Media Contact: FOUR MAINSTAGE SHOWS PLUS ALBERT SCHULTZ S FRANKLY, SINATRA, NEW WORKSHOP PRESENTATIONS, & THE RETURN OF SPOON RIVER

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MEDIA RELEASE SOULPEPPER 2015: FALL PROGRAMMING UPDATE FOUR MAINSTAGE SHOWS PLUS ALBERT SCHULTZ S FRANKLY, SINATRA, NEW WORKSHOP PRESENTATIONS, & THE RETURN OF SPOON RIVER Toronto, ON August 4, 2015:

1 MEDIA RELEASE SOULPEPPER 2015: FALL PROGRAMMING UPDATE FOUR MAINSTAGE SHOWS PLUS ALBERT SCHULTZ S FRANKLY, SINATRA, NEW WORKSHOP PRESENTATIONS, & THE RETURN OF SPOON RIVER Toronto, ON August 4, 2015: Albert Schultz, Founding Artistic Director of Soulpepper Theatre Company, today announced additional fall 2015 programming, including the concert Albert Schultz s Frankly, Sinatra, a tribute to Sinatra and his unforgettable influence, which will also tour to Richmond Hill, Sault Ste. Marie and Kingston, ON later this year. Also new on the fall schedule: two workshop presentations from Soulpepper Academy graduates Anthony MacMahon and Thomas McKechnie; and the return of the award-winning musical Spoon River. New fall programming joins previously announced Soulpepper shows opening in September: the world premiere of Happy Place by Pamela Mala Sinha; Soulpepper s first production of Michel Tremblay, Yours Forever, Marie-Lou, in a new translation by Linda Gaboriau; The Play s the Thing by Ferenc Molnár adapted by P. G. Wodehouse; and Peter Weiss s Marat/ Sade translated by Geoffrey Skelton and Adrian Mitchell with a new score from Slaight Family Director of Music Mike Ross. Further details including casting can be found below and at soulpepper.ca. The new workshop presentations from playwrights, and recent Soulpepper Academy graduates, Anthony MacMahon and Thomas McKechnie are The Dead adapted from The Dead by James Joyce and The Thirst of Hearts adapted from War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. Under the banner of Soulpepper s Studio Series for new or developing works these presentations are exploratory workshops with an emphasis on storytelling and character arcs, supported by minimal sets and costumes. For audiences, the Workshops Presentations not only reveal the components of a working drama, but allow access to the introductory stages of two new Canadian plays. The Studio Series is presented by TD Bank. After an acclaimed run earlier this year, Soulpepper s original musical Spoon River went on to win Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Outstanding New Musical and Outstanding Musical Direction and Toronto Theatre Critics Awards for Best Musical and Best Director of a Musical (Albert Schultz). The show returns this November, and additional hard copies of the previously soldout Spoon River recording are available now at soulpepper.ca. Details about Soulpepper 2015 winter programming, including the second annual Soulpepper Family Festival, will be announced this September. Tickets for new fall programming are on sale now for Soulpepper subscribers. Single tickets will be available as of this Friday, August 7 at 10 a.m. Visit soulpepper.ca for more details. NEW FALL PROGRAMMING: SOULPEPPER 2015 MAINSTAGE Spoon River Adapted by Mike Ross and Albert Schultz. Composed by Mike Ross. Based on Spoon River Antholog y by Edgar Lee Masters Directed by Albert Schultz Spoon River returns by popular demand after winning Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Outstanding New Musical and Outstanding Musical Direction and Toronto Theatre Critics Awards for Best Musical and Best Director of a Musical (Albert Schultz).

2 Edgar Lee Masters seminal poems of the dead are brought to vibrant life in this celebrated musical adaptation as Spoon River s long-deceased residents narrate their own epitaphs, telling of their lives, loves, losses, and hard-earned truths in an immersive portrait of early 20th-century rural America. Spoon River runs from November 5 to 22. SOULPEPPER STUDIO SERIES: NEW WORKSHOP PRESENTATIONS The Dead Anthony MacMahon Adapted from The Dead by James Joyce Directed by Leah Cherniak It s the Morkan sisters annual dinner party and dance on the Feast of the Epiphany, Dublin, Their nephew Gabriel is tasked with making a speech to bring the year to a close, but words of the living and thoughts of the dead threaten his resolve. In this Workshop Presentation based on James Joyce s short story The Dead, Soulpepper Academy graduate and playwright Anthony MacMahon crafts a look into Joyce s unexplored narratives between Gabriel and his friends and family. In this original adaptation, the music of speech and the poetry of music expose the story s central themes of identity, fate and belonging. The cast includes: Derek Boyes; Mikaela Davies; Peter Fernandes; Katherine Gauthier; Hailey Gillis; Maggie Huculak; Richard Lam; Colin Palangio; and Brendan Wall. The Dead plays on September 8 at 8 p.m., and September 12 at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. The Thirst of Hearts Thomas McKechnie Adapted from War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Directed by Guillermo Verdecchia Prince Andrey and Countess Natasha must wait one year before their marriage. Although it is intended as a spiritual test for both of them neither can know what that year may hold. Adapted from one thread of Leo Tolstoy s War and Peace by Soulpepper Academy graduate and playwright Thomas McKechnie, The Thirst of Hearts is a story of proud aristocrats, rakish bachelors, near- sighted philosophers and the loss and recapture of faith, hope, and love. The cast includes: Frank Cox-O Connell; Mikaela Davies; Peter Fernandes; Katherine Gauthier; Hailey Gillis; Maggie Huculak; Richard Lam; Colin Palangio; and Mac Fyfe in his Soulpepper debut. The Thirst of Hearts plays on September 16 at 8 p.m., and September 19 at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. THE SOULPEPPER CONCERT SERIES CONTINUES Albert Schultz s Frankly, Sinatra Frankly, Sinatra is Albert Schultz s answer to the question Who is the greatest and most influential interpretive artist of the 20th Century?...Frankly, Sinatra! Backed by a quintet of some of this country s finest musicians, master storyteller, and Sinatra fanatic Albert Schultz weaves an evening of words and music that explore and celebrate the complex life and brilliant artistic legacy of Francis Albert Sinatra. Albert Schultz s Frankly, Sinatra plays on October 2 at 7:30 p.m., October 4 at 2:00 p.m. and October 11 at 2:00 p.m.

3 SOULPEPPER ON THE ROAD: ALBERT SCHULTZ S FRANKLY, SINATRA After a successful run last year in Port Hope, ON at the Cameco Capitol Theatre and sold-out shows at the Chester Playhouse earlier this month in Chester, NS, Albert Schultz s Frankly, Sinatra will be touring to several additional venues including its Toronto stop at Soulpepper. Schultz, along with music director Steve Hunter and a band of talented musicians will also be appearing in the following cities: Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts, Richmond Hill, ON October 14, 2015 rhcentre.ca The Algoma Fall Festival, Sault Ste. Marie, ON October 24, 2015 algomafallfestival.com The Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts, Kingston, ON December 12, 2015 theisabel.ca PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED MAINSTAGE PROGRAMMING: FALL 2015 The Play s the Thing Ferenc Molnár. Adapted by P.G. Wodehouse Directed by László Marton Soulpepper revisits one of its greatest productions from the company s earliest days with a fresh look at P.G. Wodehouse s deeply funny adaptation of Molnár s celebrated take on theatrical life. The cast features: Soulpepper Founding Members Diego Matamoros and William Webster; Oliver Dennis; Raquel Duffy; Gordon Hecht; C. David Johnson; and Gregory Prest. The Play s the Thing runs from September 2 to October 14. Opening night is September 9. Happy Place Pamela Mala Sinha Directed by Alan Dilworth Happy Place, the world premiere and second play from Dora Award-winning playwright Pamela Mala Sinha, explores and celebrates the courage, compassion and humour of seven women living amidst each other in the most extraordinary of circumstances. Why are they there? How did they get there? And, are we so different from them? Mature Content. The cast includes: Diane D Aquila; Deborah Drakeford; Oyin Oladejo; Irene Poole; Liisa Repo-Martell; Pamela Mala Sinha; and Caroline Gillis in her Soulpepper debut. Happy Place runs from September 4 to October 17. Opening night is September 10.

4 Marat/Sade The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade Peter Weiss. Translated by Geoffrey Skelton. Verse Adaptation by Adrian Mitchell Directed by Albert Schultz Original score by Mike Ross One of the most provocative, ambitious and richly theatrical plays of the 20th century, performed by over 20 members of the Soulpepper ensemble with a new score by Slaight Family Director of Music Mike Ross. Mature Content. The cast features: Soulpepper Founding Members Stuart Hughes, Diego Matamoros and William Webster; Derek Boyes; Frank Cox-O Connell; Mikaela Davies; Oliver Dennis; Deborah Drakeford; Peter Fernandes; Katherine Gauthier; Caroline Gillis; Hailey Gillis; Gordon Hecht; Richard Lam; Courtney Ch ng Lancaster; C. David Johnson; Oyin Oladejo; Colin Palangio; Gregory Prest; Liisa Repo-Martell; and Brendan Wall. Marat/Sade runs from September 14 to October 17. Opening night is September 22. Yours Forever, Marie-Lou Michel Tremblay. Translated by Linda Gaboriau. Directed by Diana Leblanc This is Soulpepper s first production of the man widely considered to be Canada s greatest writer for the stage. For this occasion Soulpepper has commissioned a new translation by the celebrated Linda Gaboriau. Soulpepper Founding Member Diana Leblanc, who has had a long and fruitful association with Tremblay as both an actor and director in French and English, takes the helm of this penetrating look at the emotional history of one Québec family. Mature Content. The cast includes the Soulpepper debuts of: Genevieve Dufour; Christian Laurin; Patricia Marceau; and Suzanne Roberts Smith. Yours Forever, Marie-Lou runs from September 14 to October 17. Opening night is September 23. Tickets to Soulpepper productions at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts are available by calling the Young Centre Box Office at or by visiting soulpepper.ca. Tickets for Soulpepper productions range from $94 to $ Tickets for the Soulpepper Concert Series range from $60 to $22. Tickets for the Workshop Presentations are $30 or $20 for Arts Workers/Student/StagePlay/Rush. For Mainstage productions, $24 tickets are available for Arts Workers and $24 tickets are available for year-olds at stageplay.ca. StagePlay is sponsored by TD Bank Group. The $24 Rush Ticket / $5 Youth Rush program is sponsored by Sun Life Financial. Ticket prices include a Young Centre facility fee, service charge and HST. Pricing is subject to change. Located in its multi-venue home, the Young Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto s Distillery Historic District, Soulpepper is Toronto s largest theatre company. Founded and guided by artists, under the leadership of Artistic Director Albert Schultz and Executive Director Leslie Lester, Soulpepper has an integrated mission which includes: industry-leading youth outreach initiatives; the Soulpepper Academy, Canada s only multi-year paid professional training program for theatre artists of all disciplines; and a year-round diverse repertory season which is grounded in the classics and committed to the creation of new works, new forms, and innovative practices. Soulpepper gratefully acknowledges annual operating support from the Ontario Arts Council, the Toronto Arts Council, and the Canada Council for the Arts. Soulpepper is pleased to recognize the donors of transformational gifts to its Creative Capital Campaign: The Michael Young Family Foundation; The Slaight Family; The Government of Ontario; Gail Drummond and Bob Dorrance; Ada Slaight; and Richard Wernham & Julia West.

5 Support for all Music Programming is provided by the Slaight Family through the Slaight Family Music Program. Mike Ross is the inaugural Slaight Family Director of Music. Lead Support for the Soulpepper Academy is provided by the Michael and Karen Vukets Family Foundation, with additional support from the RBC Foundation and Hal Jackman Foundation and the Canada Arts Training Program at the Department of Canadian Heritage. Soulpepper is grateful for the Major Sponsorship Support of: TELUS Lead Sponsor Youth Outreach Scotiabank Lead Sponsor Soulpepper City Youth Academy TD Bank Lead Sponsor Stage Play and Studio Series CIBC Lead Sponsor Soulpepper Family Festival SunLife Lead Sponsor Rush Program Support for Soulpepper Productions is provided by: 3Macs: Bedroom Farce Gretchen Ross: The Play s the Thing Middlefield: A Moveable Musical Maritime Feast; American Pie - A Songbook Investigation; Route 66 - The Heartland Polar Securities: Of Human Bondage Diane Blake + Stephen Smith: The Dining Room Richard Rooney: Marat/Sade For interviews, images or more information, please contact nathan@soulpepper.ca or katie@soulpepper.ca. -30-

MEDIA RELEASE SOULPEPPER S 2015 SEASON

MEDIA RELEASE SOULPEPPER S 2015 SEASON Toronto, ON November 4, 2014: Albert Schultz, Founding Artistic Director of Soulpepper Theatre Company, today announced the company s 2015 season from January to