Theatre Gargantua to Premiere AVARICIOUS

Toronto's acclaimed Theatre Gargantua (TG) opens the world premiere of Avaricious, marking the culmination of the company's eleventh cycle of work. Written by Michael Spence with the ensemble and contributions from Kat Sandler, Avaricious is a darkly comic exploration of greed, hope, and humanity in the face of environmental disaster.

Conceived and directed by Gargantua's Artistic Director Jacquie P.A. Thomas, this dynamic, adventurous work previews November 4, opens Thursday November 5 and runs through to November 21 at Theatre Passe Muraille's Mainspace. Tickets are available online at theatregargantua.ca or by calling the Arts Box Office at 416.504.7529.
Avaricious combines music, physicality, and innovative designs for an adrenaline-fuelled fable of a society brought to the tipping point by one man's greed.

Avaricious stars Pam Patel, Michelle Polak, and Michael Spence - all seen previously in Theatre Gargantua's staging of the multi-Dora-nominated, award-winning play The Sacrifice Zone - along with TG newcomer Patrick Howarth.

Avaricious is a satirical foray into a world of unbelievable economic disparity. During Gargantua's research for the play, the ensemble discovered Antilia, the world's largest and most expensive house, costing one billon dollars U.S. -a twenty-six double story home situated in Mumbai, overlooking the slums, on land illegally purchased from a former orphanage. Inspired by this incredible, real-life example of gross extravagance in the midst of poverty, the play is set within a monstrous house in the fictional town of Antilla.

While developing the work, Thomas and the company continually came upon research highlighting the shocking disproportion of the world's wealth distribution. When the wealth gap was displayed in graphs, it bore an uncanny resemblance to the billion dollar home overlooking the masses living in the slums - an image echoed throughout the works' design. Spence also brings back the Evensies - a chorus of devilish characters that have appeared in his previous works.

Avaricious employs a compelling mix of Theatre Gargantua's trademark highly physical, imagistic style with set design by Michael Spence, lighting and projection design by Laird Macdonald, costume design by Melanie McNeil, sound design by John Gzowski. The stage manager is Erika Morey. The Producer is Yolanda Ferrato.

Writer/Performer/Set Designer Michael Spence is Associate Artistic Director of Theatre Gargantua and an award-winning, long-standing member of Theatre Gargantua's creative team. He has been involved in all of TG's productions, appearing in all major Cycles and writing or designing for many of the company's noted works. His script for The Exit Room was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play, and he won the award twice for Outstanding Set Design. He has received a total of ten Dora nominations for his work with the company and has four awards. Michael is a recipient of a Harold Award, a distinguished honour for members of the Toronto independent theatre community.

One of Canada's leading multi-disciplinary theatre companies, Theatre Gargantua is an artist-driven company that produces ground-breaking movement-theatre projects in two-year cycles. Founded by Artistic Director Jacquie P.A. Thomas in 1992, its socially probing productions explore compelling subjects through daring physicality, striking design, rich vocal layers and innovative use of emerging technologies that begets an ever-evolving, provocative style all its own. Thomas, a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, has been nominated for 10 Dora Mavor Moore Awards for artistic contributions to the company while the theatre itself has garnered over 30 Dora nominations and awards. Past works directed by Thomas for Theatre Gargantua include The Sacrifice Zone, IMPRINTS, e-DENTITY (which went on to be produced at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto), fIBBER, Raging Dreams, (nod), Phantom Limb and THE EXIT ROOM. Her select credits outside Gargantua include the Ossetynski Actors Lab in Los Angeles, Roy Hart Theatre in France, The National Theatre of Greece and the Gardzienice Theatre Association of Poland. 2015 marks the 23rd season for Theatre Gargantua and Avaricious marks its 11th cycle of work.

Theatre Gargantua presents the world premiere of Avaricious Written by Michael Spence with the ensemble and contributions from Kat Sandler, Conceived and Directed by Jacquie P.A. Thomas Starring Patrick Howarth, Pam Patel, Michelle Polak, Michael Spence Lighting and Projection Designer: Laird Macdonald; Set Designer: Michael Spence; Costume Designer: Melanie McNeil; Sound Designer: John Gzowski; Producer: Yolanda Ferrato
Previews November 4, opens Thursday November 5 and runs to Saturday November 21 Theatre Passe Muraille, Mainspace 16 Ryerson Avenue Wed through Saturday at 7:30pm Tickets: $25 (students, seniors, arts workers $21; preview $19)

Tickets: Arts Box Office: 416.504.7529 OR online at www.theatregargantua.ca.

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