Stageworthy

Karen is an award-winning writer, director and performer and the artistic director of Keep Frozen: Pochsy Productions, which develops Hines’ dark comedies for stage and screen. She is the author of Drama: Pilot Episode, Citizen Pochsy, Hello…Hello (A Romantic Satire),Oh, baby and Pochsy’s Lips as well as several short plays and the Neo-Cabaret Pochsy Unplugged, which have been presented across North America and in Germany at venues such as Alberta Theatre Projects, Tarragon Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Joe’s Pub (Public Theatre, NYC), Word Stage, Factory Theatre, Magnetic North, One Yellow Rabbit and Beme Theatre in Munich. Featured Theatre Company Many theatres and theatre companies that have shut down their productions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. A lot of these companies are in desperate need of help to ensure that they can keep their doors open once the current crisis is over, and many are turning to crowdfunding in order to do that. In the coming weeks Stageworthy will highlight some companies that need your help. The Assembly Theatre Due to this current mandated closure and the multiple cancellations of shows and events, The Assembly Theatre is taking a significant financial loss and is struggling to stay afloat. This is a very difficult time for all of us societally, and in the arts community, independent theatre is uniquely vulnerable. GoFundMe Link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-assembly-theatre-covid19-help

No guest this week. With all the theatre closings and cancellations, we may see this coming up now and then. instead, some thoughts about social distancing, and more. www.stageworthypodcast.com Twitter: @StageworthyPod Instagram: stageworthypod Facebook: https://facebook.com/StageworthyPod

Steven Vlahos Steven is an actor/creator based out of Toronto. His mom thinks he’s a really nice guy, but don’t let that fool you, he’s also an infamously known bad boy. He can lift upwards of 30 pounds, but Steven knows that muscles don’t make the man, which is why his only life aspiration is to make all of your dreams come true. He is also a co-founder and associate producer of The Theatre Circuit and one half of Nose Bros Comedy (an improv, sketch and clown duo). Steven attended the Humber Theatre Performance program, and has performed in numerous theatre, tv, and film productions since graduating. You can catch him hosting “Bad Improv” at the Imperial pub or playing different comedy shows in the city with Nose Bros. He was recently seen playing Pratt in Judith Thompson’s new play ,Who Killed Snow White? at 4th Line Theatre. He was also seen as Roy in Brandon Crone’s Turtleneck (Some more theatre credits include: The Last Performance (Nose Bros), Sister Act: The Musical (Lower Ossington Theatre), Inch Of Your Life: Episode One (The Theatre Dept.) . Recent Film and TV: Goodnight Sleep Tight (Evelyn Eleven Prod.) WAYNE (YouTube Premium) Fear Thy Neighbour (Bad Movie Prod.) Murder Wall (Our House Media) 100 Days to Victory (HISTORY channel). Jonathan Sconza Jonathan is a Toronto based performer, voice actor, clown, improvisor and D&D player. He has performed in an award winning production of The Stranger (DLT), has starred in every production of The Secret Sessions Movie Experience since its inception (Anchorman, Casablanca, Shaun of the Dead, The Princess Bride, and Ghostbusters), and played Sam Catelli in the Inch of your Life Trilogy. You can catch him hosting late night comedy shows such as Bad Improv and Beer Beer Comedy Show. He is the co-founder of Nose Bros, a clown, improv and sketch duo. He is also a co-founder and associate producer of The Theatre Circuit (A theatre company devoted to producing new, Toronto-centric work). In addition to his theatre credits, Jonathan has also voiced animated characters in Gary and His Demons, (CBC Comedy) and in Dog and Pony (Discovery Kids) He was a Worlds Biggest Improv Tournament semi-finalist, holds a national gold medal from the Canadian Improv Games, an intermediate actor combatant certificate (with distinction), and a Hnatyshyn Award nomination. Bad Improv April 9, 2020 The Imperial Pub Tickets $5 at the door Doors at 7:30, show at 8 Sign up to play at the door.

The Negroes Are Congregating (NAC) unapologetically wrestles with deep-rooted internalized racism through the lens of the Western World and the ‘Black experience’ hat stretches far beyond Canada and the United States, and rather a pan-African exploration. The laugh-out-loud piece balances comedy with discomfort, pulling audiences beyond the fourth wall, where everyone is invited to cackle, cry and be still together. Artists; Uche Ama (Female 1), Christopher Bautista (Male 1) and Christopher Parker (Male 2) perform this contemporary piece delivered through a fusion of spoken word, satire, soulful dialect and musical vocals. Audiences will enter a realm of private truths and leave with an understanding of what it means to be Black, proud, and ready. The Negroes are Congregating has already received international acclaim, having been programmed by Théâtre de l’Usine (Geneva, Switzerland); Black Theatre Network Conference (Memphis, TN); Halifax Fringe (Halifax, Nova Scotia); SummerWorks Performance Festival (Toronto, Ontario) and selected ‘Best of The Fest’ Award at The Atlanta Black Theatre Festival (Atlanta, GA). Tickets can be purchased at www.passemuraille.ca. This production is a Theatre Passe Muraille Production in association with Piece of Mine Arts. Created and Directed by Natasha Morris an award winning playwright whose work has been presented in Canada, the United States, and Europe. She is the founder and executive director PIECE OF MINE Arts, a platform for Black play creators to showcase work-in-development, featuring over 150 artists since 2013. Natasha is the recipient of several accolades including SummerWorks’ New Performance Text Award, The Black Canadian Awards’ Leadership Certificate, and the Ontario’s Leading Women Building Communities Certificate. She credits local companies b current, anitafrika dub theatre, and Obsidian Theatre for her invaluable artistic training. The Negroes are Congregating originated out of development and excerpt presentations during the Piece of Mine Festival in 2016 at Toronto’s Palmerston Library Theatre. Troy De Four (Producer) is an award-winning producer whose experience started in regional theatre and is recently producing professional productions. Troy De Four is the executive producer of Scores in The City Musical Productions (Toronto, Ontario). Troy has recently been a participant of Obsidian’s 2018/2019 Playwrights Unit and has received grants from the OAC and CCA for his development of new Canadian libretto’s focused on stories centralizing characters of the black-Canadian and pan-African diaspora. Past producer credits include; Jesus Christ Superstar, The Full Monty, Jekyll & Hyde The Musical, CHESS, TOMMY and more. Uche Ama (Performer – Female 1) is a graduate of the St Clair College Music Theatre Performance program. Some previous credits include; Obeah Opera (Luminato Festival2019), Rosencrantz: Drunk Hamlet (Dauntless City Theatre), Oya/Ahosi/Buffalo: Lukumi: A Dub Opera (Watah Theatre). She is honored to be a part of this production. Christopher Parker (Performer – Male 2) received his Master of Music in Literature & Performance at Western University while studying under renowned Canadian baritone Theodore Baerg. He made is professional debut in the Canadian premiere of Choir-Boy (Centaur Theatre) by Oscar-winning writer Tarrell Alvin McCraney which won Best PACT Production at the 2019 Montreal English Theatre Awards. Since then, he has participated in the workshopping of new productions with Obsidian Theatre, Tapestry Opera, and The Musical Stage Company. Christopher is elated to make his Toronto stage debut in The Negroes are Congregating before flying to Halifax to perform in Billy Elliot (Neptune Theatre) Christopher Paul Bautista (Performer – Male 1) was born in Dallas, Texas. While playing Santa Claus in his kindergarten class, and seeing his Grandmother Shirley look on with a smile, he fell in love with performing. Following September 11th, he joined the military and went on two deployments with the US Marine Corps. Christopher then attended and graduated from the University of Southern California, where he studied English Literature, Theatre, and Film. It was while studying at USC, after attending a performance of Tennesee Williams’ Glass Menagerie that Christopher rekindled his passion with acting. His striking appearance, strong presence, and distinct voice make him a memorable addition to theatre, television, and film productions. Christopher’s recent credits include; Sound and Fury; (Shakespeare in Action), Fences; (Grand Theatre), Timothy Findley’s The Wars; (Grand Theatre). When: Performances run from February 29 to March 14 at 7:30pm, with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00pm Previews: Feb 27 at 7:30pm, Feb 28 at 2:00pm for previews, and every performance has a part-of-show discussion as a part of the 90 minutes. Where: Theatre Passe Muraille (Mainspace Theatre), 16 Ryerson Ave, Toronto, ON Price: Tickets range from $17 – $

Natasha Adiyana Morris is an award winning playwright whose work has been presented in Canada, the United States, and Europe. She is the founder and executive director PIECE OF MINE Arts, a platform for Black play creators to showcase work-in-development, featuring over 150 artists since 2013. Natasha is the recipient of several accolades including SummerWorks’ New Performance Text Award, The Black Canadian Awards’ Leadership Certificate, and the Ontario’s Leading Women Building Communities Certificate. She credits local companies b current, anitafrika dub theatre, and Obsidian Theatre for her invaluable artistic training. The Negroes are Congregating originated out of development and excerpt presentations during the Piece of Mine Festival in 2016 at Toronto’s Palmerston Library Theatre. The Negroes Are Congregating The Negroes Are Congregating poses an unapologetic and impolite perspective about the ongoing effects of racism in Canada and around the world. Delivered through a fusion of spoken word, satire, and soulful dialect, audiences are invited to experience raw truths up close and personal – leaving them with an understanding of what it means to be Black, proud, and ready. Each performance will include audience discussion. www.pieceofminearts.com Instagram: pieceofminearts Tickets: https://www.passemuraille.ca/19-20-season-shows/the-negroes-are-congregating/ Episode Transcript: https://stageworthypodcast.com/natasha-adiyana-morris/

Alan Dilworth is a theatre director, playwright and teacher. He is Artistic Director of Necessary Angel Theatre Company in Toronto. Alan’s work explores personal, social and political transformation, questions of the nature of ‘self’ and its relationship with ‘the other’, and the notion of a contemporary text-based theatre, although he also works in physical and image-based forms. His practice privileges vulnerability, presence, simplicity and the unknown. Alan has directed across Canada and internationally. www.alandilworth.com Twitter: @alandilworth1 The Events by David Greig Music by John Browne Directed by Alan Dilworth Cast: Raven Dauda and Kevin Walker Written in response to the politically motivated mass shootings in Norway, The Events has been described as “…a solemn, searching and ultimately very moving play…” and “ an extraordinary new work…strangely uplifting…”. www.necessaryangel.com Twitter: @necessaryangel Note: in this episode, 2004 is given as the year of Utoya shootings, however this event actually occurred in 2011. Transcript: https://stageworthypodcast.com/alan-dilworth/

Lauren Allen is a theatre artist originally from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Since graduating from Grant MacEwan University in 2013, she has worked across Canada and Europe as an actor, producer, burlesque instructor, stage manager, and director. She has settled in Toronto, for the moment. Most recently she has taken courses to become a script supervisor and will soon be seen again in Saskatchewan for Burn Rubber, Dolly at The Lyric Theatre in Swift Current. Lauren is also a social media marketer, and the creator of Social Media the L.A. Way. lauren-allen.net socialthelaway.com Twitter: @lesmis456 Instagram: lesmis456 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/socialthelaway/ Transcript: https://stageworthypodcast.com/lauren-allen/

Shaista Latif is a Queer Afghan-Canadian multidisciplinary artist, consultant and facilitator. Her works and collaborations have been presented by Koffler Gallery, Ontario Scene Festival, SummerWorks, Why Not Theatre, Blackwood Gallery, Mercer Union, the AGO, Halifax Queer Acts Festival, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre and recently the Undercurrents Festival. She is a published playwright (Playwrights Canada Press) and voiced the character Soraya in the Oscar-nominated film The Breadwinner. In 2020, Latif will be touring her critically acclaimed show The Archivist around Ontario. Her latest work Learning the Language of My Enemies was recently presented in conjunction with Nevet Yitzhak: WarCraft at the Koffler Gallery. Twitter: @shaista_latif Instagram: shaistalatifmakes How I Learned to Serve Tea A participatory workshop on the politics of capacity and resource sharing, How I Learned to Serve Tea explores dynamics of power through acts of hospitality with artist-facilitator Shaista Latif. “Assessing the language of invitation and hosting, and how it translates into action is how I learned to serve tea. A hyphenated existence, my life is my work, my work is my life. Some people can categorize and separate but those of us who are marginalized can’t afford to do so. Sometimes I wonder if our work has had to evolve into critical interrogation out of necessity? If we lived in a decolonized world what would we be making? Who would we be serving? I think we are all capable and deserving of knowing and living ourselves into these answers. This workshop invites participants to reflect and confront on who gets to have a seat at the table.” – Shaista Latif Tickets: http://progressfestival.org/programming/how-i-learned-to-serve-tea

Mateo Lewis is a Toronto based actor, writer and composer. His musical, Boys Don’t Cry was performed at the 2019 Toronto Fringe. Twitter: @mateolewis Instagram: mateo.lewis

Alexander Crowther plays Casimir, and Hallie Seline plays Caroline, in The Howland Company’s production of Casimir and Caroline. Casimir just got fired, his phone’s not working and his shoes are falling apart. Caroline wants to dance, sing karaoke, and forget about the weight of the world for just one night. They are engaged… for now. Casimir and Caroline is a play about love in the cold atmosphere of modern capitalism. We follow these ultra star-crossed lovers, as they navigate clingy co-workers, sketchy best friends, questionable HR representatives, the playboy boss, that powerhouse from the Montreal office and those beautiful few who might actually possess an ounce of wisdom. They all desperately long for something more. None of them can say what that might be. But at least their lives look #goals on Instagram. CASIMIR AND CAROLINE, European playwright and novelist Ödön von Horváth’s 1932 tragicomedy, is one of the most frequently staged plays in the modern German repertoire, but until now has never been staged for a North American audience. It seems to be on the mind, however, with its recent shout out in Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story (Thank you Adam Driver)! After nearly five years in development, The Howland Company is proud to present the North American premiere of this new adaptation of a modern classic by company member Paolo Santalucia with Dr.Holger Syme and The Howland Company, based on an original translation from German to English by Dr.Holger Syme. The play will be directed by Paolo Santalucia and will run at Crow’s Theatre’s East End arts hub Streetcar Crowsnest this January 14th to February 9th, 2020. More about the Adaptation & Production: Moving from the original beer hall setting in Octoberfest to a glitzy Toronto roof-top corporate party that quickly deteriorates as the drink tickets run out, this new adaptation takes its cue from Horváth’s insistence that the play takes place ‘now’, and explores Horváth’s distanced but faithful, unflinching but sympathetic portrayal of ‘people as they are’ in Toronto 2020. “CASIMIR AND CAROLINE cares little for decorum,” says director Paolo Santalucia, “It relentlessly reminds us that we’ll never be rich enough, happy enough, or important enough to satisfy our desires. And when faced with the disappointment of falling short, it laughs at how outrageously we try to prove everyone otherwise.” Read more about the show here. This 10-person ensemble will feature Howland Company members Alexander Crowther (Pure – CBC/WGN America, The Glass Menagerie – The Grand Theatre), Hallie Seline (The Wolves – Howland Company/Crow’s Theatre, Winner of the Outstanding Ensemble Award – Toronto Theatre Critics Association), James Graham and Cameron Laurie (Punk Rock – Howland Company, Outstanding Ensemble Award – Dora Mavor Moore Award Nominated), joined by six more of Toronto’s most exciting performers: Michael Ayres (Bang Bang – GCTC, What I Call Her – In Association/Crow’s Theatre), Michael Chiem (Asking For It – Thousand Islands Playhouse, A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Shakespeare in Action), Veronica Hortiguela (NOW Magazine’s Breakthrough Toronto Stage Artist, Dry Land – Cue6 Theatre), Shruti Kothari (Three Seasons at The Stratford Festival), Kimwun Perehinec (The Watershed – Porte Parole/Crow’s Theatre), and Caroline Toal (Selfie, To Kill a Mockingbird – Young People’s Theatre). Rounding out the creative team is award-winning set and costume designer Ken MacKenzie, lighting designer and Howland Company member Jareth Li, with sound design by Jeremy Hutton and original composition by Evan MacKenzie. howlandcompanytheatre.com Twitter: @TheHowlandCo Instagram: thehowlandcompany Tickets: https://tickets.crowstheatre.com/TheatreManager/1/login?event=214

Amy Lee & Heather Marie Annis, along with Byron Laviolette are the creators of the clown duo, Morro and Jasp, presenting Save the Date (directed byByron Laviolette and Kat Sandler) at the 2019 Next Stage Festival. Save the Date Does saying “I Do” to someone new mean saying “I Don’t” to each other? For better or for worse, the sisters have to negotiate what their relationship will look like now that there is a third person in the mix. Can they survive this new chapter of life without the person who has always been by their side? Can they still be Morro and Jasp? www.morroandjasp.com Twitter: @morroandjasp Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/morroandjasp/ Youtube: http://youtube.com/morroandjasp Tickets: https://fringetoronto.com/next-stage/show/morro-and-jasp-save-date

Beatrice Pizano is one of Canada’s most important Latin-Canadian playwrights and directors. She founded Aluna – Canada’s first Latin theatre company in 2001 and has gone on to win multiple Dora’s, the prestigious John Hirsch Prize for Direction from the Canada Council for the Arts, The Ken McDougall Award for Direction, The Chalmers Fellowship, The Urjo Kareda Award (Tarragon Theatre), and The Metcalf Performing Arts Internship. As a writer/director Bea has been nominated three times for Best New Play for her multi-award-winning trilogy about women and war comprised of For Sale, Madre, and La Comunión. She has also created and led a number of youth programs both in Canada and Colombia including a theatre/photography workshop with ex-combatant children and youth victims from the armed conflict in her native Colombia. In November, she was named one of TD Bank’s Most Influential Hispanic Canadians of 2019. The Solitudes Eight women follow the thread of history and the bloodlines that brought each of them to this land, to this moment in their journeys towards home. Is home a house? Is home a “homeland?” Their offering: eight recipes for transforming our solitudes and an invitation to sit at the table. Inspired by the women of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, The Solitudes is a provocative, humorous, and visually charged experimental performance that conjures the many forces of separation that have overtaken our lives. This is a protest. This is an act of claiming space. This is a call to action: because a house can be invaded, but home can never be taken away. www.alunatheatre.ca Twitter: @alunatheatre Instagram: alunatheatre Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlunaTheatre Tickets: https://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/whatson/theatre.cfm?id=10830&festival_id=0

Alia Rasul is a Canadian Comedy Award nominated writer/performer. She received rave reviews for her performance in Generally Hospital whose “outstanding ensemble” won Patron’s Pick and the David Séguin Memorial Award. She understudied for 2 seasons of Second City’s Mainstage hit show, She The People. She is a NBCUniversal Bob Curry Fellowship alumni and holds a BA from McGill University. She made her directorial debut with Kwento, an improvised Filipino folktale. She is currently inclusion director at Bad Dog Theatre. Alia is also a member of the Tita Collective, who present their Fringe hit Tita Jokes at the 2020 Next Stage Festival. Also: check out the Tita Collective’s podcast: Chika Chika with the Titas. www.aliarasul.com Twitter: @aliarasul Instagram: aliarasul Tita Collective Twitter: @tita_collective Instagram: tita.collective Tickets: https://fringetoronto.com/next-stage/show/tita-jokes Chicka Chicka with the Titas: http://thesonarnetwork.com/chikachika/

No new episode this week. Just a quick note to say that we're excited to go into the fourth year of Stageworthy, and to thank all our guests who've been on this year, as well as everyone who's listened.

Helen Knight is a Calgary-based actor and creator, and was last seen in Toronto when she joined Soulpepper theater as Mary Tudor in their remount of The Virgin Trial this past January. As an actor, Helen has worked with Alberta Theater Projects (The Virgin Trial, The Last Wife – Winner of the Betty Mitchellaward for best supporting actress), Lunchbox Theatre, Downstage Theatre, Ghost River Theatre, and many other independent companies. Lindsey is passionate about women’s stories and feats of theatre magic.Recent projects include She Kills Monsters (University of Lethbridge), Legoland (Urban Curvz Theatre), FUGLY (The Janes), and The Hudson Bay Epic and River: A Puppet Myth (Mudfoot Theatre). Instagram: helenight02

Andrew Joseph Richardson Andrew is an Indo-Canadian actor, director, dramaturg, and dad. He is a graduate of both the Theatre Arts Program at Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton (where he is originally from) and the Acting Program at the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal. He is also the Co-Ordinator of the Guerrilla Ruffian Squad and directed their production, Situation Unknown (a Shakespearean improv performance), at the Shakespeare Lives microfestival in libraries across Toronto. A.J. has lead the adaptations for every Shakespeare in the Ruff production in Withrow Park in collaboration with each show’s director. He has also created short adaptations of Henry VI, Part 3 and Julius Caesar (amongst others) for Original Practices events. His adaptation of The Tempest was directed by Diane D’Aquila for Theatre Calgary’s Shakespeare by the Bow. He directed the Shakespeare-in-Hospitals Program for Spur-of-the-Moment Shakespeare Collective in 2014. Selected Shakespeare Acting Credits: Launce in Two Gents, Cloten in Cymbeline’s Reign, and Banquo in Macbeth: Walking Shadows (Shakespeare in the Ruff), Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare in the Ruff), Ford in The Merry Wives of Windsor (Shakespeare BASH’d), Horatio in Hamlet (Forward Theatre), and Rodorigo in Othello (Sound and Fury Theatre). Victoria Urquhart Victoria Urquhart is a Toronto-based actor and director from Caledon. She is also a graduate from the University of Windsor’s 2010 B.F.A. Acting Program. This training has helped her to develop a focus on marrying Physical Theatre Practices with Classical Text. This fascination, combined with her leadership and organizational skills developed through working six consecutive summers at a residential camp have led her to a passion for directing, and the creation of The Spur-Of-The-Moment Shakespeare Collective in Toronto. Through the SOTMSC, she has directed, produced, and sometimes performed in several community projects, including the Shakespeare-On-The-Subway Project, several sessions of Shakespeare-In-Hospitals, and JULIUS CAESAR PROJECT, garnering 4 N’s from NOW magazine at the 2014 Toronto Fringe Festival. Other theatre credits include: Waiting for Alonzo with Empty Box Theatre (2015), Teach Me with Newborn Theatre, and Macbeth with Hart House Theatre. Heart In Hand at Shakespeare-In-Hospitals’ Family Reunion Gala! Grab a drink at the bar, enjoy some sweet and savoury eats and put your picture on our family tree as we extend the SOTMSC family with a final performance of the 2019 Program’s show, Heart In Hand: How will you choose your family if your family doesn’t choose you? In the last flashes of a mother’s life, we see the hopeful imaginings of her family’s choices to move forward when she is gone. Brought together by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, Amsterdam Brewery and the Spur of The Moment Shakespeare Collective, this funny and touching piece has toured to rave reviews from patient, staff and family audiences across Toronto and the G.T.A. For a financially accessible gala we offer tickets on a sliding scale. Arts Worker and Student Tickets are available for the cost of $18 ($19.89 with processing fee). Folks who wish to donate more with their ticket to help those who cannot afford full cost can do so on our ticketing site: http://shakehospitals2019.bpt.me/ www.spurofthemomentshakespeare.com Twitter: @shakespur Instagram: @shakespur

Nicole Smieja is a Toronto based actor, and a graduate of the University of Windor’s Acting program. Victoria Urquhart is a Toronto-based actor and director from Caledon, and the artistic director of Spur of the Moment Shakespeare. (and also a graduate of the University of Windsor’s Acting program). Heart In Hand at Shakespeare-In-Hospitals’ Family Reunion Gala! Grab a drink at the bar, enjoy some sweet and savoury eats and put your picture on our family tree as we extend the SOTMSC family with a final performance of the 2019 Program’s show, Heart In Hand: How will you choose your family if your family doesn’t choose you? In the last flashes of a mother’s life, we see the hopeful imaginings of her family’s choices to move forward when she is gone. Brought together by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, Amsterdam Brewery and the Spur of The Moment Shakespeare Collective, this funny and touching piece has toured to rave reviews from patient, staff and family audiences across Toronto and the G.T.A. For a financially accessible gala we offer tickets on a sliding scale. Arts Worker and Student Tickets are available for the cost of $18 ($19.89 with processing fee). Folks who wish to donate more with their ticket to help those who cannot afford full cost can do so on our ticketing site: http://shakehospitals2019.bpt.me/ www.spurofthemomentshakespeare.com Twitter: @shakespur Instagram: shakespur

Blythe Haynes is a Toronto-based actor and producer. She is a co-founder of Gangway! Theatre Co. with playwright KT Bryski. Together they focus on Canadian, female-based stories. She also works as a voice artist, and has been a part of two PARSEC winning audio-drama podcasts! With KT Byrski, she created and performed in the web series “Blythe Tries” for Black Creek Pioneer Village. Select credits include To A Degree! An Orwellian Musical Comedy (Elia Pasic) Six Stories, Told At Night (Gangway! Theatre Co.) Canticle of Light (Missed Metaphor Productions), The Polar Bear Prince (Gangway! Theatre Co.), Mary’s Wedding (Toronto Fringe Festival), In His Name (Canadian History Project), The Skylar Neese Story (Discovery Channel), various episodes of Campfire Radio Theatre and Six Stories, Told At Night (PARSEC Award winning audio-drama podcast, KT Bryski Productions). Twitter: @haynesblythe Instagram: blythe_haynes Watching Glory Die (the podcast): https://podcas

Michael Spence is Associate Artistic Director of Theatre Gargantua and an award-winning, long-standing member of Theatre Gargantua’s creative team. He has been involved in all of TG’s productions, appearing in all major Cycles and writing or designing for many of the company’s noted works. His script for The Exit Room was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play, and he won the award twice for Outstanding Set Designs. He has received a total of ten Dora nominations for his work with the company, winning four. Michael is a recipient of a Harold Award, a distinguished honour for members of the Toronto independent theatre community. He is also an accomplished musician and singer-songwriter. He directed the first SideStream Cycle, Shrapnel, which represented his directorial debut with the company. The Wager Inspired by true events, The Wager is award-winning Theatre Gargantua’s bold and irreverent investigation into the strange things that people believe. Climate change deniers, anti-vaxxers, creationists, in-your-face-fact-defying-politicians, and yes, flat-earthers; beliefs held by a surprising number of intelligent humans, beliefs that not only defy logic, but could be threatening our existence on the planet. Now more than ever, the stakes could not be higher. theatregargantua.ca Twitter: @TGargantua Instagram: TheatreGargantua Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheatreGargantua Tickets: https://theatregargantua.ca/the-wager/

Michael Kelly is an actor, director, producer, writer, teacher, and arts educator. He is the founder and current artistic director of “Shakespeare In Action” Theatre Company in Toronto. His work has attracted local, national and international media attention for its innovative work with young audiences; with feature presentations on W-5, Canada AM, TVO Imprint and C.B.C.’s “As It Happens.” His credits include directing many Shakespeare and contemporary plays; teaching master classes for the Shakespeare Globe in London, Canada’s Stratford Festival, the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, York University and Shakespeare Globe Centre in New Zealand. Michael is an adjunct professor in the theatre department in the School of Arts, Media, Performance and Design at York University. He has taught acting for such established institutes as George Brown College, Randolph Academy for the Arts, and the National Youth Drama School in New Zealand. Michael is a Paul Harris Fellow appointed by the Rotary international foundation as well as recipient of the Canada council J.B.C. Watkins Award given to outstanding Canadian artists to pursue academic research. Shakespeare in Action Shakespeare in Action was established in 1988 by Artistic Director, Michael Kelly. We continue to bring Shakespeare to young people across Ontario through innovative programs and critically acclaimed theatre productions. Shakespeare in Action is a diverse theatre company that aspires to enhance the arts and education through exploring and performing Shakespeare’s plays. We are dedicated to fostering literacy, enhancing creativity and promoting speech arts by making the language and stories of Shakespeare accessible and relevant to young audiences, their families, and the community. Shakespeare in Action seeks to inspire audiences of all ages to discover Shakespeare’s universal truths in our everyday world, showing the influence classical theatre has within our communities. Shakespeare in Action presents Sound & Fury, At Artscape Weston Common, Nov. 16 – Dec 7. Music, dance, and spoken word collide in this sharp, bold, and accessible world-premiere of Shakespeare’s most haunting play, MACBETH. Inspired by the sounds and poetry of 90s era hip hop music and performed by five diverse and dynamic actors, SOUND AND FURY is Marcel Stewart’s smart and imaginative adaptation that bursts with rhythms and lyrics, putting a contemporary spin on this classic story of bloody ambition. www.shakespeareinaction.org Twitter: @shakesinaction Instagram: shakespeareinaction Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Shakespeare.Action/ Tickets: https://www.shakespeareinaction.org/mhha/

Tanisha Taitt is a director, actor, playwright, educator, activist and accidental essayist who has worked with companies including Obsidian, Nightwood, NAC, Workman Arts, Buddies in Bad Times, and Soulpepper, and spent three seasons as a Resident Artist-Educator with Young People’s Theatre. She was Artistic Mentor for the Paprika Festival Creators’ Unit and Program Director for The Musical Stage Company’s youth training initiative One Song Glory, and since 2013 has been a Dramatic Arts mentor with the Toronto District School Board. Also a singer/songsmith for over 30 years, Tanisha is a recipient of the Canadian Music Publishers Association Songwriters Award for outstanding achievement in songwriting, and is currently writing two musical theatrical works. For a decade, Tanisha was an artist and director with the award-winning Children’s Peace Theatre, an organization that uses the arts to teach children and youth about the creation of peace through justice. As a longtime anti-VAW activist, Tanisha spent seven years as Producer of V-Day Toronto/One Billion Rising Canada — part of the global movement to end violence against women and girls, during which time she directed 11 of its productions. Known by her peers for her fierce commitment to inclusion and racial/cultural representation in the performing arts, she is also an anti-oppression educator and facilitator who has written over 30 essays about race, power and equity both within and outside of the theatre industry. Twitter: @t_taitt www.cahoots.ca Twitter: @cahootstheatre Instagram: cahootstheatre

Colin Asuncion is an actor, singer and cabaret performer, as well as a Marketing Manager. Twitter: @colinasuncion Instagram: colinasuncion Uncovered: Stevie Wonder & Prince Prince credited Stevie Wonder as a “role model.” Wonder said that Prince “took music to a whole other place.” These friends, sometimes collaborators, and groundbreaking icons inspired each other and the world. The Musical Stage Company’s 13th annual signature concert spotlights hit songs from two hugely influential artists with wildly imaginative arrangements by music director Reza Jacobs. Featuring Canada’s most celebrated performers, UnCovered is a one-of-a-kind ‘unmissable’ event. www.musicalstagecompany.com Twitter: @MusicalStageCo Instagram: musicalstageco Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicalstageco Tickets: https://musicalstagecompany.com/production/uncovered2019/

Holly Wyder is an actor, producer, writer and comedian, living in Toronto. Her solo show, Drink of Choice was a hit of the 2019 Toronto Fringe. www.hollywyder.com Twitter: @hollyiswyder Instagram: hollyiswyder Drink of Choice Winner of the 2019 Toronto Fringe Patron’s Pick, Drink of Choice returns at Factory’s Studio Theatre. You play the Customer. The drink you choose will decide the Bartender’s story. A create-your-own-adventure semi autobiographical piece, Drink of Choice examines sexual identity, especially the often overlooked and misunderstood conceptions of being asexual. Twitter: @choicedrink Instagram: choicedrink Tickets: https://www.factorytheatre.ca/what-s-on/drink-of-choice/

Shakura Dickson Shakura is a Toronto based actor and playwright. Most Recently, she appeared in Mirvish Productions’ presentation of Dear Evan Hansen, and appears in Factory Theatre’s Trout Stanley. Twitter: @shakooks Trout Stanley It’s the eve of twins Sugar and Grace Ducharme’s 30th birthday and the 10th anniversary of their parents’ deaths, the local Scrabble Champ Stripper has gone missing, and mysterious drifter Trout Stanley arrives looking for love…and a lake. Experience the wild, touching, and hysterically funny play that took New York by storm from Governor General’s Award-nominated playwright and novelist, Claudia Dey, returning to Factory’s Mainspace 14 years after its Toronto premiere at Factory. A story of Northern Proportions, Trout Stanley is about the secrets that bind us and finding love wherever you can. And snails. www.factorytheatre.ca Twitter: @factorytoronto Tickets: https://www.factorytheatre.ca/2019-20-season/trout-stanley/

A graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada, Natasha Greenblatt is an actor, director and writer. Natasha has played Anne Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank (Segal Centre, Theatre Aquarius), Brigid in A Boy Called Newfoundland (Theatre Smash), and Roberta in The Railway Children (Mirvish/Marquis). She was nominated for a Dora Award for her portrayal of Bastian in The Neverending Story (Roseneath Theatre) and won a Dora Award for Get Yourself Home Skyler James (Roseneath Theatre), a solo show that toured high schools in the Greater Toronto Area. Natasha had a recurring role on the Canadian television show Bomb Girls. Most recently, Natasha was part of the 2014-2015 National Arts Centre’s English Theatre Ensemble, where she played Alice, in Alice Through the Looking Glass and Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest. As a director, Natasha facilitated and directed This Is Your Script, a collective creation for Paprika Festival for youth between the ages of 17 and 21. She directed Cowboy Mouth, by Sam Shepard and Patti Smith, as part of The Playwright Project in May 2013. She was the assistant director for Micheline Chevrier on the Montreal debut production of the Governor General Award winning play, If We Were Birds and for Sarah Stanley on the debut of Beatrice and Virgil at the Factory Theatre. In 2014, Natasha directed The Secret Garden of Lido Pimienta, a theatrical concert commissioned by SummerWorks. Natasha has been part of Nightwood Theatre’s Write From the Hip program for Emerging Playwrights and Theatre Passe Muraille’s Upstarts Unit for Emerging Theatre Creators. She performed her solo show, We Lived in a Palace at the 2008 SummerWorks Festival. She produced her first full-length play, The Peace Maker, directed by Jennifer Brewin, as part of the 2013 Next Stage Festival. Twitter: @natashasama Instagram: natashagreengrace The Election During the 2015 Federal Election, a group of theatre artists and makers volunteered for local campaigns. They knocked on doors, phoned voters, and tried to make sense of national stories on a local level while documenting their experience. These personal accounts provided fodder for the new Canadian play The Election, by Natasha Greenblatt and Yolanda Bonnell, in collaboration with the company. In 2019 The Election sparks urgent dialogue just as Canadians take another swing at the ballot box. Exploring the realities of Indigenous, Settler and Newcomer experience with the political process, this play asks: Do we have a voice and does that voice count? Following the wildly successful run of The Public Servant, Common Boots Theatre delivers a provocative and hilarious investigation of how Canadians engage in democracy. The team of six actors (Augusto Bitter, Rachel Cairns, Joelle Peters, Anand Rajaram, Rose Stella, and Courtenay Stevens) take on over 35 characters. Woven throughout the chaos of the federal election are the personal stories of people struggling to make a difference within their own communities and families. www.commonbootstheatre.ca Tickets: https://www.passemuraille.ca/tickets/

SOMETHING FOR THE BUOYS is the latest effort from writer/director Eli Pasic. A graduate of the prestigious Berklee School of Music, Pasic recently wrote the book and lyrics to a new musical comedy, I’ll Take It!, with Broadway composer Henry Krieger (Dreamgirls, Side Show): the show has been published by Broadway Licensing. Set in the spring of 1934, SOMETHING FOR THE BUOYS follows a starry-eyed sailor named Jimmy (Roberto Sapienza) who wants nothing more than to find his true love. Accompanied by Larry (Thomas Finn), his womanizing best pal, he sneaks ashore and enters the wonderful world of New York City. Of course, Jimmy immediately stumbles upon his true love. But between a big-time Broadway offer and a cranky captain with an Alka-Seltzer addiction, will Jimmy sail into the sun and live happily ever after before the final curtain? Who Knows! SOMETHING FOR THE BUOYS takes its cue from past classics such as Anything Goes and On The Town, saluting Golden Era theatre giants such as Cole Porter and Irving Berlin, while keeping things fresh through clever lyrics, innuendo, and unexpected twists and turns. SHOW DATES: October 9-20, 2019 LOCATION: George Ignatieff Theatre | 15 Devonshire Pl., Toronto, ON BOX OFFICE: sapling.simpletix.com | ADMISSION: $20-$40 www.saplingproductions.com Instagram: saplingtoronto www.bygonetheatre.com Twitter: @BygoneTheatre Instagram: bygonetheatre Instagram: SFTB_musical SFTBmusical

Episode Notes Jennifer Walls Jennifer is a performer producer, and voice-over actor. As a musical theatre performer she has played leading roles in a wide variety of musicals including RENT, Beauty And The Beast, The Wizard of Oz and number of Canadian premiers as well as the Dora Award nominated original musical review Off-Broadway, On Stage. She was also a finalist in the CBC hit show How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? As a voice actor she has voiced recurring characters on a number of animated series’ including PBS’ Peg+ Cat and Amazon’s Creative Galaxy and is currently the voice of Family Jr. Jennifer is also the director of Hart House Theatre’s production of The Rocky Horror Show. www.jenniferwalls.com Twitter: @jeni_walls Instagram: jeniwallsto Chris Tsujiuchi Chris is a graduate of Sheridan College's Musical Theatre Performance program. Performance credits include Fulgens and Lucres (PLS), Recurring John, Paradises Lost (SummerWorks Festival), and Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors (Lower Ossington Theatre and T3 productions). Musical Direction credits include A Misfortune (Next Stage Festival), HAIR (FirstAct Productions), One Song Glory '10 '11 & '12 (ActingUp Stage), A Joyful Noise (co-composer/lyricist, Smile Theatre), Mickey & Judy (Toronto Fringe), and bare: the Canadian Premiere (WatersEdge Productions). Chris has also worked as an accompanist and teacher at Sheridan College, Randolph Academy and George Brown College. He has toured extensively with the Nathaniel Dett Chorale as a singer and with Sharron Matthews as an accompanist/arranger (Sharron's Big Broadway Show, Jesus Thinks I'm Funny, GOLD, Full Dark). He can also be seen in his biannual "Chris-terical" series of cabarets at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. www.christsujiuchi.com Twitter: @ChrisTsujiuchi www.harthouse.ca Twitter: @HHTheatre Instagram: hhtheatre Tickets: https://tickets.harthouse.ca/

DopoLavoro Teatrale (DLT) is pleased to announce their critically acclaimed walkabout performance The Stranger, returns to Toronto with a brand-new version – The Stranger 2.0. Designed for the first time to include two audience members at a time and featuring an exciting new virtual reality component developed by mixed reality content specialists toasterlab, The Stranger 2.0 will unfold on the streets of Toronto September 18 – 29, 2019 with a new cast, new scenes, new locations, and a choice between two independent journeys: above & below. above: A cross-city adventure with a retro Italian flavour that takes participants from a midtown area to locations they have likely never explored before. below: A downtown adventure in the underground areas of Toronto where performers emerge from the crowds. In 2014, DLT presented the first, award-winning version of The Stranger at the SummerWorks Performance Festival. Sold out editions have run around the world including in India and Europe and DLT brought two new versions back to Toronto in 2015 and 2016. The Stranger 2.0 continues The Stranger tradition of an immersive and interactive theatrical experience in which the city becomes the stage and the audience becomes the protagonist. Designed for two audience members at a time, this 75 to 90-minute journey thrusts participants into a secret world. By following "strangers" into streets, alleyways and undisclosed locations, the downtown is transformed into an urban labyrinth and participants find themselves at the centre of an unfolding narrative that blurs the lines between reality and fiction. “DLT is dedicated to exploring new possibilities of audience engagement and further pushing the agency of each spectator in their own adventure. We are incredibly excited to continue this with The Stranger 2.0: above & below,” says Daniele Bartolini, Artistic Director, DLT. “In 2.0, Toronto audiences are invited to embark on a voyage across the city and will experience the next level of immersive and audience-specific theatre with a digital VR interaction developed by the boundary-pushing team at toasterlab." The Stranger 2.0 kicks off Close Up (Primo Piano) - a new season of shows and events by Bartolini with Executive Producer Thomas L. Mallon and DopoLavoro Teatrale, community sponsor Villa Charities Inc. and in association with Istituto Italiano di Cultura. The Close Up (Primo Piano) season features an exciting lineup of site-specific and immersive programming including a Christmas production, a new play that addresses the issues faced by parents who work in the arts, and a festival featuring contemporary site-specific Italian theatre. More details about the season will be announced in the coming weeks. About DLT Founded in 2006 in Florence, Italy by Artistic Director Daniele Bartolini and based in Toronto since 2012, DLT is an international company dedicated to innovation and experimental multi-disciplinary artistic practices. The audience has always played a pivotal role in DLT’s work and they have continuously explored the relationship between artist and spectator. DLT productions have grown from theatre shows and installations to fully interactive, urban-immersive creations designed to give audience members an active role inside a dramatic structure. DLT presented their first fully immersive creation Midway Along the Journey of Our Life at the SummerWorks Performance Festival in 2013. Other recent works include The Ugly Mess That Happened in St. Catharines at the 2016 In the Soil Arts Festival, the critically acclaimed Off Limits Zone presented at the 10th Anniversary Luminato Festival, the immersive dining experience Leonardo’s Last Supper and the 2019 Dora nominated If on a Christmas Night. About The Stranger 2.0 Written and directed by Daniele Bartolini Assistant Director and Production Manager: Raylene Turner Produced by Daniele Bartolini, DLT, Istituto Italiano di Cultura Executive Producer: Thomas L. Mallon Community sponsor: Villa Charities Virtual reality scene produced and developed by toasterlab with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts Tickets: General - $50 each, VIP - $90 each (VIP experience contains secret content) Dates: September 18th - 29th, 2019 Times: Weekdays: 5pm – 9:10pm (shows start every 20 minutes) + VIP @ 9:30pm Weekends: 3pm – 7:10pm (shows start every 20 minutes) + VIP @ 7:30pm Location: Starting point for The Stranger 2.0: above is a secret location around in Midtown west. Starting point for The Stranger 2.0: below is a secret location around the downtown core. Tickets holders will be notified by email of the exact meeting point 24 hours before their show time. www.dltexperience.com Twitter: @dltexperience Instagram: Dopolavoroteatrale Facebook: http://facebook.com/dltinteractivetheatricalexperience TheStranger2.0

Episode Notes Amber (Claire Renaud) and Tom (Tony Ofori), finding their way as freshmen at Princeton, spend a night together that alters the course of their lives. They agree on the drinking, they agree on the attraction, but consent is foggy, and if unspoken, can it be called consent? Anna Ziegler investigates gender and race politics, our crippling desire to fit in and the three sides to every story. Playwright ANNA ZIEGLER is an award-winning playwright whose widely produced play PHOTOGRAPH 51 (starring Nicole Kidman) won London’s 2016 WhatsOnStage award for Best New Play. It was selected as a “Best of the Year” by The Washington Post and the Telegraph. In 2017, The Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Manhattan Theatre Club and The Geffen Playhouse premiered her play ACTUALLY, and The Roundabout Theatre Company produced THE LAST MARCH. Her play THE WANDERERS won the 2018 San Diego Critic’s Circle Award for Outstanding New Play and BOY was nominated for the 2016 John Gassner Award by the Outer Critics Circle. Director PHILIP AKIN has been acting and directing for over 40 years. In 2000, he was a founding member of Obsidian Theatre, Canada’s leading black theatre company, and has served as its Artistic Director since 2006. Award include the Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts (2018), William Kilbourn Award for the Celebration of Toronto’s Cultural Life ( 2014) and the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts, Silver Ticket Award for Outstanding Contribution (2010). Dora Nominations for Best Director in the General Theatre Division 2008, 2011, 2012 (winning in 2012 – Topdog Underdog), two nominations in 2017 (winning in 2017 for Master Harold…and the Boys) www.obsidiantheatre.com Twitter: @obsidiantheatre Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Obsidian-Theatre-Company-214760735208818/ www.hgjewishtheatre.com Twitter: @HGJewishTheatre Instagram: hgjewishtheatre Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HGJewishTheatre/ Tickets: https://www.hgjewishtheatre.com/2019-2020-Actually.html

Kendra Jones is a Winnipeg-born, Toronto-based artist whose work mingles between theatrical performance and performance art; her interest lies in pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the theatre, and the kinds of discussions that can stem from encounters with theatrical creation. She graduated with Distinction from the MA Text & Performance at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London, and also holds a BA(Hons) in Theatre Performance from the University of Winnipeg. Favourite directing credits include the Canadian premiere of Sea Wall by Simon Stephens and Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis (Theatre By the River), and most recently, Tim Crouch’s I, Malvolio (Impel theatre). www.kendrajones.net Twitter: @impeltheatre Instagram: impeltheatre

Episode Notes Emily Dix is a Toronto based theatre artist and photographer. She has been directing, producing and designing for theatre for over 10 years, and is the Artistic Executive Director of Bygone Theatre. Recently, she launched a new initiative, the Toronto Independent Theatre Coalition (TITC) which she runs as Founder and Executive Director. She also works as a freelance photographer, specializing in theatre and live events. www.emilydix.com Instagram: emilydixphotography Bygone Theatre www.bygonetheatre.com Twitter: @bygonetheatre Instagram: bygonetheatre Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bygonetheatre The Toronto Independent Theatre Coalition The Toronto Independent Theatre Coalition is a place for small local theatre companies to connect and support each other's work. By connecting, sharing resources and helping to promote each other's shows, we can all grow together. The primary objective of the TITC is to assist Toronto's independent theatres in growing their network and audience bases. www.thetitc.ca Twitter: @thetitc Instagram: the.titc Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/TheTITC

Episode Notes In this episode, host Phil Rickaby sits down with two solo performers, Janelle Hanna & Laura Anne Harris to talk about performing solo shows and touring Fringe Festivals. Bad Baby Presents: Rules Control the Fun Lark & Whimsy’s second production, Bad Baby Presents: Rules Control the Fun, written and performed by Janelle Hanna, directed by Briana Brown and stage managed by Erin Vandenberg, premiered at the 2017 Toronto Fringe Festival. The play features Hanna’s clown character, Bad Baby, and beautifully explores failure and vulnerability. www.larkandwhimsytheatre.com Twitter: @Lark_and_Whimsy Instagram: lark_and_whimsy Edmonton Fringe Tickets: https://tickets.fringetheatre.ca/performances.php?eventId=601:3056 Destiny USA When Laura moves from Toronto to Syracuse, New York, she wasn’t expecting to be residing in Trump’s America. Gaining her first job as a relay operator for the deaf and hard of hearing reveals the hidden humanity of the American people. www.lauraanneharris.com Twitter: @lauraanneharri1 Edmonton Fringe Tickets: https://tickets.fringetheatre.ca/performances.php?eventId=601:3045

Episode Notes After last summer’s NNNN Much Ado About Nothing, Dauntless City Theatre returns to Berczy Park to delight city audiences with All’s Well That Ends Well, starring Chanakya Mukherjee (The Men in White, Much Ado About Nothing) and Liz Der (Crave) as the unlikely lovers Bertram and Helena. Ranging over walks, hills, gardens, and the famous dog fountain, All’s Well is an intriguing societal and political comedy. One of Shakespeare’s “problem plays”, All’s Well tackles passionate desire, consent, trickery, and toxic masculinity. This play asks: how well do we really know the people in our lives? What are each of us capable in pursuit of our deepest desires? As our relationships deepen, the passions we discover can drive us apart as well as bond us together. Through a comedic lens, All’s Well asks us to sit in the discomfort and problematic spaces that open up. All’s Well builds on Dauntless’ legacy of queering, subverting, and transforming the Bard, featuring a cast reflective of the city of Toronto. Including live music, and costumes suggesting the sumptuousness of Renaissance Florence and The Court of The Sun King, All’s Well That Ends Well aims to be Shakespeare for people who think they hate Shakespeare. Follow the action through the full 90 minutes from space to space throughout the park, or enjoy a scene while walking a dog, out with kids, or on a lunch break. Join All’s Well That End’s Well for a play that will make you think, that will delight your senses, and that at the end will leave you cheering for all the right reasons. All’s Well That Ends Well Berzcy Park at Front St and Church St Pay What You Can Friday and Saturday 7:30pm Saturday and Sunday 1:00pm No performance Friday August 9th www.dauntlesscitytheatre.com Twitter: @DauntlessTO Instagram: dauntlessto Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dauntlessTO/

Dylan is an award-winning actor, director, playwright and a founding member of Toronto's Theatrefront. He has performed with The Stratford And Shaw Festivals, Mirvish Productions and in London’s West End. Dylan considers Theatrefront his creative home, and is deeply committed to our roots in the independent theatre community. For Theatrefront Dylan has appeared in eight productions, including fforward, Mojo and Tribes. He also co-wrote and acted in Return, which received a Dora Nomination for Best New Play. Recently Dylan directed acclaimed productions of Space Opera Zero and The Harrowing OF Brimstone McReedy for Toronto’s Eldritch Theatre. He is also the director of Festival Player's of Prince Edward County's Every Brilliant Thing.Twitter:@dylantrowbridgeInstagram:dylantrowbridgeyyzEvery Brilliant Thing is a one-of-a-kind, interactive theatrical event, starring renowned actor and comedian, Gavin Crawford, that engages its audience in thrilling and original ways. At once profoundly funny and deeply moving, Every Brilliant Thing chronicles a young person’s quest to unearth every magnificent thing about being alive. “Heart-wrenching, hilarious…one of the funniest plays you’ll ever see, full stop” -The Guardian.www.festivalplayers.caTwitter:@FestivalPlayersInstagram:festivalplayersFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/FestivalPlayersTickets:https://festivalplayers.ca/events/every-brilliant-thing/

From the gut-busting pen of Eli Pasic and the producing/acting talents of Isaiah Kolundzic, comes this fast-paced, knockabout, zany comedic bauble! False Claims traces the despicable schemes of Dennis—a devious, layabout nephew who poses as his late aunt’s husband in order to collect her life insurance money! DATES: Limited run of only 9 performances. Friday August 2nd, 8pm - Opening Night! Saturday August 3rd, 8pm Sunday August 4th, 2pm Tuesday August 6th, 8pm - PWYC Charity Fundraiser Wednesday August 7th, 8pm Thursday August 8th, 8pm Friday August 9th, 8pm Saturday August 10th, 8pm Sunday August 11th, 2pm - Closing TICKETS:https://falseclaims.simpletix.com/ CAST & CREW: WRITTEN BY Eli Pasic DIRECTED BY Blair Haynes FEATURING Isaiah Thomas Kolundzic, Kevin Forster, Heather Dick, Kevin Hare, Melissa Taylor, Zachary Groombridge, Kathleen Welch and Judith Fiore DESIGNED BY Emily Dix PRODUCED BY Isaiah Thomas Kolundzic, Emily Dix ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS Blythe Haynes, Eli Pasic STAGE MANAGED BY Jeremy Pearson Instagram: FalseClaimsTO Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/falseclaimsfarce/

Brian Jansen is an actor from Etobicoke, Ontario. Uniquely talented and hard working, he has been acting since he was 14 years old. A recent graduate of the Acting for Film & Television program at Niagara College. Brian is the director and one of the Stars of You Want it What Way? A Boy Band Tale. You Want it What Way? “You Want It What Way? A Boy Band Tale” is a sketch comedy dance show all about boy bands. We dance and sing to all of the hits and perform hilarious sketches that poke fun at all the absurdity that comes with being in a boy band. You’ll dance, laugh and sing your Justin Timberlake loving hearts out. www.youwantitwhatway.comInstagram:boybandtaleFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/youwantitwhatwayTickets:http://hamiltonfringe.ca/shows/you-want-it-what-way/

Laura Kyswaty knew from the time she was six years old that she wanted to be a performer. As she grew up she explored her passion through theatre, dance and television.There's a confidence that comes with doing what you love, and loving what you do! In her many years of experience, Laura Kyswaty has appeared on screens both large and small around the world, and onstage across the country.Roles have ranged from comedy to drama, leading lady to supporting cast.Her studies in improvisation at the Second City Conservatory, along with her performance degree from York University, allow her to tackle a wide variety of projects. In her spare time she dances and choreographs for a local Toronto company, is a communication coach for executives in some of North America's top companies, and hangs out with her dog.The Promised Land The Promised Land at the Hamilton Fringe is a comedic homage to 1940s film noir, filled with fast-talking fellas and femme fatales, an ingenue, or two, and a wisecracking former hobo; all inhabiting a world of loose morals and suspicious intentions. Tickets: http://hamiltonfringe.ca/shows/promised-land/

The Second of Two Fringe 2019 Roundup episodes. On each of the Saturdays of the Fringe, we gather a group of performers together to talk about their shows, their Fringe experience so far, and what shows they've loved, and more.Monica OgdenMonica vs. The Internet: Tales of a Social Justice Warrior Instagram: socialjusticewarriorfringe Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MonicavsTheInternetShow/ Twitter: @ragesweater Tickets: https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/monica-vs-internet-tales-social-justice-warriorShane AdamzackThe Ballad of Frank Allenweepingspoon.com Instagram: weepingspoon Facebook: https://facebook.com/weepingspoonproductions Twitter: @weepingspoon Tickets: https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/ballad-frank-allenCarlyn RhameyThe ADHD Projectwww.squirrelsuit.ca Instagram: TheADHDProject Facebook: https://facebook.com/SquirrelSuitProductions Twitter: @SquirrelSuitT Tickets: https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/adhd-projectMadeleine BrownNews Play Instagram: PrairieFirePlz Facebook: https://facebook.com/PrairieFirePlz Twitter: @PrairieFirePlz Tickets: https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/news-playRecorded 9:30AM, July 13, 2019

Sarah Joy BennettSarah Joy Bennett is an actor, writer and designer. She is a member of Keystone Theatre, which creates original works in the style of silent film, and with them has toured Canada with their shows The Last Man On Earth and Gold Fever.Other past projects as a co-creator include Theatre Sasa’s puppetry-based The Pressed Fairy Book, and Power Of Flight’s original musical The Ballad Of One-Eyed Jack. She has also performed with Classic Theatre Festival, Odyssey Theatre, Brookstone Theatre, and Metaphysical Theatre. As the burlesque performer Cherry Temple, she has been featured in international burlesque festivals, and at Le Tambour Royal Theatre, in Paris.Her writing work includes Postcards (CBC Radio, Out Front), and Trophy, a Summerworks Festival installation for which she was part of a team of writers and storytellers.Ginette MohrGinette is an award-winning performer, director and playwright. Her twenty-year career in the performing arts has galvanized her love for live experiences and direct contact with people. Driven by curiosity, she works to motivate a more conscious and compassionate community through the creation of imaginative, participatory theatre.She has created theatre with companies that include: The Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Neptune Theatre, Young People’s Theatre, Theatre New Brunswick, Drayton Entertainment, Theatre Direct, Theatre Aquarius, The Quickening Theatre, Keystone Theatre, and The Second City. Ginette recently directed and co-created Snack Music and Table Top Tales with SNAFU Dance Theatre.Night FeedAs an exhausted new mother nurses in the dark of yet another night, her apartment comes to life; possessions possessed with the demons of fear, self-doubt and anxiety, a chorus of objects and body parts. You know, standard parenting stuff.Fringe veterans-turned-mothers Sarah Joy Bennett and Ginette Mohr return to Toronto Fringe with CLUNK Puppet Lab, turning their brand of imaginative storytelling to tackle motherhood, injecting a healthy dose of the bizarre and surreal to make sense of “the most meaningful time of your life”.www.nightfeed.ca Instagram: nightfeedplay Twitter: @nightfeedplay Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nightfeedplay Tickets: https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/night-feed

The First of Two Fringe 2019 Roundup episodes. On each of the Saturdays of the Fringe, we gather a group of performers together to talk about their shows, their Fringe experience so far, and what shows they've loved, and more.Kaho KodaDecaying Tongue website: https://www.humanburrito.com/ instagram: humanburritoproductions facebook: https://www.facebook.com/humanburritoproductions/ Tickets: https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/decaying-tongueMonica OgdenMonica vs. The Internet: Tales of a Social Justice Warrior Instagram: socialjusticewarriorfringe Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MonicavsTheInternetShow/ Twitter: @ragesweater Tickets: https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/monica-vs-internet-tales-social-justice-warriorSarah Joy BennettNight Feed Instagram: nightfeedplay Facebook: https://facebook.com/nightfeedplay Twitter: @nightfeedplay Tickets: https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/night-feedShane AdamzackThe Ballad of Frank Allenweepingspoon.com Instagram: weepingspoon Facebook: https://facebook.com/weepingspoonproductions Twitter: @weepingspoon Tickets: https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/ballad-frank-allenCarlyn RhameyThe ADHD Projectwww.squirrelsuit.ca Instagram: TheADHDProject Facebook: https://facebook.com/SquirrelSuitProductions Twitter: @SquirrelSuitT Tickets: https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/adhd-projectRecorded 9:30am, July 6, 2019

Michael Ross Albert is the author of several plays including Miss (FringeNYC; Unit 102 Actors Company); The Farmers Lit the Fields on Fire (Edinburgh Fringe Festival); The Grass is Greenest at the Houston Astrodome (FringeNYC, published by Applause in Best American Short Plays 2014-2015); and Karenin’s Anna (Toronto Fringe Festival, “Outstanding New Play,” — NOW Magazine), as well as the 2018 Toronto Fringe hit, Anywhere.Along with the Storefront Theatre, Michael produced the sold-out world premiere production of his play Tough Jews in the heart of Toronto’s Kensington Market. The production was nominated for 6 Dora Mavor Moore Awards, including Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Production.His play Starfishes opened Off-Broadway at the Theatre at Dance New Amsterdam and is included in Best American Short Plays 2010-2011. It has since been performed across the United States and Canada.Michael received an MFA in Playwriting from the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University. Michael is an associate member of the Dramatists Guild of America, and a member of the Playwrights Guild of Canada.The Huns The morning after a break-in at a tech company, three co-workers assemble for a conference call to discuss the burglary. What starts as a civilized, professional meeting swiftly devolves into a brutal showdown that puts everyone's careers-- and their hopes for future happiness-- in jeopardy.STREETCAR CROWSNEST: GULOIEN THEATRE 345 Carlaw Ave.Friday July 5, 9:30pm Saturday July 6, 6:15pm Sunday July 7, 8:30pm Tuesday July 9, 7:30pm Thursday July 11, 5:30pm Friday July 12, 10:15pm Sunday July 14, 4:00pmInstagram:OneFourOneCollectiveTwitter:@OneFourOneCoFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/onefourone/Tickets:https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/huns

Mark Brownell is a Toronto-based playwright and co-artistic director of the Pea Green Theatre Group with his wife, Sue Miner.He is the author of a number of plays, including Monsieur D'Eon is a Woman, which was nominated for a Governor General's Award. His libretto for the opera Iron Road won a Dora Mavor Moore Award and he was nominated for a Dora for his 2006 play, Medici Slot Machine.Three Men on a Bike From the company that brought you the award-winning Toronto Fringe smash hit Three Men in a Boat. Based upon the further writings of Victorian author Jerome K. Jerome. Pea Green Theatre Group proudly presents Three Men on a Bike! (Being the further adventures of three Victorian gentlemen as they embark upon a disastrous bicycling trip to the continent.) Not to be missed!Three Men on a Bike Tarragon Theatre Mainspace Thu 4th Jul 6:15 pm Sat 6th Jul 10:00 pm Mon 8th Jul 8:45 Wed 10th Jul 5:45 pm Sat 13th Jul 8:00 pm Sun 14th Jul 2:00 pmDirected By: Sue Miner Adapted for the Stage By: Mark Brownell Featuring: Matt Pilipiak, Victor Pokinko and David DiFrancesco Period Costumes By: Nina Okens Period Music By: J. Rigzin Tutepeagreentheatre.comTwitter:@Montmorency3MenTickets:https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/three-men-bike

The Tita Collective, an all Filipina collective of multidisciplinary artists in Toronto, will present Tita Jokes as part of the 2019 Toronto Fringe FestivalJuly 3 - 14 at the Tarragon Theatre. They sing, they dance, and they’ll make you snort-laugh halo-halo through your nose!Tita Jokes is a musical sketch comedy spectacle to remember. The show revolves around the Filipinx people in their lives such as aunts, moms, daughters, and partners. Tita Jokes reveals their struggles and heartaches, but also how they cope through comedy and songs. Tita Collective are an all Filipina collective composed of award-winning playwrights, comedians, musicians, dancers, theatre makers and actors. They explore different mediums to tell the stories about the Filipinx diaspora. Directed Tricia Hagoriles, Tita Jokes is created and performed by Ann Paula Bautista, Belinda Corpuz, Isabel Kanaan, Ellie Posadas, Alia Rasul, and Maricris Rivera. The Music Director is Ayaka Kinugawa and Stage Manager is Justine Cargo.In addition to Toronto Fringe, Tita Collective will also appear at TAWA Festival May 27 and 28 at Bad Dog Theatre, Celebration of Filipino Heritage Month at Earl Bales Park on June 1, and Notorious’ Music Comedy Festival on June 14 - 15. Tita Collective will host a workshop called “Powered by Community” on May 23 at Artscape Daniels Launchpad.Tita Collective is Ann Paula Bautista (Disenchanted US Tour), Belinda Corpuz (Prairie Nurse), Isabel Kanaan (CBC’s Air Farce), Alia Rasul (Generally Hospital), and Maricris Rivera (A New World Being Born). Tita Collective won the 2019 Steamwhistle Producers’ Pick at the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival and were named as part of “19 Asian Millennial Women You Should Know” by Cold Tea Collective. Twitter:@tita_collectiveInstagram:tita.collectiveFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/titacollectiveTickets:https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/tita-jokesTita Jokes July 3 - 14, 2019 at Toronto Fringe Tarragon Theatre, Mainspace 30 Bridgeman Avenue Thursday July 4, 8:30PM Saturday July 6, 4:45PM Sunday July 7, 1:15PM Tuesday July 9, 9:45PM Wednesday July 10, 8:00PM Friday July 12, 4:00PM Sunday July 14, 6:00PM

Kaho Koda is a Japanese theatre creator located in Toronto. Her recent credits include Koki Mitani's University of Laughter (Translator & Director) and Shakespeare's Richard III (Lighting Designer). She is delighted to present her first play Decaying Tongue (Writer & Director) at the Toronto Fringe Festival 2019. Sachi Lovatt is an actress originally from Ottawa. She trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in the UK, where she earned her MA in Professional Acting. After three years in England, she now calls Toronto home and is a proud member of both Equity and ACTRA. Recent credits include The Handmaid’s Tale and narrating the Alarm of War trilogy into audiobooks. Being half Japanese and half British, Decaying Tongue holds a special place in her heart. Decaying Tongue How do you answer the question “where are you from from”? Aya navigates through life as she experiences culture shocks between her two worlds: Japan and Canada. Will she find peace with her constantly evolving identity? Decaying Tongue explores clash of cultures and what it means to find your footing with a diverse background in the 21st century. Randolph Theatre 5th July 4:15pm 7th July 8:00pm 8th July 2:15pm 11th July 10:45pm 12th July 4:30pm 13th July 1:00pm 14th July 5:15pm www.humanburrito.comInstagram:humanburritoproductionsFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/humanburritoproductionsTickets:https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/decaying-tongue

Jennifer is a writer, producer, and multi-disciplinary performing artist. Favourite performing credits include: "All of Me"(Theatre Insomnia), "Bitchcraft"(PureCarbon), and "The Last Days of Judas Iscariot" (RCPA). As a writer, Jennifer has released two zines under the name Buzzkill, which is now the name of her theatre company. Jennifer is a graduate of Randolph College for the Performing Arts, has completed Canada's National Voice Intensive, and currently trains privately at Armstrong Acting Studios.Get Better Life changing concussions aren’t just for football players. What happens when a busy perfectionist bumps her head too many times? Get Better is a quirky, and dark look into the emotional journey of recovering from a minor traumatic brain injury. Using narrative and physical theatre, "Get Better" reveals the uncomfortable truths about living with invisible injury. This mostly true story explores how this common injury effects relationships, and identity.Tarragon Theatre - Solo Room Thursday July 4th - 7:45 PM Saturday July 6th - 10:15 PM Monday July 8th - 5:45 PM Tuesday July 9th - 3:15 PM (relaxed performance) Wednesday July 10th - 8:15 PM Thursday July 11th - 6:15 PM Saturday July 13th - 10:15 PM Sunday July 14th - 4:30 PMInstagram:buzzkillcreationsFacebook:https://facebook.com/buzzkillcreationsTOTickets:https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/get-better

John Wamsley is a gay, Indigenous actor, dancer, and choreographer born and raised in Kitchener, Ontario. Since graduating from the Theatre and Drama Studies program at Sheridan College and the University of Toronto, he has been fortunate enough to work both on and off stage developing a passion-project entitled off my chest., which was presented at this year's Dark Crop Performance Festival. John's recent credits include the sold out run of the Fringe 2018 Patron's Pick, Everyone Wants a T-Shirt!, Private Harris in The Grand Theatre's production of Timothy Findley's The Wars, and participation within the 31st annual Weesageechak Festival. John is currently the Communications Manager for the Paprika Festival, and continues to do graphic and video design for several theatre companies in the GTA. He also works in a restaurant… typical.Bryn Kennedy has been an actor ever since she can remember, but found her passion for directing in high school when she lead a production of ‘night Mother at the Sears Drama Festival, winning an Award of Excellence in Directing and Producing. Since then, Bryn has continued this journey, taking Directing with Richard Rose at Tarragon Theatre and as a member of Nightwood Theatre’s Young Innovators Unit. She is also an arts educator and is growing her experience as an arts administrator with companies such as SOULO Theatre, Rabbit in a Hat Productions, Binocular Theatre and Nightwood Theatre. Her directing credits include, Jean Anouilh’s Antigone(co-director Rachel VanDuzer, UTMDC), Overtones, Beneath the Bed (Erindale Fringe Festival), Happy Family (Toronto Fringe Festival), Selections from Vitals (Paprika Festival Directors’ Lab), Reasons to be Pretty (RTBP Collective), Vitals (Theatre Born Between) and A Bear Awake in Winter (Assistant Director, Canadian Stage Workshop and Next Stage Theatre Festival with Binocular Theatre). She is a graduate of the joint Theatre and Drama Studies Program at Sheridan College and University of Toronto earning an Acting Diploma and an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree. Her special skills include baking, knitting and finding a way to mention her recent haircut in almost any situation.BENEATH THE BED Written by Gabe Golin Directed by Bryn Kennedy In the aftermath of a trauma, a young child meets a monster living under their bed and together they discover through searching the stars that this too will pass. An exploration of childhood and imagination, grief and loss, Beneath the Bed is a twisted tale exploding with music, wit, heart, and joy.​SHOW DATES: Thursday, July 4 – 7:00 p.m. – Performance 1 Friday, July 5 – 8:00 p.m. – Performance 2 Saturday, July 6 – 2:00 p.m. – Performance 3 Sunday, July 7 – 2:00 p.m. – Performance 4 Monday, July 8 – 7:00 p.m. – Performance 5 Tuesday, July 9 – 8:00 p.m. – Performance 6 Thursday, July 11 – 8:00 p.m. – Performance 7 Friday, July 12 – 2:00 p.m. – Performance 8 Friday, July 12 – 8:00 p.m. – Performance 9 Saturday, July 13 – 3:30 p.m. – Performance 10 Sunday, July 14 – 2:00 p.m. – Performance 11www.theatrebornbetween.comTwitter: @tbornbetweenInstagram: theatrebornbetweenFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/theatrebornbetweenTickets:https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/beneath-bed (on sale June 6)

Natalia Bushnik and Robin Luckwaldt are ​KAIROS Theatre who present their award-winning, touring show, 'The Bathtub Girls' (Critics' Choice - Hamilton Fringe, 2016; Official Selection - Twin Cities Horror Festival, USA, 2018) in Toronto, in the Assembly Theatre's 2019 curated season, May 21st - June 1st!'The Bathtub Girls' is a fiction inspired by the first documented case of sibling matricide in Canada. Two sisters, encouraged by their friends, drown their mother in the bathtub of their family home. We join the girls in their irreconcilable waking nightmare of survival and atonement, which began long before we arrived, and which we have no power to stop. When the water stills, the door’s broken down, the body carried away, who do we punish? Who do you judge?.“A dark but compelling piece of theatre” ​- CBC “Gripping storytelling”​ - City Pages, Minneapolis “Truly phenomenal”​ - Fringe ReviewDirected, Written, and Performed by Natalia Bushnik and Robin Luckwaldt Sound / Set Design by Phoebe Wang Lighting Design by Waleed Ansari Promotional Trailer by William Innes : https://youtu.be/xUKPop7ccgIhttps://kairostheatrecollective.com/ Instagram : @kairostheatre

Kiran Friesen is an actress and writer, known for Bruiser (2000), The Unusual Suspects (2012) and First Round Down (2016).Theatrically, she has enjoyed a number of strong Shakespearean roles such as Gertrude (Hamlet), Lady M (Macbeth), Desdemona (Othello) and Lady Capulet (Romeo and Juliet), not to mention a smattering of other theatrical wonders and oddities (see resume).She wrote, produced and performed her play "Peeler" for the Toronto Fringe Festival to rave reviews.Kiran is appearing in Cement Factory and NightShift Theatre's production of George F. Walker's Risk Everything at the Red Sandcastle Theatre from May 14 - 25, 2019.www.cementfactorytheatre.caTwitter: @CementTheatre Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4207407

Judith is a playwright, director, actor and professor of theatre at the University of Guelph, and the Artistic Director of RARE Theatre Company. She is the author of 15 published plays, many of which are performed all over the world. They include The Crackwalker, Lion in the Streets, Perfect Pie, and Palace of the End. Her play Who Killed Snow White will premiere at the 4th Line Theatre in August, 2018. She has directed and co-created four plays with artists with exceptionalities including Body and Soul, Sick, RARE, and Borne Most recently, she wrote the play Wildfire specifically for 7 performers with Down syndrome, all of whom had appeared in Rare. She wrote two feature films, Perfect Pie and Lost and Delirious, several TV movies and many radio plays. She has twice won the Governor General's award for playwriting, as well as the Toronto Arts Award, a Dora Award, the Susan Smith Blackburn Award, and the Amnesty International Award for Freedom of Expression. She is honoured to have the privilege of collaborating with performers with exceptionalities.Welcome to my Underworld In Soulpepper’s fifth partnership with RARE Theatre Company, Canadian theatre pioneer and two-time Governor General award-winner Judith Thompson directs and dramaturges the World Premiere of Welcome to my Underworld, taking the Tank House theatre stage by storm from May 9th to May 25th, 2019 with a preview performance at 8pm on May 8th.In Soulpepper’s fifth partnership with RARE Theatre Company, Canadian theatre pioneer and two-time Governor General award-winner Judith Thompson directs and dramaturges the World Premiere of Welcome to my Underworld, taking the Tank House theatre stage by storm from May 9th to May 25th, 2019 with a preview performance at 8pm on May 8th.Welcome to my Underworld is a beautiful odyssey that erupts with heightened, illusory and playful language, as it follows Willow, a 10-year-old girl, as she gracefully weaves from one unique story to the next in search of her truest self.Nine blazing hot works written and performed by new Canadian dramatists have been woven into one spectacular play. Each playwright brings their own gate-crashing ideas and compelling characters who have never been seen on our stages until now.“What I love about RARE is that our plays cut through the artifice of so much common theatre, they aren’t ripped from the headlines but they do hold a mirror up to our society” says RARE Theatre’s Executive Director, Nick Hutcheson.Join the riveting performers Bilal Baig, Nikoletta Erdelyi, Radha S. Menon, Grace Thompson, Maddie Bautista, Samson Brown and Carolyn Hetherington as they dive fearlessly into their particular Underworld. What each piece has is the joyous discovery of a unique self, whether it be gender fluid, queer, proudly disabled and Roma, non-human, wounded, or an elder; in the face of social oppression they are unafraid to roar: This is Me. I am Here. Deal with It.Accompanying director Judith Thompson on this journey is Irish and Anishinaabe from Nipissing First Nation composer, Olivia Shortt, award-winning choreographer, Monica Dotter, and set designer, Brett Haynes. RARE Theatre is thrilled to welcome emerging lighting designer, Sharmylae Taffe-Fletcher to the RARE family.“I am beyond honoured to be collaborating with these nine superb emerging playwrights; as a playwright myself I was lucky enough to ride on the crest of the wave of Canadian nationalism in the early eighties, and to see that work valued not only in Canada but all over the world. Now it is my privilege to present to you the theatrical voices of Canada now; voices that will change the way we see this country and ourselves.” says RARE Theatre’s Artistic Director, Judith Thompson.With humour, honesty, rich writing and dynamic performances by an all-star cast of emerging and seasoned Canadian artists, Welcome to my Underworld is a theatrical experience that will thrill and entertain.RARE Theatre Company and Soulpepper Theatre Company presentWelcome to my Underworld Written by Bilal Baig, Maddie Bautista, Samson Brown, Simone Dalton, Nikoletta Erdelyi, Carolyn Hetherington, Ellen Ringler, Radha S. Menon and Grace ThompsonDramaturged and Directed by Judith Thompson May 8 – 25, 2019 Starring Bilal Baig, Maddie Bautista, Samson Brown, Nikoletta Erdelyi, Carolyn Hetherington, Radha S. Menon and Grace ThompsonChoreography by Monica DottorMusic by Olivia ShorttSet Design by Brett HaynesLighting Design by Sharmylae Taffe-FletcherStage Management by Jenna Borsato Tankhouse Theatre, Young Centre for the Performing Arts 50 Tank House Lane, Toronto, ON M5A 3C4www.raretheatre.org Twitter: @rare_theatre Instagram: raretheatre

Pregnancy Pact is a pop-rock musical which tells the story of a group of teens who make a pact to become single mothers together. The 15-year-old Maddie is devoted to her three best friends and they are to her. So, when Brynn gets pregnant, the friends all plan to have children, raising them together and living a dream. Inspired by the 2008 news story of the Gloucester pregnancy pact that took the world by storm, Pregnancy Pact provides a unique chance to examine the intense journey this kind of decision creates. www.edgeproductions.ca Twitter: @3dgeproductions Instagram: the.edge.productions Tickets to Pregnancy Pact: https://www.edgeproductions.ca/store/c3/Toronto_Tickets.htmlgangwaytheatre.com Twitter: @gangwaytheatre Instagram: gangwaytheatreco Miriam Goldstein Miriam is a theatre director and producer based in Windsor, On. She is the founding Artistic Director of The Edge Productions, now entering its ninth season. Miriam’s work as a director focuses on underrepresented human experiences. Miriam is a graduate of the Ward Acting Studio in New York, NY where she studied the Meisner Technique, she holds a certificate in Shakespeare in Performance and Contemporary Acting from the Royal Academy of Drama in London, UK, and a Bachelor of Art in Drama from the University of Windsor. Miriam’s most recent large scale project (as of summer, 2018) was an all-female production of Henry V by William Shakespeare which focused on deconstructing gender in performance and the construct of theatre itself, putting women in roles that have historically been barred from them. This performance toured Ontario and also performed, pro-bono, in Grand Valley Institute for Women. After Pregnancy Pact (May 2<sup>nd</sup>-19<sup>th</sup>), Miriam will be directing The Clockmaker by Stephen Massicotte and 4.48 Psychosis by Sarah Kane.www.miriamrgoldstein.com Instagram: mirigc87 Blythe Haynes Blythe is a Toronto-based actor and Producer. She is the co-founder and Artistic Director of Gangway! Theatre Co. Blythe holds a BFA from the University of Alberta in Acting. Gangway! Theatre Co was co-founded with writer KT Bryski to explore female voices and develop Canadian content. Previous to the founding of Gangway! KT and Blythe jointly proposed and established the “History Actor” museum theatre program at Black Creek Pioneer Village. Their partnership culminated in the original podcast release of Six Stories Told at Night (written by KT Bryski, performed by Blythe Haynes and funded by the Ontario Arts Council), for which it won a PARSEC Award in 2017. Six Stories debuted as a theatrical production at the Toronto Fringe Festival 2018, and was short listed for the Best of Fringe. AfterPregnancy Pact (May 2<sup>nd</sup>-19<sup>th</sup>), you can see Blythe in An Atlas, A Necktie and Other Concerns at Toronto Fringe and in the next co-productions with The Edge Productions – The Clockmaker by Stephen Massicotte in 2019. Twitter: @haynesblythe