Factory Theatre is thrilled to present the world premiere of the provocative and unabashedly feminist new play Armadillos by Governor General’s Literary Award winner Colleen Wagner and directed by multi-award winning artist Jani Lauzon. Armadillos will be presented at Factory Theatre from June 3rd to 24th, 2023.

On a cross-country theatre tour of a new interpretation of the classic Greek myth of the Marriage of Thetis and Peleus, the onstage danger spills into the backstage world as four actors have to navigate the realities of tour life, challenges to patriarchy, and the disruption of a new actress performing Thetis halfway through the tour. The chaos she brings forces each to confront how the stories we tell about love, sex, power, and consent shape our everyday lives and interactions. Armadillos brings audiences beyond the edge of their seats to the edge of the stage and asks us: what stories do we have to leave behind in order to fully and truly love?

Colleen Wagner (playwright) is the recipient of numerous awards including a Governor General’s Literary Award. Her work has been translated into a dozen languages and continues to be produced nationally and internationally. Plays include: The Living, Home, Down from Heaven, The Morning Bird, The Monument (GG winner), and Sand and Eclipsed. She was a recipient of a SSHRC research-creation grant that took her to Africa and resulted in a feature documentary film, Women Building Peace (Silver Wave Film Festival award for best documentary 2016), as well as a documentary play, The Living.

Jani Lauzon (director) is a multidisciplinary artist of Métis/French/Finnish ancestry. She is a 9 time Dora Mavor Moore nominated actor/director/writer, a three time Juno nominatedsinger/songwriter, an award winning screen actress, a Gemini Award winning puppeteer and a Toronto Theatre Critics award winning director. She recently received the ACTRA Toronto Award of Excellence celebrating both her body of work and her commitment to advocacy for inclusion and the John Hirsch Director’s Award (OAC). Directing credits include: The Monument (Factory Theatre), 1939 (Stratford Festival), Where the Blood Mixes and Almighty Voice and his Wife (Soulpepper), Rope (Shaw Festival), I Call myself Princess (Globe Theatre), An Irresistible Urge to do something Inadvisable (NTS Graduating class) and Alien Creature (TPM).

The Armadillos cast includes Zorana Sadiq as Hera/Sofia, Ryan Hollyman as Zeus/Jay, Paolo Santalucia as Peleus/Dyrk, and Mirabella Sundar Singh as Thetis/Karmyne. The creative team includes Trevor Schwellnus (Set, Props and Lighting Designer), Jawon Kan (Costume Designer) Oliva Wheeler (Sound Designer) and Troy Taylor (Stage Manager).

DETAILS:

WHEN: Saturday, June 3 to Sunday, June 24, 2023 at 8 pm, with Mondays and Tuesdays dark. Sunday matinee performances at 2 pm. Opening night is on June 8, 2023 at 8 pm.

WHERE: Factory Theatre, 125 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5V 2R2

TICKETS: Range from $15 – $60, and include a limited number of $0 tickets for every performance. Audiences are invited to select the ticket price option that works best for them to experience theatre at Factory. To purchase tickets, please visit www.factorytheatre.ca.