Steven Vlahos

Jonathan Sconza

Bad Improv

The Negroes Are Congregating (NAC) unapologetically wrestles with deep-rooted internalized racism through the lens of the Western World and the ‘Black experience’ hat stretches far beyond Canada and the United States, and rather a pan-African exploration. The laugh-out-loud piece balances comedy with discomfort, pulling audiences beyond the fourth wall, where everyone is invited to cackle, cry and be still together.

Artists; Uche Ama (Female 1), Christopher Bautista (Male 1) and Christopher Parker (Male 2) perform this contemporary piece delivered through a fusion of spoken word, satire, soulful dialect and musical vocals. Audiences will enter a realm of private truths and leave with an understanding of what it means to be Black, proud, and ready.

The Negroes are Congregating has already received international acclaim, having been programmed by Théâtre de l’Usine (Geneva, Switzerland); Black Theatre Network Conference (Memphis, TN); Halifax Fringe (Halifax, Nova Scotia); SummerWorks Performance Festival (Toronto, Ontario) and selected ‘Best of The Fest’ Award at The Atlanta Black Theatre Festival (Atlanta, GA). Tickets can be purchased at www.passemuraille.ca. This production is a Theatre Passe Muraille Production in association with Piece of Mine Arts.

Created and Directed by Natasha Morris an award winning playwright whose work has been presented in Canada, the United States, and Europe. She is the founder and executive director PIECE OF MINE Arts, a platform for Black play creators to showcase work-in-development, featuring over 150 artists since 2013. Natasha is the recipient of several accolades including SummerWorks’ New Performance Text Award, The Black Canadian Awards’ Leadership Certificate, and the Ontario’s Leading Women Building Communities Certificate. She credits local companies b current, anitafrika dub theatre, and Obsidian Theatre for her invaluable artistic training. The Negroes are Congregating originated out of development and excerpt presentations during the Piece of Mine Festival in 2016 at Toronto’s Palmerston Library Theatre.

Troy De Four (Producer) is an award-winning producer whose experience started in regional theatre and is recently producing professional productions. Troy De Four is the executive producer of Scores in The City Musical Productions (Toronto, Ontario). Troy has recently been a participant of Obsidian’s 2018/2019 Playwrights Unit and has received grants from the OAC and CCA for his development of new Canadian libretto’s focused on stories centralizing characters of the black-Canadian and pan-African diaspora. Past producer credits include; Jesus Christ Superstar, The Full Monty, Jekyll & Hyde The Musical, CHESS, TOMMY and more.

Uche Ama (Performer – Female 1) is a graduate of the St Clair College Music Theatre Performance program. Some previous credits include; Obeah Opera (Luminato Festival2019), Rosencrantz: Drunk Hamlet (Dauntless City Theatre), Oya/Ahosi/Buffalo: Lukumi: A Dub Opera (Watah Theatre). She is honored to be a part of this production.

Christopher Parker (Performer – Male 2) received his Master of Music in Literature & Performance at Western University while studying under renowned Canadian baritone Theodore Baerg. He made is professional debut in the Canadian premiere of Choir-Boy (Centaur Theatre) by Oscar-winning writer Tarrell Alvin McCraney which won Best PACT Production at the 2019 Montreal English Theatre Awards. Since then, he has participated in the workshopping of new productions with Obsidian Theatre, Tapestry Opera, and The Musical Stage Company. Christopher is elated to make his Toronto stage debut in The Negroes are Congregating before flying to Halifax to perform in Billy Elliot (Neptune Theatre)

Christopher Paul Bautista (Performer – Male 1) was born in Dallas, Texas. While playing Santa Claus in his kindergarten class, and seeing his Grandmother Shirley look on with a smile, he fell in love with performing. Following September 11th, he joined the military and went on two deployments with the US Marine Corps. Christopher then attended and graduated from the University of Southern California, where he studied English Literature, Theatre, and Film. It was while studying at USC, after attending a performance of Tennesee Williams’ Glass Menagerie that Christopher rekindled his passion with acting. His striking appearance, strong presence, and distinct voice make him a memorable addition to theatre, television, and film productions. Christopher’s recent credits include; Sound and Fury; (Shakespeare in Action), Fences; (Grand Theatre), Timothy Findley’s The Wars; (Grand Theatre).

When: Performances run from February 29 to March 14 at 7:30pm, with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00pm

Previews: Feb 27 at 7:30pm, Feb 28 at 2:00pm for previews, and every performance has a part-of-show discussion as a part of the 90 minutes.

Where: Theatre Passe Muraille (Mainspace Theatre), 16 Ryerson Ave, Toronto, ON

www.pieceofminearts.com

Natasha Adiyana Morris is an award winning playwright whose work has been presented in Canada, the United States, and Europe. She is the founder and executive director PIECE OF MINE Arts, a platform for Black play creators to showcase work-in-development, featuring over 150 artists since 2013. Natasha is the recipient of several accolades including SummerWorks’ New Performance Text Award, The Black Canadian Awards’ Leadership Certificate, and the Ontario’s Leading Women Building Communities Certificate. She credits local companies b current, anitafrika dub theatre, and Obsidian Theatre for her invaluable artistic training. The Negroes are Congregating originated out of development and excerpt presentations during the Piece of Mine Festival in 2016 at Toronto’s Palmerston Library Theatre.

The Negroes Are Congregating

The Negroes Are Congregating poses an unapologetic and impolite perspective about the ongoing effects of racism in Canada and around the world. Delivered through a fusion of spoken word, satire, and soulful dialect, audiences are invited to experience raw truths up close and personal – leaving them with an understanding of what it means to be Black, proud, and ready.

Each performance will include audience discussion.

www.pieceofminearts.com

Episode Transcript: https://stageworthypodcast.com/natasha-adiyana-morris/

Alan Dilworth is a theatre director, playwright and teacher. He is Artistic Director of Necessary Angel Theatre Company in Toronto. Alan’s work explores personal, social and political transformation, questions of the nature of ‘self’ and its relationship with ‘the other’, and the notion of a contemporary text-based theatre, although he also works in physical and image-based forms. His practice privileges vulnerability, presence, simplicity and the unknown. Alan has directed across Canada and internationally.

www.alandilworth.com

The Events

Written in response to the politically motivated mass shootings in Norway, The Events has been described as “…a solemn, searching and ultimately very moving play…” and “ an extraordinary new work…strangely uplifting…”.

www.necessaryangel.com

Note: in this episode, 2004 is given as the year of Utoya shootings, however this event actually occurred in 2011.

Transcript: https://stageworthypodcast.com/alan-dilworth/

Lauren Allen is a theatre artist originally from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Since graduating from Grant MacEwan University in 2013, she has worked across Canada and Europe as an actor, producer, burlesque instructor, stage manager, and director. She has settled in Toronto, for the moment. Most recently she has taken courses to become a script supervisor and will soon be seen again in Saskatchewan for Burn Rubber, Dolly at The Lyric Theatre in Swift Current.

Lauren is also a social media marketer, and the creator of Social Media the L.A. Way.

lauren-allen.net

Transcript: https://stageworthypodcast.com/lauren-allen/

Shaista Latif is a Queer Afghan-Canadian multidisciplinary artist, consultant and facilitator. Her works and collaborations have been presented by Koffler Gallery, Ontario Scene Festival, SummerWorks, Why Not Theatre, Blackwood Gallery, Mercer Union, the AGO, Halifax Queer Acts Festival, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre and recently the Undercurrents Festival. She is a published playwright (Playwrights Canada Press) and voiced the character Soraya in the Oscar-nominated film The Breadwinner. In 2020, Latif will be touring her critically acclaimed show The Archivist around Ontario. Her latest work Learning the Language of My Enemies was recently presented in conjunction with Nevet Yitzhak: WarCraft at the Koffler Gallery.

Twitter: @shaista_latif

How I Learned to Serve Tea

“Assessing the language of invitation and hosting, and how it translates into action is how I learned to serve tea. A hyphenated existence, my life is my work, my work is my life. Some people can categorize and separate but those of us who are marginalized can’t afford to do so. Sometimes I wonder if our work has had to evolve into critical interrogation out of necessity? If we lived in a decolonized world what would we be making? Who would we be serving? I think we are all capable and deserving of knowing and living ourselves into these answers. This workshop invites participants to reflect and confront on who gets to have a seat at the table.” – Shaista Latif

Tickets: http://progressfestival.org/programming/how-i-learned-to-serve-tea

Mateo Lewis is a Toronto based actor, writer and composer. His musical, Boys Don’t Cry was performed at the 2019 Toronto Fringe.

Twitter: @mateolewis

Alexander Crowther plays Casimir, and Hallie Seline plays Caroline, in The Howland Company’s production of Casimir and Caroline.

Casimir just got fired, his phone’s not working and his shoes are falling apart. Caroline wants to dance, sing karaoke, and forget about the weight of the world for just one night. They are engaged… for now. Casimir and Caroline is a play about love in the cold atmosphere of modern capitalism. We follow these ultra star-crossed lovers, as they navigate clingy co-workers, sketchy best friends, questionable HR representatives, the playboy boss, that powerhouse from the Montreal office and those beautiful few who might actually possess an ounce of wisdom. They all desperately long for something more. None of them can say what that might be. But at least their lives look #goals on Instagram.

CASIMIR AND CAROLINE, European playwright and novelist Ödön von Horváth’s 1932 tragicomedy, is one of the most frequently staged plays in the modern German repertoire, but until now has never been staged for a North American audience. It seems to be on the mind, however, with its recent shout out in Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story (Thank you Adam Driver)!

More about the Adaptation & Production:

“CASIMIR AND CAROLINE cares little for decorum,” says director Paolo Santalucia, “It relentlessly reminds us that we’ll never be rich enough, happy enough, or important enough to satisfy our desires. And when faced with the disappointment of falling short, it laughs at how outrageously we try to prove everyone otherwise.” Read more about the show here.

This 10-person ensemble will feature Howland Company members Alexander Crowther (Pure – CBC/WGN America, The Glass Menagerie – The Grand Theatre), Hallie Seline (The Wolves

Rounding out the creative team is award-winning set and costume designer Ken MacKenzie, lighting designer and Howland Company member Jareth Li, with sound design by Jeremy Hutton and original composition by Evan MacKenzie.

howlandcompanytheatre.com

Amy Lee & Heather Marie Annis, along with Byron Laviolette are the creators of the clown duo, Morro and Jasp, presenting Save the Date (directed byByron Laviolette and Kat Sandler) at the 2019 Next Stage Festival.

Save the Date

www.morroandjasp.com

Beatrice Pizano is one of Canada’s most important Latin-Canadian playwrights and directors. She founded Aluna – Canada’s first Latin theatre company in 2001 and has gone on to win multiple Dora’s, the prestigious John Hirsch Prize for Direction from the Canada Council for the Arts, The Ken McDougall Award for Direction, The Chalmers Fellowship, The Urjo Kareda Award (Tarragon Theatre), and The Metcalf Performing Arts Internship. As a writer/director Bea has been nominated three times for Best New Play for her multi-award-winning trilogy about women and war comprised of For Sale, Madre, and La Comunión. She has also created and led a number of youth programs both in Canada and Colombia including a theatre/photography workshop with ex-combatant children and youth victims from the armed conflict in her native Colombia. In November, she was named one of TD Bank’s Most Influential Hispanic Canadians of 2019.

The Solitudes

Eight women follow the thread of history and the bloodlines that brought each of them to this land, to this moment in their journeys towards home. Is home a house? Is home a “homeland?”

Their offering: eight recipes for transforming our solitudes and an invitation to sit at the table.

Inspired by the women of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, The Solitudes is a provocative, humorous, and visually charged experimental performance that conjures the many forces of separation that have overtaken our lives.

This is a protest. This is an act of claiming space. This is a call to action: because a house can be invaded, but home can never be taken away.

www.alunatheatre.ca