CanStage presents a return engagement of HALF LIFE

"...a new play by John Mighton is an event...His work has a kind of precision where every nuance is weighted in the balance..."
The Times (London)

"Poignant, masterfully understated, and often funny...a finely observed, heartfelt look at aging, love, memory and what makes us human."
Ottawa Citizen

"An unforgettable experience."
The Globe and Mail

CanStage presents Necessary Angel's production of
Half Life

Written by John Mighton
Directed by Daniel Brooks

Toronto, ON...Prize-winning Canadian playwright John Mighton's latest play Half Life premiered to rave reviews in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Scotland. It has been showered with accolades including the Governor General's Award for Drama and a Dora Award for Outstanding New Play.

"CanStage is thrilled to be presenting this beautiful play on the large Bluma Appel Theatre stage, giving a bigger and more broadly-based audience an opportunity to experience this exciting new Canadian work," enthused CanStage Artistic Producer Martin Bragg.

The Necessary Angel production of Half Life will subsequently travel across Canada and be presented in Winnipeg at the Manitoba Theatre Centre in February 2007, and Vancouver at the Arts Club Theatre in March 2007. It is scheduled to be part of the Melbourne Theatre Festival in Australia in October 2007.

Directed by Daniel Brooks, the cast of Half Life features the original cast of Laura de Carteret as Anna, Barbara Gordon (CanStage's Homechild) as Agnes, Carolyn Hetherington (CanStage's Written on Water) as Clara, Maggie Huculak (CanStage's A Midsummer Night's Dream) as Tammy, Randy Hughson (CanStage's Homechild) as Reverend, Diego Matamoros as Donald and Eric Peterson (CanStage's Homechild) as Patrick.

Joining Mr. Brooks is a creative team that includes set and costume designer Dany Lyne (CanStage's Hair), lighting designer Andrea Lundy (CanStage's The Comedy of Errors), sound designer Richard Feren, stage manager Crystal Salverda and assistant stage manager Kate Porter.

Clara and Patrick meet in a nursing home for veterans and their families. They begin to fall in love, thinking they are rekindling an old flame. Have they met before? As Clara and Patrick's middle-aged children watch their faltering parents, the older couple rediscovers beauty and love in the twilight of their lives. Half Life is a poetic and moving meditation on identity, aging and the nature of memory.

John Mighton's plays Scientific Americans, Possible Worlds, A Short History of Night, Body and Soul, The Little Years and Half Life have been performed across Canada, as well as in Europe, Japan and the United States and have won several national awards including a Governor General's Literary Award for Drama for Possible Worlds, A Short History of Night and Half Life. Possible Worlds was made into a full-length feature film directed by renowned director/playwright Robert Lepage. In 2005 Mr. Mighton was awarded the Siminovitch Prize in Theatre for his body of work. Mr. Mighton holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics and is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto. For the past eight years he has coordinated the highly acclaimed JUMP program, designed to tutor children who are having difficulties in math.

Daniel Brooks is a prolific and versatile artist whose innovation and risk-taking have made him a leader within the Canadian cultural landscape. A director, writer, actor and teacher, Mr. Brooks has been recognized with accolades and awards throughout Canada and around the world. A tremendous mentor and inspiration to an entire generation of theatre artists, Mr. Brooks was the recipient of the inaugural Siminovitch Prize in Theatre. Some of his creations include Red Tape and 86; An Autopsy (with Don McKellar and Tracy Wright); The Lorca Play, House, Here Lies Henry, Monster and Cul de sac (all with Daniel MacIvor); The Noam Chomsky Lectures and Insomnia (with Guillermo Verdecchia), Bigger Than Jesus (with Rick Miller) and The Good Life. His work as a director includes John Mighton's Possible Worlds and Half Life, Goethe's Faust, and Beckett's Endgame. His most recent play is The Eco Show. He is currently the artistic director of Necessary Angel Theatre Company.

BLUMA SEASON PRINT MEDIA SPONSOR: Toronto Star
CANSTAGE OFFICIAL BEAUTY CARE SPONSOR: Olay Definity
OFFICIAL HOTEL OF CANSTAGE: Delta Chelsea Hotel

Digital Photography available at:
http://www.canstage.com/2006-2007/media/images/play_4.asp

Details

PREVIEWS: January 8-10, 2007

OPENS: January 11-February 3, 2007

SCHEDULE: Monday-Saturday 8:00 p.m., Wednesday matinee 1:30 p.m.; Saturday matinee 2:00 p.m.

TICKETS: $20-$95

LOCATION: CanStage - Bluma Appel Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts,
27 Front St. E.

BOX OFFICE: Tickets are available in person at the CanStage Customer Service Centres, 26 Berkeley St. or 27 Front St. E., by telephone at CanStage 416-368-3110 and Ticketmaster at 416-872-1111, and online at www.canstage.com

Rush seats are available for any performance one hour prior to show time. Rush seats are half the regular ticket price. For Monday nigh performances only, pay-what-you-can tickets are available in person at the CanStage Box Office beginning at 10:00 a.m. on the day of the performance.

Special Group Rates available. For details call Heather Burns at
416-367-8243 ext. 266.

Other activities to enhance your theatre-going experience:

CanStage Tea Talks and Talk Backs - These informal post-performance question and answer periods give you an opportunity to meet the artists immediately following a production. Contact Patty Jarvis at 416-367-8243 ext. 245 for details

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