Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Since 1968 Theatre Passe Muraille has been making art that goes beyond walls. Over the years that term has meant a lot of different things. It's meant showcasing under-represented voices. It's meant manufacturing personal experience into theatre. It's been a constant attempt to make work that is relevant to today's ideas and issues. Theatre should not be limited to boundaries, metaphorically or literally. These are the values we've developed over our rich history. We're using these values to look toward our future.
Theatre Passe Muraille has been so thankful to share fifty years with you. We're looking forward to fifty more. We are pleased to announce our 2017/2018 season below. See you behind the big red doors.
A note from Artistic Director Andy McKim:
Theatre Passe Muraille (Theatre Beyond Walls) was born inside the demon brain of Jim Gerrard. It was in March 1968, at the notoriously anarchic Rochdale College in Toronto, that Jim conceived of our renegade theatre. TPM was his revolutionary response to a lack of Canadian voices within our national theatre scene. Jim’s progressive idea was: that “producing plays that are new and different and thought-provoking is more important than trying to increase the size and prestige of the organization.” On our 50th Anniversary we still focus on producing plays that are thought-provoking. This season we are staging stories about people who are searching for a home.
We’d also like to highlight the continuation of our 50th Anniversary Celebration plays. This year Nina Lee Aquino will be directing Michael Healey’s iconic script The Drawer Boy. It’s an important piece to TPM and to Canadian Theatre as a whole. We couldn’t be more excited to see Nina’s interpretation. The season also puts a spotlight on the spirit of collaboration that has been a driving force for our theatre. We have a number of incredible guest companies bringing their work into our walls, as well as an unprecedented collaboration with Buddies in Bad Times, where two venued companies are co-producing shows outside of their respective theatres. It’s not typical, sure, but nothing at TPM ever is. We’re looking forward to sharing the shows with you.
- Andy McKim
Kiinalik: These Sharp Tools (Oct 21st–Nov 5th)
A concert and a conversation, Kiinalik: These Sharp Tools is the meeting place of two people, and the North and South of our country. Inuk artist Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory and queer theatre-maker Evalyn Parry met on an Arctic expedition from Iqaluit to Greenland. Now sharing a stage, these two powerful storytellers map new territory together in a work that gives voice and body to the histories, culture, and climate we’ve inherited, and asks how we reckon with these sharp tools.
#SharpToolsTO
Co-Produced by Buddies in Bad Times Theatre and Theatre Passe Muraille. Kiinalik: These Sharp Tools is being performed at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre (12 Alexander St, Toronto)
Created by: Evalyn Parry and Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory
Directed by: Erin Brubacker
Music by: Cris Derksen and Evalyn Parry
Video Design by: Elysha Poirier
Cake (Nov 17th–Dec 3rd)
“A man earns. However little, however nefariously, he earns.” Oba is holding on to the last threads of his old life and is determined to maintain what he can by any means necessary. Cake is a story about the things we use, how we are used, and what happens when we are all used up. Written by Governor General’s Award nominee DM St. Bernard the play is a stark and poetic musing on the nature of survival. Cake is a part of the 54ology: St Bernard’s commitment to create one performance work drawn from each country in Africa. The show is written in reference to Niger’s uranium mining.
#CakeTO
Produced by New Harlem Productions with the support of Theatre Passe Muraille.
Written by: Donna-Michelle St. Bernard
Directed by: Clare Preuss
The Tale of a Town – Canada (Dec 13th–17th)
Follow the storymobile (a.k.a. recording studio on wheels) on its journey to every province and territory in Canada gathering the almost lost tales of our beloved main streets. Created by Charles Ketchabaw and Lisa Marie DiLiberto, The Tale of a Town – Canada features some of the thousands of voices recorded on their three year trek across the country. This multimedia performance is presented alongside personal anecdotes from this epic family adventure peppered with humour, nostalgia and moments of madness. The Tale of a Town – Canada has been developed in collaboration with artists from across the country. This show features the Jumblies Ground Floor Choir, a live band, and surprise appearances from notables in the community.
#TaleofaTownTO #ReMainSt
Produced by FIXT POINT with the support of Theatre Passe Muraille.
Created, Directed, and Performed by: Lisa Marie DiLiberto and Charles Ketchabaw
Acha Bacha (Jan 30th–Feb 18th)
For years Zaya has balanced his relationships with his religion and his queer identity. But as secrets from the past reveal themselves, and crisis strikes his family, he is torn between loyalties, culture, and time. Written by Bilal Baig, and directed by Brendan Healy, Acha Bacha boldly explores the intersections between queerness, gender identity and Islamic culture in the Pakistani diaspora. It is a show about the way we love, the way we are loved, and how sometimes love is not enough.
#AchaBachaTO
Co-Produced by Theatre Passe Muraille and Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.
Written by: Bilal Baig
Directed by: Brendan Healy
The Drawer Boy (Feb 28th–Mar 25th)
Miles, an aspiring actor from Toronto, has relocated to rural Ontario. The actor’s theatre company is there to research country life with the hopes of developing a play. During an extended visit with two farmers Miles discovers the challenges of manual labor and inadvertently stumbles upon a secret that has been held for decades. Taking on Michael Healey’s iconic script is director Nina lee Aquino, with performances by Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (Kim’s Convenience). The Drawer Boy is a show about the stories we tell ourselves and how they shape the world around us.
#DrawerBoyTO
Produced by Theatre Passe Muraille.
Written by: Michael Healey
Directed by: Nina Lee Aquino
Take d Milk, Nah? (Apr 10th–22nd)
"This is the story of how I once birthed a cow…kinda...."
Jivesh is “Canadian.” And “Indian.” And “Hindu.” And “West Indian.” “Trinidadian” too. Or maybe he’s just colonized. In Take d Milk, Nah? Parasram blends personal storytelling and ritual to walk an audience through the Hin-do’s and Hin-don’ts at the intersections of these cultures. The show is a refreshingly candid and delightfully funny look at race, religion and nationalism(s): What divides us – and what we’re willing to accept in the desire to belong. Oh, and there’s a cow.
#dMILKTO
A Pandemic Theatre and b current performing arts Co-Production with the support of Theatre Passe Muraille.
Written and Performed by: Jivesh Parasram
Directed by: Tom Arthur Davis
Dramaturgy by: Graham Isador
2017-06-21
Toronto: Theatre Passe Muraille announces its 2017/18 season