Stageworthy

Holly Wyder is an actor, producer, writer and comedian, living in Toronto. Her solo show, Drink of Choice was a hit of the 2019 Toronto Fringe.

www.hollywyder.com

Drink of Choice

Twitter: @choicedrink

Shakura Dickson

Shakura is a Toronto based actor and playwright. Most Recently, she appeared in Mirvish Productions’ presentation of Dear Evan Hansen, and appears in Factory Theatre’s Trout Stanley.

Twitter: @shakooks

Trout Stanley

www.factorytheatre.ca

A graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada, Natasha Greenblatt is an actor, director and writer.

Natasha has played Anne Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank (Segal Centre, Theatre Aquarius), Brigid in A Boy Called Newfoundland (Theatre Smash), and Roberta in The Railway Children (Mirvish/Marquis). She was nominated for a Dora Award for her portrayal of Bastian in The Neverending Story (Roseneath Theatre) and won a Dora Award for Get Yourself Home Skyler James (Roseneath Theatre), a solo show that toured high schools in the Greater Toronto Area. Natasha had a recurring role on the Canadian television show Bomb Girls. Most recently, Natasha was part of the 2014-2015 National Arts Centre’s English Theatre Ensemble, where she played Alice, in Alice Through the Looking Glass and Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest.

As a director, Natasha facilitated and directed This Is Your Script, a collective creation for Paprika Festival for youth between the ages of 17 and 21. She directed Cowboy Mouth, by Sam Shepard and Patti Smith, as part of The Playwright Project in May 2013. She was the assistant director for Micheline Chevrier on the Montreal debut production of the Governor General Award winning play, If We Were Birds and for Sarah Stanley on the debut of Beatrice and Virgil at the Factory Theatre. In 2014, Natasha directed The Secret Garden of Lido Pimienta, a theatrical concert commissioned by SummerWorks.

Natasha has been part of Nightwood Theatre’s Write From the Hip program for Emerging Playwrights and Theatre Passe Muraille’s Upstarts Unit for Emerging Theatre Creators. She performed her solo show, We Lived in a Palace at the 2008 SummerWorks Festival. She produced her first full-length play, The Peace Maker, directed by Jennifer Brewin, as part of the 2013 Next Stage Festival.

Twitter: @natashasama

The Election

During the 2015 Federal Election, a group of theatre artists and makers volunteered for local campaigns. They knocked on doors, phoned voters, and tried to make sense of national stories on a local level while documenting their experience. These personal accounts provided fodder for the new Canadian play The Election, by Natasha Greenblatt and Yolanda Bonnell, in collaboration with the company.

In 2019 The Election sparks urgent dialogue just as Canadians take another swing at the ballot box. Exploring the realities of Indigenous, Settler and Newcomer experience with the political process, this play asks: Do we have a voice and does that voice count?

Following the wildly successful run of The Public Servant, Common Boots Theatre delivers a provocative and hilarious investigation of how Canadians engage in democracy.

The team of six actors (Augusto Bitter, Rachel Cairns, Joelle Peters, Anand Rajaram, Rose Stella, and Courtenay Stevens) take on over 35 characters. Woven throughout the chaos of the federal election are the personal stories of people struggling to make a difference within their own communities and families.

www.commonbootstheatre.ca

SOMETHING FOR THE BUOYS is the latest effort from writer/director Eli Pasic. A graduate of the prestigious Berklee School of Music, Pasic recently wrote the book and lyrics to a new musical comedy, I’ll Take It!, with Broadway composer Henry Krieger (Dreamgirls, Side Show): the show has been published by Broadway Licensing.

Set in the spring of 1934, SOMETHING FOR THE BUOYS follows a starry-eyed sailor named Jimmy (Roberto Sapienza) who wants nothing more than to find his true love. Accompanied by Larry (Thomas Finn), his womanizing best pal, he sneaks ashore and enters the wonderful world of New York City. Of course, Jimmy immediately stumbles upon his true love. But between a big-time Broadway offer and a cranky captain with an Alka-Seltzer addiction, will Jimmy sail into the sun and live happily ever after before the final curtain? Who Knows! SOMETHING FOR THE BUOYS takes its cue from past classics such as Anything Goes and On The Town, saluting Golden Era theatre giants such as Cole Porter and Irving Berlin, while keeping things fresh through clever lyrics, innuendo, and unexpected twists and turns.

SHOW DATES: October 9-20, 2019

www.saplingproductions.com

www.bygonetheatre.com

Instagram: SFTB_musical

Jennifer Walls

As a voice actor she has voiced recurring characters on a number of animated series’ including PBS’ Peg+ Cat and Amazon’s Creative Galaxy and is currently the voice of Family Jr.

Jennifer is also the director of Hart House Theatre’s production of The Rocky Horror Show.

www.jenniferwalls.com

Chris Tsujiuchi

www.christsujiuchi.com

www.harthouse.ca

DopoLavoro Teatrale (DLT) is pleased to announce their critically acclaimed walkabout performance The Stranger, returns to Toronto with a brand-new version – The Stranger 2.0. Designed for the first time to include two audience members at a time and featuring an exciting new virtual reality component developed by mixed reality content specialists toasterlab, The Stranger 2.0 will unfold on the streets of Toronto September 18 – 29, 2019 with a new cast, new scenes, new locations, and a choice between two independent journeys: above & below.

above: A cross-city adventure with a retro Italian flavour that takes participants from a midtown area to locations they have likely never explored before.

below: A downtown adventure in the underground areas of Toronto where performers emerge from the crowds.

In 2014, DLT presented the first, award-winning version of The Stranger at the SummerWorks Performance Festival. Sold out editions have run around the world including in India and Europe and DLT brought two new versions back to Toronto in 2015 and 2016. The Stranger 2.0 continues The Stranger tradition of an immersive and interactive theatrical experience in which the city becomes the stage and the audience becomes the protagonist. Designed for two audience members at a time, this 75 to 90-minute journey thrusts participants into a secret world. By following "strangers" into streets, alleyways and undisclosed locations, the downtown is transformed into an urban labyrinth and participants find themselves at the centre of an unfolding narrative that blurs the lines between reality and fiction.

“DLT is dedicated to exploring new possibilities of audience engagement and further pushing the agency of each spectator in their own adventure. We are incredibly excited to continue this with The Stranger 2.0: above & below,” says Daniele Bartolini, Artistic Director, DLT. “In 2.0, Toronto audiences are invited to embark on a voyage across the city and will experience the next level of immersive and audience-specific theatre with a digital VR interaction developed by the boundary-pushing team at toasterlab."

The Stranger 2.0 kicks off Close Up (Primo Piano) - a new season of shows and events by Bartolini with Executive Producer Thomas L. Mallon and DopoLavoro Teatrale, community sponsor Villa Charities Inc. and in association with Istituto Italiano di Cultura. The Close Up (Primo Piano) season features an exciting lineup of site-specific and immersive programming including a Christmas production, a new play that addresses the issues faced by parents who work in the arts, and a festival featuring contemporary site-specific Italian theatre. More details about the season will be announced in the coming weeks.

About DLT

About The Stranger 2.0

Tickets: General - $50 each, VIP - $90 each (VIP experience contains secret content)

Location: Starting point for The Stranger 2.0: above is a secret location around in Midtown west. Starting point for The Stranger 2.0: below is a secret location around the downtown core. Tickets holders will be notified by email of the exact meeting point 24 hours before their show time.

www.dltexperience.com

Amber (Claire Renaud) and Tom (Tony Ofori), finding their way as freshmen at Princeton, spend a night together that alters the course of their lives. They agree on the drinking, they agree on the attraction, but consent is foggy, and if unspoken, can it be called consent? Anna Ziegler investigates gender and race politics, our crippling desire to fit in and the three sides to every story.

Playwright ANNA ZIEGLER is an award-winning playwright whose widely produced play PHOTOGRAPH 51 (starring Nicole Kidman) won London’s 2016 WhatsOnStage award for Best New Play. It was selected as a “Best of the Year” by The Washington Post and the Telegraph.

In 2017, The Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Manhattan Theatre Club and The Geffen Playhouse premiered her play ACTUALLY, and The Roundabout Theatre Company produced THE LAST MARCH. Her play THE WANDERERS won the 2018 San Diego Critic’s Circle Award for Outstanding New Play and BOY was nominated for the 2016 John Gassner Award by the Outer Critics Circle.

Director PHILIP AKIN has been acting and directing for over 40 years. In 2000, he was a founding member of Obsidian Theatre, Canada’s leading black theatre company, and has served as its Artistic Director since 2006. Award include the Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts (2018), William Kilbourn Award for the Celebration of Toronto’s Cultural Life ( 2014) and the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts, Silver Ticket Award for Outstanding Contribution (2010). Dora Nominations for Best Director in the General Theatre Division 2008, 2011, 2012 (winning in 2012 – Topdog Underdog), two nominations in 2017 (winning in 2017 for Master Harold…and the Boys)

www.obsidiantheatre.com

www.hgjewishtheatre.com

Tickets: https://www.hgjewishtheatre.com/2019-2020-Actually.html

Kendra Jones is a Winnipeg-born, Toronto-based artist whose work mingles between theatrical performance and performance art; her interest lies in pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the theatre, and the kinds of discussions that can stem from encounters with theatrical creation. She graduated with Distinction from the MA Text & Performance at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London, and also holds a BA(Hons) in Theatre Performance from the University of Winnipeg. Favourite directing credits include the Canadian premiere of Sea Wall by Simon Stephens and Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis (Theatre By the River), and most recently, Tim Crouch’s I, Malvolio (Impel theatre).

www.kendrajones.net

Emily Dix is a Toronto based theatre artist and photographer. She has been directing, producing and designing for theatre for over 10 years, and is the Artistic Executive Director of Bygone Theatre. Recently, she launched a new initiative, the Toronto Independent Theatre Coalition (TITC) which she runs as Founder and Executive Director. She also works as a freelance photographer, specializing in theatre and live events.

www.emilydix.com

Bygone Theatre

The Toronto Independent Theatre Coalition

www.thetitc.ca

In this episode, host Phil Rickaby sits down with two solo performers, Janelle Hanna & Laura Anne Harris to talk about performing solo shows and touring Fringe Festivals.

Bad Baby Presents: Rules Control the Fun

www.larkandwhimsytheatre.com

Destiny USA

www.lauraanneharris.com