Tarragon to Present LUNGS, 3/4-30

Tarragon Theatre, under the artistic direction of Richard Rose, presents the Toronto premiere of Lungs by the award-winning British playwright Duncan Macmillan. Directed by Weyni Mengesha, whose production of The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs for Tarragon won her a 2012 Toronto Critics Award for Best Director, this much-acclaimed drama opens Tuesday, March 4 and runs to March 30 (with previews from February 25) in Tarragon's Extraspace. Tickets range from $21-$53 (inclusive of HST) and are available by calling Patron Services at 416-531-1827 or by visiting www.tarragontheatre.com.

Lesley Faulkner (Tarragon's Wide Awake Hearts and Leo - national tour, surface/underground's Dying City - Dora nomination) and Brendan Gall (Tarragon's East Of Berlin and Past Perfect, Birdland's The Last Days Of Judas Iscariot) star in this startlingly raw love story that won Best New Play at the Off West End Awards (the 'Offies', the awards for independent theatres in London). Lungs also drew nominations for Outstanding Play or Musical at the Helen Hayes/Theatre Washington Awards in DC and Best New Play Theatre Awards UK 2012.

"Is it ethical to have a child when you're a car-driving, plastic bag-using, aerosol-spraying avocado-importing person?"

A bare stage, a man, a woman, a conversation and - infinite possibility. Lungs gives us a no-holds-barred look at a lifetime of love in a time of global anxiety and political unrest. What will be the first to destruct - the planet or the relationship?

Duncan Macmillan is an award-winning British writer and director whose work has been produced in the U.K. and abroad to critical acclaim. Lungs was first produced in a rolling world premiere with Studio Theatre, Washington DC and the Paines Plough / Sheffield Theatres (U.K.) in 2011 and subsequently presented by the National Theatre in 2012 in London where it won Best New Play at the Offies, as mentioned above. Macmillan's play Monster won two awards in the inaugural Bruntwood Playwriting Competition and was produced at the Royal Exchange as part of the Manchester International Festival. His adaptation of Ödön von Horváth's Don Juan Comes Back From the War for The National Theatre Studio/Finborough Theatre was nominated for four Off West End Awards. Macmillan has been a winner of the Old Vic's Big Ambition Award as well as a member of the Old Vic New Voices Company and a fellow of the TS Eliot UK/US Exchange, as part of which his play Skyscraper was performed at The Public Theater in New York. He is currently writing new plays for the National Theatre, Paines Plough and BBC Radio. His co-adaptation of George Orwell's 1984 with Rob Icke for Headlong/Nottingham Playhouse just concluded a UK tour and will produced at The Almeida Theatre this Spring.

Award-winning director and dramaturge Weyni Mengesha started her career directing trey anthony's da Kink in my hair across North America and in London; and composing its Dora-nominated score. She directed Kim's Convenience for Soulpepper which has since gone on to play across Canada and is in negotiations to tour internationally. For Tarragon, she directed The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs which, as mentioned above, won her a 2012 Toronto Critics Award for Best Director. Mengesha is also a committed mentor of new talent, and producer of youth arts initiatives. She has been the co-director of the acclaimed "A.M.Y. Project", training young women in performance arts, since 2005. She is also the co-founder and artistic director of the annual "Selam Youth Festival", which gives a platform to over 60 artists from the Ethiopian and Eritrean communities annually.

Set and costume design is by Ken Mackenzie, lighting design by Kimberly Purtell and sound design by Thomas Ryder Payne. The stage manager is Lindsay MacIntosh.

Tarragon Theatre proudly presents the Toronto premiere of Lungs By Duncan Macmillan Directed by Weyni Mengesha Starring Brendan Gall and Lesley Faulkner Set and Costume Design by Ken Mackenzie Lighting Design by Kimberly Purtell Sound Design by Thomas Ryder Payne.

Opens March 4 to March 30, 2014 (previews from February 25) Tarragon Theatre's Extraspace, 30 Bridgman Avenue, Toronto Tuesday-Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 2:30pm with Saturday 2:30pm matinees on March 8, 15 & 22 Tickets range from $21-$53 (including discounts for students, seniors and groups) AND a Pay-What-You-Can on February 25 at 8pm - $13 Rush Tickets at the door Fridays (on sale at 6pm) & Sundays (on sale at 1pm) starting March 7 - For tickets, call Patron Services at 416.531.1827 or visit www.tarragontheatre.com.

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