Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre announced today the addition of four new projects to its successful new works development program. For the first time ever, these projects were chosen through an open call for submissions, which was announced earlier in the year.
Playwright Johnnie Walker will team up with Jiv Parasram and Tom Arthur Davis of Pandemic Theatre to continue development of Walker’s documentary-style exploration into the case of queer-bashing victim turned convict Luke O’Donovan.
Bruce Gibbons Fell’s company, Cocodrilo Triste Theatre Collective, will be developing The Communist Manifesto for Children – a new dark comedy, written in Spanish and English, which explores class, conscience, language and power.
The program also welcomes two new writer-centred projects that both offer unique perspectives on the world of lesbian romance – Jenna Harris’ Mine and Teneile Warren’s Random Closeness.
Returning in 2016-17 are ted witzel and Susanna Fournier, who will continue development of LULU: Aspects of a Femme Fatale, which has been in residency at Buddies since 2015. Theatre collective Birdtown and Swanville also return to the residency program this year with Credit River, a poetic exploration of our capacity for violence.
Many of the works will include public readings or showings of work in progress (a schedule for which will be announced later in the year).
Founded in 2010, the Buddies Residency Program is the only program in the country solely devoted to the creation of original queer performance works. This flexible, artist-centred program welcomes writers, theatre collectives, directors, performance artists, choreographers, and other inter-disciplinary artists to develop work over a one-to-four-year term under the guidance of Company Dramaturge Mel Hague, and Artistic Director Evalyn Parry.
The Buddies Residency Program has yielded such main stage hits as Obaaberima, The Gay Heritage Project, Gertrude and Alice, and the upcoming Black Boys, earning a total 17 Dora Mavor Moore nominations, including 4 wins.
The program is sponsored by BMO Financial Group, with additional support for the residencies of Jenna Harris and ted witzel from the Ontario Arts Council.
Photo: ted witzel. ©2010.
2016-09-08
Toronto: Buddies in Bad Times Theatre announces resident artists for 2016/17