The Canadian Stage Company announces 2008-2009 season

Canadian Stage Company Artistic Producer Martin Bragg proudly announces the 2008-2009 season. The company will present a subscription season of eight plays and the 26^th annual Dream in High Park. New season subscription packages on sale Februray 27, 2008.

The Bluma Appel Theatre features productions with universal appeal and an international flavour. They are: the Canadian premieresof Frost/Nixon, the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award-winning drama starring David Storch; Miss Julie: Freedom Summer, an adaptation of August Strindberg's classic written and directed by Stephen Sachs and starring Caroline Cave; It's a Wonderful Life, a stage adaptation of Capra's holiday classic; the Toronto premiere of Doubt, the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama by Academy Award-winnerJohn Patrick Shanley; and a revival of Shirley Valentine, directed by Roy Surette with Nicola Cavendish reprising her Dora Award-winning performance.

Berkeley Street Theatre, known for edgier, more provocative works will become the home of a new collaborative partnership between The Canadian Stage Company and three of the country's finest independent theatre companies. The initiative, titled the Berkeley Street Project is The Canadian Stage Company's vision for a vibrant contemporary theatre centre headquartered at the historic Berkeley Street Theatre. Nurtured by Canadian Stage, Berkeley Street Project's inaugural year will include partnerships with Nightwood Theatre, Studio 180 and Necessary Angel Theatre Company. The productions featured are: the world premiere of Anne Hardcastle's stage adaptation of the award-winning Canadian novel Wild Dogs; the Toronto premiere of HARDSELL, a new work by Canadian collaborators Daniel Brooks and Rick Miller; and the Canadian premiere of Edinburgh Festival and West End hit Blackbird.

Finally, the Dream in High Park welcomes The Return of ahdri zhina mandiela's popular and acclaimed interpretation of A Midsummer Night's Dream- a colourful, hip-hop twist on the Bard.

On making today's announcement Artistic Producer Martin Bragg said, "It is perhaps once a decade that we are fortunate enough to have an assemblage of plays like the lineup we are presenting this year. The upcoming season is one of the richest collections of contemporary theatre our company has ever produced and delivers on the commitment we have made to our published mandate, which is to present powerful, relevant and entertaining contemporary Canadian and international theatre."

Bragg continued, "As the cast of the original production of Doubt said about the audience experience, 'The first act is performed by the actors and tells a complete story. But the second act, which is just as vital and entertaining, happens each night after the play, when the audience members engage each other in lively conversations about what they've just seen and how they feel about it.' This is what we desire for our audiences in all of our theatres this season."

"Further, we are launching a new and exciting initiative, the Berkeley Street Project, which aims to create a theatre complex that will become a destination for vibrant contemporary theatre in Toronto. It's an honour to embark on a partnership with three of Canada's most acclaimed contemporary theatre companies in three amazing, vastly different projects. Future seasons will include productions developed by Canadian Stage and our partners, and feature plays from the very best voices in Canada and internationally."

Additional information about the 2008-2009 season will be announced in the coming months.

 At Bluma Appel Theatre:

 The Bluma season features compelling, critically acclaimed and award-winning plays.

 

Frost/Nixon

ByPeter Morgan

Starring David Storch

Canadian Premiere

In co-production with Playhouse Theatre Company, Vancouver

October 13 to November 8, 2008 (Opening Night: October 16)

Winner of the 2007 Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards and a critically acclaimed runaway hit on London's West End and Broadway, Frost/Nixon by Peter Morgan is a gripping stage dramatization of the historic events leading up to and including the notorious series of televised interviews that former President Richard Nixon granted British talk show host David Frost in 1977, after the Watergate scandal. The play illustrates how Frost, a journalist with a light-weight reputation in the industry, came to solicit an admission of guilt from the only United States president to resign from office. The New York Times called it a "ticking-bomb thriller" while The Daily Telegraph wrote, "A terrific new play that is as thought-provoking as it is gripping and entertaining. What's more, like all good history, it illuminates the present while examining the past." Dora Award-winning actor David Storch will star as Frost.

 

It's a Wonderful Life

Adapted by Philip Grecian

Based on the film by Frank Capra

Canadian Premiere

November 24 - December 20, 2008(Opening Night: November 27)

It's a Wonderful Life is a stage adaptation of Frank Capra's Academy Award-nominated iconic holiday classic ingeniously staged as a live radio play. Playwright Philip Grecian brings a new dimension to the story of George Bailey, the unsung, well-loved hero of Bedford Falls. An ensemble of actors portrays dozens of characters from the movie, switching effortlessly between voice and live sound effects, utilizing techniques harkening back to the golden age of radio. This retelling of a timeless tale is sure to be a compelling Christmas showpiece.

Miss Julie: Freedom Summer

Written and directed by Stephen Sachs

Starring Caroline Cave

Canadian Premiere

In co-production with Playhouse Theatre Company, Vancouver

February 9 – March 7, 2009 (Opening Night: February 12)

A smoldering new adaptation of August Strindberg's masterpiece, Miss Julie: Freedom Summer is set in Mississippi on the night of July 4^th, 1964, when racial and sexual tensions ignite in a riveting struggle for power, freedom and social change during the explosive Civil Rights Era. The adaptation premiered in Los Angeles in May 2007. The Hollywood Reporter called it "a gripping piece of theatre" and Backstage wrote "a taut adaptation…[that] stands on its own as a new, compelling drama." Written and directed by Stephen Sachs, the drama stars Dora Award-winning actress Caroline Cave as Miss Julie.

 

Shirley Valentine

By Willy Russell

Directed by Roy Surette

Starring Nicola Cavendish

A Canadian Stage Company Revival

In co-production with Centaur Theatre Company, Montreal

March 23 – April 18, 2009 (Opening Night: March 26)

Reuniting with director Roy Surette, Nicola Cavendish reprises her Dora Award-winning performance as Shirley Valentine in this humourous and moving Canadian Stage Company revival. It is the story of a bored housewife who gets a new lease on life after a trip to Greece. According to Vit Wagner of the Toronto Star, Cavendish "has the house in her hands from the opening moment…a bravura performance" and CBC Radio reported, "Nicola Cavendish is simply magnificent, a sure-fire smash hit." Written by Olivier Award-winning British playwright Willy Russell, Shirley Valentine took London's West End and Broadway by storm, winning numerous awards including the 1988 Olivier Award and 1989 Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards. The 1989 film adaptation was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe.

Doubt, a Parable

By John Patrick Shanley

Toronto Premiere

May 4 - 30, 2009 (Opening Night: May 7)

Heralded as the most powerful theatrical event of the decade,Doubt, a Parable is the recipient of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize and Tony, Drama Desk, New York Drama Critics' Circle, Outer Critics Circle and Obie Awards. Created by American playwright John PatrickShanley, the Academy Award-winning author of Moonstruck and Joe and the Volcano, Doubt, a Parable is the Broadway and West End sensation thattook New York critics by storm. It was voted best new play of the year by The New York Times,The Wall Street Journal andTime Magazine. Set against the backdrop of a Bronx Catholic school in 1964, the production is a gripping, suspense-filled tug-of-war between a popular priest and a strong-minded nun who suspects her colleague of improper conduct with a student. The controversial play dramatizes issues ripped from today's headlines and tackles themes of religion, morality and authority.

At Berkeley Street Theatre:

 Berkeley Street Theatre, known for its edgier, more provocative works will become the home of a new collaborative partnership between The Canadian Stage Company and three of the country's finest, independent theatre companies - Nightwood Theatre, Studio 180, and Necessary Angel Theatre Company - under an exciting new initiative titled theBerkeley Street Project.

  

Wild Dogs

From the novel by Helen Humphreys

Arranged for the stage by Anne Hardcastle

Directed by Kelly Thornton

World Premiere

Produced by Nightwood Theatre in association with The Canadian Stage Company

October 4 to November 8, 2008 (Opening Night: October 9)

 A stage adaptation of the critically acclaimed novel by Canadian poet-turned-author Helen Humphreys, Wild Dogs is a haunting, moving tale that strips away the conventions of love to reveal deeper truths. Each evening at dusk, six people gather at the edge of the woods calling their dogs back – dogs that have turned wild. Drawn together by need, this unlikely group forms a community – until violence strikes unexpectedly. An unforgettable story about the wildness in all of us.Wild Dogs won the 2005 Lambda Award for fiction, was one of NOW Magazine's Top Ten Books of 2004, and has been optioned for film. Wild Dogs is produced by Nightwood Theatre in association with The Canadian Stage Company and arranged for the stage by Anne Hardcastle; Kelly Thornton directs. Nightwood Theatre has developed, produced and toured landmark, award-winning plays by and about women for 28 years. Many of Nightwood's plays have become part of the Canadian theatre canon and won Canada's highest literary and performing arts honours, including Governor General, Chalmers, Dora Mavor Moore and Trillium Awards. The Globe and Mail states, "Nightwood Theatre was created to be a powerful voice for women…the company more than fulfills its mandate."

 

 

Blackbird

By David Harrower

Directed by Joel Greenberg

Canadian Premiere

Produced by Studio 180 in association with The Canadian Stage Company

March 9 – April 4, 2009 (Opening Night: March 12)

Sponsored by The Zukerman Family Foundation

 

Blackbird, by British playwright David Harrower, won the 2007 Olivier Award for Best New Play. This explosive drama was the hit of the Edinburgh International Festival and a smash on London's West End and off-Broadway. Ray is confronted with his past when Una arrives unannounced at his office. Guilt and raw emotions run high as they recollect the passionate love affair they had 15 years earlier. Tensions rise, raising the questions: When is love abuse? And, can we ever break free from the shackles of the past? The Daily Telegraph wrote, "an extraordinary, no-holds-barred drama that both chills and thrills." Produced by Studio 180 in association with The Canadian Stage Company and directed by Joel Greenberg, Blackbird makes its Canadian debut. Launched in 2003, Studio 180 is dedicated to developing new plays and producing Canadian premieres of international dramas with social and political purpose. The acclaimed company premiered the critically lauded productions of The Laramie Project and The Arab-Israeli Cookbook and is currently producing the Canadian premiere of David Hare's Stuff Happens at the Berkeley Street Theatre.

 

 

HARDSELL

Created by Daniel Brooks and Rick Miller

Toronto Premiere

The Canadian Stage Company presents the Necessary Angel and Wyrd production

April 13 – May 9, 2009 (Opening Night: April 16)

 

From the home-grown team that created the runaway hit Bigger than Jesus - Daniel Brooks, director of last season's critically acclaimed Half Life, and Rick Miller (MacHomer) - HARDSELL is a multimedia extravaganza that slyly exposes the lies inherent in advertising. Directed by Daniel Brooks and featuring a tour de force performance by the electric Rick Miller, The Canadian Stage Company presents the Necessary Angel and Wyrd production that CBC Radio described as "Hilarious…experimental and innovative." Founded in 1978, Necessary Angel is a critically acclaimed, award-winning theatre company that has developed and produced close to 50 productions.The company is dedicated to fully exploring the theatrical arts by creating original work that challenges assumptions and engages multiple points of view, while seeking to provoke and astonish. The Montreal Gazette states, "A world-class company grounded in respect for word and actor alike."

Dream in High Park:

 

A Midsummer Night's Dream

By William Shakespeare

Directed by ahdri zhina mandiela

June 24 – August 31 (Opening Night: June 26)

 The Canadian Stage Company welcomes back award-winning director ahdri zhina mandiela and her popular rendition of A Midsummer Night's Dream- a colourful, hip-hop twist on the Bard's tangled tale of warring fairies and mismatched lovers who wander into an enchanted forest-meets-industrial-wasteland. Bob Crew of The Toronto Star rated the production "Three out of Four Stars" while Jon Kaplan of NOW Magazine wrote "mandiela delivers a refreshingly diverse cast in a production that brings a bit of urban attitude to Shakespeare's enchanted forest." Joining the cast are Xuan Fraser as Oberon/Theseus (Canadian Stage's Much Ado About Nothing), Cara Ricketts as Titania/Hippolyta (Judas Iscariot), Monica Dottor as Hermia (Canadian Stage's The Overcoat), Rebecca Northan as Egeus/Starveling (The Second City, This Hour has 22 Minutes), and Ijeoma Emesowum and Laura Burns as fairies. Returning cast includes Maev Beaty (Palace of the End) as Helena, Matthew Brown (CTV's Instant Star) as Snout, Antonio M. Cayonne as Lysander, Emberly Doherty as Snug, Steven Gallagher (Showtime's Queer as Folk) as Quince, Richard Harte as Demetrius, Colin Heath (Canadian Stage's The Overcoat) as Robin Goodfellow/Puck, Matthew Kabwe as Bottom, Andrew Kushnir (CBC's This is Wonderland) as Flute and Jajube Mandiela (CTV's Degrassi: The Next Generation) as Fairy.

 

 

 

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