Soulpepper Theatre and NTOW Present THE SCRIPT TEASE PROJECT, Now thru June 8

Albert Schultz, Artistic Director of Soulpepper Theatre Company today announced details of a three-year residency between Soulpepper Theatre Company and Toronto's masters of improvisation, The National Theatre of the World (NTOW).

In a marriage of traditional theatre and inspired improv,Matt Baram and Naomi Snieckus make the Young Centre their home base for comedic creation. During their multi-year Soulpepper residency NTOW will perform regularly, teach masterclasses in the Soulpepper Academy, and co-curate a major long-form improv festival to be presented annually at Soulpepper's home, the Young Centre for the Performing Arts.

"Matt and Naomi are so absolutely brilliant at what they do and so much fun to be around that we had no choice but to make them a permanent fixture," said Schultz.

First up, the third edition of The Script Tease Project from today, June 4 to 8, 2013: seven brand-new plays started by renowned playwrights and completed by The National Theatre of the World. Celebrate a world premiere each day! Tickets for The Script Tease Project are available at youngcentre.ca.

Forever pushing the boundaries of theatrical improvisation, Snieckus and Baram have once again asked renowned Canadian writers to pen the first two pages of a new play and seal them in an envelope. Each night a new envelope will be opened on stage for the first time, the pages read cold, and the resulting hour-long play completely improvised by the cast with help from the audience! Experience an opening and closing night at every performance!

The Project's third edition invites seven playwrights to pen two pages each, meaning seven new plays and seven more unbelievable high-wire acts of improvisational daring from The National Theatre of the World.

The Script Tease Project's 2013 playwrights are Richard Greenblatt, Michael MacLennan, Rick Mercer, Zaib Shaikh, Jason Sherman, Judith Thompson, and Guillermo Verdecchia. These playwrights join the list of pastScript Tease writers, including Brad Fraser, Daniel MacIvor, Morris Panych, Woody Harrelson, John Patrick Shanley, and Hannah Moscovitch. Be a part of Canadian theatre history, and witness seven new plays in one week, only at the Young Centre.

"Part of our company's mandate is to bridge the gap between improvisation and theatre. So we see a partnership with Soulpepper as a huge leap forward not only for us but for Toronto's whole improv community," said Snieckus. "I feel Soulpepper has success making their rehearsed work seem spontaneous, while we, The National Theatre of The World, strive to make our spontaneous work seem rehearsed. It's the perfect fit," added Baram.

Tickets for The Script Tease Project are available by calling the Young Centre box office at 416.866.8666 or by visiting youngcentre.ca. The Young Centre for the Performing Arts is located at 50 Tank House Lane, in the Distillery Historic District, Toronto, ON. Tickets range from $15 - $25.

The Script Tease Project show dates: Judith Thompson tonight, June 4 at 8 p.m.; Richard Greenblatt on June 5 at 8 p.m.; Guillermo Verdecchia on June 6 at 8 p.m.; Zaib Shaikh at 7 p.m. and Jason Sherman at 9 p.m. on June 7; and Michael MacLennan at 7 p.m. and Rick Mercer at 9 p.m. on June 8.

The National Theatre of the World is a multi-disciplinary, Toronto-based, not-for-profit theatre company that creates exciting, provocative, and instantaneous theatre through the art of improvisation. N.T.O.W. was founded in 2008, by Co-Artistic Directors Matt Baram, Ron Pederson and Naomi Snieckus with the mandate of creating new Canadian work and to encourage the theatre and improvisation communities to come together. Through the production of four different shows; Impromptu Splendor (The Live Improvised Play), The Carnegie Hall Show (The Improvised Retrospective), The Script Tease Project and I Seen You On TV, the company continues to bridge the gap between theatre and improvisation to this day by creating-vivid, dramatic and complex full-length plays, radio dramas and inter-disciplinary variety shows. Visit thenationaltheatreoftheworld.com for more information.

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