Factory Theatre NAKED 2015/16 SEASON CANADIAN CLASSICS REIMAGINED 2015/16 SEASON SPONSOR FALL SEASONETTE

Transcription

1 Factory Theatre NAKED 2015/16 SEASON CANADIAN CLASSICS REIMAGINED 2015/16 SEASON SPONSOR FALL SEASONETTE

2 THE HERMENEUTICS OF THE TEXTS: NOTES ON BEING NAKED Hermeneutics is the philosophical study of textual and non-textual communication and its meaning, up to and including the lenses through which we, in our historical present, make those meanings. In short, hermeneutics is the theory and practice of interpretation. As a tool of textual analysis, its roots are in the ancient world but probably attained the most critical function in the Middle Ages and Renaissance as a means of deciphering meaning in the Christian Bible. Through the years, the fundamental questions of hermeneutics have changed from, How should one read this, to How do we communicate at all, to What are the conditions in my culture that allow me to make meaning from this thing I am encountering? There is something very profound about that last question, taking us as it does away from the objects we encounter in this case, some of the most exciting plays from some of Canada s most exceptional playwrights directed by an all-star team of directors and forcing us to ask questions not solely of the plays themselves, but of our culture, and our individual places in it. Factory s Naked Season is all about making meaning through asking questions about what happens when we strip something we think we know down to its most essential parts. Each of the plays in this season offers us an opportunity to reflect on the culture we inhabit as we make meaning from these productions. But more than that, the season asks us to interrogate how we make meaning out of searching for truth while watching make-believe in the dark. So what is Naked in the context of this season? Well, that requires some interpretation, since the answer is simultaneously simple and complex. On the one hand, Naked is exactly what it denotes devoid of customary or natural covering but for us, it runs deeper than that. Yes, you will see productions throughout this season that look different from many stage productions you will have seen. The stage may be more bare and suggestive than sumptuous and literal. The costumes may look more like everyday clothes than corsets, saris, or military uniforms. On the other, Naked connotes not only an aesthetic, but an attitude one that embraces vulnerability and strength; simplicity and depth; sensuality and myth. It is predicated on the notion that at its base, an encounter with actors, text, and an empty space that we all temporarily share not only provides the opportunity to ask about our culture, but demands that we do so. FACTORY GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGES THE OUTSTANDING AND GENEROUS SUPPORT OF SEASON SPONSOR CORPORATE DONOR S THE CATHERINE & MAXWELL MEIGHEN CREATIVE TRUST THE J.P. BICKELL PRODUCTION SPONSOR FOR SALT-WATER MOON FACTORY FOREMEN SPONSORS GOVERNMENT SUPPORT NANCY S VERY OWN PILKINGTON- HENNIGER CHARITABLE TRUST NEW WORK DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT LINDY GREEN & SAM CHAITON THE HENRY WHITE KINNEAR THE MCLEAN THE PLURALISM FUND an Ontario government agency un organisme du gouvernement de l Ontario MEDIA SPONSOR 2 FACTORY THEATRE We invite you to come to Factory not to sit back and enjoy, but to lean forward and engage. We hope that the plays presented will prompt you to ask questions, to come early and stay late, and to revel in the variety of meaning making we can accomplish together. Matt McGeachy Company Dramaturg CAPITAL CAMPAIGN LEAD GIFT CAPITAL CAMPAIGN SUPPORTERS W. MICHAEL THAN ANONYMOUS RIOCAN FACTORY THEATRE 3

3 4 FACTORY THEATRE AGE OF AROUSAL Wildly inspired by The Odd Women by George Gissing By Linda Griffiths Directed by Jennifer Brewin The Cast Aviva Armour-Ostroff - Virginia Madden Marie Beath Badian Rhoda Nunn Leah Doz Monica Madden Sam Kalilieh Everard Madden Juno Rinaldi Alice Madden Julie Stewart Mary Barfoot The Team Jennifer Lennon Lighting Designer Michael Rinaldi - Sound Coordinator Laura Baxter Stage Manager Kay Jameson Assistant Stage Manager Aaron Jan Assistant Director Erin Frances Gerofsky Head of Wardrobe Robert Gontier Dialect Coach Richard Lee Fight Director The world premiere of Age of Arousal was presented as part of the Enbridge playrites Festival of New Canadian Plays 2007, at Alberta Theatre Projects, Calgary, Canada. Age of Arousal was developed in a series of workshops produced by Duchess Productions. Dramaturgy by Karen Hines. Age of Arousal is produced by arrangement with The Talent House, 204A St. George Street, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5R 2N5. DIRECTOR S NOTE Everyone in this play is on the brink of tumultuous change. L. Griffiths Linda Griffiths Age of Arousal is a naturalistic play with absurdist tendencies. It s an historical drama with an invented timeline. It s a platonic discourse and filled with sex. It s an ensemble piece with six protagonists. It s a mash up of all that is virtuosic about Canadian theatre, alive with the spirit of the collective creation. It is finely crafted spontaneity and nuanced political thinking. It bears the traces of those heady, post-centennial days when Canadian theatre was invented. The play presents an interesting and unusual take on feminism: a revolutionary suffragist is now running a typing school for women. This off-centre history of the women s movement provokes serious reflection. How does one capture a permanent seat at the table of public discourse? What happens after the revolution? In Griffiths world, complacency is the devil but heroism can be shortsighted. Age of Arousal reminds us that the status of women was then as it is now in flux. This past summer Flora MacDonald passed away. In 1972, she won the federal Tory nomination in Kingston and the Islands, to become the only woman among the 107 Tories elected. She was the first woman in the western world to serve as foreign minister, and the first woman to challenge for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party. In her post-parliamentary years, she travelled the developing world on behalf of women as she fought poverty and injustice. Had she been born 20 years later, she might well have been Canada s first female prime minister (Patrick Martin, The Globe and Mail). Flora MacDonald began her working life as a bank teller, after having trained at the Empire Business College, a secretarial school in North Sydney, Nova Scotia. This production is for her. Jennifer Brewin Director FACTORY THEATRE 5

4 BIOGRAPHIES LEAH DOZ, Monica Madden AVIVA ARMOUR-OSTROFF, Virginia Madden Other Recent Theatre Credits: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, Great Expectations, La Ronde (Soulpepper); Tartuffe, The Sound of Music, Enron (National Arts Centre); The Matchmaker, Much Ado About Nothing (Stratford Festival); Tomasso s Party (Rooftop Creations); A Raisin in the Sun (Black Theatre Workshop). Other Recent Theatre Credits: Moment Dora Nomination (ARC), He Left Quietly SummerWorks Best Production (Theatre Hetaerae), Elora Gorge (The Room), The Miracle Worker (Chemanius/Western Canada Theatre). Aviva was the founder and Artistic Director of The Lab Cab Festival. She is currently a member of ARC (Actor s Repertory Company). Film & TV Credits: The Strain, Damien, Mayday and Layne Coleman and Bill Hominuke s film, The Shape of Rex. Upcoming: Hedda Gabler (Canadian Stage/Necessary Angel). MARIE BEATH BADIAN, Rhoda Nunn Other Recent Theatre Credits: Acting: Monster Under the Bed (YPT), Conservatives in Love (Next Stage Theatre Festival), Schoolhouse (Blyth Festival); Playwriting: Prairie Nurse (Blyth Festival), The Making of St. Jerome (Next Stage Theatre Festival, Dora Nominated); Directing/Dramaturg: Reverend Jonah (Blyth Festival). Upcoming: The Making of St. Jerome is being published by Playwrights Canada Press in Spring Marie Beath is writing a sequel to her play Prairie Nurse. Film & TV Credits: Murdoch Mysteries (CBC); It s Not My Fault and I Don t Care Anyway (Mosaic Entertainment); Delmer and Marta (APTN); One Drop (A Film Monkey Productions); Issues (Bravofact); You Are Free (Lifeguard Productions); Touring T.O. (Bell Media); Hailstorm (Canadian Film Centre). Other: Leah is a graduate of the National Theatre School. LINDA GRIFFITHS, Playwright For Factory: Age of Arousal Other Theatre Credits: Maggie & Pierre; The Duchess a.k.a: Wallis Simpson; Alien Creature: A visitation from Gwendolyn MacEwen. Other: Winner of five Dora Mavor Moore Awards, A Gemini Award, Two Chalmers Awards and a Betty Mitchell Award. SAM KALILIEH, Everard Barfoot Other Recent Theatre Credits: The Peacemaker (Next Stage); The Christmas Cookie Sprinkle Snatcher (OLOGC Theatre). LAURA BAXTER, Stage Manager For Factory: Toronto the Good, The Real McCoy Other Recent Theatre Credits: The 20th of November, Arigato Tokyo, Obaaberima, The Maids, The Silicone Diaries, Breakfast, Neon Nightz (Buddies in Bad Times Theatre), NSFW, God of Carnage, Clybourne Park (Studio 180 Theatre), The Public Servant, The Story, Happy Days, All That Fall, And Up They Flew (Theatre Columbus), Dirt, Jitters (Soulpepper), Julius Caesar, Comedy of Errors, As You Like It, Titus Andronicus, The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night s Dream, The Winter s Tale (Canadian Stage Shakespeare in High Park), Venus in Fur (CanadianStage), Soliciting Temptation, More Fine Girls (Tarragon Theatre), Speaking in Tongues, Festen (The Company Theatre), A Sleigh Ride Christmas Carol, Everyone, The Story, Macbeth (Caravan Farm Theatre), The New Electric Ballroom (MacKenzieRo). Film & TV Credits: Fool Canada, Twelve Monkeys, Beauty and the Beast. Etc: Special thanks to my loves, Nabiha, Rifa,Mabel, Blanche and my best friend Lisa Brooke. JUNO RINALDI, Alice Madden Other Recent Theatre Credits: Motherload (The Cultch); It s Snowing on Saltspring (Arts Club); Studies in Motion (Electric Company); Cozy Catastrophe, Lazy Susan (Theatre Melee); A Midsummer Night s Dream; King Lear (Caravan Farm Theatre); Community Dinner (Rumble Productions); The Matchmaker of Montreal (Firehall Arts Centre); Unity 1918 (WCTC); The Coronation Voyage (Vancouver Playhouse). 6 FACTORY THEATRE JENNIFER BREWIN, Director Other Recent Theatre Credits: The Dog & The Angel, Weather the Weather, The Ballad of Weedy Peetstraw, The Peace Maker, The Story (Theatre Columbus). Other: Co-authored a number of collective creations including The Public Servant and The Attic The Pearls and Three Fine Girls (Common Boots-Theatre Columbus/ GCTC). Etc: Jennifer is the recipient of a Dora Mavor Moore Award, a Jessie Richardson Award, A Harold Award and The Armstrong Award of Excellence with Estelle Shook on behalf of the Caravan Farm Theatre. She is the former Co-Artistic Director (Caravan Farm Theatre), the Associate Artist (National Arts Centre), and current Artistic Director of Common Boots Theatre (formerly Theatre Columbus). Film & TV Credits: Elbow Grease, Life, Degrassi, Arrow, Supernatural, The Killing, Fringe, Psych, Jennifer s Body, Tooth Fairy, Robson Arms, The War Between Us. Other: Juno is a graduate of Studio 58. Upcoming: Stationary (Theatre Aquarius), Motherload:BC Tour (The Cultch). JULIE STEWART, Mary Barfoot For Factory: True Love Lies Other Recent Theatre Credits: Dead Metaphor (Canadian Rep Theatre); The Blonde, the Brunette, and the Vengeful Redhead (Thousand Islands Playhouse); And Up They Flew (Theatre Columbus). Film & TV Credits: Still Mine, King, Loving Loretta, Cold Squad. FACTORY THEATRE 7

5 FALL SEASONETTE SUPPORTING ARTISTS BIOGRAPHIES JENNIFER LENNON, Fall Seasonette Lighting Designer For Factory: Bingo! Other Recent Theatre Credits: Better Angels: A Parable (Call Me Scotty Productions); Stupidhead! A Mucisal Cmoedy (Disorganized Productions); The Twelve-Pound Look (Shaw Festival); Old Man and the River (Theatre Direct); We Walk Among You (Artichoke Heart); Rob Ford the Musical (McCaig Regan Productions); Unknown Soldier (Architect Theatre / lemontree Creations); The Container (The Container Collective). As lighting and technical director: A Rare Mix (Toronto Dance Theatre), Parashakti: Primordial Energy (Menaka Thakkar Dance Company). As associate lighting designer: A Christmas Carol (Soulpepper, 2014). Upcoming: The Enlightenment of Percival Von Schmootz (Theatre Sheridan). FOR AGE OF AROUSAL MICHAEL RINALDI, Sound Coordinator Other Recent Theatre Credits: Seeds (Blyth Festival); The Public Servant (GCTC); Quiver (Proper Slang); The Incredible Speediness of Jamie Cavanaugh (Carousel Players). Film & TV Credits: The Hup Hup Guys, The Provider, Mayor Mulligan Makes a Mistake, Elbow Grease. Upcoming: Tales of the City (Common Boots), Within the Glass (Tarragon), Stationary (Theatre George). ROBERT GONTIER, Dialect Coach Other Recent Theatre Credits: Driving Miss Daisy, Therefore Choose Life (Harold Green), To Kill A Mockingbird (YPT); Mary s Wedding (Stephenville Theatre); Chess, A Man of No Importance, Parade, A Doll s House, Oklahoma!, Blood Brothers (Theatre Sheridan). Other: Robert has taught Voice and Performance in the UK, Mexico, United States and across Canada, including; Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (RCSSD), London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, Canadian Opera Company, Royal Conservatory of Music, Acting Up Stage, and Young People s Theatre. He s currently a Professor of Voice and Text at Sheridan College. Upcoming: Salt-Water Moon (Factory Theatre); Scarberia (YPT). AARON JAN, Assistant Director Other Recent Theatre Credits: The 10/10/10 Project (Toronto Fringe); Rowing (Then They Fight); Here (Theatre Aquarius) ); A language for Dogs (Hamilton Fringe). Other: Member of Factory Foremen, the new director training program at Factory Theatre. KAY JAMESON, Apprentice Stage Manager Other Recent Theatre Credits: Me With You (Loose Leaf Theatre), To Me In: Ten Years (Humber Theatre), This Side of Heaven (Humber Theatre). 18 FACTORY THEATRE ERIN FRANCES GEROFSKY, Head of Wardrobe Other Recent Theatre Credits: Costume Design: Hairspray, Spring Awakening (LOT), Deceitful Above All Things (Favour The Brave), The Container (The Container Collective), The Speedy (UnSpun Theatre); Set and costume design: Full House: The Musical! (Starvox Ent.), Romeo and Juliet, An Ideal Husband (Watermark Theatre, PEI), The Importance of Being Earnest (Guild Festival Theatre), Rifles (Praxis Theatre). Shaw Festival Assistant Set & Costume Designer 2012 & 2013 Seasons. Upcoming: Peter Pan (Yellow Door Theatre: set and costume design) and Fancy Nancy (LOT). FACTORY THEATRE 19