Stageworthy

The Tita Collective, an all Filipina collective of multidisciplinary artists in Toronto, will present Tita Jokes as part of the 2019 Toronto Fringe FestivalJuly 3 - 14 at the Tarragon Theatre. They sing, they dance, and they’ll make you snort-laugh halo-halo through your nose!

Tita Jokes is a musical sketch comedy spectacle to remember. The show revolves around the Filipinx people in their lives such as aunts, moms, daughters, and partners. Tita Jokes reveals their struggles and heartaches, but also how they cope through comedy and songs.

Tita Collective are an all Filipina collective composed of award-winning playwrights, comedians, musicians, dancers, theatre makers and actors. They explore different mediums to tell the stories about the Filipinx diaspora.

Directed Tricia Hagoriles, Tita Jokes is created and performed by Ann Paula Bautista, Belinda Corpuz, Isabel Kanaan, Ellie Posadas, Alia Rasul, and Maricris Rivera. The Music Director is Ayaka Kinugawa and Stage Manager is Justine Cargo.

In addition to Toronto Fringe, Tita Collective will also appear at TAWA Festival May 27 and 28 at Bad Dog Theatre, Celebration of Filipino Heritage Month at Earl Bales Park on June 1, and Notorious’ Music Comedy Festival on June 14 - 15. Tita Collective will host a workshop called “Powered by Community” on May 23 at Artscape Daniels Launchpad.

Tita Collective is Ann Paula Bautista (Disenchanted US Tour), Belinda Corpuz (Prairie Nurse), Isabel Kanaan (CBC’s Air Farce), Alia Rasul (Generally Hospital), and Maricris Rivera (A New World Being Born). Tita Collective won the 2019 Steamwhistle Producers’ Pick at the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival and were named as part of “19 Asian Millennial Women You Should Know” by Cold Tea Collective.

Twitter:@tita_collective
Instagram:tita.collective
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/titacollective
Tickets:https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/tita-jokes

Tita Jokes
July 3 - 14, 2019 at Toronto Fringe
Tarragon Theatre, Mainspace
30 Bridgeman Avenue

Thursday July 4, 8:30PM
Saturday July 6, 4:45PM
Sunday July 7, 1:15PM
Tuesday July 9, 9:45PM
Wednesday July 10, 8:00PM
Friday July 12, 4:00PM
Sunday July 14, 6:00PM

Kaho Koda is a Japanese theatre creator located in Toronto. Her recent credits include Koki Mitani's University of Laughter (Translator & Director) and Shakespeare's Richard III (Lighting Designer). She is delighted to present her first play Decaying Tongue (Writer & Director) at the Toronto Fringe Festival 2019.

Sachi Lovatt is an actress originally from Ottawa. She trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in the UK, where she earned her MA in Professional Acting. After three years in England, she now calls Toronto home and is a proud member of both Equity and ACTRA. Recent credits include The Handmaid’s Tale and narrating the Alarm of War trilogy into audiobooks. Being half Japanese and half British, Decaying Tongue holds a special place in her heart.

Decaying Tongue
How do you answer the question “where are you from from”? Aya navigates through life as she experiences culture shocks between her two worlds: Japan and Canada. Will she find peace with her constantly evolving identity? Decaying Tongue explores clash of cultures and what it means to find your footing with a diverse background in the 21st century.

Randolph Theatre
5th July 4:15pm
7th July 8:00pm
8th July 2:15pm
11th July 10:45pm
12th July 4:30pm
13th July 1:00pm
14th July 5:15pm

www.humanburrito.com
Instagram:humanburritoproductions
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/humanburritoproductions
Tickets:https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/decaying-tongue

Jennifer is a writer, producer, and multi-disciplinary performing artist. Favourite performing credits include: "All of Me"(Theatre Insomnia), "Bitchcraft"(PureCarbon), and "The Last Days of Judas Iscariot" (RCPA). As a writer, Jennifer has released two zines under the name Buzzkill, which is now the name of her theatre company. Jennifer is a graduate of Randolph College for the Performing Arts, has completed Canada's National Voice Intensive, and currently trains privately at Armstrong Acting Studios.

Get Better
Life changing concussions aren’t just for football players. What happens when a busy perfectionist bumps her head too many times? Get Better is a quirky, and dark look into the emotional journey of recovering from a minor traumatic brain injury. Using narrative and physical theatre, "Get Better" reveals the uncomfortable truths about living with invisible injury. This mostly true story explores how this common injury effects relationships, and identity.

Tarragon Theatre - Solo Room
Thursday July 4th - 7:45 PM
Saturday July 6th - 10:15 PM
Monday July 8th - 5:45 PM
Tuesday July 9th - 3:15 PM (relaxed performance)
Wednesday July 10th - 8:15 PM
Thursday July 11th - 6:15 PM
Saturday July 13th - 10:15 PM
Sunday July 14th - 4:30 PM

Instagram:buzzkillcreations
Facebook:https://facebook.com/buzzkillcreationsTO
Tickets:https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/get-better

John Wamsley is a gay, Indigenous actor, dancer, and choreographer born and raised in Kitchener, Ontario. Since graduating from the Theatre and Drama Studies program at Sheridan College and the University of Toronto, he has been fortunate enough to work both on and off stage developing a passion-project entitled off my chest., which was presented at this year's Dark Crop Performance Festival. John's recent credits include the sold out run of the Fringe 2018 Patron's Pick, Everyone Wants a T-Shirt!, Private Harris in The Grand Theatre's production of Timothy Findley's The Wars, and participation within the 31st annual Weesageechak Festival. John is currently the Communications Manager for the Paprika Festival, and continues to do graphic and video design for several theatre companies in the GTA. He also works in a restaurant… typical.

Bryn Kennedy has been an actor ever since she can remember, but found her passion for directing in high school when she lead a production of ‘night Mother at the Sears Drama Festival, winning an Award of Excellence in Directing and Producing. Since then, Bryn has continued this journey, taking Directing with Richard Rose at Tarragon Theatre and as a member of Nightwood Theatre’s Young Innovators Unit. She is also an arts educator and is growing her experience as an arts administrator with companies such as SOULO Theatre, Rabbit in a Hat Productions, Binocular Theatre and Nightwood Theatre. Her directing credits include, Jean Anouilh’s Antigone(co-director Rachel VanDuzer, UTMDC), Overtones, Beneath the Bed (Erindale Fringe Festival), Happy Family (Toronto Fringe Festival), Selections from Vitals (Paprika Festival Directors’ Lab), Reasons to be Pretty (RTBP Collective), Vitals (Theatre Born Between) and A Bear Awake in Winter (Assistant Director, Canadian Stage Workshop and Next Stage Theatre Festival with Binocular Theatre). She is a graduate of the joint Theatre and Drama Studies Program at Sheridan College and University of Toronto earning an Acting Diploma and an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree. Her special skills include baking, knitting and finding a way to mention her recent haircut in almost any situation.

BENEATH THE BED
Written by Gabe Golin
Directed by Bryn Kennedy
In the aftermath of a trauma, a young child meets a monster living under their bed and together they discover through searching the stars that this too will pass. An exploration of childhood and imagination, grief and loss, Beneath the Bed is a twisted tale exploding with music, wit, heart, and joy.​

SHOW DATES:
Thursday, July 4 – 7:00 p.m. – Performance 1
Friday, July 5 – 8:00 p.m. – Performance 2
Saturday, July 6 – 2:00 p.m. – Performance 3
Sunday, July 7 – 2:00 p.m. – Performance 4
Monday, July 8 – 7:00 p.m. – Performance 5
Tuesday, July 9 – 8:00 p.m. – Performance 6
Thursday, July 11 – 8:00 p.m. – Performance 7
Friday, July 12 – 2:00 p.m. – Performance 8
Friday, July 12 – 8:00 p.m. – Performance 9
Saturday, July 13 – 3:30 p.m. – Performance 10
Sunday, July 14 – 2:00 p.m. – Performance 11

www.theatrebornbetween.com
Twitter: @tbornbetween
Instagram: theatrebornbetween
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theatrebornbetween
Tickets:https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/beneath-bed (on sale June 6)

Natalia Bushnik and Robin Luckwaldt are ​KAIROS Theatre who present their award-winning, touring show, 'The Bathtub Girls' (Critics' Choice - Hamilton Fringe, 2016; Official Selection - Twin Cities Horror Festival, USA, 2018) in Toronto, in the Assembly Theatre's 2019 curated season, May 21st - June 1st!

'The Bathtub Girls' is a fiction inspired by the first documented case of sibling matricide in Canada. Two sisters, encouraged by their friends, drown their mother in the bathtub of their family home. We join the girls in their irreconcilable waking nightmare of survival and atonement, which began long before we arrived, and which we have no power to stop. When the water stills, the door’s broken down, the body carried away, who do we punish? Who do you judge?.

“A dark but compelling piece of theatre” ​- CBC
“Gripping storytelling”​ - City Pages, Minneapolis
“Truly phenomenal”​ - Fringe Review

Directed, Written, and Performed by Natalia Bushnik and Robin Luckwaldt
Sound / Set Design by Phoebe Wang
Lighting Design by Waleed Ansari
Promotional Trailer by William Innes : https://youtu.be/xUKPop7ccgI

https://kairostheatrecollective.com/
Instagram : @kairostheatre

Kiran Friesen is an actress and writer, known for Bruiser (2000), The Unusual Suspects (2012) and First Round Down (2016).

Theatrically, she has enjoyed a number of strong Shakespearean roles such as Gertrude (Hamlet), Lady M (Macbeth), Desdemona (Othello) and Lady Capulet (Romeo and Juliet), not to mention a smattering of other theatrical wonders and oddities (see resume).

She wrote, produced and performed her play "Peeler" for the Toronto Fringe Festival to rave reviews.

Kiran is appearing in Cement Factory and NightShift Theatre's production of George F. Walker's Risk Everything at the Red Sandcastle Theatre from May 14 - 25, 2019.

www.cementfactorytheatre.ca
Twitter: @CementTheatre
Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4207407

Judith is a playwright, director, actor and professor of theatre at the University of Guelph, and the Artistic Director of RARE Theatre Company. She is the author of 15 published plays, many of which are performed all over the world. They include The Crackwalker, Lion in the Streets, Perfect Pie, and Palace of the End. Her play Who Killed Snow White will premiere at the 4th Line Theatre in August, 2018. She has directed and co-created four plays with artists with exceptionalities including Body and Soul, Sick, RARE, and Borne Most recently, she wrote the play Wildfire specifically for 7 performers with Down syndrome, all of whom had appeared in Rare. She wrote two feature films, Perfect Pie and Lost and Delirious, several TV movies and many radio plays. She has twice won the Governor General's award for playwriting, as well as the Toronto Arts Award, a Dora Award, the Susan Smith Blackburn Award, and the Amnesty International Award for Freedom of Expression. She is honoured to have the privilege of collaborating with performers with exceptionalities.

Welcome to my Underworld

In Soulpepper’s fifth partnership with RARE Theatre Company, Canadian theatre pioneer and two-time Governor General award-winner Judith Thompson directs and dramaturges the World Premiere of Welcome to my Underworld, taking the Tank House theatre stage by storm from May 9th to May 25th, 2019 with a preview performance at 8pm on May 8th.

In Soulpepper’s fifth partnership with RARE Theatre Company, Canadian theatre pioneer and two-time Governor General award-winner Judith Thompson directs and dramaturges the World Premiere of Welcome to my Underworld, taking the Tank House theatre stage by storm from May 9th to May 25th, 2019 with a preview performance at 8pm on May 8th.

Welcome to my Underworld is a beautiful odyssey that erupts with heightened, illusory and playful language, as it follows Willow, a 10-year-old girl, as she gracefully weaves from one unique story to the next in search of her truest self.

Nine blazing hot works written and performed by new Canadian dramatists have been woven into one spectacular play. Each playwright brings their own gate-crashing ideas and compelling characters who have never been seen on our stages until now.

“What I love about RARE is that our plays cut through the artifice of so much common theatre, they aren’t ripped from the headlines but they do hold a mirror up to our society” says RARE Theatre’s Executive Director, Nick Hutcheson.

Join the riveting performers Bilal Baig, Nikoletta Erdelyi, Radha S. Menon, Grace Thompson, Maddie Bautista, Samson Brown and Carolyn Hetherington as they dive fearlessly into their particular Underworld. What each piece has is the joyous discovery of a unique self, whether it be gender fluid, queer, proudly disabled and Roma, non-human, wounded, or an elder; in the face of social oppression they are unafraid to roar: This is Me. I am Here. Deal with It.

Accompanying director Judith Thompson on this journey is Irish and Anishinaabe from Nipissing First Nation composer, Olivia Shortt, award-winning choreographer, Monica Dotter, and set designer, Brett Haynes. RARE Theatre is thrilled to welcome emerging lighting designer, Sharmylae Taffe-Fletcher to the RARE family.

“I am beyond honoured to be collaborating with these nine superb emerging playwrights; as a playwright myself I was lucky enough to ride on the crest of the wave of Canadian nationalism in the early eighties, and to see that work valued not only in Canada but all over the world. Now it is my privilege to present to you the theatrical voices of Canada now; voices that will change the way we see this country and ourselves.” says RARE Theatre’s Artistic Director, Judith Thompson.

With humour, honesty, rich writing and dynamic performances by an all-star cast of emerging and seasoned Canadian artists, Welcome to my Underworld is a theatrical experience that will thrill and entertain.

RARE Theatre Company and Soulpepper Theatre Company present
Welcome to my Underworld
Written by Bilal Baig, Maddie Bautista, Samson Brown, Simone Dalton, Nikoletta Erdelyi, Carolyn Hetherington, Ellen Ringler, Radha S. Menon and Grace ThompsonDramaturged and Directed by Judith Thompson
May 8 – 25, 2019
Starring Bilal Baig, Maddie Bautista, Samson Brown, Nikoletta Erdelyi, Carolyn Hetherington, Radha S. Menon and Grace ThompsonChoreography by Monica DottorMusic by Olivia ShorttSet Design by Brett HaynesLighting Design by Sharmylae Taffe-FletcherStage Management by Jenna Borsato
Tankhouse Theatre, Young Centre for the Performing Arts
50 Tank House Lane,
Toronto, ON M5A 3C4

www.raretheatre.org
Twitter: @rare_theatre
Instagram: raretheatre

Pregnancy Pact is a pop-rock musical which tells the story of a group of teens who make a pact to become single mothers together. The 15-year-old Maddie is devoted to her three best friends and they are to her. So, when Brynn gets pregnant, the friends all plan to have children, raising them together and living a dream. Inspired by the 2008 news story of the Gloucester pregnancy pact that took the world by storm, Pregnancy Pact provides a unique chance to examine the intense journey this kind of decision creates.

www.edgeproductions.ca
Twitter: @3dgeproductions
Instagram: the.edge.productions
Tickets to Pregnancy Pact: https://www.edgeproductions.ca/store/c3/Toronto_Tickets.html

gangwaytheatre.com
Twitter: @gangwaytheatre
Instagram: gangwaytheatreco

Miriam Goldstein
Miriam is a theatre director and producer based in Windsor, On. She is the founding Artistic Director of The Edge Productions, now entering its ninth season. Miriam’s work as a director focuses on underrepresented human experiences. Miriam is a graduate of the Ward Acting Studio in New York, NY where she studied the Meisner Technique, she holds a certificate in Shakespeare in Performance and Contemporary Acting from the Royal Academy of Drama in London, UK, and a Bachelor of Art in Drama from the University of Windsor. Miriam’s most recent large scale project (as of summer, 2018) was an all-female production of Henry V by William Shakespeare which focused on deconstructing gender in performance and the construct of theatre itself, putting women in roles that have historically been barred from them. This performance toured Ontario and also performed, pro-bono, in Grand Valley Institute for Women. After Pregnancy Pact (May 2nd-19th), Miriam will be directing The Clockmaker by Stephen Massicotte and 4.48 Psychosis by Sarah Kane.


www.miriamrgoldstein.com
Instagram: mirigc87

Blythe Haynes
Blythe is a Toronto-based actor and Producer. She is the co-founder and Artistic Director of Gangway! Theatre Co. Blythe holds a BFA from the University of Alberta in Acting. Gangway! Theatre Co was co-founded with writer KT Bryski to explore female voices and develop Canadian content. Previous to the founding of Gangway! KT and Blythe jointly proposed and established the “History Actor” museum theatre program at Black Creek Pioneer Village. Their partnership culminated in the original podcast release of Six Stories Told at Night (written by KT Bryski, performed by Blythe Haynes and funded by the Ontario Arts Council), for which it won a PARSEC Award in 2017. Six Stories debuted as a theatrical production at the Toronto Fringe Festival 2018, and was short listed for the Best of Fringe. AfterPregnancy Pact (May 2nd-19th), you can see Blythe in An Atlas, A Necktie and Other Concerns at Toronto Fringe and in the next co-productions with The Edge Productions – The Clockmaker by Stephen Massicotte in 2019.

Twitter: @haynesblythe

#ShakesbeersShowdown is where Toronto’s hottest indie theatre companies face-off in a battle of winner-takes-all, loser-drinks-most, as contestants cold read scenes from Shakespeare’s notoriously-hard-to-read First Folio.

The rules are simple: if you screw up, you drink!

The winner is crowned the revered Shakesbeers Showdown Heavyweight Champion (complete with championship belt), and the losers…get a lot of beer.

All funds raised go towards the 2019 Shakespeare-In-Hospitals Program, set to launch this fall.

Twitter: @shakespur
Instagram:@shakespur
Tickets: https://www.nowtickets.ca/events/92921282/shakesbeers-showdown-revenge-of-the-5th

Victoria Urquhart
Victoria Urquhart is a Jack of All Trades: She writes, directs, acts, sings, dances, and is eager to learn. As a performer first and foremost, she constantly looks to define and explore the perspectives of performance and audience. She especially enjoys the works of William Shakespeare, and Viewpoints, which is what led her to found many projects in the collective. A recent graduate of the University of Windsor Acting Program, she brings creativity and insight to the Spur-Of-The-Moment Shakespeare Collective.

Twitter: @gnitenet
Instagram: @gnitenet

Steve Fisher
Winner of the 2016 Nathan Cohen Award for excellence in theatre criticism in the short form category, and a 2015 National Magazine Award nominee for his arts and culture coverage with Torontoist, Steve has been covering arts and entertainment in Toronto (and Canada) for over fifteen years. He is the top all time contributor at Torontoist, having written more than 1,200 posts in various capacities, including Contributing Editor, Listings Editor, and Urban Planner. Other outlets he has contributed to include Now Magazine, Post City, The AV Club, and CBC Music.

Originally from Ottawa, where he studied Drama at Canterbury High School For the Arts (and played on the national medal winning improv team), Steve holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) in Theatre (and a Diploma in Acting) from Ryerson University. When not seeing shows 5-6 times a week, Steve also works as a Training Coordinator at Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship YORK, home of Toronto’s Naval Reserve unit; as a boatswain in the Royal Canadian Navy, he has been commended and decorated.

Twitter: @gracingthestage

Ted has acted, directed, written and/or composed for every major theatre in Canada and around the world, including such great cities as New York, London and Tokyo. He is a proud graduate of The National Theatre School Of Canada, and a founding member of Toronto's Soulpepper Theatre. Arguably best known for co-creating one of the most successful plays in Canada's history, "2 Pianos, 4 Hands," Ted also wrote the hit musical Evangeline (Citadel Theatre, Charlottetown Festival). Recent film and TV appearances include Orphan Black, Reign, Carter and Farenheit 451 for HBO. Over the course of his career he has been the recipient of numerous awards including five Doras, a Gemini, a Sterling, a Merritt and a Chalmers.

Hand to God

HAND TO GOD, a blasphemous black comedy, with puppets, written by Robert Askins, was the most produced play in the 2016-17 American theatre season with 13 productions staged across the country. (Says a lot about the state of the States!) Mitchell Cushman (The Aliens) returns to the Coal Mine to revisit a play about a satanic sock puppet he directed at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre in 2017.

In a quiet Texas town, recently widowed Margery is tasked with running the church puppet club. Attended grudgingly by her teenage son Jason, he finds solace in Tyrone, his homemade puppet. That is until Tyrone turns fiendish causing doors to slam, lightbulbs to burst and his head to spin around Exorcist-style. Is it…the devil? HAND TO GOD tackles all the big themes: death, depression, alcoholism, sexual repression, emotional guilt, religious hypocrisy and crafting.

Twitter: @coalminetheatre
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coalminetheatre
Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/producer/752042