Following Boca Del Lupo’s success of their 2020 Western Canada Box set of “home delivery theatre”, Factory Theatre is proud to be a partner of their new Ontario Box Set featuring 4 brand new commissioned works from playwrights Jeff Ho, Aaron Jan, Marina Moreira, and Rachel Mutombo!

The Ontario Box joins 3 other new play boxes being developed by Boca Del Lupo with theatre companies across Canada – the Prairie Box (Persephone Theatre & Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre), the Quebec Box (Centaur Theatre), and the Eastern Box (Theatre New Brunswick & Eastern Front Theatre). 

Plays2Perform@Home asks the audience to take a leading role in creating a piece of theatre with the close friends and family they have chosen to be part of their “bubble”. These short plays are to be performed around the dinner table, picnic blanket, or campfire with or without an audience. Each Box Set contains 4 different plays with up to 4 characters, with an individual copy for each character for everyone to play their part.
 

Inside the Ontario Box:

Front Fix Valley by Jeff Ho

Chris and Ash’s friend has just come out, and they are throwing a dinner party for him and his Asian “boy toy.” But the night if fraught with questions of etiquette. Is it “gay” or “queer”? What kind of food to serve? And is Brokeback Mountain a suitable coming out present? Find out in Jeff Ho’s comedy of manners and invitation to hospitality. Wear your best socks.
 

GEODE by Aaron Jan

It’s lunchtime at Westdale Secondary School and the Campaign to Re-elect Sydney Porier as student council president is in crisis. An altercation with opponent Arnold Wong led to Sydney hurling a geode from science class at his head. The school is outraged, social media is abuzz, the vice principal might become involved – unless Sydney apologizes. The only trouble is, Sydney does not feel sorry. Explore the ethics of public apologies in Aaron Jan’s teenage political thriller about the cutthroat world of campaigns and social media.
 

Apple Of My Eye by Marina Moreira

How far would you go to keep a secret from your love? How far would you go to keep that secret if it was a carefully planned heist of a priceless work of early feminist sculpture from a major art gallery where you work as a respected art restorer? Marina Moreira’s exciting art-heist domestic drama has it all – love triangles, subterfuge, and the dulcet tones of a CBC radio announcer. Do you have what it takes to steal the forbidden fruit?
 

Home Sweet Home by Rachel Mutombo

In today’s red hot housing market, we’re used to vicious competition among buyers. But what if your house itself turned against you? River and Lex have just scored their dream home, a beautiful detached in a nice neighbourhood in Toronto. Surrounded by their moving boxes, River and Lex feel deep contentment. But the House feels underappreciated, and isn’t exactly enamored of its new owners. In this quasi supernatural battle of wills, who will win: the determined buyers, or the house who wants them gone? 

Box Set Sales go live on June 22, 2021, but are currently available for pre-sale at bocadellupo.com for $30 each or all of the box sets for $125 (plus taxes and shipping).
 

Factory is also proud to announce that in honour of our admission free season, we will be giving away 75 Ontario box sets completely free of charge to Ontario residents on a first-come, first-served basis. Patrons will be able to register to receive one of these 75 free Ontario Box sets through our website, www.factorytheatre.ca, beginning on June 22, 2021 @ 9am. These free box sets will be limited to one per household.

Whether as a gift for loved ones, something fun and meaningful to do with friends and family in your bubble, or for a peek inside the minds of 20 amazing writers making work during these remarkable times, our hope is that Plays2Perform@Home will help those of us with a passion for live performance keep the spark alive.

bocadellupo.com.
www.factorytheatre.ca.