s not overdone or outrageous, with humor that is both smart and silly, both quietly sweet and delightfully raucous. This balance is hard to strike in improv, but Toronto, I Love You, gets it to a tee.” - My Entertainment World
La Grande Jatte is directed by Bad Dog Artistic Director Julie Dumais Osborne and stars: Jan Caruana (Mean Girls, Bonspeil), Colin Munch (True Blue, Theatre Brouhaha), Amy Matysio (YPT, Soulpepper), Nigel Downer (Second City, This Canadian Life), Alex Tindal (One Night Only, Get Some), Hannah Spear (The Glass Menagerie - Howland Co., Sexy Nerd Girl), Jess Bryson (A Galaxy Far, Far Away, PushPins) and Kevin Vidal (Sunnyside - CTV, Workin’ Moms - CBC) with live, improvised music by Nick DiGaetano (Mi Casa Theatre, Business as Usual)
La Grande Jatte
Fridays at 9:30pm | September 17 - October 14
Preview performance: Tuesday, September 13 - 9:30pm
The Bad Dog Comedy Theatre (875 Bloor Street West)
Tickets: Students/Arts Workers $10 | Adults $15
available online or in person at the box office
2016-08-30
Toronto: Bad Dog Theatre presents "La Grande Jatte" Fridays, September 16-October 14