FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, December 17
Canadian Stage unveils 2014.2015 season
Highlights include new work from Canadian artists Stan Douglas, Chris Haddock and Jennifer Tarver;
remount of Robert Lepage’s sold-out Needles and Opium; Spotlight South Africa festival;
great theatre, dance, circus and music
Toronto, ON – Canadian Stage today announced the 14 productions and collaborations featured in the 2014.2015 season.
Artistic & General Director Matthew Jocelyn continues to make Canadian Stage a home for innovative live performance
from Canada and around the world with a genre-defying line-up that celebrates the company’s mandate to share daring
work guided by a strong directorial vision. In addition to featuring acclaimed artists and productions from around the world,
the upcoming season will share newly commissioned Canadian work with an international audience. Transfixing theatre,
dance, circus, and music with a particular focus on multimedia performance will span Canadian Stage’s three venues: the
Bluma Appel Theatre, the Berkeley Street Theatre and the High Park Amphitheatre.
“A new season presents a new opportunity to explore, discover, experience, and reflect. 2014.2015 offers a spectrum of
emotional journeys that truly elasticizes the idea of what theatre is in today’s urban world,” said Jocelyn. “With Canadian
artists like Stan Douglas, Chris Haddock, Daniel Brooks, Jennifer Tarver, Robert Lepage and Chris Abraham alongside
creators like Victoria Chaplin, Michèle Anne De Mey, and Justin Ellington, we will share dance from Belgium, circus from
France, two world premieres, a Russian classic with a twist, a new play from Broadway, and a play by Britain’s most
innovative writer today, a Spotlight South Africa festival and much more. We can’t wait to explore the endless possibilities of
art with our audiences.”
The season opens at the Bluma Appel Theatre with the critic and audience favourite Kiss & Cry, a dance production from
Belgium created by choreographer Michèle Anne De Mey and film-maker Jaco Van Dormael (Caméra d’Or, Cannes Film
Festival). Two hands (one male, one female), filmed live in close-up, portray a pair of lovers as they dance around a set of
miniature landscapes in a sumptuous melange of film, dance, poetry and theatre.
Next is Helen Lawrence, a production that intertwines theatre, visual art, live-action filming and computer-generated
simulations of historical sites to tell a suspense-filled tale of urban renewal and revenge. The production (initially
announced as part of the 2013.2014 season) is conceived and directed by world-renowned visual artist Stan Douglas and
written by Chris Haddock. Together with collaborators Vancouver’s Arts Club Theatre and The Banff Centre, Canadian Stage
is proud to share this piece with the world with a Canadian and European tour including dates in Toronto, Vancouver,
Montreal, Edinburgh, Munich and more.
Programming at the Bluma Appel Theatre also includes a circus piece from living legends Victoria Chaplin (daughter of the
iconic comedian Charlie Chaplin) and Jean-Baptiste Thierrée. Le Cirque Invisible is a spectacle of pure circus magic, created
by two masters of the art. The haunting and unexpectedly funny Broadway drama, The Other Place by Sharr White, will be
helmed by Siminovitch Award-winner Daniel Brooks (director of 2012’s RACE). Jocelyn will direct the Canadian premiere of
the deeply perceptive play Harper Regan, by British playwright Simon Stephens. The season will end on a high with the
return of Robert Lepage’s Needles and Opium, following rave reviews and a string of sold-out performances in November
2013.
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At the Berkeley Street Theatre, the work of some of Canada’s most esteemed choreographers will be on display in Older
and Reckless, a presentation series that showcases work from older dance artists. Conceived by Claudia Moore of
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Moonhorse Dance Theatre, the presentation celebrates the project’s 15 anniversary with a series of short works from
some of Canada’s most celebrated choreographers, Bill Coleman, Robert Desrosiers, Cloud9 collective, Douglas
Dunn, and Esmerelda Enrique.
Music will play a starring role with What Makes a Man, a new creation from Jennifer Tarver and Justin Ellington that
explores the life of famed French-Armenian singer Charles Aznavour. The collaboration will be presented in association
with incoming Berkeley Street Theatre partner Necessary Angel, under the artistic leadership of Jennifer Tarver, as part of a
three year residency. Berkeley Street partner company Crow’s Theatre returns for their final season at Canadian Stage with
a unique take on Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull.
Canadian Stage revisits its biennial festival series highlighting work from the best artists of a selected country with Spotlight
South Africa. Over the course of three weeks, five unique pieces featuring dance, drama, puppetry from the Handspring
Puppet Company (Warhorse), and musical performances will animate the Bluma Appel and Berkeley Street Theatres.
At Shakespeare in High Park, Canadian Stage will once again create two plays in repertory, this year presenting As You Like
It and Titus Andronicus on alternate evenings under the stars.
To encourage post-performance activities, Friday evening performances will begin at 7 p.m., giving theatre-goers more time
for discussion over dinner or drinks. Also new next season, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinees will begin at 1 p.m.,
with Tuesday through Thursday and Saturday evening performances beginning at 8 p.m.
In addition to the work presented on stage, Canadian Stage continues to support the artistic community through a variety
of professional development initiatives and investment in artistic creation. The company offers artistic and learning
opportunities for children, youth, educators, young professionals and adults in schools and communities year-round.
Canadian Stage continues to work with the Department of Theatre in the Faculty of Fine Arts, York University, to offer the
York University MFA in Theatre – Stage Direction in Collaboration with Canadian Stage, entering its third year with current
MFA candidates Estelle Shook and Matjash Mrozewski.
2014.2015 Subscriptions are on sale beginning December 17 with 4-show packages starting from $114, 6-show packages
starting from $168 and full-season 14-show packages starting from $384. Subscribers who book before January 31, 2013
will receive an additional five to 10 per cent off their package price. Subscriptions may be purchased by phone at 416-3683110 or in-person at the Canadian Stage Box Office: Bluma Appel Theatre (27 Front Street East) or Berkeley Street
Theatre (26 Berkeley Street). Single tickets will be on sale in March 2014. Full details on the productions, casting and
subscription packages are available online at www.canadianstage.com
Full 2014.2015 season playbill and show details continued below
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Twitter: @CanadianStage
For more information or interview requests, please contact:
Ashley Ballantyne, rock-it promotions, inc., at 416.656.0707 ext. 111 or [email protected]
Rebecca Shoalts, rock-it promotions, inc., at 416.656.0707 ext. 104 or [email protected]
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At the Bluma Appel Theatre
Kiss & Cry - Oct 1 to 5, 2014
By Michèle Anne De Mey and Jaco Van Dormael
A Charleroi Danses production presented by Canadian Stage
“a ravishing blend of film and theater” – Boston Globe
“Where do people go when they disappear from our life, from our memory?” This is the question haunting an elderly
woman as she waits alone on the platform of a train station. She reflects on her greatest loves, starting with her first: a boy
whose hand she touched for a few seconds on a crowded train when she was 13 years old.
Two hands, one male, one female, portray the characters of this narrative with an engaging and sensual presence as they
dance around a set of miniature landscapes with absolute precision. This extraordinary blend of film, dance, text and
theatre is unlike anything you’ve seen before and is sure to leave you breathless.
Helen Lawrence - Oct 12 to Nov 1, 2014
Conceived and directed by Stan Douglas
Story by Stan Douglas and Chris Haddock, written by Chris Haddock
Associate Directed by Sarah Garton Stanley, National Arts Centre Associate Artistic Director of English Theatre
A co-production with Canadian Stage, Arts Club Theatre and The Banff Centre, in collaboration with Canada’s National Arts
Centre. With contributions from Stan Douglas Inc., Arts Partners in Creative Development, Presentation House Gallery, and
Canada Council for the Arts.
World-renowned visual artist Stan Douglas and acclaimed screenwriter Chris Haddock (Da Vinci’s Inquest) collaborate to
create a production that is at the frontier of new media use in performance art. Inspired by post-war film noir, Helen
Lawrence intertwines theatre, visual art, live-action filming and computer-generated simulations of historical sites in this
beautifully crafted suspense-filled tale. As Vancouver struggles to re-organize itself post World War II, opinions diverge as
to who should really hold the power, and how.
Following the show’s Canadian dates which include Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, this production has been invited for
a two week run in Munich at the Kammerspiele in June 2014, and will be presented in Edinburgh.
Production Sponsor: BMO Financial Group.
Le Cirque Invisible – Nov 12 to 16, 2014
Created and performed by Victoria Chaplin and Jean-Baptiste Thierrée
Presented by Canadian Stage
Living legends Victoria Chaplin (daughter of the iconic comedian) and Jean-Baptiste Thierrée – who together renovated the
circus genre and inspired generations of circus artists – are bringing their playful and poetic energy to Canadian Stage.
Having performed from New York to Beijing and back for over 30 years, this French duo still shines. She is an acrobat,
aerialist and human art object, and he calls to mind the harlequins who entertained with the simplest of means, charm and
a disarming smile. Together they present a series of sketches that are surreal, life enhancing, and truly entertaining for the
whole family.
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The Other Place – Jan 18 to Feb 8, 2015
By Sharr White
Directed by Daniel Brooks
A Canadian Stage production
“exquisite and piercing” – New York Magazine
Juliana Smithton is a successful neurologist whose life seems to be falling apart around her. Her husband has filed for
divorce, her daughter has eloped with a much older man, and her own health is declining. But in this brilliantly troubling
and unexpectedly humorous play, nothing is as it seems. Piece by piece, a mystery unfolds as fact blurs with fiction, the past
collides with the present and the elusive truth about Juliana begins to surface.
After captivating audiences on Broadway last year, The Other Place gets its Canadian premiere in 2015.
Harper Regan – March 1 to 22, 2015
By Simon Stephens
Directed by Matthew Jocelyn
A Canadian Stage production
“beautiful, sharp and melancholy” – New York Times
One autumn evening, after learning of her father’s illness, Harper Regan walks away from her home, her husband, her
daughter, and doesn’t look back. She tells no one where she’s going or whether she’s coming back. She put everything she’s
ever worked for at risk. Her journey takes her to the very borderlines of the relationship between eros and thanatos, sex
and death. Harper Regan is an absorbing story, a woman’s tale of the need to explore the very meaning of loyalty, morality,
and the bonds of family, written by Olivier Award-winning writer Simon Stephens. Stephens, a playwright largely unknown
in Canada, is one of the most widely performed writers of his generation in the UK.
Needles and Opium - May 1 to 10, 2015
Written and directed by Robert Lepage
An Ex Machina production presented by Canadian Stage
Following a sold-out run in 2013, Robert Lepage’s Needles and Opium returns to Canadian Stage for an exclusive 10performance run. The technological wizardy dazzled audiences while the poignant performances resonated deeply.
Intertwining the lives of Miles Davis, Jean Cocteau, and a heartbroken artist named Robert, it’s a beautiful, poetic, and
transformative experience. It’s a masterpiece you won’t want to miss the second time around.
At the Berkeley Street Theatre
Proud Sponsor 2014.2015 Berkeley Season: CIBC
What Makes a Man - Oct 5 to Nov 2, 2014 (Downstairs Theatre)
Created by Jennifer Tarver with Justin Ellington
Directed by Jennifer Tarver
A Necessary Angel production presented by Canadian Stage
What Makes a Man is a theatrical and musical portrait of famed French-Armenian singer Charles Aznavour. Each one of
Aznavour’s songs tells a story and in different ways plumbs the depths of his own life experience. Four distinct characters,
each based on an aspect of Aznavour's eclectic personality, reveal his life through song.
This world-premiere work is being created by Jennifer Tarver (director of 2013’s Venus in Fur) and Toronto’s Necessary
Angel theatre company, who join Canadian Stage as Berkeley Street Partners for the next three seasons.
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Older and Reckless - Nov 6 to Nov 9, 2014 (Upstairs Theatre)
Conceived by Claudia Moore
A Moonhorse Dance Theatre production presented by Canadian Stage
“remarkable” – The Dance Current
Older and Reckless is a presentation series that showcases work from older dance artists who continue to grow more
reckless as time goes by. Conceived by Claudia Moore of Moonhorse Dance Theatre in 2000, Canadian Stage celebrates the
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15 anniversary of this unique project. The show provides an opportunity to see some of Canada’s most
celebrated choreographers, including Susie Burpee (Cloud9), Bill Coleman, Robert Desrosiers and Esmerelda
Enrique, as well as American dance icon Douglas Dunn in a series of short works. These award-winning
artists have presented profound original pieces around the world and now are premiering flamenco, solos
and collaborations in the intimate Berkeley Upstairs Theatre. Live musicians punctuate the performance.
The Seagull – Jan 11 to Feb 8, 2015 (Downstairs Theatre)
By Anton Chekhov
Directed by Chris Abraham
Starring Yanna McIntosh, Eric Peterson and Tom Rooney
A Crow’s Theatre production presented by Canadian Stage
A play about the cruelty of love, a story about how we create stories, and about the heartbreakingly wide expanse between
the life we live and the life we long for. The Seagull was a spectacular failure when it premiered in 1895, but has survived to
become one of the masterpieces of the modern era. Starring Eric Peterson and Tom Rooney, Crow’s Theatre's awardwinning director Chris Abraham will bring to life this astonishingly contemporary play about a family at the end of an era,
facing an uncertain future.
Spotlight South Africa - April 8 to 25, 2015 (at the Berkeley Street and Bluma Appel Theatres)
Celebrate the best of South African performance art in the heart of Toronto. For three weeks in 2015, the Berkeley Street
and Bluma Appel Theatres will be alive with dance, drama, puppetry, and musical performances from South African artists.
Athol Fugard’s Nongogo (Market Theatre) tells the story of a young woman desperately trying to create a new life for
herself, while Ubu and the Truth Commission, by William Kentridge in collaboration with the Handspring Puppet Company
(Warhorse), grapples with the scars left by apartheid in a truly historical piece of theatre. Mamela Nyamza, former dancer
with the South African National Ballet, presents stories of cultural submission, transmission and liberation in the Berkeley
Street Upstairs Theatre with The Meal and Hatched. And, at the Bluma Appel Theatre, Luyanda Sidiya brings his double bill
Dominion that combines traditional African dance with a modern twist, followed by a searing contemporary dance piece
that investigates the relationship between power and the population at large.
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Originally planned to mark the 25 anniversary of the liberation of Nelson Mandela, this Festival will be a tribute to the
extraordinary vitality and originality of the artistic output in the nation, led to democracy by the recently departed Madiba.
With 5 unique productions on offer, most in North America for the very first time, this Festival is sure to illuminate,
interrogate, and yes, entertain.
At the High Park Amphitheatre
Shakespeare in High Park – July to September, 2015
As You Like It and Titus Andronicus
By William Shakespeare
This summer Canadian Stage offers both comedy and tragedy in High Park. See the light-hearted As You Like It or the
intense Titus Andronicus under the stars. The pay-what-you-can shows will be playing on alternate nights through the
summer. Pack a picnic, bring your friends and enjoy this outdoor theatre tradition.
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Canadian Stage is supported by: BMO Financial Group, CIBC, TD Bank Group, Scotiabank, Manulife Financial, RBC
Foundation, Sun Life Financial, One King West Hotel & Residence, The J.P. Bickell Foundation, The Joan and Clifford Hatch
Foundation, The Hal Jackman Foundation, The Henry White Kinnear Foundation, The Brian Linehan Charitable Foundation.
The company is also supported by The Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Toronto Arts Council and
the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage.
About Canadian Stage:
Founded in 1987, Canadian Stage is one of the country’s leading not-for-profit contemporary theatre companies, with the
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2014.2015 season marking the organization’s 27 season. Led by Artistic & General Director Matthew Jocelyn and
Managing Director Su Hutchinson, Canadian Stage produces and showcases innovative theatre from Canada and around the
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world, allowing its audience to encounter daring work guided by a strong directorial vision and a 21 -century aesthetic. The
company prides itself on presenting multidisciplinary pieces and work in translation that pushes the boundaries of form and
style. Canadian Stage reinforces the presence of Canadian art and artists within an international context through work that
mirrors the cultural diversity of Toronto. The company stages an annual season of work at three major venues (the Bluma
Appel Theatre, the Berkeley Street Theatre and the High Park Amphitheatre) and runs a series of artist development and
education initiatives, as well as youth and community outreach programs. For more information, visit
www.canadianstage.com
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