Ashes to Ashes / This is a Play

Pinter's Ashes To Ashes, directed by NATASHA MYTNOWYCH, is an intense drama, in which neither the audience nor the character of Devlin is sure what is true memory and what is fabrication in the dark tales told by the character of Rebecca. MARGARET GOBIE directs MacIvor's gleeful satire This Is A Play, which deftly skewers the pomposity of some avant-garde theatre, by allowing the audience to hear the characters' ongoing “inner monologues”.

Veteran British playwright HAROLD PINTER, recently announced as the winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Literature, uses his trademark silences and sparse style to weave the dreamlike atmosphere of Ashes To Ashes. As Rebecca reveals her tragic past to her Devlin, issues of truth and trust come to light.

Of her project, director Natasha Mytnowych raves: “Ashes to Ashes is savage and fantastic - it packs a mighty punch in an astoundingly short time. Pinter delves into the pain of the end of a relationship and explores the power of loss. He poses some really fascinating questions about the effects of memory: the individual's recollection of a true experience, the frustration behind being unable to control what another has experienced, and the magnitude of the entire western civilization's memory of war and atrocity.”

Nova Scotia-born DANIEL MacIVOR won the Chalmers Award in 1991 and is a two-time winner of the Dora Mavor Moore Award. His unnamed characters, as actors performing in a very bad play, expose more than the usual backstage drama.

Margaret Gobie considers MacIvor to be one of Canada's most innovative playwrights. “This Is A Play is just so true! Anyone who has spent any time in or around the theatre will recognize these characters and the predicaments they encounter. This play-within-a-play structure is a challenge to both the actors and the director. While the action of the one play is taking place, the actors are in their own world with their thoughts - of the play they are performing in, each other and most notably, themselves. I was attracted to this challenge and the opportunity to direct one of Daniel's plays.”

Alumnae Theatre's production of Ashes To Ashes features JAMES LUKIE and DINAH WATTS as troubled couple Devlin and Rebecca; while This Is A Play features TRICIA BRIOUX, GRETA KERASIA, and CHRIS KOZAK as the actors, and NEAL MURPHY as the flustered composer.

The creative team includes set designer YULIA SHTERN (Problem Child/Criminal Genius), lighting designer/sound technician CRAIG SILVESTER (42nd Street), and costume designer DOROTHY WILSON (Absurd Person Singular).

Go to: Media Downloads

Cast Biographies

TRICIA BRIOUX (Older Female Actor - This Is A Play)
Tricia was last seen at the Alumnae as Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. Previous favourite roles include Mommy in another Albee classic, The American Dream (which she also co-produced along with Ashes' fabulous Ms. Watts), Lady in Orpheus Descending, Gina Mae Sabatini in Beautiful City, Maggie in Under the Skin, and Pierette in Les Belles Soeurs. She also does voice-overs for both radio and TV. Tricia would like to thank Greta and Chris for their willingness (the bribes helped too) to let her upstage them at every possible opportunity, Dorothy (the Wig Mistress - yeah, thanks for that!), the sweet Samareh, and of course, the lovely Ms. Margaret Gobie (raw kelp anyone?). Kisses to Laura and Alex too.

GRETA KERASIA (Female Actor - This Is A Play)
Greta has just returned to Toronto after graduating from The Neighbourhood Playhouse in New York City, where she appeared in The Person I Once Was (Mattie) and People in the Wind (Myrtle). She also co-directed and produced Shorts at Theatre 54. Prior to that, she received her BA in Theatre and Political Science from McGill University where she appeared in Fool for Love (May), Hamlet (Ophelia), Man is Man (Leocadia Begbick) and directed Morris Panych's Seven Stories. She thanks Margaret for giving her this opportunity, Trish, Chris and Samareh for the laughs, and her parents for putting up with her.

CHRIS KOZAK (Male Actor - This Is A Play)
Chris was last seen at Alumnae Theatre in the New Ideas play Defrosting, and on film in the award-winning movie Green. You might have also seen him in the lesser-known Adventures of Skip, The Peg Legged Sailor. I'd like to thank Margaret Gobie for her confidence in me over the last 13 years. I'd also like to thank my wife, Taya.

JAMES LUKIE (Devlin - Ashes To Ashes)
James appeared most recently as Morgan in The Drawer Boy (The Curtain Club) and he has had leading roles in The Crucible, The Melville Boys and The Little Foxes (all for Amicus). In 2003/04, he performed in Picasso at the Lapin Agile (City Center Productions); as Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles (Scarborough Theatre Guild); and as Abraham Lincoln's Secret Service Head in the original production of The Evil That Men Do. James has won two ACT-CO Thea Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor. His film and television credits include the title role in Fillidor, the Doctor in Birthday Boy, Mark in Body Count, the Air Traffic Controller in Zero Hour: the Final Hour of Flight 11, and roles in two episodes of On the Run. This is James' first foray into the world of Harold Pinter, and he finds the experiences very ...shall we say ...interesting.

NEAL MURPHY (The Composer - This Is A Play)
Neal has studied at Studio 58 and here in Toronto with Bernadette Jones. Proud to be involved with the Alumnae Theatre once again, Neal has been seen on these stages before in productions of Tennessee Williams' Summer & Smoke, and more than a couple of New Ideas Festivals. His other credits include From Mint Condition To Badly Used in the 2002 Toronto Fringe, as well as A Midsummer Night's Dream in Vancouver with Carousel Theatre.

DINAH WATTS (Rebecca - Ashes To Ashes)
Dinah last appeared at the Alumnae in Michel Tremblay's The Real World?. Other favourite ventures have included Audience, Unveiling, Protest (The Co. at the Victory); Sparta (SummerWorks Festival Audience Choice Award); Ines de Castro (Whetstone Productions at the Tarragon); Titus Andronicus and King John (Shakespeare in the Rough); Semi-Precious (Theatre Centre); The Case of the Wandering Corpse (Edinburgh Festival, Solar Stage); Can You See Me Yet? (Equity Showcase); Romeo and Juliet (CanStage Dream in High Park); The American Dream, The Revengers' Tragedy and Forensic Tables (Toronto Fringe); The Seagull, On the Verge, The Rivals, Cloud Nine, Heretics and The Sea (Alumnae Theatre Company). - Oh, and she'll be directing on the Alumnae's main stage for the first time in Spring 2006 with Moonlight and Valentino.

Creative Team Biographies

MARGARET GOBIE (Director - This Is A Play)
Margaret originally hails from western Canada, where she received a BFA in Acting at the University of Alberta. Previous Alumnae directing credits include The Rivals for the Mainstage, several New Ideas pieces including Ernie Kosanyi's Defrosting (2004), and the first staging of Andrew Batten's Romeo and Rosaline, which led to two remounts and the genesis of a theatre company, Glass Hammer Productions. With Glass Hammer she directed Canterbury Tales and The Revenger's Tragedy at the Toronto Fringe Festival and Even As Also I Am Known for SummerWorks. She also directed the award-winning New York Fringe production of Que Sera for Thorablot Productions.

DARYL HARDING (Assistant Stage Manager)
Daryl is our prodigal daughter, having returned to pursue her love of theatre after many years absence. This, she adds to her already active life as business owner and visual artist in sculpture and installation. New to the Toronto arts scene, having just stepped off the plane from Halifax, she is delighted to be part of Alumnae Theatre production team.

SAMAREH JONES (Stage Manager)
A recent graduate from the University of Guelph, Samareh is delighted to be a part of this production. Theatre credits from U of G productions include Assistant Director (Conversation about Love and Death), Stage Manager (Angelique), and Assistant Stage Manager (Lysistrata Project). Samareh's next project has already begun, Stage Managing Stillborn Lover at Hart House Theatre. To my family and friends, thank you for your constant encouragement, patience and love. Couldn't have done this without you, Justin!!

DANIEL MacIVOR (Playwright - This Is A Play)
MacIvor was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia in 1962, and studied theatre at Dalhousie University in Halifax and then at George Brown College in Toronto. In 1986, he co-founded the touring theatre company da da kamera, and continues to serve as its Artistic Director. During the last 15 years, MacIvor has written and performed in dozens of plays, most of them solo works. His plays (including House, See Bob Run, Marion Bridge, Here Lies Henry and The Soldier Dreams) have been nominated seven times for the Chalmers New Canadian Play Award - which House and Henry have won; and have won multiple Dora Mavor Moore Awards.
He also active in film and television: starring in a film adaptation of his one-man play House; playing a recurring role on CBC-TV's much-praised series Twitch City; story editor and actor in Jeremy Podeswa's critically acclaimed film The Five Senses (which garnered him a nomination for Leading Actor Genie Award in 2000); and scripting the film adaptation of his Governor General's Award-nominated play Marion Bridge.

NATASHA MYTNOWYCH (Director - Ashes To Ashes)
Natasha is the Artistic Producer for the Paprika Festival, Associate Festival Director for Nightwood Theatre, and the Producer for the 26th Annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards. She has directed new works for Resurgence Theatre Company, the Hysteria Festival, Nightwood Theatre's Groundswell Festival, SummerWorks Festival, Toronto Fringe Festival, and the Paprika Festival, among others; and written new works for the Rhubarb! Festival and Tarragon's Spring Arts Fair. Selected assistant directing credits include Therac 25 and Trout Stanley (Factory Theatre), The Danish Play (tour with Nightwood Theatre), Kafka in Love (World Stage/Autumn Leaf Performance), Absolutely Chekhov and The Play About the Baby (Soulpepper Theatre Company), I Am Yours (Equity Showcase Theatre), Othello (Shakespeare in the Rough), Cymbeline (U of T) and the Buncha Young Artists...Festival (Theatre Direct Canada). Natasha is on the Board of Directors at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, the Laidlaw Foundation's Arts Advisory and Theatre Direct Canada's Artistic Advisory. She was nominated for the 2005 John Hirsch Award for Emerging Directors, presented by the Ontario Arts Council.

HAROLD PINTER (Playwright - Ashes To Ashes)
Harold Pinter was born in 1930 in Hackney, a working-class neighbourhood in London's East End, the son of a Jewish tailor. He studied for two years at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, but was not happy there. After leaving school, he acted in BBC Radio shows, and in touring theatre companies. He wrote his first play, The Room, in four days in 1957. Later plays include The Birthday Party, The Dumb Waiter, The Caretaker, The Lover, The Homecoming (which won a Tony Award in 1965), No Man's Land and Celebration. His plays are noted for their use of silence - the famous “Pinter pauses” - to increase tension. Equally recognizable are themes of nameless menace, erotic fantasy, obsession and jealousy.
Pinter has also written a number of screenplays, including The French Lieutenant's Woman (from the novel by John Fowles) and The Handmaid's Tale (from the novel by Margaret Atwood).
He was awarded a CBE in 1966, but he later declined a knighthood. In 1996 he was given the Laurence Olivier Award for a lifetime's achievement in the theatre, and in October 2005 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

YULIA SHTERN (Set Designer)
This year Yulia has inexplicably decided to drop most of her other obligations in favour of designing three out of the four Alumnae productions of the 05/06 season. She envisions a great number of situations ahead that will call for her to do two things at once and to be in two different places at the same time (that's what we all love theatre for!). Yulia would like to thank her cat Tosca for successfully resisting the temptation to ruin the soft goods for This Is A Play, and to express hope that this will be an ongoing commitment on Tosca's part.

CRAIG SILVESTER (Lighting Designer & Sound Technician)
Since coming to Toronto after graduating from Grant MacEwan College (Edmonton) in Theatre Production, Craig has been warmly welcomed by the Alumnae Theatre. He is honored to showcase his premiere lighting design in such an inviting venue. He also would like to extend a sincere and heartfelt thanks to Jessica Katz, who has given so much of herself to help him along the way.

DOROTHY WILSON (Costume Designer)
Dorothy has been doing Props, Costumes and Set Dressing in the Toronto area for a long time now. At the Alumnae, she has designed costumes for The Attic, The Pearls, and Three Fine Girls, Absurd Person Singular and Criminal Hearts; and Props for Summer and Smoke, The Real World? and She Stoops to Conquer. She's really enjoying doing the costumes for her first Daniel MacIvor play, and the Pinter is definitely a challenge. A great cast and crew too.

ALUMNAE THEATRE COMPANY
70 Berkeley Street
Toronto, Ontario • M5A 2W6
Phone: 416-364-4170
Email: contactus@alumnaetheatre.com

Performance Dates	Nov 18, 19, 20, 24, 25, 26, 27, Dec 1, 2, 3, 2005
Performance Times	Thursday - Saturday at 8 pm Sunday matinees at 2 pm
Location	Alumnae Theatre 70 Berkeley Street at Adelaide, Toronto
Ticket Prices	Thursdays: 2 for 1 • Friday & Sat: $18 Sundays: PWYC
Reservations	Box Office: 416-364-4170 or email reservations@alumnaetheatre.com

ASHES TO ASHES

An Intense Drama by Harold Pinter

THIS IS A PLAY

A Gleeful Satire by Daniel MacIvor

November 18 - December 3, 2005

Two award-winning playwrights + two one-acts = one great evening

Cast Biographies

Creative Team Biographies

Tickets and Times