OUTSIDE ETHEL: INSIDE - A Clown Dramedy At The Toronto Fringe Festival!

Christine Moynihan has spent the last 35 years as a celebrated arts administrator - 15 years as the Executive Producer at Equity Showcase Theatre, 10 years as the Executive Director at the Dance Umbrella of Ontario and 10 years as an independent arts administrator - winning both the Brenda Donohue Award (1994) for outstanding contribution to the Toronto theatre community and a Harold Award (2000) for outstanding service to Toronto's independent theatre and dance communities.

ButŠbefore that she was a Dora-nominated actor (1987 Best Featured Actress, Genuine Fakes, Canadian Stage) - and has now found her way back onstage in Outside Ethel: Inside, a one-person clown performance she created and performs at the Toronto Fringe Festival from July 5-14 at Crow's Theatre's Streetcar Crowsnest in Leslieville.

Outside Ethel: Inside is about Ethel, a woman of advanced years who lives (mostly) alone ¬- and who is having some trouble getting out the door. The show examines loneliness, the isolation of old age, past tragedies, and ballet. Will she get "bye" with a little help from her friends - the real ones, the stuffed ones, the imaginary ones? It is a dark-tinged comedy - a dramedy. Tragedy! Loneliness! Ballet!!

Moynihan, under her banner of NACS (Not Another Clown Show) Productions, has assembled a stellar team to celebrate her return to the stage. John Turner, one half of the multi-award winning horror clown duo Mump and Smoot (with whom Moynihan studied clown), directs; lighting design is by multiple Dora Award-winning Simon Rossiter; and choreography is by Dora Award-winning Roberto Campanella. The team is rounded out by talented sound designer Lyon Smith, stage manager Rebecca Walsh, and Jake Poloz in a special guest appearance as "An Artist of the Ballet."

Tickets are $13 (including a $2 service charge) and can be purchased: online at fringetoronto.com, by telephone at 416-966-1062, from the Festival Box Office at Scadding Court (707 Dundas St. W.), or - if not sold out in advance - from the venue's box office starting one hour before curtain. (The festival also offers a range of money-saving passes and discounts.

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