Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Crow’s Theatre is pleased to present Emil Sher’s The Boy in the Moon. Based on the award-winning book by Globe and Mail journalist Ian Brown, this newly imagined production, to be directed by Crow’s Theatre Artistic Director Chris Abraham, is on stage at the Streetcar Crowsnest Guloien Theatre May 9 – 27, 2017.
The production will star David Storch as Brown, Lisa Repo-Martell as Johanna Schneller, and Kelly McNamee in various roles.
Based on Brown's candid and moving memoir of raising his son Walker, The Boy in the Moon captures the difficult but joyous journey of a couple raising a child with profound disabilities caused by a rare genetic disorder. The text of the play draws from Brown's book along with original interviews with Ian, Johanna Schneller, and their daughter Hayley.
“We are very honoured to close out our season with this play,” says Abraham. “Ian with his book and Emil with his play do something remarkable. Put simply, they invite their audience to gather around the weak, and celebrate the mystery of life. This work is generous, funny, and deeply moving in a way that I’ve rarely encountered. This play challenges us to have more humanity, it challenges us to think about the fundamentally fragile and uncertain nature of parenting and of life, and it is striking for the rare candour of the source material.
“I hope that with this production, we can nudge open the window Ian and Emil have crafted a little further, onto the pain and joy of parenting - and in this family’s case, the unbelievably challenging circumstances of Walker’s life. I hope that parents and in some cases, their kids, will come together to see this show.
Brown and Schneller’s son Walker was born in June 1996 with an extremely rare genetic disorder called cardiofaciocutaneous syndrome, which typically affects the heart, facial features and skin, as well as causing moderate to severe developmental delays. In Walker’s case, it meant he would never talk, would never develop intellectually beyond the abilities of a toddler, and would challenge every understanding Ian and Johanna had about what it meant to know one’s child.
Sher, a Governor General’s Award finalist for children’s literature, was moved to adapt Ian’s memoir for the stage. “There’s an intimacy to live theatre that is like nothing else. The way in which the private is made public in theatre held special promise for this story – especially in a story that has at its highest aim, the creation of community.
Sher adds, “We tend to dismiss or devalue children like Walker as incomplete. But who’s to say that someone who doesn’t fulfill our definition of completeness is incomplete? Maybe we need to use a different measurement. But we fear using unconventional methods of measuring because once you decide how you’re going to measure and value Walker’s life, you have to measure your own: ‘Now that I’m using his gauge, what does it say about my life? How do I define my sense of happiness?’”
The production stars Dora award-winning actor and director David Storch as Ian Brown and long-time Crow’s collaborator and Gemini Award-winner Liisa Repo-Martell as Johanna Schneller, along with Kelly McNamee, who was last seen in the Company Theatre production of Domesticated with Paul Gross and Martha Burns.
Storch is a mainstay Soulpepper actor and director, whose work has landed him on virtually every major stage in the country, and who can be seen in principal roles on the series “Rogue” and “Heroes Reborn”; Repo-Martell is also a Soulpepper company member (Happy Place, Marat/Sade) as well as regular fixture on stage at Stratford (King Lear, Midsummer Night’s Dream), and is a multi-Dora nominee.
Rounding out the creative team with Abraham and Sher are set and costume designer Shannon Lee Doyle, lighting designer Kimberley Purtell, and sound designer Thomas Payne.
The Boy in the Moon will run May 9 – 27 (Media night: May 12) at the Streetcar Crowsnest (345 Carlaw Avenue) in the Guloien Theatre. Shows are scheduled Monday through Saturday at 8:00 p.m with Saturday matinees at 2:00 p.m.
Tickets are now available with regular tickets starting at $20. Get online information and make ticket purchases at crowstheatre.com.
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2017-04-11
Toronto: Crow's Theatre presents Emil Sher's "The Boy in the Moon" May 9-27