Angelwalk Theatre to Present THE LIFE IS SWEET PROJECT, 2/10

For one-night only, Angelwalk Theatre will be presenting Ashley's Gibson's inspirational one-woman show, The Life is Sweet Project on Monday, February 10, 2014 at the Toronto Centre for the Arts.

Written and Performed by Ashley Gibson and Music Directed by Tara Litvack, the show premiered last February to a sold-out house at the Flying Beaver Pubaret. Originally developed as a cabaret show in honour of her mother, Ashley performed the show to commemorate the fifteenth anniversary of her mother's suicide in February 1998 and also in support of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). Through a blog series that Ashley curated throughout the month of February, Life is Sweet told both Ashley's story?and many others, creating a much-needed dialogue about mental health.

Angelwalk Theatre is thrilled to be working with Ashley in remounting this show, with some further development. Once again, Ashley will be hosting a month-long blog series in February at www.dancingthroughlifeblog.com as a further way to get people talking about mental health issues such as mental illness, depression, anxiety and loss. According to the CAMH website, one in five people in Ontario experience a mental health or addiction issue, and nearly 4,000 Canadians commit suicide each year. According to Ashley, "everyone will be touched by someone with mental illness in their lifetime" and her hope is to eliminate the negative stigma around discussion of these topics.

The Life is Sweet Project promises to an inspirational evening, a story about overcoming tragedy and finding the sweetness in life, despite the challenges. Picking up where last year's show left off, proceeds from the February 10th performance will be donated in support of CAMH. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased online at www.angelwalk.ca or through the Toronto Centre for the Arts box office at 1-855-985-2787. Those unable to attend the performance, but still wishing to make a donation, can support CAMH by visiting www.supportcamh.ca/lifeissweet.

Ashley Gibson is a Toronto based performer and graduate of the Randolph Academy for the Performing Arts. In recent years, she has been performing in shows across Toronto, writing and creating various cabarets and taking master classes with the likes of Adam Guettel, Jonathan Reid Gealt, Tituss Burgess and Tracy Michailidis. Past theatre credits include: Anne Boleyn/Elizabeth in REX (Canadian Premiere), Christine in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Grace in Annie, Luisa in The Fantasticks, Angel in The Rink, Alexi Darling in RENT, Daisy in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Cinderella in Into the Woods and most recently Julia in The Wedding Singer.

Tara Litvack is a Toronto-based music director, accompanist, pianist, arranger, and vocal coach. She is also the resident accompanist for the Songbook Workshop with Tracy Michailidis. In 2014, Tara will be working at the Shaw Festival as the Music Directing Intern under the mentorship of Paul Sportelli. Tara is an honours graduate of the University of Toronto's Faculty of Music. Selected credits: Falsettos, One Song Glory (Acting Up Stage Company), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Hart House Theatre), The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Into the Woods (Bravo Academy), tick, tick...BOOM! (Half-Pint Theatre), Spring Awakening, RENT (Toronto Youth Theatre). Upcoming: Cabaret (The Shaw Festival).

Angelwalk Theatre is the only professional theatre company in Toronto dedicated to producing Off-Broadway style musical theatre. Founded in 2009, the company has quickly established itself as a leader in producing musical theatre in Toronto and has been nominated for 11 Dora Mavor Moore Awards. A proud member of the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA), Angelwalk Theatre is a resident company at the Toronto Centre for the Arts. To date, Angelwalk Theatre has produced nine Off-Broadway style musicals: the world premiere of Off-Broadway On Stage, the Canadian premieres of I Love You Because and Ordinary Days, the Toronto premieres of Altar Boyz and [title of show], two musicals by Jason Robert Brown, The Last Five Years and Songs for a New World, RENT creator Jonathan Larson's tick, tick... BOOM! and the hit Off-Broadway musical, I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change. Due to popular demand, Altar Boyz was later extended and remounted.

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