Theatre
Summer stages
BY Gord McLaughlin May 29, 2008 11:05
fu-GEN’s Potluck FESTIVAL
What began as the one-night-only “Asian cousin” of Factory’s CrossCurrents Festival is now a six-day showcase of new works by Asian playwrights. Jovanni Sy and David Yee are both seasoned scribes. (An apt description in Sy’s case: his performance piece A Taste of Empire is described as “Iron Chef meets The Noam Chomsky Lectures” and involves live cooking!) Among the up-and-comers, playwright Byron Abalos examines Western notions of Asian masculinity in Brown Balls.
JUNE 20-22 & 27-29. various times. PWYC/$15 SUGG. FACTORY THEATRE, 125 BATHURST. WWW.FU-GEN.ORG.
SummerWorks
This juried festival of 32 local plays also features five shows from across Canada. Highlights should include Raising Luke (with frequent collaborators Claire Calnan and Jenny Young), a new work by Erin Shields and the long-awaited playwriting return of Jonathan Wilson (Kilt, My Own Private Oshawa). Shari Hollett directs Wilson’s That Gay Guy, about a homo actor on the verge of a breakdown due to fizzled artistic dreams and love life failure. New this year: artists like Daniel MacIvor and Tara Beagan create five- to 10-minute pieces in the Performance Gallery, on the second floor of the Gladstone Hotel.
AUG 7-17. $10 adv; $12; $25 3-play pass; $50 7-day industry pass. VARIOUS VENUES. WWW.SUMMERWORKS.CA.
The Fringe
The 20th anniversary of this monster festival brings back Fringe regulars like TJ Dawe (with Totem Figures) and Keir Cutler (with Teaching the Fringe), as well as Jem Rolls and the 20 Hour Playwrighting Contest. Sky Gilbert, the theatre provocateur, neo-Hamiltonian and former EYE WEEKLY columnist, brings two shows: Tyrolia and Ladylike. Michael Posner, the sometime Globe and Mail theatre critic, puts his own work up for appraisal: Damages has two Holocaust survivors reuniting after 30 years and a “supreme betrayal.” (You’ll recognize actor Harvey Atkin from Meatballs and Law and Order: SVU.) One of Canada’s top film directors, Jerry Ciccoritti (Trudeau, Lives of the Saints), returns to the stage to direct Every Girl Wants a Skirt Like Frida’s.
JULY 2-13. $10 ADV; $5 CHILDREN’S TICKETS AT KID VENUES. VARIOUS VENUES. WWW.FRINGETORONTO.COM.
Cooking Fire Theatre Festival
This one’s all about family and community. Five companies from Canada, the US and Portugal produce original work, ranging from Wajdi Mouawad’s Alphonse, about the end of boyhood, to a wordless pickle-puppet show from Pittsburgh. Hosts guide the audience from show to show, while organic meals are cooked up at the park’s two wood-fired community bake ovens.
JUNE 18-22. MEALS FROM 6PM; PERFORMANCES 7PM. PWYC/$10 SUGG. DUFFERIN GROVE PARK, TWO BLOCKS SOUTH OF DUFFERIN AND BLOOR. WWW.COOKINGFIRE.CA.
clay and paper theatre
Dufferin Grove Park is once again the place to be thanks to Clay and Paper Theatre. The company’s signature large-scale puppetry and commedia dell’arte style are used to tell a local and family-friendly story. Horse Feathers centres around the horse track that featured prominently in the Dufferin-Bloor area from 1907-1955, until it was sold to developers to make what’s now the Dufferin Mall.
July 18-Aug 17. Wed-Sun 7:30pm. DUFFERIN GROVE PARK. PWYC/$10 sugg. www.clay
andpapertheatre.org.
Soulpepper Theatre Company
Though now a year-round concern, this classy purveyor of classics first bloomed in the summer — and now finds itself in the summer-friendly Distillery District. Laszlo Marton’s celebrated production of Uncle Vanya gets a remount June 5-21. ’Night Mother (see review page 54) with real-life mother-and-daughter Megan Follows and Dawn Greenhalgh, runs to June 21. Kenneth Welsh stars in Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas, running July 11-Aug. 2.
YOUNG CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS, 55 MILL, BLDG 49. VARIOUS TIMES AND DATES. $29-$65. 416-866-8666. WWW.SOULPEPPER.CA.
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre
Summer means Pride and more for Canada’s pre-eminent queer culture factory. Sexy Pride is a buffet of theatre and cabaret. It kicks off June 5 with Moynan King’s large-scale performance piece, The Beauty Salon, blurring the line between art and primping (to June 14). Gay Degrassi-ite Adam Ruggiero hosts a youth-oriented Pride Prom on June 24. Also look for comics and drag queens.
SEXY PRIDE RUNS JUNE 5-29. $10-$25. BUDDIES IN BAD TIMES THEATRE, 12 ALEXANDER. 416-975-8555. WWW.ARTSEXY.CA.
Canadian Opera COMPANY
The COC presents free concerts that encompass Croation chamber music, a Serbian choir, Korean drumming, traditional Chinese musical instruments and more.
VARIOUS DATES JUNE 3-18, 5:30-6:30PM OR NOON-1PM. FREE. FOUR SEASONS CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS, 145 QUEEN W. WWW.COC.CA.
DanCap Productions
DanCap plunders New York to bring in big hits: the perverse puppetry of Avenue Q and the nostalgic Frankie Valli musical bio Jersey Boys.
AVENUE Q RUNS JULY 29-AUG 31. $50-$100. ELGIN THEATRE, 189 YONGE. JERSEY BOYS startS AUG 21. $60-$125. TORONTO CENTRE FOR THE ARTS, 5040 YONGE. www.dancaptickets.com.
Mirvish Productions
After 61 weeks at the Canon Theatre, the Queen musical We Will Rock You moves to the Panasonic Theatre on July 16. Meanwhile, the popular production of Twelve Angry Men with Richard Thomas (The Waltons) returns June 3-15 at the Princess of Wales.
WE WILL ROCK YOU, tue-SAT 8PM, SAT, SUN AND SOME sat, 2PM. PANASONIC THEATRE, 651 YONGE. $25-$85. TWELVE ANGRY MEN, JUNE 3-15, VARIOUS TIMES. $30-$94. 416-872-1212. WWW.MIRVISHPRODUCTIONS.COM.
Dream in High Park
What’s summer without The Dream? CanStage’s annual outdoor Shakespeare tribute remounts last year’s urban, hip-hop interpretation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by ahdri zhina mandiela.
JUNE 24-AUG 31. TUE-SUN 8PM, GATES OPEN 6PM. PWYC, CHILDREN UNDER 14 FREE. 416-367-1652. WWW.CANSTAGE.COM.
625 Church St, 6th Floor, Toronto M4Y 2G1