Stage Door News
Stage Door News
We invite you to join us for Tarragon’s annual Play Reading Series, an exciting celebration of plays-in-development by the talented playwrights associated with the theatre. See the latest works from the Tarragon Playwrights Unit: Gillian Clark, Elyse Friedman, Chloé Hung, Rose Napoli and Meghan Greeley. This year, these plays will be directed by Esther Jun (Assistant Artistic Director at Tarragon).
Tarragon is home to one of the longest-standing and most acclaimed play development programs in Canada. Many of the plays featured in Tarragon’s annual Play Reading Series evolve into full productions as part of Tarragon’s seasons, and on to receive national exposure.
The Play Reading Series runs from May 23 – 27, 2017 in Tarragon’s Workspace. Admission is free, and no reservations are taken. Readings begin at 8pm and doors open at 7:30pm. Arrive early to claim your seat!
Schedule of readings:
Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at 8 pm
The Adventures of Never Growing Up by Gillian Clark
The Adventures of Never Growing Up follows the intertwining stories of PJ and Wendy as they navigate a new relationship and an unplanned pregnancy. A mash-up of sorts of A.A. Milne, J.M. Barrie, and Youtube stick ‘n poke tutorials, Gillian Clark’s newest piece explores youth, ephemerality, and goodbyes.
Wednesday, May 24, 2017 at 8 pm
The Cole Porter Suite by Elyse Friedman
Music and merriment are the order of the day as five friends arrive for a celebration at the glamorous Waldorf Towers. They’ve travelled to New York to mark the completion of chemo for one of the women in attendance. Each friend has a surprise to reveal at the party—one of which is going to turn the gathering completely on its head.
Thursday, May 25, 2017 at 8 pm
Three Women of Swatow by Chloé Hung
When Mother accidentally kills her husband, three generations of women must come together to solve a bloody situation. This darkly comedic play takes a look at the legacy of abuse, the power of family, and how to prevent the resurrection of a headless chicken.
Friday, May 26, 2017 at 8 pm
A Death and the Marias by Rose Napoli
A Young Man is shot dead, on the steps of the church, in the middle of the piazza, on his wedding day. Thirty-three days earlier, a new priest arrives in the barren town called Ardore where there are few young people and every woman is called Maria. A story told in reverse, A Death and the Marias investigates a dark mystery in a society on the brink of change.
Saturday, May 27, 2017 at 8 pm
China by Meghan Greeley
Rhoda touches people for a living. She caresses hands and faces. She hugs and holds. Strangers cry on her shoulder. When Kurt books an appointment with Rhoda, the line between pleasure and pain becomes blurred, especially when someone crashes the appointment – someone who is more than willing to inflict a little agony.
Playwright’s biographies:
Gillian Clark
Gillian Clark is the co-artistic director of Keep Good (Theatre) Company and is a theatre creator, residing in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her work has been show on three continents and Gillian’s most recent piece, Let’s Try This Standing, premiered in Halifax in January 2016 to sold out houses. Most recent acting credits include: Gillian in Let’s Try This Standing, Dylan in her solo show Understudy (audience choice award at QueerActs Theatre Festival, Uno Festival) and Puss in Greg MacArthur’s Girls! Girls! Girls! She is currently the emerging artist-in-residence with 2b theatre company. Gillian’s newest project, Now We Are, is in collaboration with Outside The March (Toronto), and is inspired by J.M. Barrie’s, Peter Pan, A.A. Milne’s Now We Are Six, and Youtube tattoo tutorials.
Elyse Friedman
Elyse Friedman is a Toronto-based author and screenwriter. Her most recent novel, The Answer to Everything, was published by HarperCollins Canada. Elyse’s books include Long Story Short (a novella and stories); Waking Beauty; Then Again; and the poetry collection Know Your Monkey. Her work has been short-listed for the Trillium Book Award, The Toronto Book Award, the Relit Award and the National Magazine Award. Elyse’s short fiction has appeared in Best Canadian Stories and The Journey Prize Anthology, and her story, The Soother, won the Gold National Magazine Award for fiction. Elyse is a graduate of the CFC. She has had two feature films produced, one of which premiered at TIFF, the other at the Sundance Film Festival.
Chloé Hung
Born and raised in Toronto, Chloé Hung completed her MFA in dramatic writing at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts where she studied playwriting, screenwriting, and TV writing. Her play, All Our Yesterdays, debuted at the 2015 Toronto Fringe Festival to accolades and awards from NOW Magazine, MyEntertainmentWorld’s MyTheatre Award, and the festival’s Patron’s Pick. It was restaged at the 2016 Next Stage Theatre Festival, again to critical acclaim. All Our Yesterdays raised money for Save the Children and Plan Canada’s Because I Am A Girl campaign. Her play, Issei, He Say (or the Myth of the First) was workshopped with Oskar Eustis and Suzan-Lori Parks and workshopped at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. for the National New Play Network’s MFA Playwrights Workshop and Reading Series in July 2016. As a screenwriter, she was a finalist two consecutive years at the Fusion Film Festival for Untapped and A Glimpse of Sun, the latter was selected for the Black List’s LA mini-lab. She is part of the Los Angeles theater Moving Arts’ MADlab where she works on her new play Model Minority. Chloé is thrilled to work on Three Women of Swatow with Tarragon’s Playwrights Unit. She splits her time between Los Angeles and Toronto.
Rose Napoli
Rose Napoli is a Toronto-based actor and playwright. Her first play, Oregano, premiered at the Storefront Theatre last year to sold out houses and critical acclaim. She has since taken part in playwright units with Nightwood Theatre and the Thousand Islands Playhouse. Her plays include: Lo (Or Dear Mr Wells) – which can be heard as a radio drama at playmepodcast.com, Ten Creative Ways to Dispose of your Cremains, and Shrew (A Big Fat Italian Comedy Inspired by William Shakespeare). Recent acting credits include: Romeo & Juliet (Citadel Theatre and SLSF – for which she was nominated for a Capital Critics Award for Best Performance), Comedy of Errors (SLSF), Heart of Steel (Next Stage), The Incredible Speediness of Jamie Cavanaugh (Roseneath Theatre). She is two-time participant in the Banff/Citadel Professional Theatre Training Program and a graduate of the University of Windsor with a BFA in Acting and a Bachelor of Education.
Meghan Greeley
Meghan Greeley is originally from Newfoundland and holds a BFA in Theatre (Acting) from Sir Wilfred Grenfell College. She currently resides in Toronto, where she is completing an MFA in Screenwriting (York University). Her play Hunger was produced by White Rooster Theatre in 2015. Kingdom, also produced by White Rooster, premiered at the LSPU Hall in St. John’s in 2012. It toured to the Stages Festival and was later published in The Breakwater Book Of Contemporary Newfoundland Drama, Vol. 1. Her short play Brother, Brother, a winner of the InspiraTO Playwriting Competition, premiered at the Alumnae Theatre in 2015 and was recently published by Playwrights Canada Press in the anthology Long Story Short. Meghan’s scripts have been chosen for the RCA Playwriting Series, Cultivate Playwright’s Colony, the She Said Yes! Mail Order Dramaturgy Program, and twice for the Women’s Work Festival. Her poetry and prose have appeared in The Stockholm Review of Literature, Metatron, Riddlefence, Humber Mouths 2, and Nelson’s Literacy 9. Awards include 1st Prize in the Sparks Literary Festival Poetry Competition and the Magnetic North Playwriting Competition (Under 25). She is the Co-Artistic Director of Contra, which produced its inaugural play at the Tarragon Workspace in 2016.
For more information visit www.tarragontheatre.com.
2017-05-02
Toronto: Tarragon Theatre announces its annual Play Reading Series May 23-27