Factory Theatre

Welcome to our In Conversation Series.
Today, we get to sit down with Director Soheil Parsa and Director Tawiah M’Carthy and talk about their process and approach to our productions of Daniel MacIvor in Monster and Here Lies Henry.

Monster and Here Lies Henry on stage at Factory Theatre until December 17, 2023.

Book Tickets to Monster by visiting www.factorytheatre.ca
Book Tickets to Here Lies Henry by visiting www.factorytheatre.ca

You Can’t Get There From Here is returning by popular demand with its 3rd volume of audio dramas! This season will feature four commissioned audio experiences from award-winning Playwrights Monica Garrido, Catherine Hernandez, Elvira Kurt, and Aurora Stewart de Peña.

This season, audiences are in for a scary good time. The episodes will take listeners on a vivid, eerie journey through one of the five primary senses (touch, sight, hearing, smell, and taste). This season we had the pleasure to record with a live audience at Factory Theatre.

Episode 1
Haunted Hallways
by Catherine Hernandez
Directed by Aviva Armour-Ostroff
With artists Carolyn Fe and Merlin Simard
Sound Design by Lyon Smith

Not for the faint of heart, Haunted Hallways, recounts Factory Theatre’s creepy and ghostly history. Take in this freaky episode if you dare, what terrifying things just might be lurking in Factory’s dark and hidden hallways.

Episode 2
Boxes of Smells
by Mónica Garrido
Directed by Mel Hague
Featuring Sofia Rodriguez and Margarita Valderrama
Sound Design by Lyon Smith

Boxes of Smells tells a story of confusion. Sarah and her cat Michi, receive a box. Will Sarah’s nose try to lead her to the truth…or some version of it?
*Flashlights and comfort blankets are sold separately.

Episode 3
Touched
by Elvira Kurt
Directed by Mel Hague
Featuring Anna Chatterton and Vanessa Dunn
Sound Design by Lyon Smith

Touched follows two ex-lovers, one is moving on and one believes time stands still. If only life were just a little bit easier, and things could be neatly sorted and boxed up.

Episode 4
The Automated System
by Aurora Stewart de Peña
Directed by Mel Hague
Featuring Philip Akin and Sochi Fried
Sound Design by Lyon Smith

In this imaginative and eerie tale, a man is a little bit lost. Can a call agent help him make some crucial decisions?

For more information, visit this link: https://www.factorytheatre.ca/shows/you-cant-get-there-from-here-vol-3/

Set in Toronto – considered a multicultural mosaic, a welcoming place for immigrants, and those who are searching for a better life. But can it become ‘home’ for everyone?

Jorge misses’ home and his mother, and is trying his best to make a life for himself in this new city away from Mexico. John, a man of God, just wants to help him settle into this new life, but as Jorge struggles to find meaning, good work and fights to stay clean – can John really promise him a better life here?

From award-winning playwright, Guillermo Verdecchia, A Good Place delves into the hardships of leaving home behind in the hopes of a better life.

CREDITS
Written by Guillermo Verdecchia, Directed by Matt McGeachy
Featuring: Matthew Edison, Vivien Endicott-Douglas, and Michael Scholar, Jr.
Sound Design & Composition by Debashis Sinha

 A look into the world of T.V. casting, the discussions that happen, the decisions that are made, and the lack of opportunity given to those who have not been represented before. Ins Choi’s new audio drama takes audiences through a journey of understanding the challenging and uniquely flawed decision making of those who hold the most power in an industry that’s meant to represent the audience who watches.

CREDITS
Written by Ins Choi, Directed by Courtney Ch'ng Lancaster
Featuring: Shawn Ahmed, Laura Condlln, and Janet Porter
Sound Design & Composition by Mikael Bensimon

From the corner of Spadina and Dundas in the heart of Toronto’s Chinatown, two friends, Helen and Justin, find themselves led to an old and abandoned theatre after receiving a cryptic note. Known as The Standard in the early 1920s, during the height of Canada’s Chinese Immigration Act, this venue had a history of renting its space to Cantonese Opera performers. Once inside, Helen and Justin run into the theatre’s mysterious and charismatic caretaker, Mr. Sing, who muses enthusiastically about the theatre’s history of Cantonese Opera performance.

A gripping thriller from award-winning playwright Marjorie Chan, The Standard Sing shines an honest light on the history of the Chinese Canadian experience in Toronto and brings the echoes of this experience to the forefront…suggesting that they may not be at rest…

CREDITS:
Written by Marjorie Chan, Directed by Aaron Jan
Featuring: Derek Kwan, Richard Lam, and April Leung
Sound Design & Composition by Debashis Sinha

Sydney and Tara are a couple in love, who have recently inherited an apartment in Toronto – in today’s market better than winning the lottery. But was this apartment the start to their happy life together or the path to their destruction? Crime podcaster Dom Maxwell is determined to find out the truth.

A horror story not for the faint of heart. From playwrights Amy Lee Lavoie and Omari Newton, Doubletree brings an unsettling story about a couple’s demise and the death of their love.

CREDITS
Written by Amy Lee Lavoie & Omari Newton, Directed by Mike Payette
Featuring: Chala Hunter, Andrew Kushnir, and Andre Sills
Sound Design & Composition by Mikael Bensimon

Love sees no barriers – at least that is what young jazz musician Nicky hopes her judgemental mother Thea will believe when she is introduced to Nicky’s much older boyfriend.

Nicky has been lying to her mother about her relationship with a much older man, a man she is in love with, a man she sees a long future with and man who is adamant to be introduced to her family. When they show up to Thea’s house for a birthday dinner, things go awry as past memories are brought up and old connections brought forward.

Kat Sandler’s The Artists is a comedic picture into complicated relationships, especially the one between mothers and their daughters.

CREDITS
Written and Directed by Kat Sandler
Featuring: HRH Anand Rajaram, Pamela Sinha, and Caroline Toal
Sound Design & Composition by Debashis Sinha

MUSIC

• McCarthy, Joe and Monaco, James V., "You Made Me Love You" (1913). Historic Sheet Music Collection. 1248.
  
  Special thanks to Andrew Seok and Jeff Ho for assisting in the production of this musical number.
  
  
• The The below are licensed via Creative Commons https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. No material changes were made to the tracks.
  
  1. Ketsa - Big Love, from the album Vitality
  https://ketsa.uk
  
  2. Humbug by Crowander
  https://crowander.com

Five brand-new audio dramas dropping March 8, 2022!

Following a highly acclaimed first season, Toronto's Factory Theatre is proud to be returning to headphones across the globe with You Can’t Get There From Here Vol. 2  - featuring five brand new audio dramas from some of Canada's most creative minds. You Can’t Get There From Here offers listeners fresh perspectives on familiar Toronto landmarks and neighbourhoods and glimpses into the micro-dramas occurring each day around us, hidden in plain sight. 

In this introductory episode, Factory Artistic Director Nina Lee Aquino shares a bit of background as to how this series came to be, what you can expect from Volume 2 of the series, and what we hope you'll be able to take away from each new audio theatrical work. 

For more information, please visit: https://www.factorytheatre.ca/shows/you-cant-get-there-from-here-vol-2/

Written by Luke Reece | Directed by Marcel Stewart
Starring: Britta B., Trevlyn Kennedy, and Luke Reece
Sound Design by Michelle Bensimon

It’s June 13, 2019, and The Toronto Raptors are three hours away from their Game 6 tipoff with the Golden State Warriors. Two pigeons, Trae and A.C., are settling in above Jurassic Park in Toronto to watch the game when, all of a sudden, their excitement is interrupted by a kestrel named Klaw who crash lands on their perfect pigeon perch. Having never been to Toronto, Trae and A.C. begin to give Klaw all their insider knowledge about the city – the good, the bad, and the feathery.

A fun electrifying mash-up of soundscape and spoken word (or is it spoken bird?), The Toronto Pigeons is an all-verse, sky-high exploration from National Slam Poet Champion Luke Reece, of how and why The Toronto Raptors 2019 Championship win catalyzed a feeling of belonging in a city renowned for its icy exterior.

To Donate to Factory: factorytheatre.ca/donate
Sign up for our email list: factorytheatre.ca 

 Written by Keith Barker | Directed by Akosua Amo-Adem
Starring: Allison Edwards-Crewe and Marcia Johnson
Sound Design by Michelle Bensimon

Mia and Fran haven’t seen each other in years – too long for sisters to go without talking. When Fran visits Toronto to reconcile with her sister, the two decide to go on a journey down memory lane – revisiting iconic Toronto locations that hold treasured memories. But not everything between the sisters is what it seems.

This striking new take on the “memory play” from award-winning playwright Keith Barker, explores why we hold on to memories and how they diverge in a city with a landscape that is constantly being erased and rebuilt. Every Minute of Every Day is sure to make you see how people share and shape memories differently and how time itself can even make you forget why family ruptures happen in the first place.

To Donate to Factory: factorytheatre.ca/donate
Sign up for our email list: factorytheatre.ca