Tarragon Theatre Announces THE GREENHOUSE FESTIVAL Lineup

Mike Payette Artistic Director of Tarragon Theatre and Managing Director Andrea Vagianos are excited to announce the lineup for the 2024 Greenhouse Festival, a festival of new work developed and incubated at Tarragon Theatre.

The festival features four artist collectives debuting new, in-progress works that challenge the boundaries of performance genres and celebrate creative process and evolution itself. The Greenhouse runs January 11 - 20, 2024, with performances, micro-performances and special presentations taking over the entirety of Tarragon Theatre. 

The Greenhouse, guided by Festival Director Justin Miller, is a process-led residency program, focused on growing vibrant, theatrical ideas and facilitating exchange between artists and audience.

Artistic Director Mike Payette notes, “I'm amazed by the scope of creativity electrifying the studios and theatres here at Tarragon.  This year's Greenhouse artists are some of the most innovative and curious art-makers in the city, and their investigations push the boundaries of form and storytelling in powerful ways.  We cannot wait to share their amazing work and to engage our audiences in this important step in new creation development.”

“Greenhouse is back - bigger, bolder, and more vibrant in its second year. From live cinema to clown, from hip-hop to hauntings, Tarragon Theatre will come alive in January as our Greenhouse residents take over the theatres, studios, dressing rooms, and more,” states Festival Director Justin Miller. “But they can't do it without you, the audience. Come experience this hothouse of expression and experimentation - be curious, be daring, be a part of the fun!”

This year's festival offers a series of performances, activations and interactive installations taking over the entire building, available to explore through festival passes and single ticket purchases. 

Greenhouse Festival includes:

EXTRASPACE SERIES - THE COLLECTIVES
 

SHORT SIGHTED
from Graham Isador

Graham Isador has a degenerative eye disease. Because there are no visual identifiers for the condition, people don't think he's losing his sight. They think he's an asshole. Blending experimental music and comedic storytelling, Short Sighted is an attempt to explain vision loss using sound. 

Created and performed by Graham Isador (Vice, GQ, The Globe and Mail).

Jan 12, 7:45 PM
Jan 13, 9:30 PM
Jan 18, 9:30 PM
Jan 19, 7:45 PM
Jan 20, 6:00 PM

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HOT GIRL YOGA
From Marium Masood

Healing starts from the outside in at Now Wow Studios. Join a yoga class like no other led by our Sh-EO, founder and saviour. Hot Girl Yoga is a darkly hilarious look at the sickness of the wellness industry.

Created and performed by Marium Masood (Buddies In Bad Times' Emerging Creator's Unit, Queer Pride).

Jan 11, 7:45 PM
Jan 12, 9:30 PM
Jan 13, 6:00 PM
Jan 19, 9:30 PM
Jan 20, 7:45 PM

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2021
Guilty by Association 
With Cole Lewis, Patrick Blenkarn

A daughter's attempt to care for her dying homeless veteran father across a closed border. A multimedia performance about caregiving, navigating the red tape of dying, and death tech. 2021 is GbA's follow up to their acclaimed live cinema production, 1991.

Previous works include: 1991 (RISER Project), these violent delights and Antigonick (SummerWorks).

Jan 11, 9:30 PM
Jan 13, 7:45 PM
Jan 18, 7:45 PM
Jan 19, 6:00 PM
Jan 20, 9:30 PM THE INSTALLATIONS

BLANKET FORT
Art is Hard

For the people and by the people, BLANKET FORT invites you to become part of a community that plays together. Come build something with us.

Created by Art is Hard (Flip The Table, Fringe 2014; The People's Gallery, Rhubarb 2016; TPM's Crapshoot, 2017-2018).

As part of this installation, we are also announcing the BLANKET FORT Drive, with the goal of 50 blanket donations: Bring your soft items and textiles - blankets, bedsheets, pillows, cushions, stuffed animals - to Tarragon Theatre on your next visit. 

Donated items will be used in the collectively created installation BLANKET FORT at the Greenhouse Festival. Following The Greenhouse, all items will be cleaned, and donated to Street Haven, providing services to women who are at-risk and experiencing homelessness.
www.streethaven.org

STUDIO ACTIVATIONS
 

THE RHINO LASSIES
Animacy Theatre Collective

From Dora-Award-winning Animacy Theatre Collective, The Rhino Lassies is an outrageous clown piece that explores the pervasive and invasive wellness culture. These rhino-spirited and exquisitely-nosed lassies invite you to struggle alongside them, as they navigate the complex and absurd journey towards being well.

Created and performed by Alexandra Simpson and Morgan Johnson (Finding Home: A Salmon Journey - Theatre Direct, Dora-Award: Outstanding New Play, TYA; Pest Me Pet Me - Undercurrents Festival; Bad Hats Theatre's Bad New Ideas Residency). 

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FLOATING FLOWERS CABARET
Tan Vu

Floating Flowers Cabaret is an experiment that merges musical theatre with Vietnamese folk songs, folktales, and the true history of queer Vietnamese icons. And unicorns!

Created and performed by Tan Vu (Buddies In Bad Times' Emerging Creator's Unit, Caminos Festival, Canadian Opera Company's FIDELIO).

--

UNTITLED VIDEO GAME PROJECT
Pickles Theatre Company
Untitled Video Game Project weaves interactive media and theatre to create spontaneous narratives. Audiences are given a video game controller that controls the design of the play in real time shaping the narrative, while actors journey through the treacherous, silly, and absurd world brought to life by "players" in the audience. 

Previous works by Pickles Theatre Co include: Pickles Arcade: An Interactive Cabaret - Supermarket, [Insert Clown Here] - Toronto Fringe w/ Parlous Theatre, VELVETHEAD - Factory Theatre.

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PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION
Jesse Wabegijig
Pictures At An Exhibition is a puppet play that will have you on your feet, for community, dance, and an epic journey from the Ukrainian countryside to the heart of Kiev.

Created by Jesse Wabegijig (Weesagachuck Fest Dreamer and Turtle by Dakota Ray Hebert, Eighth Fire by Yolanda Bonnell).

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HIP HOP 100
Alex Cameron
It is now 2023 - the 50th anniversary of hip hop.
Welcome to 2073 - the 100th anniversary of hip hop.
Hip Hop 100 is an Afrofuturist vision of the art-form's original four principals - MCing, DJing, graffiti, and breakdancing - and how hip-hop can continue to build and rebuild community and culture for decades to come.

Created and performed by Alex Cameron (Myseum of Toronto, Dead Name Theatre, Paprika Festival).

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
 

THE HAUNTING
Shira Leuchter
From award-winning performance artist Shira Leuchter, is a one-to-one participatory performance that explores what happens when we invite our ghosts into the room with us. Part ghost story, part seance, this encounter invites participants to collaborate on making the invisible visible. 

The Haunting will have just 25 showings across the Greenhouse Festival, each uniquely performed for an audience of one.

Created and performed by Shira Leuchter (WINNER of the 2018 SummerWorks Performance Prize, Progress Festival, In the Soil Festival, Nightwood Theatre, OFFTA; All The Things I've Lost at Gardiner Museum).

To confirm performance times and ticket availability for Greenhouse Festival please explore the Tarragon page here.

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