Canadian Stage Company & Sony Centre for Performing Arts Annouce Lepage's EONNAGATA & THE ANDERSON PROJECT

This fall, Toronto audiences will have two thrilling opportunities to enjoy the theatrical genius of Robert Lepage thanks to The Canadian Stage Company and the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts. The Andersen Project, written and directed by renowned theatre-maker Robert Lepage and performed by Yves Jacques, will have its Toronto premiere October 21 to 30, 2010, at Canadian Stage's Bluma Appel Theatre, 27 Front Street East. Eonnagata, created and performed by Robert Lepage, internationally acclaimed French ballerina Sylvie Guillem and award-winning British choreographer Russell Maliphant, will have its Toronto premiere on November 18 and 19, 2010, at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, 1 Front Street East.

The Andersen Project, an Ex Machina production presented by Canadian Stage is a modern-day, multimedia fairy-tale written and directed by Robert Lepage. The one-man show performed by Yves Jacques combines cutting-edge technology and ingenious props to create a world of theatrical illusion. An artist travels to Paris, at the request of a famed opera house, which has commissioned him to write the libretto for a children's opera based on fairy-tales by Hans Christian Andersen. The experience enables him to explore questions of sexual identity, unfulfilled fantasies, a thirst for recognition and fame. The piece was commissioned by the Kingdom of Denmark in 2005 as part of their 200th anniversary celebrations of Hans Christian Anderson's birth and originally starred Lepage. It has since been performed in Canada (in Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa and Vancouver), the US, Europe, the UK, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

The Andersen Project will be presented October 21-30, 2010 at Canadian Stage's Bluma Appel Theatre, 27 Front Street East, Toronto, with evening and matinee performances. Tickets to The Andersen Project may be purchased as part of Canadian Stage's 2010.2011 subscription season. Subscriptions will go on sale Tuesday, March 16, 2010.

Single tickets will go on sale September 6, 2010. Subscriptions and tickets are available through 416.368.3110, www.canadianstage.com, Berkeley Street Theatre, 26 Berkeley Street or Bluma Appel Theatre, 27 Front Street E. Canadian Stage will announce full details of its 2010.2011 Season at a news conference on Tuesday, March 16.

Eonnagata, an Ex Machina production presented by Sony Centre, tells the story of Charles de Beaumont, Chevalier d'Éon, an 18th -century French diplomat, writer, and spy. Daring and unconventional, de Beaumont is believed to be the first spy to use cross-dressing in order to successfully carry out his missions and, until the day he died, his true gender was a source of constant speculation. Drawing on the onnagata of Japanese Kabuki theatre in which male actors play female roles, Eonnagata melds dance and theatre to probe the mystery of gender and human nature. This remarkable production from London's acclaimed Sadler's Wells first premiered in 2009 and has since toured France, Spain and Germany. Created and performed by Robert Lepage, internationally acclaimed French ballerina Sylvie Guillem and award-winning British choreographer Russell Maliphant, Eonnagata features lighting by Michael Hulls, spectacular costumes by the late fashion designer Alexander McQueen, and sound design by Jean-Sébastien Côté.

Eonnagata will be presented by the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts located at 1 Front Street East, Toronto, on November 18 and 19, 2010, at 8 p.m. Single tickets to Eonnagata go on sale Friday, March 12, 2010, and are available by calling 416.872.2262 or online at www.ticketmaster.ca. Prices start at $39.

For more information, visit www.canadianstage.com

Photo of Robert Lepage. Photo Credit: Nicola-Frank Vachon

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