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Blind Date
International hit-show in Tarragon debut
Mainspace
Created by and starring Rebecca Northan
September 8 - October 4, 2015
Canadian Comedy Award-winner Rebecca Northan's popular hit show returns to Toronto after critically acclaimed runs in New York, London's West End and across Canada. When Mimi's date for the evening fails to show up, she turns to the audience for someone brave enough to answer Love's call. What happens next is anybody's guess, and different each night. This unscripted, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants adventure is one saucy, daring and entertaining evening out.
“Funny and spontaneous, but also genuinely adorable. Blind Date conjures up all the heart-mushrooming glee of a brand-new romance, even as it gently lampoons sexual politics and courtship anxieties…. Mimi's definitely a keeper.” – J. Kelly Nestruck, The Globe and Mail
“Do you believe in love at first sight? I do, because I once spent 90 minutes under the spell of Rebecca Northan…A flight of theatrical fancy that is absolutely magical.” – Richard Ouzounian, Toronto Star
“It’s one thing to bring audience members onstage for three minutes of mockery, then sit them back down again. It’s quite another to play opposite a stranger who’s not a professional actor for more than an hour. That’s what Ms. Northan fearlessly does, and it’s very funny.” – Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times
An Enemy of the People
Back by popular demand!
Mainspace
By Henrik Ibsen
Adapted by Florian Borchmeyer
Originally adapted for the Schaubühne
Translated by Maria Milisavljevic
Original Direction by Thomas Ostermeier
Toronto Staging by Richard Rose
October 7 - November 1, 2015
Dr. Stockmann has made a shocking discovery – his town’s local baths are contaminated with industrial waste – but to go public with it will spell the end of the town’s prosperity. With his reputation and relationships at stake, Dr. Stockmann must choose the right course of action. Censored scientists, environmental crises, the pitfalls of democracy and anarchist manifestos – An Enemy of the People is as alive now as it was in 1882.
Tarragon Artistic Director Richard Rose again helms an all-Canadian rendition of Schaubühne Theatre Artistic Director Thomas Ostermeier’s visionary, boundary-crushing and acclaimed production. This riveting spectacle returns to the Tarragon stage after its huge audience and critical success this past fall.
“It was thrilling… a must-see” – J. Kelly Nestruck, The Globe and Mail
“Superb… even more topical now in a world where politicians at various levels discourage scientists and tell doctors to stick to their stethoscopes.” – Robert Cushman, National Post
“Intelligent, well-argued and passionately dramatic. Don't miss it.” – Jon Kaplan, NOW
The Trouble with Mr. Adams
World premiere
Extraspace
by Gord Rand
October 20 - November 29, 2015 (Opens October 28)
The dirty tip of cupid’s arrow pierces high-school coach Mr. Adams when he falls for his too-young volleyball star – a love that threatens to destroy his life, family and career. This darkly funny, brand new play, from acclaimed actor and Tarragon Playwright-in-Residence Gord Rand in his Tarragon playwriting debut, exposes the male mid-life crisis in all its awkward and ruinous glory. Rand starred in Tarragon’s Abyss in 2014-15 as well as the Shaw Festival’s The Philanderer, Necessary Angel’s Hamlet and Volcano’s Goodness which he made into the feature documentary Goodness in Rwanda (Audience Choice Award at the 2013 ReelWorld Film Festival and Best Feature Documentary at the Thin Line Film Festival in Denton, Texas). He will soon be seen in the Stratford Festival’s Oedipus Rex. He also wrote Poor Tom Productions’ Dora-nominated play Pond Life.
Wormwood
World premiere
Mainspace
by Andrew Kushnir
directed by Richard Rose
November 11 - December 20, 2015 (Opens November 18)
A young Canadian man travels to Ukraine to observe the elections following the Orange Revolution, only to become an unexpected player in its fractured politics, its tumultuous history and the fate of a beautiful woman. As he falls deeper in love with the mysterious young woman, the more transparent his delusions about her country and its complicated past become. A stirring story about reconciling one’s ideals with a complex political reality from Tarragon Playwright-in-Residence Andrew Kushnir who now makes his Tarragon debut. Kushnir, Creative Director at Project: Humanity, wrote and starred in its productions of Small Axe (co-presented with The Theatre Centre) and The Middle Place (a Canadian Stage/Theatre Passe Muraille collaboration). He also co-wrote and starred in The GHP Collective/Buddies in Bad Times Theatre’s acclaimed The Gay Heritage Project.
Within the Glass
World premiere
Mainspace
by Anna Chatterton
directed by Andrea Donaldson
January 6 - February 14, 2016 (Opens January 13)
Two very different couples meet after a critical mistake at a fertility clinic: a fertilized egg has been implanted into the wrong woman. Over the course of a tense and absurd evening, they fight to determine the uncertain future of their families. This extraordinary pregnancy forces each of them to reassess their relationships, the depths of their desire to parent, and their hopes for the future - asking each person what they are willing to give up in the pursuit of a child. Anna Chatterton, a Tarragon Playwright-in-Residence, makes her Tarragon debut with this comic drama; her many other credits include works for The Canadian Opera Company (Swoon), and World Stage/Harbourfront Centre (Voice-Box) as well as Stitch for urbanvessel/The Theatre Centre and Breathe for Soundstreams. As a founding member of award-winning theatre company Independent Aunties, she co-wrote and performed in its acclaimed Clean Irene & Dirty Maxine and Breakfast, both presented by Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.
Mustard
World premiere
Extraspace
by Kat Sandler
February 2 - March 13, 2016 (Opens February 10)
Teenage Thai still has an imaginary friend named Mustard who lives under the bed. How can her mother, recently divorced and looking for solace at the bottom of a wine glass, persuade her that this is not normal, when she just started seeing him too? Mustard is a darkly comic fairy tale about an imaginary friend’s quest to stay in our world; a whimsical story about loss, family, growing up and our need to belong. Artistic Director of Theatre Brouhaha, Kat Sandler is arguably Toronto’s hottest and most prolific young playwright. She is known on indie stages, particularly the Fringe Festival, for such dark comedies as Punch-Up (2014 Best of Fringe/Patrons’ Pick), Help Yourself (2012 Best of Fringe/Patrons’ Pick) and We Are The Bomb, as well as Theatre Brouhaha’s Cockfight and Retreat at The Storefront Theatre. She now makes her Tarragon debut.
You Will Remember Me
Toronto premiere
Mainspace
by François Archambault, translated by Bobby Theodore
in co-production with Studio 180
directed by Joel Greenberg
March 1 - April 10, 2016 (Opens March 9)
How will you be remembered? How will you choose to remember those you love? As an aging patriarch of a modern family – a university professor, political and intellectual force and long-time sovereigntist – suffers from dementia, the people who love him struggle to make room in their lives to care for him. This is a vivid and elegant drama about family and memory from one of Québec’s most dynamic voices: Governor General’s Award-winning playwright, François Archambault (15 seconds, The Leisure Society). New to the Tarragon stage, Archambault received raves when You Will Remember Me opened in Calgary at the 2014 Alberta Theatre Projects playRites Festival of New Canadian Plays for its English premiere:
“It is a beautiful, heart wrenching story told with as much compassion as insight…. as gripping as it is thought provoking” – Louis Hobson, Calgary Sun
“is the sharpest and most thoughtful Canadian stage drama to investigate the mysteries of memory since John Mighton’s Half Life.… But while this is a play of ideas, it’s a rich, accessible and frequently funny one that never neglects the emotional stakes.” – J. Kelly Nestruck, The Globe and Mail
The Summoned
World premiere
Mainspace
by Fabrizio Filippo
directed by Richard Rose
April 20 - May 29, 2016 (Opens April 27)
Following the death of a billionaire tech visionary, the most important people in his life are summoned to an airport hotel for the reading of his will. They know to expect the unexpected, but what transpires is nothing short of a paradigm shift in the very fabric of these characters’ lives, the nature of mortality and the future of technology. Celebrated Canadian screenwriter and actor Fabrizio Filippo, best-known for his television roles that include Scott Hope in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and violinist Ethan Gold in Queer as Folk, as well as starring in macIDeas’ storied This is Our Youth, directed by Woody Harrelson, now makes his Tarragon playwriting debut on the Tarragon stage.
Blind Date
International hit-show in Tarragon debut
Mainspace
Created by and starring Rebecca Northan
September 8 - October 4, 2015
Canadian Comedy Award-winner Rebecca Northan's popular hit show returns to Toronto after critically acclaimed runs in New York, London's West End and across Canada. When Mimi's date for the evening fails to show up, she turns to the audience for someone brave enough to answer Love's call. What happens next is anybody's guess, and different each night. This unscripted, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants adventure is one saucy, daring and entertaining evening out.
“Funny and spontaneous, but also genuinely adorable. Blind Date conjures up all the heart-mushrooming glee of a brand-new romance, even as it gently lampoons sexual politics and courtship anxieties…. Mimi's definitely a keeper.” – J. Kelly Nestruck, The Globe and Mail
“Do you believe in love at first sight? I do, because I once spent 90 minutes under the spell of Rebecca Northan…A flight of theatrical fancy that is absolutely magical.” – Richard Ouzounian, Toronto Star
“It’s one thing to bring audience members onstage for three minutes of mockery, then sit them back down again. It’s quite another to play opposite a stranger who’s not a professional actor for more than an hour. That’s what Ms. Northan fearlessly does, and it’s very funny.” – Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times
An Enemy of the People
Back by popular demand!
Mainspace
By Henrik Ibsen
Adapted by Florian Borchmeyer
Originally adapted for the Schaubühne
Translated by Maria Milisavljevic
Original Direction by Thomas Ostermeier
Toronto Staging by Richard Rose
October 7 - November 1, 2015
Dr. Stockmann has made a shocking discovery – his town’s local baths are contaminated with industrial waste – but to go public with it will spell the end of the town’s prosperity. With his reputation and relationships at stake, Dr. Stockmann must choose the right course of action. Censored scientists, environmental crises, the pitfalls of democracy and anarchist manifestos – An Enemy of the People is as alive now as it was in 1882.
Tarragon Artistic Director Richard Rose again helms an all-Canadian rendition of Schaubühne Theatre Artistic Director Thomas Ostermeier’s visionary, boundary-crushing and acclaimed production. This riveting spectacle returns to the Tarragon stage after its huge audience and critical success this past fall.
“It was thrilling… a must-see” – J. Kelly Nestruck, The Globe and Mail
“Superb… even more topical now in a world where politicians at various levels discourage scientists and tell doctors to stick to their stethoscopes.” – Robert Cushman, National Post
“Intelligent, well-argued and passionately dramatic. Don't miss it.” – Jon Kaplan, NOW
The Trouble with Mr. Adams
World premiere
Extraspace
by Gord Rand
October 20 - November 29, 2015 (Opens October 28)
The dirty tip of cupid’s arrow pierces high-school coach Mr. Adams when he falls for his too-young volleyball star – a love that threatens to destroy his life, family and career. This darkly funny, brand new play, from acclaimed actor and Tarragon Playwright-in-Residence Gord Rand in his Tarragon playwriting debut, exposes the male mid-life crisis in all its awkward and ruinous glory. Rand starred in Tarragon’s Abyss in 2014-15 as well as the Shaw Festival’s The Philanderer, Necessary Angel’s Hamlet and Volcano’s Goodness which he made into the feature documentary Goodness in Rwanda (Audience Choice Award at the 2013 ReelWorld Film Festival and Best Feature Documentary at the Thin Line Film Festival in Denton, Texas). He will soon be seen in the Stratford Festival’s Oedipus Rex. He also wrote Poor Tom Productions’ Dora-nominated play Pond Life.
Wormwood
World premiere
Mainspace
by Andrew Kushnir
directed by Richard Rose
November 11 - December 20, 2015 (Opens November 18)
A young Canadian man travels to Ukraine to observe the elections following the Orange Revolution, only to become an unexpected player in its fractured politics, its tumultuous history and the fate of a beautiful woman. As he falls deeper in love with the mysterious young woman, the more transparent his delusions about her country and its complicated past become. A stirring story about reconciling one’s ideals with a complex political reality from Tarragon Playwright-in-Residence Andrew Kushnir who now makes his Tarragon debut. Kushnir, Creative Director at Project: Humanity, wrote and starred in its productions of Small Axe (co-presented with The Theatre Centre) and The Middle Place (a Canadian Stage/Theatre Passe Muraille collaboration). He also co-wrote and starred in The GHP Collective/Buddies in Bad Times Theatre’s acclaimed The Gay Heritage Project.
Within the Glass
World premiere
Mainspace
by Anna Chatterton
directed by Andrea Donaldson
January 6 - February 14, 2016 (Opens January 13)
Two very different couples meet after a critical mistake at a fertility clinic: a fertilized egg has been implanted into the wrong woman. Over the course of a tense and absurd evening, they fight to determine the uncertain future of their families. This extraordinary pregnancy forces each of them to reassess their relationships, the depths of their desire to parent, and their hopes for the future - asking each person what they are willing to give up in the pursuit of a child. Anna Chatterton, a Tarragon Playwright-in-Residence, makes her Tarragon debut with this comic drama; her many other credits include works for The Canadian Opera Company (Swoon), and World Stage/Harbourfront Centre (Voice-Box) as well as Stitch for urbanvessel/The Theatre Centre and Breathe for Soundstreams. As a founding member of award-winning theatre company Independent Aunties, she co-wrote and performed in its acclaimed Clean Irene & Dirty Maxine and Breakfast, both presented by Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.
Mustard
World premiere
Extraspace
by Kat Sandler
February 2 - March 13, 2016 (Opens February 10)
Teenage Thai still has an imaginary friend named Mustard who lives under the bed. How can her mother, recently divorced and looking for solace at the bottom of a wine glass, persuade her that this is not normal, when she just started seeing him too? Mustard is a darkly comic fairy tale about an imaginary friend’s quest to stay in our world; a whimsical story about loss, family, growing up and our need to belong. Artistic Director of Theatre Brouhaha, Kat Sandler is arguably Toronto’s hottest and most prolific young playwright. She is known on indie stages, particularly the Fringe Festival, for such dark comedies as Punch-Up (2014 Best of Fringe/Patrons’ Pick), Help Yourself (2012 Best of Fringe/Patrons’ Pick) and We Are The Bomb, as well as Theatre Brouhaha’s Cockfight and Retreat at The Storefront Theatre. She now makes her Tarragon debut.
You Will Remember Me
Toronto premiere
Mainspace
by François Archambault, translated by Bobby Theodore
in co-production with Studio 180
directed by Joel Greenberg
March 1 - April 10, 2016 (Opens March 9)
How will you be remembered? How will you choose to remember those you love? As an aging patriarch of a modern family – a university professor, political and intellectual force and long-time sovereigntist – suffers from dementia, the people who love him struggle to make room in their lives to care for him. This is a vivid and elegant drama about family and memory from one of Québec’s most dynamic voices: Governor General’s Award-winning playwright, François Archambault (15 seconds, The Leisure Society). New to the Tarragon stage, Archambault received raves when You Will Remember Me opened in Calgary at the 2014 Alberta Theatre Projects playRites Festival of New Canadian Plays for its English premiere:
“It is a beautiful, heart wrenching story told with as much compassion as insight…. as gripping as it is thought provoking” – Louis Hobson, Calgary Sun
“is the sharpest and most thoughtful Canadian stage drama to investigate the mysteries of memory since John Mighton’s Half Life.… But while this is a play of ideas, it’s a rich, accessible and frequently funny one that never neglects the emotional stakes.” – J. Kelly Nestruck, The Globe and Mail
The Summoned
World premiere
Mainspace
by Fabrizio Filippo
directed by Richard Rose
April 20 - May 29, 2016 (Opens April 27)
Following the death of a billionaire tech visionary, the most important people in his life are summoned to an airport hotel for the reading of his will. They know to expect the unexpected, but what transpires is nothing short of a paradigm shift in the very fabric of these characters’ lives, the nature of mortality and the future of technology. Celebrated Canadian screenwriter and actor Fabrizio Filippo, best-known for his television roles that include Scott Hope in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and violinist Ethan Gold in Queer as Folk, as well as starring in macIDeas’ storied This is Our Youth, directed by Woody Harrelson, now makes his Tarragon playwriting debut on the Tarragon stage.