3rd FireWorks Festival Kicks Off Today at Alumnae Theatre

After last year's explosive success, FireWorks is back with three original, full-length plays developed at Alumnae Theatre: Divine Wrecks by Chloe Whitehorn, Cottage Radio by Taylor Marie Graham, and Radical by Charles Hayter. A festival of creativity running today, November 4-22, FireWorks will also feature Behind the Curtain post-show talkbacks with the playwrights, directors and design teams, as well as a Playwrights' Intensive with Marcia Johnson.

The Festival opens with Divine Wrecks by Chloe Whitehorn (November 4-8). Divine Wrecks is a modern adaptation of a classic tale with a ripped from the headlines twist. ?A high school god falls for the wrong girl, his teacher. A dark tale of heart break and revelations, Divine Wrecks explores the nature of love without boundaries. The play was developed with the support of the Toronto Arts Council. Pamela Redfern directs the talented cast featuring: Hugh Ritchie, Fleur Jacobs, Michael Pearson, Annelise Hawrylak, Megan O'Kelly, and Luis Villa.

Cottage Radio by Taylor Marie Graham (November 11-15) is inspired by the true events of the Goderich, Ontario 2011 F3 class tornado. Cottage Radio explores the effect of the horrific storm on the fictional, yet very recognizable Marley clan. The family is forced to deal with the horrific events of the storm that are currently bringing them together, while confronting all the past events that kept them apart for so long. Directed by Julia Haist, the cast includes: Madeline Leon, Amanda Pereira, Jean-Phillipe Allamby, Jeanette Dagger, and Dave Martin.

The final play of the festival is Charles Hayter's Radical (November 18-22). Radical is the story of a forgotten Canadian hero, Dr. Vera Peters, and her fight to alter breast cancer treatment. Spurred on by patient outrage, memories of her mother's suffering, and her own diagnosis of breast cancer, peters embarks on a quest to find a gentler alternative to the mutilating radical mastectomy - and in the process sets the surgical world against her. Directed by Neil Affleck and featuring: Helly Chester, Kelly-Marie Murtha, Anne Shepherd, Feeras Ellid, and Barry Binberg.

Each play will have six performances running each for one week of the three week festival. Producer Ramona Baillie and Associate Producer Dale Stewart have assembled an incredible team of designers to bring the different worlds of these three plays to life including: Lighting Designer Gabrielle D'Angelo, Sound Designer Bill Scott, Costume Designers Peter DeFreitas, Toni Hanson, Trish Worrall, and Set Designers Marysia Bucholc and Mark Cope.

This year FireWorks takes you Behind the Curtain to reveal how the production is brought to life, giving you, the audience, a chance to discover the process and choices made by our playwrights, designers and directors. In a series of talk-back sessions following each performance, Thursdays the directors discuss their work, Friday it's the turn of the Lighting and Sound Designers, Saturday matinee the Costume Designers, Saturday evening the Set Designers, and finally after Sunday matinee the playwrights will discuss the genesis and development of their creation. FireWorks is about development, so we want to share the process with you. We expect a lively exchange.

A major attraction we're planning for this year's FireWorks Festival is the Playwrights' Intensive. We're delighted to announce that Marcia Johsnon will spearhead the workshop series, to run each Saturday morning of the Festival. Marcia is a Toronto-based actor and writer. Works include Courting Johanna based on Alice Munro's 'Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage' (Blyth); Late (Obsidian Theatre Company); two operas with composer Stephen A. Taylor; My Mother's Ring (Tapestry) and an adaptation of Ursula K. Le Guin's Paradise Lost (University of Illinois). The intensive will run for 9 hours over 3 sessions and costs $75 for Alumnae members, $100 for non-members. Applications are due October 16. Please visit www.alumnaetheatre.com for more information.

Production photos and video trailers will be available on the website (or you can request by email if you'd like) the week of each play.

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