All posts by Daniel Rostas

Conversations With Dork – Toronto Fringe 2014 Press Release

From Press Release

Conversations with Dork to premier at 2014 Toronto Fringe Festival Showing between July 4 and 12, 2014

As part of the 26th Annual Toronto Fringe Festival, Mind Bang Productions presents Conversations with Dork from July 4 to July 12 at St. Vladimir’s Institute Theatre, 620 Spadina Avenue. Set around a series of conversations between a grandfather and his grandson, Conversations with Dork examines the paradoxical familial relationships in which we often find ourselves in. Based on a true story, this new play poses the question “Why do we love the unlovable?”, especially when their beliefs are so different from our own.

The play’s main character (Jeff) struggles with the new found responsibility of caring for the well-being of his grandparents. As the play progresses, he is forced to confront his grandmother’s deteriorating health and his grandfather’s outdated beliefs, while also trying to balance the needs of a new relationship. Francis (Dork) is racist, misogynistic, and homophobic with views in stark contrast of those of his grandson Jeff and his girlfriend Jessica. The production plays with the themes of love and loss, humour and heartbreak – with a focus on family and what it means.

Mind Bang Productions is a new company formed by the show’s playwright Dan Patch. Dan is a graduate of The Second City Training Centre’s Conservatory Program. In addition, Dan co-wrote a pilot, which aired on Bite TV, and has written several shorts for Anger Hat, a comedy troupe which he co-founded.

The production is co-directed by Tracy Bradley and Joan Patch. The cast features Vince Carlin as Francis (Dork), Cookie Roscoe as Doris (Grammy), Nicolino De Francesco as Jeff, Sara Garcia as Jessica, and Ingrid Phaneuf as the Assessment Worker.

Conversations with Dork is the perfect outing for anyone who has someone in their family they would never befriend – but whom they love all the same.

Mind Bang Productions
in association with The Toronto Fringe Festival presents:
Conversations with Dork
Written by Dan Patch
Directed by Tracy Bradley and Joan Patch
Starring Vince Carlin, Cookie Roscoe, Nicolino De Francesco, Sara Garcia, and Ingrid Phaneuf. Stage managed by Dan Patch

Opens Friday, July 4, 2014 to Saturday, July 12, 2014 St. Vladimir’s Institute Theatre, 620 Spadina Avenue

Performances:

July 4, 11pm – 12midnight July 5, 9:45pm – 10:45pm July 6, 5:45pm – 6:45pm July 8, 10:45pm – 11:45pm July 9, 2:30pm – 3:30pm July 10, 3:30pm – 4:30pm July 12, 8:45pm – 9:45pm

Please note that there is absolutely no latecomer seating. Note: Mature language and content.

Tickets:
Tickets are $11 each in advance, and $10 each at the door.

Online: Go to Toronto Fringe Online Box Office
By phone: (416) 966-1062. June 12 – 27, Monday to Friday, 10am – 5pm. June 28 – July 13, 10am – 7pm. (Closed July 1). In person: Fringe Club, 581 Bloor Street West. July 2 – 13, noon to 9pm. If available, tickets are also available at the venue one hour prior to the show.

Kitt and Jane – Toronto Fringe 2014 Press Release

From Press Release

WE AREN’T FOOLING THE CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION

“Hilarious, invigorating piece of theatre” echoes the real life concerns of today’s youth … and what they’re prepared to do about it.

As Environment Canada approves fish farming genetically engineered salmon for human consumption, two socially-awkward fourteen-year-olds will be singing about the perils of GMOs and how to survive the impending collapse of society… accompanied by ukulele and glockenspiel, and giant low-fi music videos.

The show is Kitt & Jane: An Interactive Survival Guide to the Near-Post-Apocalyptic Future, by West Coast theatre company SNAFU, and it rolls into Toronto on a cross-country tour at the Toronto Fringe Festival July 2-11 at the Helen Gardiner Playhouse at U of T, after a  sold out run at the Montreal Fringe.  Ingrid Hansen, who plays Kitt, was the co-star of last year’s held-over Toronto Pick of the Fringe show The Truth About Comets with Ginette Mohr.  Kitt & Jane is the stand-alone sequel to SNAFU’s award-winning cult hit Little Orange Man, which has toured to theatres, schools and prisons across Canada.

“But this isn’t the Rapture, and it isn’t zombies. We’re talking about the real, true coming-soon-to-a-continent- near you ‘apocalypse’, or transition” says Hansen about the perils that Kitt and Jane are preparing for.  They draw on existing scientific reports about technology run rampant, overpopulation, genetically modified food, species extinction, and the end of cheap oil. As well, they illustrate (literally!) the various possible future scenarios developed by the international think-tank Global Scenario Group (gsg.org). Add a dose of authentic teenage angst inspired by interviews of real Victoria teenagers who voiced their own concerns about the future of the planet. “You’d need to find people that you can trust…people you know won’t kill you,” said one Grade 11 student. Another spoke about living in the rafters of Costco.  SNAFU released the interviews in their podcast series “A Teenagers Guide to Surviving the Apocalypse” available for free online at www.snafudance.com/podcasts

The show begins with the two grade-eights presenting to the audience, purportedly as part of a school assembly.  Very soon, the students go off-script, barring the doors and hijacking the presentation to deliver an important message: They will be dead in an hour, the apocalypse will occur in five years, and they’re here to train you how to survive.  Seen through the eyes of two imaginative teens – the precocious Kitt and an awkward boy with the unfortunate nickname ‘Jane’ – apocalypse survival is articulated with SNAFU’s quintessential hallmarks: live music, shadow and found-object puppetry, and of course, strange humour. The play echoes the real life concerns about the world that this young generation is inheriting. It’s an experience, as CVVMagazine.com reviewed, that will “follow you home.”

5 STARS – OnStageOttawa

 

ON CREATING KITT & JANE:

Inspiration for Kitt and Jane germinated in co-creator Ingrid Hansen’s mind when she was 12 years old and flipping through dog-eared copies of National Geographic magazine, “I remember adding up all of the looming catastrophes of the world and coming to the conclusion that I probably wouldn’t survive long enough to be an old person, or if I did the world was going to be a very, very different place,” explains Hansen. “And at age 12 that didn’t intimidate me.  I thought, ‘Bring it on!’”

When asked why she thinks people should see this show, Hansen says, “Come if you find yourself wondering what wilderness will be left for your grandchildren, if you have kids, if you WISH you had kids, if are wary of raising kids on an overpopulated planet, if you like adventure, if you’re sick of hearing people complain about our destructive culture and need to laugh about it for a change, if you read George Orwell, Margaret Atwood, David Suzuki, or, best of all, if you want free cake,” because they show features free cake for the audience.  “No one really knows what life on earth is going to look like 50 years from now,” says Hansen, “We’re living in the most exciting time to be alive.”

PERFORMING BEHIND BARS: Kitt & Jane tours to a Victoria Prison

When Kitt & Jane premiered in 2012, SNAFU packed up their ukulele and glockenspiel and drove out to prison to test their show out on the inmates.  With the help of inmate theatre technicians, they performed in the prison gym for a ‘captive’ audience. “The inmates still talk about it,” says Hansen, who does ongoing work with the prison theatre company,“they always ask me how ‘Jane’ is doing.”

Named the Best New Play in 2012 by Victoria’s Critics’ Choice Spotlight Awards, Kitt & Jane also received dramaturgical support from the Playwrights Theatre Centre as part of the Fringe New Play Prize, and was named by CBC Writes as one of the top ten fringe shows not to miss in 2014.  SNAFU toured to Toronto for the 2011 SummerWorks Festival with their show Pretty Little Instincts, a piece of renegade outdoor dance theatre performed in the moat at Fort York.

Created by Kathleen Greenfield, Ingrid Hansen & Rod Peter Jr.

Performing at Toronto’s International Fringe Festival

Wednesday, July 2, 2014 – 10:00pm

Friday, July 4, 2014 – 3:00pm

Sunday, July 6, 2014 – 5:00pm

Monday, July 7, 2014 – 1:00pm

Tuesday, July 8, 2014 – 8:15pm

Thursday, July 10, 2014 – 2:00pm

Friday, July 11, 2014 – 7:00pm

Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse

University of Toronto, 79 St. George Street

Tickets at www.fringetoronto.com

Cheap Theatre for the Week of June 24th, 2014

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This week’s Cheap Theatre is all about the LIFT OFF! Festival, which is taking place this coming weekend. The Cahoots Theatre Company holds this community festival of readings,
workshops & performances every year to share some of the new works they’re working to create. And did I mention that it’s totally free? All events take place at Cahoots Creation Studio, at 388 Queen St.E, Unit 3. Check out the full list of events at http://www.cahoots.ca/programs/lift-off/.

  Continue reading Cheap Theatre for the Week of June 24th, 2014 →

Punch Up – Toronto Fringe 2014 Press Release

From Press Release

Kat Sandler and Theatre Brouhaha Punch Up 2014 Toronto Fringe Festival

Kat Sandler and her company Theatre Brouhaha are returning to the Toronto Fringe Festival for the third consecutive year with the premier of another original play titled Punch Up by Kat Sandler.

In the last two years, Theatre Brouhaha has presented two original Kat Sandler plays at the Toronto Fringe Festival: We Are The Bomb at The Paddock Tavern and Help Yourself. Each show had a sold-out run and in 2012, Help Yourself was the recipient of the “New Play Contest Award,” “Patrons’ Pick” and “Best of Fringe.”

Punch Up — Kat Sandler’s latest play, premiering only weeks after she premiered another original piece, Cockfight, at The StoreFront Theatre — is a dark comic tale about the lengths we go to for love and a laugh.

 

It’s a hard world out there: Pat’s comedy career is dead in the water after his wife stole his material and divorced him. Everyone Brenda has ever loved has died in remarkably unpleasant ways…she’s pretty depressed about it. Duncan has fallen in love with her at first sight and is convinced that if he can make the Saddest Girl in the World laugh, then she’ll fall in love with him too. Needless to say, when Duncan kidnaps Pat to help him win Brenda’s heart, things get a bit complicated.

 

The Punch Up Cast:

  • Colin Munch (as Pat, the comedian): Canadian Comedy Award Winner, Associate Artist at Bad Dog Theatre and Sex T-Rex, and Theatre Brouhaha’s Sucker;
  • Tim Walker (as Duncan, the Lovestruck Kidnapper): Two time Dora Award nominee, star of 2012 Best of Fringe Help Yourself and Theatre Brouhaha’s Sucker, recent hit Kate and Sam Are Not Breaking Up.
  • Caitlin Driscoll (as Brenda, the Saddest Girl in the World): 2013 Fringe hit We Are The Bomb.

Venue

George Ignatieff Theatre (U of T Campus)

15 Devonshire Pl, Toronto

 

Show times

Friday, July 4 – 7:00pm

Saturday, July 5 – 11:00pm

Monday, July 7 – 5:00pm

Tuesday, July 8 – 3:00pm

Wednesday, July 9 – 7:30pm

Friday, July 11 – 2:15pm

Sunday, July 13 – 3:30pm

 

Tickets

Price: $12

Available at fringetoronto.com or at the venue.