Canadian Stage launches its 16.17 season this month with a new production of Concord Floral, written by Jordan Tannahill and directed by Erin Brubacher and Cara Spooner. Brought to life by an ensemble of teen performers from across the country, Concord Floral (2015 Dora Award-winner for Outstanding New Play) will be performed for an audience sat entirely on stage at the Bluma Appel Theatre fromSeptember 27 to October 16 (media opening October 4).
Described as "Degrassi
meets I Know What You Did Last Summer
...easily the Best New Play of the Year" by
The Globe and Mail's J.
Kelly Nestruck and "
a brilliant modern Canadian fable" by Annie Hodgins of
Theatromania, this gothic teen thriller conceived by Governor General's Award-winner Jordan Tannahill (2015 Dora Award-winning
Botticelli in the Fire & Sunday in Sodom, Canadian Stage 14.15 Playwright-in-Residence) and multidisciplinary artists Erin Brubacher and Cara Spooner was first developed as part of Canadian Stage's 2012
Festival of Ideas and Creation and premiered to widespread critical success at The Theatre Centre in 2014.
Concord Floral will take on a new life at the historic Bluma Appel Theatre at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts -one of Toronto's three civic theatres and longtime home to Canadian Stage- where audience members will be invited to experience the performance entirely on stage together with
the show's teen company. The first staging of its kind at the 45 year-old theatre, custom-made stadium seating will immerse theatre-goers in the play's high-school environment. Designed to evoke the vast suburban sprawl omnipresent in Tannahill's script, the stage structure will overlook the theatre's empty 500-seat orchestra.
A haunting tale set around Concord Floral, once a million square foot abandoned greenhouse and hangout for neighbourhood kids in Vaughan,
Concord Floral re-imagines
Giovanni Boccaccio's 13th century literary masterpiece
The Decameron in a contemporary Canadian suburb, in which ten teens must flee a plague they have brought upon themselves. This Canadian Stage production brings together ten youth performers from the GTA and across the country to play ten teenagers (plus a fox, a bird, a couch, and a greenhouse), in this piece about beauty, cruelty, mercy and the modern adolescent experience.
Made of up of cast members from the premiere Theatre Centre production and recent iterations at Ottawa's National Arts Centre and the Magnetic North Festival (Yellowknife) - many 2016 high school graduates - the Toronto company includes Madison Baines,Theo Gallaro, Ofa Gasesepe, Davinder Malhi, Jovana Miladinovi?, Jessica Munk,Franco Pang, Micaela Robertson, Rashida Shaw and Melisa Sofi. Erum Khan, who began workshopping the piece in 2012 as a grade 12 student, and who originated the role of Nearly Wild in 2014, now joins the creative team as Assistant Director.
Sleek, atmospheric lighting by Kimberly Purtell and a haunting soundscape by Composer/
Sound Designer Christopher Willes will enhance the production's visceral viewing experience.
Canadian Stage will begin to introduce relaxed performances into its season schedule with the Saturday, October 1st 1pm performance of
Concord Floral. Relaxed Performances are designed to welcome audience members who will benefit from a more relaxed sensory experience and casual performance environment, including (but not limited to) patrons with an Autism Spectrum Condition, sensory and communication disorder, a learning disability, and parents with babies. To learn more about this new program, visit
www.canadianstage.com/online/accessibility Concord Floral will be on stage at the Bluma Appel Theatre (27 Front Street) fromSeptember 27 to October 16 (Previews: September 27-October 2, Relaxed Performance:October 1 at 1 pm). Performances run Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 8 pm, Fridays at 7 pm, and with matinees on Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday at 1 pm beginning October 1. Tickets from $39 to $79 are available online, by phone at 416.368.3110, or in person at the Berkeley Street box office. For details visit
www.canadianstage.com/online/concord
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