PARADIGM productions and Luminato premiere Four Sisters, by award-winning playwright Susanna Fournier (Stencilboy and Other Portraits, LULU v. 7// aspects of a femme fatale, Patrick Conner Award Winner 2018). Time erodes as a family of women struggle to survive plague, a shifting political landscape and ideas of ‘sisterhood’ in this experimental independent production, culminating THE EMPIRE: The Philosopher’s Wife (Aki Studio December 2018), The Scavenger’s Daughter (Buddies in Bad Times January 2019),and Four Sisters (Luminato June 2019) – a trilogy of plays that defy the past and howl for the future.

Theatremaker, Susanna Fournier, helms this project as Director, collaborating with Choreographer Amanda Acorn (Multiform/Summerworks/TheCitadel, Leisure Palace/Videofag/InFuture) to craft a performance shifting between narrative and movement, darkness and light, excavating how we experience time, trauma, memory and prophecy in our outer and inner worlds. Production Designer Kaitlin Hickey (The Philosopher's Wife/Paradigm, Kiinalik: These Sharp Tools/Buddies in Bad Times) and Sound Designer Christopher Ross-Ewart (The Philosopher's Wife/Paradigm, Imogen Says Nothing/Yale Repertory Theatre) reimagine The Empire after shaping its origins in The Philosopher’s Wife. Joining them is Video Designer Steph Raposo (Penelopiad/HartHouse Theatre, Ga Ting/Next Stage Theatre Festival) and Ben McCarthy (The Scavenger’s Daughter/Paradigm, Communist Manifesto for Children/Rhubarb Festival) who will create the Four Sisters podcast to complete The Empire podcast series released on empiretrilogy.com.

Sarah, a former madam, is 279 years old. She has defied Death, survived the toppling of regimes and centuries of war. When a mysterious plague breaks out, she is forced to relocate to a quarantined zone with her four young wards – girls left orphaned by the deaths of the women she once employed. When an outsider doctor arrives and discovers the girls are plague-positive, Sarah must choose between treating the girls with an experimental, new drug or no treatment at all.

A cast of nine women interpret the lives of six in this exploration of the body in contemporary performance.  Join this inter-generational ensemble including Bea Pizano (Artistic Director, Aluna Theatre, What I learned in a decade of fear/AlunaTheatre), Claudia Moore (Eunoia/FujiwaraDance Inventions, Cloud 9- Room #7/Lina Cruz & Bird Nesting in Fingers in Bloom), Ximena Huizi (As You Like It/Driftwood Theatre, El Retorno/I Return/Theatre Why Not/Riser Project), Aria Evans (Bearing/Signal Theatre, Finding Wolastoq Voice/Theatre New Brunswick/Prairie Theatre Exchange), Jennifer Dahl (Declarations/Canadian Stage, This is a Costume Drama/World Stage/The Dietrich Group), Virgilia Griffith (Harlem Duet/Tarragon Theatre, Iphigenia and The Furies/SagaCollectif), Yolanda Bonnell (Kamloops/Western Canada Theatre/Persephone, Cake/Theatre Passe Muraille/New Harlem), Chala Hunter (The Philosopher’s Wife/Paradigm, LULU v. 7// aspects of a femme fatale/red light district) and Krystina Bojanowski (How We Are/Kick and Push Festival, Romeo and [Her] Juliet/Headstrong) as they charge you into their fractured world, where grief and injustice provoke a new cry for revolution.

“As The Empire began audiences met a “wild dog woman” - a feminine power first chained, then tamed. After centuries of imperial violence, Four Sisters, is an act of reclamation - a return to the body - in a narrative and production that unshackles the feminine and lets her lead.

For those who wish to revisit the companion Empire plays, The Philosopher’s Wife and The Scavenger’s Daughter, readings with original cast will also take place during the festival.

Four Sisters

by Susanna Fournier

June 11-15, 2019

Theatre Centre, Franco Boni Theatre

Previews June 11 & 12 // 8:00 PM

Media Night Wednesday June 12 // 8:00PM

Opening Night Thursday, June 13  // 8:00 PM 

June 14, 15 // 8:00PM

TICKET PRICES

REGULAR

Previews  $39

All Other Shows   $47

UNDER 30 / SENIOR / ARTS WORKER

All Other Shows  $29

PAY WHAT YOU CAN (PWYC) ten rush PWYC tickets available for every show

Wheelchair accessible venue

For more information and to purchase tickets visit www.empiretrilogy.com

Four Sisters is Supported by the Canada Council for the Arts NewChapter Program

Four Sisters is commissioned and hosted by LuminatoFestival

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Photo: Bea Pizano, Krystina Bojanowski, Ximena Huizi and Claudia Moore. © 2019 Tanja-Tiziana.