NEW IDEAS FESTIVAL 2010: Week One Program
WEEK ONE: Wednesday March 10 to Saturday March 13, 2010
- JOIN THE CLUB by Suzanne Courtney* & Leora Courtney-Wolfman • Directed by Stacy Halloran
- AN INKED HEART, ACT I by D.J. Sylvis • Directed by Heather Keith
- A VERY DIFFERENT PLACE by Carol Libman • Directed by lindi g. papoff*
- ASHES TO ASHES by M.P. Fedunkiw • Directed by Maureen Callaghan
STAGED READING: Saturday March 13 at Noon
- THEORY by Norman Yeung* • Directed by Joanne Williams
THE SHOWS: March 10 - 13, 2010
JOIN THE CLUB
“It's fun” they said.
“We've got not one, but two ghosts” they said.
“What more do you need?
“Come, join the club.
| Playwrights: | Suzanne Courtney* & Leora Courtney-Wolfman |
| Director: | Stacy Halloran |
| Stage Manager: | Golnaz Zad |
| Cast: | Carmina Bernardt Lara Johnson Ron RK Mann Mike Tanchuk |
| Running Time: | 15 Minutes |
Biographies - Join The Club
SUZANNE COURTNEY* Playwright, Join The Club
Suzanne is delighted to be part of New Ideas 2010, and especially pleased to share a co-writing credit with her brilliant & talented daughter. Suzanne's first play, Shrinkwrap premiered at the 1999 Festival, where she had so much fun that she did, in fact, Join the Club. Suzanne is also Alumnae's Web Goddess, occasional actor (recently Pride & Prejudice and Sam Shepard's A Lie of the Mind) and a member of the ever-supportive New Play Development Group. In her spare time Suzanne collects rejection letters and sings backup (badly) with her adorable Bass Player.
LEORA COURTNEY-WOLFMAN Playwright, Join The Club
Although Leora wrote the poems featured in Join the Club, she detests poetry, and has a particular loathing for sonnets. After spending her formative years entrenched in the dark underbelly of Toronto's rock'n'roll scene, Leora decided to become an adult, and moved to Vancouver, where she currently studies delightfully esoteric concepts at the University of British Columbia. While Leora is currently devoted to the application of boring theories, she thanks natural selection for affording her the little bit of creativity that has allowed her to collaborate with her mother.
CARMINA BERNHARDT Actor, Join The Club
A recent transplant from Vancouver BC, Carmina is excited to be pursuing her theatre dreams in the theatre capital of Canada. Favourite credits include: You're Gonna Love Tomorrow (And one for Mahler), Titanic, Lorelei, Gigi (Applause!), Guys & Dolls (Gateway), Antigone (Groundlings Ensemble), The Odd Couple (VACT). She is also an avid yoga practitioner and certified teacher looking for work! Carmina is a graduate from Capilano U's Music Theatre Program. Enjoy the show.
STACY HALLORAN Director, Join The Club
Since Stacy declined to submit a bio, the Playwright has taken the liberty of writing one for her.
Stacy Halloran has been called “one of the leading lights of the Godfrey theatre scene”. Her semi-autobiographical one-woman show Sheep Breeders and Schadenfreude won the Patron's Pick Award in the Highway 38 Fringe Festival. The North Frontenac News described Sheep Breeders as a “wild and woolly romp through the colourful world of ruminant production”. Stacy is pleased to be working indoors (and with two-legged performers!) this time around.
Lara comes to us after spending the fall studying acting in New York with the Stella Adler Studio and improv with the Upright Citizen Brigade. She is currently a part of two stellar improv teams that perform regularly in Toronto and will rock your socks off, seriously, you should go see them . . . bring extra socks. With her comedic background, Lara was introduced to the Alumnae Theatre with the part of Mary Bennett in it's 2009 production of Pride & Prejudice. Happily returning in this year's New Ideas festival to show her gender range as the part of Joe in Join the Club - perhaps proving once and for all maybe her grandma was right, she really should have been born a boy.
RK MANN Actor, Join The Club
RK Mann is a lawyer, entrepreneur, producer who studied acting at the William Esper Studio in New York. A graduate of the Canadian Film Centre, RK is the Producer of Tribe, a documentary on bicycle couriers. In 2009 RK attended the Summer Writing School, Screenwriting at the University of Toronto to develop his science feature thriller E=mc(2) gt. Join the Club is RK's first acting role.
MIKE TANCHUK Actor, Join The Club
This is Mike's first New Ideas Festival and he is excited to be working with such and talented group of people. Mike recently starred in The Palace which is due for release this year. You can also catch him performing with his sketch comedy troupe Really Guerrilla, I know what youre thinking . . . that's the coolest name I've ever heard. You're right, it is. Mike would like to thank his family for always being so supportive, you guys mean the world to me.
AN INKED HEART - Act I (First act of a full-length play)
Set in a small tattoo parlour, this play traces often-unexpected connections between the artists, customers, friends and family; the ways we keep our hearts hidden, and the ways we, without knowing, wear them on our sleeves - or on our skin.
| Playwright: | D.J. Sylvis |
| Director: | Heather Keith |
| AD/SM: | Adam Crisman |
| Cast: | Hannah Barnett-Kemper Sarah Benevides Colin Murphy Phil Rickaby |
| Running Time: | 45 Minutes |
Biographies - An Inked Heart
D. J. SYLVIS Playwright, An Inked Heart
D.J. is thrilled to return for his third year in a row as a part of the Festival. When he's not writing and rewriting plays (and occasionally acting in them when he has the chance), he herds cats literally (Anapurna and Tawny) in his apartment and figuratively as Artistic Director of Monkeyman Productions. monkeymanproductions.com
HANNAH BARNETT-KEMPER Actor, An Inked Heart
A Toronto native, Hannah Barnett-Kemper studied at the Players Academy, as well as The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in NY. Hannah has worked with the Rebel Shakespeare Co and The Berkshire Theatre Festival (Mass, U.S.A.) as well as The Alumnae Theatre, Cabbagetown Theatre, the Village Playhouse here in TO. Hannah made her Fringe debut last summer in Fool Productions' Romantic/Fanatic and can be seen in the upcoming first year of Monkeyman Productions' Banana Festival.
SARAH BENEVIDES Actor, An Inked Heart
Sarah is an actress, a writer and a cat person. As an actress she is relatively green, but she is ready to jump in, and thanks to her brief stint as a telemarketer, she has developed the thick skin needed to survive in the business. She works, lives and looks for auditions in Toronto where she enjoys the theatre scene and is thrilled to be a part of the New Ideas Festival.
ADAM CRISMAN Assistant Director/Stage Manager, An Inked Heart
Adam began his career in Etobicoke, working closely with the Lakeshore Drama club and the renowned Boal-inspired theatre company, Mixed Company, continuing in Theatre Studies at York University. Most recently he appeared in The U of T Drama Centre's production of Inside Out: The Persistance of Allegory in Renaissance Performance, created by Alan Dessen and Peter Cockett, and assistant directed Opera Fouco's production of Don Giovanni with Yoshi Oida (Paris, France.) He is currently participating in Theatre Kairos' Writing Circle and will be showcasing a new play, along with five other fantastic playwrights, in May. This is his first season working with Alumnae.
HEATHER KEITH Director, An Inked Heart
Heather Keith began her theatrical career at Etobicoke School of the Arts where she majored in Drama. She continued her studies in Performance at Humber College, earned her BFA in Theatre Arts (with distinction) from Concordia and her MFA in Directing from Ohio University, where she has taught Performance and Advanced Directing. Recently, Heather directed the premiere of Table for Six by Hande Vural at Nightwood Theatre's New Blood Cabaret. Select Directing credits: Zehra & Dak-ho (Best Drama, Poppy Jasper Film Festival '09), I Am Love. At O.U.: Lion in the Streets, How He Lied to Her Husband, Spring Awakening.
COLIN MURPHY Actor, An Inked Heart
A brief history of Colin Murphy, or alternately: Colin Murphy, cause and effect.
Since the start of 2009 Colin has performed in 13 films and 8 stage plays, 8 commercials, and 3 television shows including his TV debut as Jacob, the religious zealot, on the HBO production Forbidden Science. Colin has a knack for playing “the character guy” in roles such as Candy in Of Mice and Men, Charlie the Mailman in On Golden Pond, Bob Ewell in To Kill a Mockingbird, Charlie Cowell in The Music Man and now Mongo in this play.
PHIL RICKABY Actor, An Inked Heart
Phil is an is an actor, geek and writer, and the Artistic Director of Simple Truth Theatre. Phil has been seen on stage in such roles as Randy in Out of Character at the Toronto Fringe Festival, Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Touchstone in As You Like It, and was one of the co-creators of the silent film play, The Belle of Winnipeg. Phil has also recently been seen in the short films The Dragon and the Unicorn, Behind Closed Door, and the YouTube favourite, So You've Decided To Be Attacked By Zombies.
A VERY DIFFERENT PLACE
At seventeen, Teri left home to follow her heart and pursue her dreams as a singer. At thirty-six when our play opens - Teri suddenly returns to her childhood home, forced to face the consequences and responsibilities of her actions.
| Playwright: | Carol Libman |
| Director: | lindi g. papoff* |
| Cast: | Roger Bainbridge Judy Da Silva Pat Hawk |
| Running Time: | 25 Minutes |
Biographies - A Very Different Place
CAROL LIBMAN Playwright A Very Different Place
Alumnae member, Carol Libman, is an award-winning playwright with several productions in community and professional theatres. A member of the New Play Development group, this is her first experience with NIF, and she is delighted and in awe of the juggling act required of producers, directors, actors and techies, who manage to keep calm while launching multiple balls into the air.
ROGER BAINBRIDGE Actor, A Very Different Place
Roger is an Ottawa-born actor based out of Toronto. He is a graduate of the George Brown Theatre School and recipient of the Second City Encouragement Award. Roger has also studied at the Armstrong Acting Studio and The Second City. He has been involved in new-play development with Theatre Kairos, Foundry Theatre, as well as the Toronto Fringe Festival. Film credits include the feature Skidlove and the short Kerry For Dinner. Roger is committed to the development of new Canadian work for stage and screen.
JUDY DA SILVA Actor, A Very Different Place
Judy's role in A Very Different Place is her first appearance at Alumnae Theatre. She will also be appearing in Weightless later this month. Judy comes from a varied background of science, health science and English academia, and has studied as a musician for over 35 years, and as an actor on and off for over 17 years. Previous theatre credits include the role of Hippolyta, in Brampton's Flower City Theatre Festival production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, where she was also assistant director and musical director, and played various musical instruments in the production; and an accordion-wielding widow and musical director in The Taming of the Shrew. She would like to thank Peter, Julia, Miranda, Laura and Aidan for their love and support, and lindi for giving her this opportunity.
PAT HAWK Actor, A Very Different Place
Pat is a new member of the Alumnae Theatre. A newly retired teacher, she is looking forward to having more time to devote to all things theatrical. The New Ideas Festival marks Pat's debut with the Alumnae. “I've been playing to a sometimes difficult audience five days a week for the last twenty years plus. I've become pretty good at improv, and of course lots of daily drama.” A former member of Cabbagetown Players, Pat's roles included Jessica in Jitters, Nurse in Seven Stories, and a favourite role, Ellen in Wake - a lovely two-hander by Canadian playwright David Witticombe. Pat is thrilled to be back on stage. Oh yeah, she also does a great Bronx accent!
lindi g. papoff* Director, A Very Different Place
lindi lives in Israel and Canada, working in professional theatre as a Director, Dramaturg and Production/Stage Manager. Her directing credits include: Summoned by Irena Huljak (premiered at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2008); Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Baker by Cat Delaney; tomorrow's time which she also wrote; Michel Tremblay's Albertine In Five Times; and Magical Moments Of Reality by Ron Yoshua for Laila Acher Theatre at Haifa Municipal Theatre; Girl In The Closet by Dolly Reisman; Kicking Inside by Michael Gibson; and Aristophane's Lysistrata (fundraiser for Nurses for Social Responsibility). lindi's priority is to create a living relationship between theatre and social/political issues. She is drawn to the exploration and development process of new work, with the aim to investigate and confront the depths of human relationships. lindi is Founding Artistic Director of Tomorrow's Eve Theatre in Toronto, the first Feminist Theatre in Canada; Laila Acher - Feminist Arab Jewish Theatre in Haifa, Israel; and Write on Women a collective formed to develop and produce original scripts by women.
ASHES TO ASHES
Three middle-aged siblings plan to return their mother's ashes to England. But old lovers, new lovers, and a musical-loving funeral home assistant turn the planning meeting into a raucous farce that threatens to 'blow the lid' off the whole plan!
| Playwright: | M.P. Fedunkiw |
| Director: | Maureen Callaghan |
| Stage Manager: | Kate Madden |
| Cast: | Scott Dermody Liam Doherty Erin Jones Debbie Krulicki Marisa Ship W.W. West |
| Running Time: | 25 Minutes |
Biographies - Ashes to Ashes
M.P. FEDUNKIW Playwright, Ashes to Ashes
Fedunkiw, a Toronto writer and playwright, is thrilled to be part of NIF 2010. She is currently working on a prequel to Ashes to Ashes, which was read as part of the New Play Development Big Ideas event at Alumnae Theatre in March 2009. Fedunkiw has also written a play about an English woman physician who volunteered in Serbia during WWI (read in Toronto and Oxford, UK), a novella about two women sprung from their nursing home for one more casino trip, two non-fiction books, and more than 100 articles on topics ranging from hockey to medical history.
MAUREEN CALLAGHAN Director, Ashes to Ashes
Maureen is thrilled to be back at the Alum working with this delightful crew. Recent projects include Come Tumbling Down (Theatre in the Red), Company (Piccadilly Circus), Pride and Prejudice (Alumnae Theatre), and Venus of Dublin (Newer World Theatre). She worked for over 9 years at Canada's National Ballet School, teaching drama (among other things) which afforded her the opportunity to work for several seasons on National Ballet of Canada productions such as The Nutcracker. Next up, Maureen will be stage managing on a farm (!) at 4th Line Theatre.
SCOTT DERMODY Actor, Ashes to Ashes
Scott is a Toronto-based theatre artist. He is a founding member and Artistic Producer for Soup Can Theatre, whose critically acclaimed inaugural production Love Is A Poverty You Can Sell will be remounted during this summer's Toronto Fringe Festival. Stage credits include: Love Is A Poverty You Can Sell (Soup Can Theatre), Ritual Refuge (SummerWorks Gallery), Veronika Decides to Die (Darkroom Theatre Projects), A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and a Prayer (VDAY 2008), Everyman (Single Thread Theatre), Variations on X & Why We Float (Queen's Drama), and Antigone (Queen's Classics). Scott holds a BA in theatre from Queen's University.
LIAM DOHERTY Actor, Ashes to Ashes
This is Liam's second appearance in New Ideas and he is happy to be a part of a great production. He is a familiar face around Toronto - appearing at the Village Playhouse as Felix Humble in Humble Boy, Lord Goring in An Ideal Husband and Desmond in The Winslow Boy. He has also hosted the very popular No Sweetheart Required and other productions with Cabbagetown Theatre. This follows his training at Second City and his stand-up appearances around town.
ERIN JONES Actor, Ashes to Ashes
Erin is pleased to be making her debut with the New Ideas Festival.
Having performed in numerous productions from Whitby to Etobicoke, recently including Fay in A Chorus of Disapproval with Amicus and Tom Jones with Scarborough Players, it is time for her to spread her wings to downtown Toronto! She would like to thank Maureen Callaghan for giving her the opportunity, as well as the cast for being so positive to work with!
DEBBIE KRULICKI Actor, Ashes to Ashes
Debbie is pleased to be making her debut in the New Ideas Festival at Alumnae Theatre Company. Previous work performed at the Village Playhouse includes Jake's Women, An Ideal Husband, February Fling, the workshop reading of The Man in the Room Next Door and, most recently, Cliffhanger.
KATE MADDEN Stage Manager, Ashes to Ashes
Kate is so excited to be stage managing for the first time in the hilarious Ashes to Ashes. Naturally a performer, she has played Alice in Small World, Joanna Brown in Home Free, and the title role in Antigone in the Sear's Drama Festival. Musically, she has performed in Centre Stage Young Company's production of Narnia, and in November, Acting Upstage's performances of One Song Glory. Most recently, Kate made her operatic debut in Toronto Opera Repertoire's The Marriage of Figaro, as the vibrant Barbarina. Kate continues to study voice with the wonderful Susan Gudgeon.
MARISA SHIP Actor, Ashes to Ashes
A graduate of Sheridan & U of T's joint Acting program, Marisa has been involved in a variety of theatrical productions, workshops, readings, commercials, and general shenanigans. Highlights include being named the 2008 recipient of the Robertson Davies Playwriting Award, playing Hecuba in Ellen McLaughlin's adaptation of The Trojan Women (Theatre Erindale), spending last summer workshopping her one-woman show language|math at SummerWorks, and staging her play Even Better Living at Bread and Circus Theatre. Marisa currently serves as the Director of Volunteer Relations for Fly By Night Theatre and can be seen online in the Ashburner Inc. webseries, This Day Must End.
W.W. WEST Actor, Ashes to Ashes
Wilson is excited to be making his second appearance with Alumnae Theatre. He has been in seven productions at The Arts & Letters Club of Toronto and mostly recently in Mary Stuart with the East Side Players. When not breaking a leg, Wilson's other passion is naval and maritime history, shipwreck research and preservation and all other things antiquated and wet.
Staged Reading + Talkback: Saturday March 13 at Noon
THEORY
Isabelle teaches film theory in a university. She is young, liberal, and progressive. A mysterious student posts offensive material on the course's online discussion board, and when Isabelle takes action, she is attacked as a hypocrite. How can she remain progressive when progress becomes dangerous?
| Playwright: | Norman Yeung* |
| Director: | Joanne Williams |
| Stage Manager: | Elizabeth Kesselring |
| Cast: | Adam Christie Scott Clarkson Moinul Delwar Zahir Gilani Bobbi Jaye Suzette McCanny David J. Phillips |
| Running Time: | 60 Minutes |
Biographies - Theory
NORMAN YEUNG* Playwright, Theory
Norman works in theatre and film as a writer, actor, and director. His play Pu-Erh, a finalist for the Herman Voaden National Playwriting Competition, will premiere at Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace and Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts in May, 2010. His play Oolong will be presented as a staged reading at Factory Studio Theatre at fu-GEN's Potluck Festival in May, 2010. His films have screened internationally at festivals, on television, and in airplanes. www.normanyeung.com.
ADAM CHRISTIE Actor, Theory
Adam is thrilled to be acting with the Alumnae Theatre for the very first time. His past theatre roles include the maniacal Melvin in Cliffhanger and the distraught adolescent Sean in Goodnight, Amherst.
SCOTT CLARKSON Actor, Theory
Favorite theatre projects include Pride & Prejudice, Private Lives, Gross Indecency, The Tin Drum, Rumours of Our Death, The Crucible, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, Don Juan in Hell, The Fort at York, Side Man, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Floorboy, and four shows with Shakespeare and the Queen's Men. On film: Road Rage, Dr. Jekyll, Attack of the Phantom Filmmaker's New Empire, and the upcoming Mexican extravaganza Sin Retorno.
MOINUL DELWAR Actor, Theory
Born and brought up in Botswana and currently in my second year in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Toronto. I've taken part in plays such as Sarafina! and Romeo and Juliet in Botswana. I love comedy, cars and photography.
ZAHIR GILANI Actor, Theory
Zahir is happy to be working with this talented group of people. He was last on a Toronto stage in late 2009 when he performed in Sex, Relationships and Sometimes Love at the Poor Alex Theatre. Zahir continues to gain success and grow as an artist. He studies at Carter Thor and has an Honours in Philosophy from York University.
BOBBI JAYE Actor, Theory
A native of Stratford, Ontario, Bobbi is a graduate of the University of Toronto with an Honours Bachelor of Science in Psychology. Upon graduating, she stacked her text books in her parent's basement, moved home and became a bartender while pursuing a career in acting. Since then, she has had the opportunity to train in Stratford, LA, and Toronto and has earned a guest appearance on television, appeared in National and International commercial print, several industrials and short films and is now making her first theatre appearance in the New Idea's Festival's production of Theory. When Bobbi isn't acting, she is perusing craigslist and updating her website, coaching youth basketball and contemplating beginning her P90X workout.
ELIZABETH KESSELRING Stage Manager, Theory
A Native of Fort Langley, B.C, Liz moved about 3,000 miles east to study theatre at York University. Now finished her second year of studies, she has started to branch out from her stage managing on campus and is greatly enjoying the masses of theatre Toronto has to offer. Liz is proud to be a part of this year's New Ideas Festival, and has thoroughly enjoyed working with the artists behind Theory.
SUZETTE McCANNY Actor, Theory
This is Suzette's first production with Alumnae Theatre and the New Ideas Festival. She recently graduated from the University of Windsor and has been acting and creating theatre in Toronto since then. Recently she wrote and acted in her solo show Children of Space at The Cameron House. She has also played Lady MacDuff in Macbeth at the Rose Theatre as well as Julia in Two Gentlemen of Verona with The Company of Fools in Ottawa.
DAVID J. PHILLIPS Actor, Theory
David received a BFA in Acting from the Theatre Program of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. That was in 1978. After a season or two of playing very thin, very quirky, very young men, there fell the Dark Years, from which he emerged to find himself a scholar of communications, media, and information studies. He is now Associate Professor of Information at the University of Toronto. He's happy to be returning to the New Ideas Festival.
JOANNE WILLIAMS Director, Theory
Joanne holds a degree in Drama and English from Queen's University and works for Prologue to the Performing Arts and The Canadian Stage Company. She has directed The Vagina Monologues (Queen's, 2004) and a staged reading of You Are Here, and acting coached for Single Thread Theatre in Kingston. Acting credits include Prisoners (playing in the 3rd week of the New Ideas Festival), Ritual Refuge (SummerWorks Performance Gallery), A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant, & A Prayer (VDay Toronto 2009), Veronika Decides to Die, (Darkroom Theatre), and the experimental film Milo. Other credits include stage manager for Dirty Girls (Toronto Fringe 2009) and A Little Patch (New Ideas Festival 2009). Thanks to Norman, Liz, and the cast for their skill and openness; and to the producers for their dedication.
*Appearing with the permission of Canadian Actors' Equity Association
ALUMNAE THEATRE COMPANY
70 Berkeley Street
Toronto, Ontario • M5A 2W6
Phone: 416-364-4170
Email: contactus@alumnaetheatre.com
New Ideas 2010: newideas@alumnaetheatre.com
