WB2: A Political Cabaret
- One performance only: Monday February 28th
- Factory Theatre Studio Cafe, 125 Bathurst Street
- Box Office opens at 6:00pm; Show starts at 8:00pm
- Price: Pay-what-you can
The Wrecking Ball is back after scoring a DIRECT HIT against the Theatre of Non-Intervention. The Wrecking Ball SMASHED its way onto Toronto’s theatre scene last Nov. 1st, with a bill of four short plays that wowed a capacity crowd at the Factory Studio. Well, three months is a long time to go without sustenance, so The Wrecking Ball swings again on FEBRUARY 28, 2005 at the Factory Studio, 125 Bathurst St. with three BRAND NEW plays (plus a couple other heart racing delights) that will take aim at the headlines, the crawls, the breaking, faking, heart-aching, no-prisoner-taking, round the clock, round the world, news.
Rattling the chains this time around will be KAREN HINES (The Pochsy Plays), NORM FOSTER (The Affections of May), RICHARD WAUGH and American wunderkind ADRIANO SHAPLIN (Pugilist Specialist). Also, just on case you missed the first one, we are bringing back JUDITH THOMPSON’s electric polemic The Pyramids (or How I Got Fired from the Dairy Queen and Ended Up in Iraq, by Pte. Lynndie England), starring Waneta Storms.
Each playwright will follow the two Wrecking Ball rules:
- PLAYS MUST BE BASED ON CURRENT WORLD EVENTS.
- PLAYS MUST BE WRITTEN ONE WEEK PRIOR TO THEIR FIRST REHEARSAL.
Once again, some of Toronto’s most overworked, underpaid actors (LARA AZZOPARDI, AUDREY DWYER, DAVID JANSEN, YANNA MCINTOSH, MICHELLE MORGAN, ALON NASHMAN, AMY RUTHERFORD, WANETA STORMS, RICHARD WAUGH, JOSEPH ZIEGLER) and directors (CHRIS EARLE, EDA HOLMES, ROSS MANSON) will be on hand to perform these staged readings.
An added treat will be music by Toronto folk punkstress Selina Martin (who is also writing new political material expressly for the Ball).
Plus we expect a special guest visit by the late, and truly great
american playwright, Arthur Miller, who once said “art has always been the revenge of the human spirit upon the short-sighted. ”
The Playwrights
Norm Foster’s plays include: Sinners, The Melville Boys, The Affections of May, The Motor Trade, Wrong For Each Other, Office Hours, Opening Night, The Foursome and Ethan Claymore. The Melville Boys would go on to be produced across Canada and in the United States, including a well-received run off-Broadway in New York. He has also written a musical with composer Leslie Arden (The Last Resort) and two musicals (Jasper Station & Race Day) with composer Steve Thomas.
Karen Hines is an award-winning performer, writer and director, and is the artistic director of Keep Frozen/Pochsy Productions. She is the creator/performer of Pochsy’s Lips, and Oh, baby (Pochsy’s Adventures by the Sea), the musical Hello…Hello (Tarragon Theatre) and is a collaborator with Canadian horror clown duo Mump & Smoot, directing Caged, Ferno, Something Else and Flux. Hines can also be seen on the hit CBC show The Newsroom.
Adriano Shaplin is a co-founder and resident playwright for the internationally acclaimed Riot Group. He is the author of five plays including Wreck the Airline Barrier, Victory at the Dirt Palace, and Pugilist Specialist and the recipient of three Fringe First Awards at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. His play Hell Meets Henry Halfway is currently touring with the award-winning Philadelphia theatre company Pig Iron.
Judith Thompson’s works are central to the Canadian theatrical landscape. She has twice won the Governor General’s Award (for White Biting Dog, 1984 and for the anthology The Other Side of the Dark, 1989) and has twice won the Chalmers Award (for I am Yours, 1987 and Lion in the Streets, 1991). Her adaptation of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler will be produced by Volcano theatre at Buddies In Bad Times in the spring of 2005, directed by Ross Manson.
Richard Waugh was born in London, Ont. After attending his first two years of study at Ryerson Theatre School, in Toronto, he was chosen to be a part of the Shaw festival company. In his six years there he met his wife, the beautiful and talented Sarah Orenstein, learned a little bit about theatre and decided to go in to television and radio. Since that decision he has appeared in feature films such as The In-Laws, television’s Nero Wolfe and The West Wing and has been, off and on, just short of ubiquitous in radio advertising. Ric’s writing credits include the short film ‘Seven Gates’ with David Huband and the upcoming series ‘Jimmy McDonald’s Canada’ with Greig Dymond.
The Upshot
The Wrecking Ball II is one performance only and if last time was any indication, it will sell out fast!
Monday February 28, 2005, The Box Office opens at 6:00pm; Show starts at 8:00pm. Factory Theatre Studio Café. 125 Bathurst Street. See you all there!
Email: info@thewreckingball
- 26 02 2005 - 09:38
