Alumnae Theatre Presents The 22nd Annual New Ideas Festival
By: BWW News Desk Feb. 24, 2010
Alumnae Theatre Company Presents The 22nd Annual New Ideas Festival from March 10-27, 2010.
Since 1989, when it was co-founded by Molly Thom and Kerri MacDonald, Alumnae Theatre Company has hosted an annual festival of new works, which provides playwrights, directors, actors and technicians the opportunity to develop never-before-produced short scripts. It's all about the process.
The New Ideas Festival is now a juried, three-week annual festival of new writing, works-in-progress and experimental theatre, with a different program of plays each week, and a staged reading on Saturdays at noon. It is unusual, possibly even unique among festivals, in that the scripts are read "blind" by a committee that does not learn the writers' identities until the plays have been selected.
There are 18 scripts in the Festival this year - something for everybody: short ones, longer ones, funny, sad, tension-filled, silly - and co-producer Pat McCarthy adds, "some surprises that we won't give away!"
WEEK ONE:
Wednesday March 10 - Saturday March 13 (8pm / Sat. matinee 2:30pm)
Staged Reading: Saturday March 13 at 12:00pm
- ENVIA! by Kelly Dumar / Directed by Jessica Beaulieu
(10 minutes)
- Join The Club by Suzanne Courtney* & Leora Courtney-Wolfman / Directed by Stacy Halloran
(15 minutes)
- An Inked Heart by D.J. Sylvis / Directed by Heather Keith
(45 minutes)
- A Very Different Place by Carol Libman / Directed by lindi g. papoff*
(20 minutes)
- Ashes to Ashes by M.P. Fedunkiw / Directed by Maureen Callaghan
(25 minutes)
(Total running time with intermission: approx. 2 hrs 15 minutes)
Saturday Staged Reading, March 13 only:
Theory by Norman Yeung* / Directed by Joanne L. Williams
(60 minutes + Talkback)
WEEK TWO:
Wednesday March 17 - Saturday March 20 (8pm / Sat. matinee 2:30pm)
Staged Reading: Saturday March 20 at 12:00pm
- ENVIA! by Kelly Dumar / Directed by Jessica Beaulieu
(10 minutes)
- Catcher by Michael Corkett Johnston / Directed by Valary Cook
(20 minutes)
- Tightrope by R.J. Downes / Directed by Kate Fenton*
(45 minutes)
- Pearls by Brenda Somers / Directed by Pamela Redfern*
(12 minutes)
- Sex On The Beach by Derek Hale / Directed by Kimberley Ann Croscup
(25 minutes)
- Soledad by Tina McCulloch / Directed by Kathryn Malek
(10 minutes)
(Total running time with intermission: approx. 2 hrs 25 minutes)
Saturday Staged Reading, March 20 only:
The Flying Avro Arrow - A Musical Comedy by Doug Warwick / Directed by Nonnie Griffin*
(60 minutes + Talkback)
WEEK THREE:
Wednesday March 24 - Saturday March 27 (8pm / Sat. matinee 2:30pm)
Staged Reading: Saturday March 27 at 12:00pm
- ENVIA! by Kelly Dumar / Directed by Jessica Beaulieu
(10 minutes)
- Sleeper by Anna Ross / Directed by Tom Haxell
(20 minutes)
- Who is Lieserl? by Flora Stohr-Danziger / Directed by Anne MacMillan
(35 minutes)
- Heat by Michael G. Wilmot / Directed by Florence Ballard
(12 minutes)
- Prisoners by TrIna Brooks / Directed by Andrew Freund
(25 minutes)
- Buff by Catherine Frid / Directed by Daniella Marchese
(10 minutes)
(Total running time with intermission: approx. 2 hrs 15 minutes)
Saturday Staged Reading, March 27 only:
Weightless by Kelsey Blair / Directed by Ramona Gilmour-Darling*
(60 minutes + Talkback)
* appearing with the permission of Canadian Actors' Equity Association
For complete show descriptions and cast and crew bios please go to www.alumnaetheatre.com
The Details - New Ideas Festival 2010:
Running Time: The running time each week varies - times shown above for each play are approximate.
Opening Nights: Wednesday March 10, March 17 and 24, 2010
Performance Dates: Wednesday March 10 - Saturday March 27, 2010
Schedule: Wednesday - Saturday 8:00pm;
Saturday matinee at 2:30pm (followed by a Talkback session);
Saturday Reading Series at noon (followed by a Talkback session).
Tickets: Wednesday - Saturday (evening OR matinees) $15;
Saturday Reading Series PWYC;
Festival Pass (good for the full three weeks plus the Reading Series) $35.
Location: Alumnae Theatre, 70 Berkeley Street, 3rd floor Studio, Toronto
(SW corner of Berkeley and Adelaide St. East)
Box Office: 416-364-4170 (box 1) or email reservations@alumnaetheatre.com.Our box office opens one hour prior to each performance. Please note: Box Office does not accept credit or debit cards.
Absolutely no latecomers.
Next at Alumnae: Normand Chaurette's The Queens (translated by Linda Gaboriau),
April 16 - May 1, 2010. Directed by Mat Howard.
Our 2010/2011 season will be announced shortly!
For more information on Alumnae Theatre, click here.
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