2007 New World Stage International Performance

Harbourfront Centres inaugural New World Stage International Performance 

ushers in annual series with 17 significant works

Toronto, December 5, 2006Harbourfront Centre is pleased to announce our 

inspired lineup for the inaugural New World Stage International 

Performance series, running January 24 through June 10, 2007.  This 

dynamic, world-class, signature programme presents a new, contemporary 

format featuring 17 productions, encompassing multiple performance 

disciplines including theatre, dance, music, cabaret and more. (A brief 

description of series productions follows this release.)

Harbourfront Centres Director of Performing Arts and New World Stage 

Artistic Director, Tina Rasmussen, delivers a thoughtful programme 

intended to animate Toronto and Harbourfront Centre this winter and 

spring, by presenting daring productions, innovative artists and 

companies, representing Australia, Belgium, Brazil, China, England, 

France, Halifax, Norway, Poland, Toronto, the U.S. and Vancouver. 

Performances take place at Harbourfront Centres intimate facilities: the 

Premiere Dance Theatre, the Studio Theatre, the Brigantine Room and the 

newly named Enwave Theatre, providing up close and personal exchanges 

with exciting international artists. In addition, two performances take 

place in site-specific, downtown Toronto found spaces, one in which a 

bus delivers ticket-holders to the designated performance site.

Ms Rasmussen says, As we build on the heralded foundations of two 

Harbourfront Centre signature programmes, the popular biennial World 

Stage theatre festival and the lauded International Dance season, New 

World Stage brings together the best in international contemporary 

performance from all disciplines.  The series offers a culturally 

curious public performances running over a six-month period rather than 

in a festival model to encourage a commitment to multiple works over a 

manageable period of time. Offering audiences diverse works of scale, 

culturally relevant, significant, unique, innovative and imaginative, 

have been the underlying principles in programming this now annual 

series.  Ms Rasmussen adds, This programme allows you to sample the 

classics transformed, new trends in performing arts, emerging genres and 

artistic vocabularies, not to mention locally engaged and informed work, 

as Harbourfront Centre continues to bring the world right to your 

doorstep with this accessible and affordable line up.

New World Stage performances begin January 24 with Mabou Mines 

DollHouse, a not-to-be-missed transformation of Ibsens classic, A Dolls 

House in which gender inequities are underlined by a cast of little men 

performing opposite intentionally tall women.

Other highlights include unveilings of three Harbourfront Centre Fresh 

Ground commissions, and world renowned director Peter Brooks triumphant 

return to Toronto.

This edition of New World Stage converges with Luminato, Torontos 

Festival of Arts and Creativity, June 1-10 with a number of leading edge 

international performances including Risk Everything (TR Warszawa), Back 

Home (Urban Theatre Projects) and Shen Wei Dance Arts(China/USA). As a 

finale for New World Stage and the welcoming social hub for Luminato, 

the Spiegel Show takes over the Spiegeltentntavern.  

Luminato, Torontos inaugural multidisciplinary arts festival, connects 

the creative spirit to every corner of the city for 10 inspiring days 

with more than 90 events in venues and locations citywide. Watch for 

exciting details and updates in the New Year.

This series offers flexible ticket package opportunities, with a number 

of imaginative Harbourfront Centre suggested combinations to guide 

patrons in making tailor made experiences including Backyard Adventures, 

Foreign Perspectives, Made in Canada, Living on the Edge and, Intimate 

Encounters.

Harbourfront Centre patrons can now redeem New World Stage Passports, a 

unique gift certificate/credit offer, in order to facilitate their 

tailor-your-own-experiences. Packages go on sale December 19, single 

tickets on sale January 2, 2007. Package offers include 10, 15 and 30 

percent discounts with assigned, value-added benefits per package. For 

tickets and information call 416-973-4000 or online 

www.harbourfrontcentre.com/nws .

Westin Harbour Castle is the official host hotel of New World Stage.

New World Stage is supported by Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund, 

Luminato Festival of Arts and Creativity 2007, Canadian Heritage, and 

Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.

-30-

Media Contact:

Bill Bobek

Media Relations

Harbourfront Centre

416-973-4428

www.harbourfrontcentre.com

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THE NEW WORLD STAGE PARTICIPANTS

Mabou Mines DollHouse

Mabou Mines (USA)

January 24-January 28

January 30-February 4, Premiere Dance Theatre

CANADIAN PREMIERE

Mabou Mines transforms Henrik Ibsens classic bourgeois tragedy, A Dolls 

House into high comedy with deep bite, giving it a vanguard makeover 

with funhouse twists, visual magic, and barbed satire, turning the 

mythic feminist anthem on its head.

Last seen in Toronto presenting their all-female version of King Lear, 

Mabou Mines turns this classic into the must-see event of the season. 

Toying with the themes of gender roles, power and scale, director Lee 

Breuer brilliantly casts little people in the male roles while the women 

are all close to six feet. Nothing characterizes Ibsens patriarchy more 

clearly than the image of these little men dominating and commanding 

women nearly twice their size.

"...grabs Henrik Ibsen by the skin of his Norwegian neck and shoves him 

into the scalding populist stew of melodrama, sex, power and 

exploitation." - The Chicago Tribune

...its only a rehearsal

zero visibility corp. (Norway)

February 7-10, Enwave Theatre

CANADIAN PREMIERE

its only a rehearsal is choreographer Ina Christel Johannessens powerful 

and physical duet for a man and a woman. Based on Ovids myth of Actaeon 

and Artemis, the couples relationship is revealed to us through raw 

physical expression. The dynamic shifts between them as they rub and 

press, push and pull, back and forth  as the physical

tension mounts in overtly sexual and sensual ways. An intimate story of 

reward and punishment, the audience becomes the voyeur in this 

incredibly sexy, potentially risky, sometimes funny love story about the 

inherent connection between the watcher and the watched, and the fine 

line between desire and obsession.

Startling sensual 21st century motion. This is no rehearsal. Its the 

real deal. - The Guardian

Griots t Garage: A Musical History of the African Diaspora

Dennis Rollins (UK)

February 10, 11 & 13, 14, Studio Theatre

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

Griots t Garage is one mans musical journey inspired by 500 years of 

Afro-centric music. Part tribute, part documentary and part concert, 

Dennis Rollins virtuosic performance is intensified by live visual 

projections that mix archival film with

live-on-the-floor footage. The piece transports us from the rhythms of 

16th century West Africa, through the development of blues and jazz, and 

onwards to the funky, hip-hop and garage grooves of today. This 

internationally-renowned jazz artist is celebrated for his versatility 

and unique approach to both performance and the often underrated 

trombone.

kuumba

Griots t Garage is a highlight of Harbourfront Centre's Kuumba 

programme, part of our month long celebration of black history which 

also includes performances by COBA (Collective of Black Artists) Inc., 

and Obsidian Theatre Company.

Aalst  a true story

Victoria (Belgium)

March 14-17, Premiere Dance Theatre

This riveting piece, from renowned theatre company Victoria, examines a 

crime so heinous it forever tainted the name of the town in which it was 

perpetrated, Aalst, Belgium. Kathy and Kurt check into a hotel with 

their two children, a few days later

police find both children dead by the hands of their own parents Aalst 

is faction theatre, a mixture of fact and fiction, based on reality in 

which statements and interviews are reproduced exactly but to which new 

and fictional elements are also added. Director Pol Heyvaert based Aalst 

on newspaper articles and a national TV report - 70% of what you see 

performed on stage is verbatim of the trial.

Aalst is about death, but it is also about love, and the way in which 

the local community and the Belgian legal system deal with it. Universal 

and close to home.

an historical event a production to cherish - De Tijd

Solo  Le doute mhabite/the doubt within me

Compagnie DCA Philippe Decoufl (France)

March 20-24, Premiere Dance Theatre

CANADIAN PREMIER

Internationally known as the choreographer of the opening ceremonies of 

the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, this solo piece takes a 

departure from Decoufls grand scale works to a more intimate experience, 

reminiscent of an evening of home movies.

Taking a courageous leap into the shadowy waters of his memory, European 

superstar choreographer Philippe Decoufl shares with us a self-portrait 

that is hesitant, fragile and poignant. Using a series of multimedia 

effects, this camera danseur interacts

with himself on screen through real time projections, live music and 

simple storytelling techniques, presenting a nostalgic glimpse into his 

life as an artist and human being.

Particularly in the Heartland

The TEAMTheatre of the

Emerging American Moment (USA)

March 28-April 1, Enwave Theatre

Visit a Kansas where parents vanish, aliens grow in cornfields, New 

Yorkers fall

from the sky, and dead presidents stop by for Christmas dinner. The 

three Springer

children find themselves suddenly alone after a tornado, or was it an 

alien invasion?

Or maybe The Rapture? The TEAM is the Theatre of the Emerging American 

Moment, an NYC-based devised theatre company that creates new work to 

dissect and celebrate the experience of living in the world today. 

Loaded with TEAMs signature style of aggressive athleticism and 

exuberant theatricality, Particularly in the Heartland is a new play 

about losing sight of America, and trying to fall back in love with it.

fizzes with vivid imagery, intellect, and mischief ...life affirming 

stuff, and theatre to cherish." - Metro

As part of their visit to Toronto, TEAM will lead the first ever 

HATCHLab, giving local performance creators the opportunity to explore 

the companys unique devising process. Contact 

hatch@harbourfrontcentre.com for updated information about the first 

HATCHLab workshop.

Static

Expect Theatre/Spark Collective (Toronto)

March 28-April 1, April 4-8, Studio Theatre

WORLD PREMIERE

What is it like to live without fear? In Static, diverse artists explore 

our deepest fears 

death, rejection, intimacy, loss and the unknown through a series of 

theatrical

vignettes and interactive installations. The grounds of Harbourfront 

Centre serve

as the backdrop for this one-of-a-kind event as you are escorted through 

a theatrical

experience incorporating drama, light, surround sound, dance, video and 

opera  all via

MP3 player.

...all hail Laura Mullin and Chris Tolleyenergy, imagination and style 

like theirs are always welcome. - Toronto Star

April 3- 5, Double Bill, Enwave Theatre

Two compelling performers share the stage in an evening of

storytelling  reflections of moments in time as told through movement.

like an idiot

Cristina Moura

(Brazil)

Cristina Mouras like an idiot is a powerful exploration of isolation and 

difference.

Her idiosyncratic movement style and often humourous narrative reveals 

the universal

experience of being an outsider. Set to music ranging from Mozart to 

Lauren Hill, Moura's work is emotional and political, deceptively 

accessible and funny, as well as poignant.

"...an inner landscape of dancing with one's self-funny, physical, 

political, impulsive." -  CulturalAffairs.org

The Passenger

Sarah Chase Dance Stories

(Hornby Island - Vancouver)

Exceptional Canadian dancer-choreographer-storyteller Sarah Chase uses 

movement, music and text to communicate memories that cannot be 

described with words alone, turning the simplest image into pure beauty. 

In The Passenger, she creates a portrait

of two distinct periods in time, connected by location and personal 

memories of Toronto.

one is seduced by the luminous presence, complete and confident, of this 

solo performer - La Presse

Revisited

2b theatre company (Halifax)

April 4-19, York Quay Centre

*Limited Capacity*

...gorgeously elegant in its simplicity, with the lightness and 

luminescence of a soap bubble. - NOW Magazine

A man and an audience sit around a large wooden table. The man weaves a 

story of a town from the fabric of his memory. He conjures characters 

from the town, as he revisits his life in a search for deeper meaning. 

The table serves both as the stage and

as a shared space that invites connection and evokes community. 

Revisited is inspired by the works of great early American writers, 

including Willa Cather, Walt Whitman, Edgar Lee Masters, and Thornton 

Wilder. It is a story of love, loss, and all the details in between - an 

exploration of the divine inherent in the trivial, and the eternal 

inherent in communion.

A Harbourfront Centre co-production

Unbound

Wen Wei Dance (Vancouver)

April 17-21, Premiere Dance Theatre

A co-presentation with Danceworks

A child of Chinas Cultural Revolution, choreographer Wen Wei Wang brings 

a provocative, contemporary perspective to reflect on the ancient custom 

of binding womens feet in pursuit of status and an impossible erotic 

ideal. Weaving traditional

Chinese influences with modern practice, Wang delivers an intense and 

stylish exploration of beauty, power, and gender. Unbound transcends its 

multiple cultural origins to unravel the universal themes of sexuality, 

emotion and human relationships.

Unbound is a co-production of The CanDance Network Creation Fund, Canada 

Dance Festival, Dancing on the Edge, Harbourfront Centre, National Arts 

Centre, The Brian Webb Dance Company, and LAgora de la danse in 

collaboration with Danse Danse.

A class act of style and imagery thoughtful, polished work. - The Globe 

And Mail

Sizwe Banzi est mort/Sizwe Banzi is Dead

Bouffes du Nord (France)

April 18-22, Enwave Theatre

Created at a time when it was required that every black South African 

citizen over the

age of sixteen carry an identity book, this Apartheid-era classic, 

devised by Athol

Fugard, John Kani, and Winston Ntshona, continues to resonate 35 years 

later.

In a triumphant return to Toronto, renowned director Peter Brook 

continues his investigation of the role of theatre in political 

situations of repression, focusing on themes connected with identity, 

humanity, truth and survival. This engaging and humourous production of 

beautiful simplicity pushes us to contemplate the philosophical 

question: What is a man?

A joyous hymn to human nature. -  The New York Times

*in French with English surtitles

With the generous support of Julia and Robert Foster, Marcia and Henry 

Blumberg, and the Consul General of South Africa

Bridge Of One Hair

Jumblies Theatre (Toronto)

April 26-29, York Quay Centre

WORLD PREMIERE

Jumblies Theatre is the catalyst for this phenomenal three year project 

with multiple

communities in Central Etobicoke. An original musical score by renowned 

composer Alice Ping Yee Ho weaves together a performance that draws on 

Somali, Celtic, Afro-Caribbean and First Nations stories; 

locally-generated imagery and text; rituals of tea-drinking; and poems 

by Hawa Jibril and Duke Redbird.

Bridge of One Hair reaches back through time and around the world as it 

conveys the story of a neighbourhood and its inhabitants. The 

performance features many community members of all ages alongside 

diverse actors and musicians, including VIVA! Youth

Singers, the Jubilate Singers, Somali singer Faduma Nkruma and others. 

In addition to

the performance, the presentation includes an interactive tea-room.

Zaryzykuj Wszystko/Risk Everything 

TR Warszawa (Poland)

June 3-10, A gritty location in downtown Toronto

*in Polish with English surtitles

CANADIAN PREMIERE

Produced by Luminato and Harbourfront Centre

Prolific Toronto playwright George F. Walkers characters are inept and 

damaged, seemingly belched up by the decaying city. Polish master 

director, Grzegorz Jarzynas freewheeling, multimedia reinvention of 

Walkers 1997 piece captures the world of these addicts, prostitutes and 

petty criminals. Using film and TV clips, blasts of pop music, and dry 

humor, Jarzyna mixes a medley of styles. The city itself acts as a 

backdrop to the play, to the point where one can't always tell whats 

real and whats not; forcing the audience to consider (as the characters 

do) which reality is ultimately preferable.

"(an) amped-up, cartoonish exaggeration of Walker's sardonic yet 

essentially realistic thriller family drama." - The New York Times

Back Home

Urban Theatre Projects (Australia)

June 4-10, Meeting Place: York Quay Centre

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

Produced by Luminato and Harbourfront Centre

The audiences journey begins on a bus ride to an undisclosed Toronto 

back yard" for a

gathering that reunites four friends, all from different cultural 

backgrounds, intended to

celebrate old times. We bear silent witness to their volatile world as 

the night unravels in

a litany of shattered dreams. Bristling with explosive physicality, this 

is a deeply emotional story about the characters coming to terms with 

their past and facing up to their future, a timely and ultimately 

life-affirming project unlike any other. Urban Theatre Projects (UTP) 

creates distinctive new theatre works using a process of dialogue 

between contemporary theatre practice and diverse communities.

For this project Harbourfront Centre and UTP work with Toronto 

communities to tap into

local concerns around themes of leadership, spirituality and issues in 

urban society.

(i)t is fiction but Back Homes deep and extraordinary links to reality 

create a brutal,

evocative and life-changing event. -  Sydney Morning Herald

Produced by Luminato and Harbourfront Centre

Rite of Spring & Re

Shen Wei Dance Arts (China/USA)

June 6-9, Premiere Dance Theatre

CANADIAN PREMIERE

Produced by Luminato and Harbourfront Centre

Wonderfully conceived, inventive, overwhelming and Languid and tranquil, 

startling and thrilling, the works of Shen Wei Dance Arts integratea 

variety of influences - colour, lighting, visual arts, music, theatre, 

and dance from both

East and West - with astoundingly original results. Based in New York, 

Shen Wei takes inspiration from the bruising clash of cultures that is 

the new China, bringing lyrical composure and harmony, coupled with 

intense energy to his unique choreographic voice. From the disarmingly 

casual spiraling movement of his interpretation of Stravinskys The Rite 

of Spring to the meditative geometric patterns of the Tibetan inspired 

Re, Shen Wei and his dancers bring music to life.

"wonderfully conceived, inventive, overwhelming and delicious, 

delightful to the senses and spirit-lifting." - Dance Magazine

The Spiegel Show at the Spiegeltentntavern

June 1-10, York Quay Centre

Produced by Luminato and Harbourfront Centre

*Look for Spiegeltentntavern programming throughout the summer.

WORLD PREMIERE

Ladies and Gentlemen, step right up! Burlesque showgirls, acrobats, 

aerialists,

eccentric dancers, divine divas, and a whole host of specialty acts of 

the Nouveau Varit

make up the fabulous Spiegel Show! The occasionally hilarious, sometimes 

poignant

and always sexy manifestation of the creative spirit of Toronto, The 

Spiegel Show brings you a cornucopia of tricks and turns representing 

the distilled essence of Toronto's cultural underbelly.

Designed in Belgium in the 1920s this nostalgic traveling wooden 

circular dance hall

acts as the finale for New World Stage and the unique social hub for 

Luminato, Toronto

Festival of Arts & Creativity. Come experience a cozy cabaret in this 

tent of mirrors where old world charm meets new world delights!

Truedeau: Long March/Shining Path (Toronto)

April 14, Enwave Theatre

One Night Only! Free Event

A project of Harbourfront Centre's fresh ground new works.

A Special Sneak Peek at the new opera from creative team D.D. Jackson 

(composer) and George Elliott Clarke (librettist), this staged recital 

gives audiences a rare glimpse into the process of opera in its early 

stages, before its ultimate premiere.

This thrilling new musical work is a meditation on the multicultural 

Trudeau, the man who declared himself a 'citoyen du monde,' who broke 

bread with Mao Zedong, who shouted "Viva, castro!' and lived out the 

multicultural dream he loved in the hotbed that was Montreal.

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Harbourfront Centre Suggested Packages

Intimate Encounters

Get up and close and personal

with these solo performances, or

performances in intimate spaces

zero visibility corp.

Griots t Garage

Philippe Decoufl

Cristina Moura/Sarah Chase

Revisited

The Spiegel Show

Backyard Adventures

Extraordinary performances

in unexpected places

Static

Revisited

Bridge of One Hair

The Spiegel Show

Risk Everything

Back Home

Foreign Perspectives

Unconventional remakes,

deconstructed classics, and

stories offering unique glimpses

into other dimensions

Mabou Mines DollHouse

zero visibility corp.

Griots t Garage

Sizwe Banzi is Dead

Risk Everything

Shen Wei Dance Arts

Made in Canada

The true north, strong and free

Cristina Moura/Sarah Chase

Static

Revisited

Bridge of One Hair

Wen Wei Dance

The Spiegel Show

*add the must-see

launch to the series,

Mabou Mines DollHouse

to any of the following to

complete your package!

*And check out Trudeau

for FREE

Box Office 416-973-4000 www.harbourfrontcentre.com/nws

Desire

Is desire by its very nature unattainable?

What are the objects of your desire?

What are the subjects?

From January to May 2007 Harbourfront Centre wants to satisfy your 

cultural desires.

Culture you have longed for.

DESIRE is part of an ongoing exploration of ideas based programming at 

Harbourfront Centre.,Harbourfront Centre questions all that you desire.