Toronto Theatre News

• SPECIAL REPORT: DORA AWARDS 2010 RECIPIENTS
  The Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) celebrated the 31st anniversary of the Dora Mavor Moore Awards on Monday, June 28, 2010 at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts in the Bluma Appel Theatre...
• 2010 - 2011 SCHEDULE
  • Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company Announces 2010-2011 Season Includes a new Canadian play, an off-Broadway hit and a brand new musical!
    David Eisner and Avery Saltzman, co-Artistic Directors of the Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company, Toronto's only professional theatre company established to celebrate, illuminate and share Jewish culture, have announced their 2010-2011 subscription season.
  • Théâtre français de Toronto (TfT) Announces its 43rd Season: A Season of Great Classics!
    Guy Mignault, artistic director of Théâtre français de Toronto (TfT), unveiled the company's 2010/11 season line-up.
  • THEATRE PASSE MURAILLE ANNOUNCES NEW SEASON
• After two years & one million tickets sold Toronto's award-winning JERSEY BOYS to close August 22, 2010
  Celebrating two years on stage, one million tickets sold and three Dora Mavor Moore Awards, the Toronto production of JERSEY BOYS will say "Bye, Bye Baby" to Toronto on Sunday, August 22, 2010, the date of their second anniversary.
• July 16 - September 4
  Stars announced for Canadian premiere of “LOVE, LOSS, AND WHAT I WORE ”
  Michael Rubinoff and Daryl Roth have announced that Paula Brancati, Lauren Collins, Wendy Crewson, Cynthia Dale, Andrea Martin, and Louise Pitre are to star in the Canadian premiere...
• August 5 - 15
  THE HIDDEN CAMERAS HEADLINE SUMMERWORKS: Strongest Music Series line-up marks 20 years of Canada’s best arts fest on August 5 to 15
  Toronto's 20th annual SummerWorks Theatre Festival kicks-off August 5th with 42 plays, offsite performances, walking tours, workshops of plays-in-development, youth activities, and a slew of concerts.
• August 12 to September 5
  RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN'S SOUTH PACIFIC
  Rodgers & Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC will play at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto from August 12 to September 5, 2010 as part of Dancap Productions' inaugural Summer Broadway Series.
• October 21 - March 12, 2011
  Project: Humanity, Theatre Passe Muraille and Canadian Stage announce casting for THE MIDDLE PLACE
  Project: Humanity, Theatre Passe Muraille and Canadian Stage announced today casting for The Middle Place by Toronto playwright Andrew Kushnir, directed by Alan Dilworth.
• October 21 – 20
  TORONTO GETS A DOUBLE THRILL FROM LEPAGE THIS FALL
  This fall, Toronto audiences will have two thrilling opportunities to enjoy the theatrical genius of Robert Lepage thanks to The Canadian Stage Company and the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts.

New this year, the always-fabulous After-Party was even more awesome as it transformed Front Street into a giant street party in front of the theatre where surprise guest performances awaited.

Recognizing the outstanding achievements in Toronto's performing arts industry, the Doras honour the creators of over 200 theatre, dance and opera productions annually in the following categories: General Theatre, Independent Theatre, Dance, Opera and Theatre for Young Audiences. The Doras are named for Dora Mavor Moore (1888 - 1979), a well-loved teacher and director who helped establish Canadian professional theatre in the 1930s and 1940s.

AND THE DORA GOES TO
Luminato, Soulpepper, Tarragon and Theatrefront Tie Lead with 4 Awards Each

• In the General Theatre Production Division:
  Soulpepper's PARFUMERIE led with three awards including Outstanding Production & Direction.
  
  Tarragon's COURAGEOUS and IF WE WERE BIRDS each took two wins including Outstanding New Play for Courageous and Outstanding Performance by a Female in a Principal Role for If We Were Birds.

• In the Independent Theatre Production Division:
  Theatrefront's THE MILL led with four awards including Outstanding Production.
  
  DVxT's THE TURN OF THE SCREW captured three wins including Outstanding Direction & Male and Female Outstanding Performance.

• In the Dance Division:
  Factory's THIS TIME Scored two awards including Outstanding Original Choreography and Performance.

• In the Opera Division:
  Canadian Opera Company's THE NIGHTINGALE AND OTHER SHORT FABLES captured Outstanding Production.

• In Theatre for Young Audiences Division:
  Lorraine Kimsa and Roseneath each Scored with Outstanding Production and Outstanding Performance respectively for IN THIS WORLD and GET YOURSELF HOME SKYLER JAMES.

• In the Musical Theatre Division:
  BirdLand's ASSASSINS took Outstanding Production; Luminato's THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE nabbed Outstanding New Musical/Opera.

• OVERALL WINNERS:
  Overall, Luminato, Soulpepper Theatre Company, Tarragon Theatre and Theatrefront in association with the Young Centre tied for top spot with four Dora Mavor Moore Awards each.
  
  Luminato's were spread over the General Theatre Production (1), Musical Theatre (1) and Dance divisions (2) while Soulpepper and Tarragon tied in the General Theatre Production Division and Theatrefront led in the Independent Theatre Production Division.
  
  Following closely with 3 wins each were DVxT Theatre (Independent Theatre Division) and the Canadian Opera Company (2 in General Theatre and 1 in Opera).

Following are highlights from each division:

• GENERAL THEATRE PRODUCTION DIVISION:
  In the General Theatre Production Division, both Soulpepper Theatre Company and Tarragon Theatre led the field with four Dora Mavor Moore Awards each.
  
  Soulpepper won three for Parfumerie - Outstanding Production, Outstanding Direction of a Play / Musical for Morris Panych, and Outstanding Original Costume Design for Ken MacDonald - while Diego Matamoros earned Outstanding Performance by a Male in a Principal Role for Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf.
  
  Tarragon Theatre won two each for Courageous and If We Were Birds. Courageous: Michael Healey for Outstanding New Play; Maurice Dean Wint for Outstanding Performance in a Featured Role/Ensemble. If We Were Birds: Tara Rosling for Outstanding Performance by a Female in a Principal Role; Thomas Ryder Payne for Outstanding Original Sound Design/Composition.
  
  Healey also received a gift of $5,000 from the Bluma Appel Community Trust, the fifth year in a row this prize has been donated in Appel's name to the winner of Outstanding New Play in this division.
  
  Outstanding Touring Production went to Lipsynch (Luminato presents Ex Machina) while Andrea Lundy won Outstanding Original Lighting Design for Necessary Angel's Hamlet (presented by Harbourfront Centre's World Stage), the first of two Dora Awards for her this season - and the only person to win more than one this time out.
  
  The Canadian Opera Company (COC) saw Johannes Debus win Outstanding Musical Direction for The Flying Dutchman while Opera Atelier's The Marriage of Figaro saw Martha Mann nab Outstanding Original Costume Design. Outstanding Original Choreography went to Jonathon Feng Han, Alyssa Xiaoli Wang, Chen Jiao, and Wen Qiqi for Monkey King (a production of Sight, Sound & Action).

• INDEPENDENT THEATRE PRODUCTION DIVISION:
  Continuing the tradition of Bluma's Indies, the winners in the Independent Theatre Production Division all receive a $1,000 cheque from the Bluma Appel Community Trust in addition to Dora Awards.
  
  In this division, Theatrefront in association with the Young Centre for the Performing Arts led the way with four Dora Awards for its The Mill: Outstanding Production, Outstanding Original Set Design for Gillian Gallow, Outstanding Original Costume Design for Dana Osborne and Outstanding Original Lighting Design for Andrea Lundy (her second for this year).
  
  DVxT Theatre's The Turn of the Screw followed closely with three Doras: Outstanding Direction for Vikki Anderson, and both principal acting awards ¬- Outstanding Performance by a Male in a Principal Role for Clinton Walker and by a Female for Christine Horne.
  
  Donna-Michelle St. Bernard won for Outstanding New Play or New Musical for Gas Girls (New Harlem Productions) while Outstanding Performance in a Featured Role / Ensemble went to the Ensemble of Spent (produced by Theatre Smith-Gilmour, Why Not Theatre and Theatre Run). David Atkinson won Outstanding Original Sound Design / Composition for Keystone Theatre's The Belle of Winnipeg.

• DANCE DIVISION:
  In the Dance Division, this time (Factory Theatre presents an adelheid production) led: Heidi Strauss won Outstanding Original Choreography and Brendan Wyatt, Outstanding Performance.
  
  Outstanding Production went to Shoot the Moon/Wings of Wax/The Second Person (Luminato presents Nederlands Dans Theater). Outstanding Original Sound Design/Composition went to Richard Sacks in collaboration with Red Sky musicians: Tuvshinjargal Damdinjav, Bat-Orshikh Bazarvaani, Batmend Baasankhuu, Eddy Robinson, Theo McGregor for Tono (Luminato presents Red Sky Performance in association with Harbourfront Centre).

• THEATRE FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES DIVISION:
  For the two awards in the Theatre for Young Audiences Division: Outstanding Production went to In This World (Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People presents Youtheatre) while Natasha Greenblatt earned Outstanding Performance for Get Yourself Home Skyler James (Roseneath Theatre).

• MUSICAL THEATRE DIVISION:
  In this new division, the four awards went to: R Murray Schafer for Outstanding New Musical / Opera for The Children's Crusade (Luminato in association with Soundstreams Canada); BirdLand Theatre and Talk is Free Theatre for Outstanding Production for Assassins; Jeff Lillico for Outstanding Performance by a Male in a Principal Role for The Light in the Piazza (Acting Up Stage Company) and Louise Pitre for Outstanding Performance by a Female in a Principal Role for The Toxic Avenger Musical (Dancap Productions Inc.).

• OPERA DIVISION:
  In the Opera Division, both Dora Awards went to the Canadian Opera Company: Outstanding Production for The Nightingale and Other Short Fables (Canadian Opera Company /Festival d'Aix-en-Provence/Opéra national de Lyon in collaboration with Ex Machina) and Outstanding Performance to Julie Makerov for The Flying Dutchman.

• OTHER AWARDS:
  The Pauline McGibbon, Silver Ticket and Audience Choice Awards were also handed out. Production craftsperson Lokki Ma was presented with the 2010 Pauline McGibbon Award. The $7,000 cash prize and medal designed by Dora de Pédery-Hunt is awarded on behalf of the Ministry of Culture and the Ontario Arts Council in a three-year cycle to a designer, director and theatre craftsperson.
  
  The Silver Ticket Award is bestowed upon an individual who has excelled in their career while also nurturing the development of Canadian theatre. It was presented to one of the country's major contributors to Canada's theatrical landscape: Obsidian Theatre Artistic Director Philip Akin who has worked tirelessly to provide opportunities and guidance for emerging black artists.
  
  TAPA's Audience Choice Award for Outstanding Production, co-sponsored by NOW Magazine and Yonge-Dundas Square, was also handed out. The public was invited to vote online from a list of Outstanding Production nominees in all divisions; or input their own favourite. Presented with a commemorative plaque, the Audience Choice Award winner is Mirvish Productions' Rock of Ages.

For more information on the Dora Awards visit www.tapa.ca

The 2010/11 season is made up of:

• 4 shows for General Audiences;
• 2 shows for adolescents (Nouvelles Gènèrations) ;
• 2 shows for children (Jeune Public).

The shows will be presented at the Berkeley Street Theatre.

Given their success over the last five years, TfT will once again offer performances with English surtitles, which, for the first time, will make up 50% of the performances for General Audiences. All four General Audiences productions will include some performances with surtitles.

Mercredis Bavardeurs (post-show talks with the actors) are now extended to all Wednesday night performances.

TFT has further simplified its subscription packages, offering more flexibility and benefits to subscribers. Before May 1, 2010, subscription prices range from $75 to $154, depending on the package. TFT encourages customers to save money (up to 40% of single-ticket prices) by avoiding the HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) on every subscription purchased before May 1, 2010.

To spotlight its 43rd anniversary, TfT is pleased to produce three new pieces:

• Les Fridolinades by Gratien Gélinas. Following Les Médecins de Molière in 2009/10, this new work is the second of five co-production projects with Thé‚tre La Catapulte of Ottawa; directed by Perry Schneiderman, it will also go on tour throughout Ontario
• À toi, pour toujours, ta Marie-Lou (Forever Yours, Mary Lou) by Michel Tremblay. TfT celebrates in its own style 40 years of this great Tremblay classic
• L'école des femmes (The School for Wives), Molière's first great classical comedy. From the great Molière, with eight actors, directed by Diana Leblanc.

• Une maison face au nord (A North-Facing House) by Jean-Rock Gaudreault
  The play will tour 31 cities in New Brunswick, Québec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, British-Columbia and Alberta.
  A co-production of Théâtre français de Toronto, Théâtre fLa Rubrique, and Théâtre du Tandem
• Les Médecins de Molière (Molière's Doctors) by Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, a.k.a. Molière
  The play will tour 14 cities in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Ontario and Saskatchewan.
  A co-production of Théâtre français de Toronto and Théâtre La Catapulte (Ottawa)
• Les Fridolinades by Gratien Gélinas
  The play will tour 6 cities in Ontario
  A co-production of Théâtre français de Toronto and Théâtre La Catapulte (Ottawa).

www.theatrefrancais.com

THEATRE PASSE MURAILLE ANNOUNCES 2010 - 2011 NEW SEASON

This is the play that wonders how far we’ve come.

“Now, what I want is facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but facts.”
Two of Toronto’s most acclaimed independent theatre companies – Puppetmongers (Tea at the Palace, Cinderella in Muddy York) and the night kitchen (Radio: 30, Big Head Goes to Bed) join forces to bring you a savagely funny new adaptation of Dickens’ satire of laissez-faire capitalism and Utilitarian political philosophy. Using mask and puppetry, three performers create a world in which the laws of supply and demand are the sole basis of all human interaction.

“Puppetry just doesn’t get any better than Ann and David’s work”
Puppetry Journal USA

The Middle Place
Tickets are $15-$35
www.artsboxoffice.ca
Preview October 21, Opens October 26, Closes November 13

This is the play that makes you spare change.

Playwirght, meet Toronto’s homeless. In 2007, a young, well-meaning, middle-class playwright accompanied Project: Humanity into the shelter system to do on-camera interviews with the residents of a Rexdale youth shelter. The Middle Place is what became of this unpredictable meeting in the middle. Verbatim from their testimony; this play gives voice to the unheard and sheds light on the forgotten.

For the first full production since its popular run at SummerWorks 2009, be prepared for an entertaining and compelling docudrama that deconstructs the stigmas around our city’s homeless youth.

“An eye-opening, intelligent and funny piece of verbatim theatre”
The Globe and Mail

The Cure for Everything
Tickets are $15-$35
www.artsboxoffice.ca
Preview November 10, Opens November 16, Closes December 4

This is the performance that rejoices in the return of Elsa.

The precocious character who won hearts in the Dora Award winning You Fancy Yourself is back as a teenager in Maja Ardal’s new play. It’s 1962, and Elsa’s wild new world of sex and rock and roll, is being rattled by some explosive tension that’s building on the world stage.

“Raw, funny emotional and like nothing else you will see”
2009 Edinburgh Festival Fringe Hairline Magazine

Roshni
Tickets are $15-$35
www.artsboxoffice.ca
Preview November 18, Opens November 23, Closes December 11

This is the story that makes you beg for more.

Two-time Dora Award-winning Anusree Roy is back with a two-hander that follows the story of a pair of fearless youths who works as beggars in a Calcutta train station. As they shine shoes, pick pockets and beg, Chumki dreams of the gift of sight, while King Kumar dreams of stardom. Some dreams can come true. Some cannot. A story of hope and friendship in the most dire of circumstances.

“Roy’s performance...is so intense and impassioned...with dashes of humour even in the darkest moments”
Toronto Star

Oh My Irma
Tickets are $15-$35
www.artsboxoffice.ca
Preview January 5, Opens January 11, Closes January 29

This is the story that examines her dirty laundry.

This mesmerizing and hilarious piece by new artist Haley McGee follows the journey of a poet named Mission Bird as she struggles to find out how her mother, Irma, has died. The clues of a bloody tuxedo shirt, a dog also named Irma and a few whiffs of laundry detergent are all that Mission Bird needs to solve the case.

“[Haley McGee’s] acting is superb”
The Whig Standard

Highway 63: The Fort Mac Show
Tickets are $15-$35
www.artsboxoffice.ca
Preview February 3, Opens February 8, Closes February 26

This is the show that fuels you.

Barrels of oil? Or barrels of monkeys? Using a combination of verbatim and improvisation, the voices of Fort McMurray’s transients and locals come alive at a time of major change. Some of this country’s most exciting theatre creators reveal life at the northern tip of Highway 63, at the front lines of the world’s largest energy project, the Athabasca Oil Sands.

“...the best performance I’ve seen this year.”
Vue Weekly

Montparnasse
Tickets are $15-$35
www.artsboxoffice.ca
Preview March 17, Opens March 22, Closes April 2

This is the story that reveals the naked truth.

Montparnasse invites you to peek behind the canvas and discover the clandestine world of nude models in 1920s Paris. As Amelia & Margaret leave Canada to enter a world brimming with Bohemian writers and artists, they are engulfed by their desire for truth, passion and power.

“Pure gold...everything about this show is perfection”
Classical 96.3

The Last 15 Seconds
www.passemuraille.on.ca
416-504-7529
Tickets are $15-$35
www.artsboxoffice.ca
Theatre Passe Muraille, 16 Ryerson Ave, M5T 2P3
Preview April 6, Opens April 7, Closes April 16

This is the experience that makes every second count.

Using movement, dance, video, vocals and text, this project explores the topic of terrorism. It starts from the tragic death of Syrian-American filmmaker Mustapha Akkad and his daughter Rima in a series of coordinated attacks that hit three prominent hotels in the Jordanian capital Amman in 2005. The work constructs an imagined physical and verbal dialogue between Mustapha Akkad and Rawad Jassem Mohammad Abed, the suicide bomber who carried out the explosion. The work also looks at the imagined lives and memories of both the victim and his killer as they revisit each other’s lives after their fatal encounter.

“...Riveting.”
Waterloo Region Record

JERSEY BOYS, the story of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, premiered in Toronto initially as a limited engagement on August 21, 2008.† After opening to rave reviews, adding additional performance weeks and setting box office records, JERSEY BOYS became a resident production on December 12, 2008.† Now the longest-running musical in the history of the Toronto Centre for the Arts, JERSEY BOYS will play its final performance Sunday, August 22 at 7:30pm, which will be the Company's 830th performance.† Tickets to all performances are now on sale.

"We owe a huge thanks to the City of Toronto," said Aubrey Dan, President, Dancap Productions.† "Toronto embraced JERSEY BOYS from the start and it was thrilling to see audiences celebrate this incredible story and timeless music.† We are very proud of the accomplishments as we share this great success with the entire Company of JERSEY BOYS, our partner Dodger Theatricals from New York, our employees and the Toronto Centre for the Arts. We especially thank the audiences that came from all over the world who made it all possible."

JERSEY BOYS stars Michael Lomenda as Nick Massi, Jeff Madden as Frankie Valli, Daniel Robert Sullivan as Tommy DeVito and Quinn VanAntwerp as Bob Gaudio.† The company also comprises:† Gabriel Antonacci, Matthew G. Brown, Matt Cassidy, Jade Elliott, …lodie Gillett, Steven M. Goldsmith, Bryan Hindle, Victoria Lamond, Aaron MacKenzie, Adrian Marchuk, W. Joseph Matheson, Timothy Sell, Alison Smyth, Grant Tilly, Cleopatra Williams and Shawn Wright.

Directed by two-time Tony AwardÆ winner Des McAnuff, JERSEY BOYS is written by Academy Award winner Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, with music by Bob Gaudio, lyrics by Bob Crewe and choreography by Sergio Trujillo. The Canadian production of JERSEY BOYS is produced by Dancap Productions Inc., Dodger Theatricals, Joseph J. Grano, Tamara and Kevin Kinsella, Pelican Group in association with Latitude Link and Rick Steiner.

THE HIDDEN CAMERAS HEADLINE SUMMERWORKS
Strongest Music Series line-up marks 20 years of Canada’s best arts fest
August 5-15, LOT Mainstage Theatre

This year, SummerWorks welcomes The Hidden Cameras for two intimate and theatrical evenings at the LOT Mainstage Theatre, August 5th and 6th.

“The Hidden Cameras are one of this country's most theatrically delicious bands,” says Michael Rubenfeld, Artistic Producer of the festival. He adds, "They're a perfect match for SummerWorks, and I'm really excited to be able to welcome them onto our stage.”

In its third year, the SummerWorks Music Series gives audiences a taste of both local and national indie rock. The SummerWorks Music Series, sponsored by CBC Radio3 and Exclaim! hosts ten evenings of music featuring some of Canada's best indie muscians.

All concerts will be held at new SummerWorks venue, The Lower Ossington Theatre (The LOT). An arts space located at 100A Ossington Avenue. Tickets for LOT main stage shows are $10 and pay-what-you-can at the Performance in (Lower LOT stage). The Hidden Cameras are on-sale now at Rotate This, Soundscapes and artsboxoffice.ca

The National Tour cast of Rodgers & Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC will be led by Jason Howard as Emile de Becque and Carmen Cusack as Nellie Forbush, with Anderson Davis (Lt. Cable), Matthew Saldivar (Luther Billis), Keala Settle (Bloody Mary), Gerry Becker (Capt. Brackett), Peter Rini (Cmdr. Harbison), Sumie Maeda (Liat), Rusty Ross (Professor), Genson Blimline (Stewpot, original 2008 Broadway cast member), Christina Carrera (Ngana) and CJ Palma (Jerome).

Welsh-born and Toronto-based, Jason Howard developed much of his classical repertoire with the Edmonton Opera where he recently portrayed the Dutchman in Wagner's Die Fliegende Holl‰nder. He has also been performing with the Hamilton Opera since 1994 singing such roles as the Count in Le nozze di Figaro and Escamillo in Carmen. Other opera highlights include Capt. Brant in Mourning Becomes Electra at the Chicago Lyric, Seattle and New York City Operas; Germont in La Traviata at English National, Minnesota and New York City Operas; Marcello in La BohËme at Covent Garden, Geneva, Paris, Welsh National Opera, Toulouse; and Wotan in Wagner's Ring Cycle, Strasbourg.

Carmen Cusack, originally from Houston, Texas, spent the last two years playing Elphaba in Wicked (US National Tour, Chicago and Australia productions). Her many West End credits include Les Misérables (Fantine; UK, US and Shanghai), The Secret Garden (Rose; Royal Shakespeare Company), and The Phantom of the Opera (Christine; UK National Tour).

Based on James Michener's Pulitzer Prize winning book Tales of the South Pacific, Rodgers & Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC has music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan. Set in an island paradise during World War II, two parallel love stories bloom amidst the trappings of war, but then are threatened by the dangers of prejudice. The show's score includes such classic songs as Some Enchanted Evening, I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair, There is Nothin' Like A Dame, and A Wonderful Guy.

The lavish new production, presented by Bob Boyett and NETworks Presentations, features a cast of 34, musical staging by Christopher Gattelli, sets by Michael Yeargan (winner of the 2008 Tony Award®), costumes by Catherine Zuber (winner of the 2008 Tony AwardÆ), lighting by Donald Holder (winner of the 2008 Tony AwardÆ), sound by Scott Lehrer (winner of the 2008 Tony AwardÆ) and music direction by Ted Sperling. A full orchestra of 26 members - the largest orchestra of any touring Broadway production, of which the majority will be local Toronto musicians - will perform the original orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett (winner of a Special 2008 Tony AwardÆ) and dance and incidental music arranged by Trude Rittmann.

Launched in 2007 by Aubrey Dan, Dancap Productions Inc. is a commercial theatre company dedicated to producing and presenting the best of Broadway-style theatre created in collaboration with acclaimed artists and award-winning creative teams based in Toronto, Canada. Current and upcoming Broadway shows with producing and investment credits include: The Addams Family, Memphis, West Side Story, A Little Night Music and Come Fly Away. Past Broadway and international credits include: Wicked, Tom Stoppard's Rock 'n' Roll, [Title of Show], the Tony AwardÆ winner In The Heights, and JERSEY BOYS; the Tony Award® winning show still playing on Broadway, the First National Tour, productions in Las Vegas, the West End, Melbourne and the long-running Dora Award-winner in Toronto.

The Toronto production will feature four of the original cast of five including Akosua Amo-Adem (who won the SummerWorks 2009 Award for best new emerging artist for her portrayal), Antonio Cayonne, Jessica Greenberg and Kevin Walker. Actor/playwright Andrew Kushnir will play himself in the production for the first time.† The five actors bring the extraordinary voices of sixteen homeless youth, three tireless caseworkers and one outsider (Kushnir) to life in this disquieting yet hopeful play. The Toronto production marks an exciting collaboration between Canadian Stage and Theatre Passe Muraille (TPM), joining forces for the first time in a unique form of play development and presentation – a rolling opening. The pioneering venture affords the playwright the opportunity to continue developing the work between productions at the two theatres.

A Canadian tour begins immediately following the production’s Toronto dates. The Middle Place heads to the SPARK Festival at Victoria’s Belfry Theatre from March 14 to 20, 2011, and then to Ottawa’s Great Canadian Theatre Company (GCTC), March 29 to April 17, 2011. The touring cast will feature four of the Toronto cast with Monica Dottor stepping in for Jessica

The Middle Place is an artful and provocative means of tackling the subject of youth homelessness. “It tells the story of a specific community in Toronto but its implications reach beyond its point-of-origin,” states playwright Andrew Kushnir. “It is not only a Toronto story, it is a Canadian story.”

The play speaks to the current social challenges faced by homeless youth across Canada. Raising The Roof, a national charitable organization devoted to eradicating homelessness in Canada, estimates that 65,000 youth are homeless or living in homeless shelters throughout the country at some time during the year.† Toronto, according to Youth Without Shelter (the Toronto-based emergency shelter where The Middle Place interviews took place), has the largest homeless population in Canada; 28% of Toronto’s homeless are youth. The organization also states that youth are among the most disadvantaged of all homeless people, facing barriers to income support, finishing high school, paid employment and rental accommodation due to their age. According to the Greater Victoria Coalition to Solve Homelessness, it is estimated that between 250 and 300 youth are on Victoria’s streets and according to Ottawa’s Alliance to End Homelessness, 464 youth were on Ottawa’s streets in 2008, up from 365 youth in 2007.

The Andersen Project, an Ex Machina production presented by Canadian Stage is a modern-day, multimedia fairy-tale written and directed by Robert Lepage. The one-man show performed by Yves Jacques combines cutting-edge technology and ingenious props to create a world of theatrical illusion. An artist travels to Paris, at the request of a famed opera house, which has commissioned him to write the libretto for a children's opera based on fairy-tales by Hans Christian Andersen. The experience enables him to explore questions of sexual identity, unfulfilled fantasies, a thirst for recognition and fame. The piece was commissioned by the Kingdom of Denmark in 2005 as part of their 200^th anniversary celebrations of Hans Christian Anderson's birth and originally starred Lepage. It has since been performed in Canada (in Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa and Vancouver), the US, Europe, the UK, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. The Andersen Project will be presented October 21-30, 2010 at Canadian Stage's Bluma Appel Theatre, 27 Front Street East, Toronto, with evening and matinee performances

Eonnagata, an Ex Machina production presented by Sony Centre, tells the story of Charles de Beaumont, Chevalier d’éon, an 18^th -century French diplomat, writer, and spy. Daring and unconventional, de Beaumont is believed to be the first spy to use cross-dressing in order to successfully carry out his missions and, until the day he died, his true gender was a source of constant speculation. Drawing on the onnagata of Japanese Kabuki theatre in which male actors play female roles, Eonnagata melds dance and theatre to probe the mystery of gender and human nature. This remarkable production from London's acclaimed Sadler's Wells first premiered in 2009 and has since toured France, Spain and Germany. Created and performed by Robert Lepage, internationally acclaimed French ballerina Sylvie Guillem and award-winning British choreographer Russell Maliphant, Eonnagata features lighting by Michael Hulls, spectacular costumes by the late fashion designer Alexander McQueen, and sound design by Jean-Sébastien Cðté. Eonnagata will be presented by the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts located at 1 Front Street East, Toronto, on November 18 and 19, 2010, at 8 p.m.