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NOV 5, 6, 11-13, 18-20, 2021
Albertine in Five TimesBY MICHEL TREMBLAY
Director: Cassidy Sadler Co-Producers: Brenda Darling and Kat Welsh An On-Demand Digital Production In this award-winning drama, Tremblay presents a five-sided portrait of a fractured woman as versions of herself at ages 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70 collide on stage. This fall, Albertine in Five Times will mark Alumnae's very first integrated virtual/live production. Performing from home, four actors will be projected into the Studio Theatre; two more actors will join them on the Studio Stage, live and in person! This production will be filmed and made available online as an exciting ticketed digital event. |
- Albertine in Five Times - Fireworks 2022/NestedN - In the Next Room (The Vibrator Play) More news to come! |
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Post-show Talkback!
Saturday, November 13, and Sunday, November 21 Join us for a 'Talkback' with the cast and creative team. |
Watch the Video Trailer!
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Albertine in Five Times
CASSIDY SADLER/
DIRECTOR |
A director, actor and producer, Cassidy Sadler began working with Alumnae at age 17. She was a writer in the 2012 New Ideas Festival and a NIF director from 2017 through 2021, and she produced the festival in 2021. She is passionate about new works, immersive experiences, and experimental theatrical forms. Cassidy has performed in London, New York, and even Barrie, Ontario. She is a permanent company member of Live History, whose site-specific work can be seen internationally. Cassidy is currently the Associate Producer at Theatre Gargantua. Additional credits include: The Curious Voyage (DopoLavoro Teatrale/Talk is Free Theatre); The Pride of Life and Mankind (Poculi Ludique Societas/Stan’s Cafe/Metropolitan Museum of Art); Tideline (Hart House Theatre); and If You Know Emmaline (Paraphrased Productions/St. Joseph’s Hospital).
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BRENDA DARLING/
CO-PRODUCER |
Brenda Darling worked 7 years at Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto, journeying from actor to general manager. She founded MythMakers, which provided production and management support to 80 companies over its 5 years of existence. She spent 13 years as administrative producer of 4 different international festivals—World Stage, Harbourfront Children’s Festival, Festival de theatre des ameriques, and Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival. She created her own short films and worked on others.
On ATC’s mainstage, Brenda directed The Trip to Bountiful (2020) and Stepping Out (2016). For the New Ideas Festival, she directed shorts and co-produced for 3 seasons. She has been a board member and president. She launched Cyber Reads during the pandemic. This online script workshop series has rehearsed and presented 90 top international and Canadian scripts featuring ATC directors and ATC actors. Brenda is married to the good man she met when she was 16, has 2 wise daughters, 1 special daughter, a Kenyan godson and 5 inspiring grandchildren. |
KAT WELSH/
CO-PRODUCER |
Kat Welsh is a Queen’s University graduate, restaurant manager, and life-long theatre enthusiast from Toronto. Some of her most treasured roles include Hope and Pip in the original musicals Slaying Senior Year (2016) and Pages(2018), produced by Queen’s Students on Broadway, Manager in Blue Canoe’s Elf (2019), and various roles in Les Zoom-erables, Voulez-Zoom, and The Land of Zoom, produced by Blue Canoe (2020-21). Kat has also taken on many production and creative team positions and continues to explore and try new things whenever possible. Kat plans to use her backgrounds in theatre and film to move into creating interactive, immersive, and site-specific professional productions that explore the various universes of her favourite TV shows. Kat would like to thank Jeff Young for his incredible generosity and dedication to arts and community, Cassidy and Brenda for their guidance and patience through Kat’s first time producing, and Ryan for being there.
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THE CAST
ANNE SHEPHERD/
ALBERTINE AT 70 |
Anne Shepherd is a Toronto-based actor, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, and mother of three adult sons; her eldest John is also an actor and psychotherapist. She just adopted two street kittens. She sings with the Toronto Physicians Choir.
Anne has acted with the Alumnae, Village Players, Etobicoke Theatre and Toronto Fringe. She fell in love with Tremblay playing Forever Yours, Mary-Lou thirty years ago at the U of T Drama Centre, and is delighted to dig into Albertine’s themes of unresolved loss and old family conflicts — the essence of great theatre and therapy. She has also acted in multiple plays in the New Ideas Festival at the Alumnae, as well as in The Trojan Women, The Killdeer and Radical. Her latest favourite was the dementia play I No Longer Can in which she sang a duet with a dementing husband. Anne also does film and TV: she loves music videos, most recently as a motorcycle mama in Desolation by Mav Karlo and as a desert queen in Context by Crownlands. This month, she is filming The Next Stopas a retired teacher bullied at a bus stop and The Trunk as a creature terrorizing a young girl. The CyberReads series at the Alumnae has given Anne a chance to sink her teeth into roles of different ages and genders as well as the opportunity to start directing. Her participation has also provided a wonderful opportunity to connect with a diverse group of actors, directors and producers at the Alumnae. |
LESLIE RENNIE/
ALBERTINE AT 60 |
Leslie Rennie is thrilled to play Albertine at age 60 in this avant-garde production. It has been an incredible and exciting acting challenge. Leslie has been the Alumnae Theatre Wardrobe Manager since March 2019 and throughout the pandemic has been an enthusiastic participant in CyberReads. Her last performance at Alumnae was on the Mainstage as “Marie” (older) in Queen Marie, 2018. Other performances have been with The NAGs Players (Toronto) as the witch “Timothea Horton” in Hansel and Gretel McKenzie, Eh?, 2021 (Zoom), “Helga” in Night Watch, 2019, “Rhonda” in Office Hours, 2019, and she was a chorus member in numerous pantomimes including The Snow Queen, A Freezing Pantomime, 2020, Dick Whittington and His Cat, 2019, Beauty and the Beast, 2018, and Rumpelstiltskin, 2017. Leslie loves performing (or being projected) on stage. She extends hearty thanks to family and friends for their ongoing and enthusiastic support.
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SANDY RAMDIN/
ALBERTINE AT 50 |
Sandy Ramdin is a Toronto-based actor who found her love of theatre at the age of ten. She was involved with various Shakespeare productions in her younger years, including the Die in Debt production of Romeo and Juliet and the Lunatic Lover Poet production of Macbeth.
After an exceedingly long hiatus from acting, Sandy has returned to the passion that has refused to leave her even after a period of more than ten years. Sandy is a very recent member of Alumnae Theatre, beginning with the CyberReads series, which she credits with expanding the range of characters that she can sink her teeth into. She is impressed and touched by the sense of community and love of the art form that she is finding at Alumnae. Sandy is excited, grateful and humbled to be a part of this ambitious, wonderful production. |
ELIZABETH FRIESEN/
ALBERTINE AT 40 |
Elizabeth Friesen is a Toronto-based actor, playwright, director, and dramaturge, who has been onstage for as long as she could walk and talk. Years of dance classes at various studios across the city (everything from ballet to flamenco) and classical vocal training at the Royal Conservatory of Music led to numerous lead roles in a wide assortment of musical and theatrical endeavours. Performances in Oliver!, Macbeth, The Drowsy Chaperone, Gypsy, Steel Magnolias, The Crucible, King Lear, Noises Off, Love Letters, and Kiss Me, Kate stand out in a list far too long to include here. A graduate of the University of Toronto, Elizabeth is currently affiliated with ACT II STUDIO at X University, the Village Playhouse, and, most recently, with the Alumnae Theatre. While still very new to the Alumnae community, Elizabeth has enthusiastically jumped in with both feet and has already participated in several of their CyberReads. This will be her first major production with Alumnae. Elizabeth is currently directing 2 video vignettes dealing with Alzheimer’s and dementia. She is also in rehearsal for Summer of Saints, a new play by Donna Langevin, which will be premiering in 2022. Elizabeth is the proud mother of two incredible young people and 3 cuddly cats. She is incredibly thankful for the ongoing love and support of her friends and family.
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PAIGE MADSEN/
ALBERTINE AT 30 |
Paige Madsen is a Toronto-based actor with a BFA in Performance Acting from X University. This is her Alumnae Theatre premiere—she is thrilled to be involved in this beautiful and ambitious production.
Some favourite past acting credits include Penelope in Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad (X University), Beatrice in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing (Panoply Collective), and Daisy in Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros (Twelve Lemons Theatre). Recently, Paige has been involved in several virtual productions, including the premiere of a new Canadian play, In Your Own Backyard, presented digitally by the #CanadaPerforms program through the National Arts Centre. Paige is a co-founding Artistic Director of Panoply Theatre Collective, a Toronto-based actors’ initiative that aims to re-tell classical stories with a feminist, inclusive, and accessible perspective. Since its inception, Panoply has created several diverse theatrical productions, including a modern adaptation of Euripides’ The Bacchae, an audio drama of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, and many exciting new presentations of Shakespeare’s works. Paige is also an arts educator with Ovation! Performing Arts Academy and a member of Skylark Vocal Trio. |
VALERIE CARRIER/
MADELEINE |
Valérie Carrier is a Toronto-based actor with a passion for storytelling. Valérie lived in London (UK) for many years, and has been involved in several productions with the French theatre community including Ring (Camille), Under Milk Wood (several characters), Les Belles-Soeurs (Germaine Lauzon) and The Orphan Muses (Isabelle). She also has fond memories of her work as Gulnara in Isabelle Hubert’s La robe de Gulnara, produced by the Théâtre Parenthèse in Montréal. Now in Toronto, Valérie is getting involved in independent short movies and other acting endeavours and is more passionate than ever about sharing her love of acting.
Valérie is married and the mother of three charming children. She is also the proud human of Rufus, a lovely Cotton de Tuléar. |
THE PRODUCTION TEAM
LESLIE RENNIE/
COSTUME DESIGNER |
Leslie Rennie has been the Alumnae Theatre Wardrobe Manager since March 2019 and throughout the pandemic has been an enthusiastic participant in CyberReads. Her last performance at Alumnae was on the Mainstage as “Marie” (older) in Queen Marie, 2018. Other performances have been with The NAGs Players (Toronto) as the witch “Timothea Horton” in Hansel and Gretel McKenzie, Eh?, 2021 (Zoom), “Helga” in Night Watch, 2019, “Rhonda” in Office Hours, 2019, and she was a chorus member in numerous pantomimes including The Snow Queen, A Freezing Pantomime, 2020, Dick Whittington and His Cat, 2019, Beauty and the Beast, 2018, and Rumpelstiltskin, 2017. Leslie loves performing (or being projected) on stage. She extends hearty thanks to family and friends for their ongoing and enthusiastic support.
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CHRISTOPHER ELIZABETH/
STAGE MANAGER AND LIGHTING DESIGNER |
Christopher Elizabeth (they/them) is an Afro-Oneida jack-of-all trades storyteller from Windsor, who enjoys nothing more than the process of creation, whether that be music, writing, or the inner workings of theatre. They are currently studying Performance Production at X University. Recent credits: Balance (Writer, Actor, Editor) at Toronto Fringe Festival[2021]; The Reaper & The Whale (Playwright, Co-director, Sound Designer and Stream Manager) at Davis Shakespeare Festival [2021]. They by Demetre Kalmantis (Actor/Subject, Composer) at Paperweight Owl Productions [2021]. 2021 StartUP Festival (Video Editor, Dramaturg). Thank You For Your Labour by Marcus Youseff (Stage Manager) at University Players[2020].
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JEFF YOUNG/
VIDEOGRAPHER AND EDITOR |
Jeff Young is a veteran high school teacher responsible for designing and implementing the Arts York Intensive Arts Program for the York Region Board of Education.
In 2007, Jeff combined his love for photography and his commitment to teaching by creating the African not-for-profit project “Village Galleries,” which took a team of 8 educators/photographers to Tanzania to teach digital storytelling to 500 Maasai villagers. In 2009, Jeff was the Artist for The Big Book Project with The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario in Cotonou, Benin. Following this experience Jeff became the Project Manager for “In My Own Eyes,” which taught digital storytelling to 7 First Nations communities in Ontario. Current projects now include digital storytelling/advocacy reels for not-for-profit agencies like The Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture, Camp Scugog, York Region Autism, Save the Cheetah Canada, Wintergreen Studios, 365 Giving, and PAWS Canada. |
MAGDALENA ACUNA/
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER |
Magdy Acuña is new to Toronto and to Alumnae Theatre. Musicals and theatre were part of her whole life back in her home country, Argentina. She participated as an actress and backstage in amateur musical productions like Aladdin, The Lion King, In the Heights, and We Will Rock You and in classic plays like Julius Cesar, The Barber of Seville, The House of Bernarda Alba, and A Midsummer Night's Dream, among others. As assistant manager, she is now thrilled with the opportunity to build her way in theatre in Toronto with this Alumnae premiere.
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RICK SUTTON/
PROJECTIONIST |
Rick Sutton has made a longtime passion for theatre and photography (and more recently, videography) a key part of his retirement activities. A member of Ryerson’s ACT II STUDIO, he partakes in classes, acting, web support, photography, sound design, and audio/video recording/editing. He was a video editor for NIF 2021 (Consumption) and has assisted on lights or sound for 6 Alumnae Mainstage shows (most recently, Trip to Bountiful and Omission), as well as with multiple shows at NAGs Players (crew) and Haven Theatre (directing and videography).
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