Factory Theatre’s CrossCurrents Festival announces full
complement of participating artists
CrossCurrents 2007 - Take a step if you dare!
Sponsored by
Scotiabank
April 27th- May
6th at Factory Theatre - 125 Bathurst Street, Toronto
Producer
Nina Lee Aquino Ÿ
Associate Producer Ella Chan
Festival Set Design Camellia Koo Ÿ Festival Lighting Design Aaron
Kelly
Festival Coordinator Richard Lee
CrossCurrents, Factory’s festival devoted to artists of colour, is
back, and this year will prove to be the edgiest and most controversial to
date. Artistic Director Ken Gass declares, “CrossCurrents has become a vital
part of Factory’s play development mandate. Once again Nina Lee Aquino has put
forward a bold program of innovative work tackling larger issues like war and
racial discrimination yet interwoven with personal themes such as loss of
innocence, deception, redemption and the unwavering desire to effect change.”
The festival will feature exciting up-and-comers, Beatriz Pizano, Jason
Maghanoy and C.E. Gatchalian as
well as established playwrights, Rahul
Varma and Jovanni Sy. Recently
announced director/dramaturges include Yanna
McIntosh, Andrew Moodie, Nigel Shawn Williams, Soheil Parsa and Guillermo Verdecchia.
Artistic Producer Nina Lee Aquino states, “CrossCurrents has once
again been able to hire dramaturges and directors of colour for all plays. It’s
a good sign that non-white theatre artists are growing and continue to expand
the range of their artistic skill sets and that collectively we (speaking as an
artist of colour), are able to finally help shape our stories in more
artistically challenging ways.”
Take that daring first step at CrossCurrents Promenade, co-presented with
Diaspora
Dialogues www.diasporadialogues.com. At this special opening night, audiences will enjoy a sneak
preview of the festival’s offerings (straight from the mouths of our
playwrights) where music, mayhem and rhythm blend together to
create one hell of an opening event!
TRUTH AND TREASON by Rahul Varma, April 28th 8pm
At a checkpoint in war-ravaged Iraq, a
Canadian woman married to an Iraqi writer begs with the checkpoint officer to
arrange for blood transfusion for her 10-year-old daughter who was injured in
crossfire. The interment is too late. The girl dies and a martyr is born. Is
war meant to root out terror as asserted by George Bush or is war terrorism in
itself?
Director:
Soheil Parsa
Rahul
Varma is a playwright,
activist, co-founder and artistic director of the Teesri Duniya Theatre, and
member of the editorial board of alt.theatre
Canada’s only theatre quarterly dedicated to cultural diversity and the
stage. He writes both in Hindi and
English. Some of his recent plays are No Man’s Land, Trading
Injuries (radio play), Counter
Offence, Bhopal and
its Hindi version Zahreeli
Hawa. Varma is
recipient of the Juror’s award for his plays from the Quebec Drama Federation,
and Montreal English Critics Circle Award (MECCA) for promoting intercultural
theatre. His works have been translated into French, Italian and Hindi. He is
honoured to have the opportunity to work with India’s pre-eminent director Habib
Tanvir and dedicates Truth and
Treason to Habib Tanvir by naming the key character after him.
THE COMMUNION by Beatriz Pizano, May 1st
8pm
For many children around the world, war
is becoming the only way of surviving. For Adriana, a 17 year-old solider in
the guerrilla army in Colombia, deserting and fleeing to Canada is the only
hope of saving her life and getting a chance at a better one - but will it
happen?
Director:
Yanna McIntosh
Beatriz
Pizano originally from
Columbia, is a writer and director based in Toronto whose playwriting credits
include For Sale (nominated as
Outstanding New Play), meeting playce
(co-creator) and Tangueratas
(co-writer, Chicano/Latino Literary Contest winner Southwest Festival of New
Plays in Texas).She has also been a member
of Nightwood and Tarragon playwriting units. Some of her directing credits
include: The Dinner Party, Capturing Freedom; For Sale (2 Dora
Mavor Moore Awards in 2004);The Fire
Story, and meeting playce. She has been awarded the Metcalf and Chalmers Professional
Development fellowship. Film writing credits include: In Between; A Devil at my Table.
WHO BEAT ROCKY? by C. E. Gatchalian, May
3rd 8pm
Chronicling the intertwining lives of four characters, this is a daring play that shifts back and forth in time from 1990s Vancouver to 1950s Korea. Come meditate on masculinity, sexuality, personal boundaries, and human empathy- are you ready for this challenge?
Play Development Partner: The Stratford Festival of Canada (www.stratford-festival.on.ca)
Director: Nigel Shawn Williams
C.E. Gatchalian is a playwright, fiction writer, poet, and teacher of Filipino descent based in Vancouver. An alumnus of the University of British Columbia’s Creative Writing program (BFA, 1996; MFA, 2002), he is the author of three books: Motifs & Repetitions & Other Plays (2003), which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award; a chapbook of poetry, tor/sion (2005); and Broken, a suite of one-act plays. The recipient of the 2005 Gordon Armstrong Playwrights’ Rent Award, awarded annually to a BC playwright of merit, Gatachalian has been writer-in-residence at the Firehall Arts Centre and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and the Berton House Writers’ Retreat in Dawson City, YT. His work has been produced on stages in both Vancouver and Toronto, as well as radio (CBC) and television (the Bravo! Channel).
THE FIVE VENGEANCES by Jovanni Sy, May 6th 8pm
In a corrupt kingdom in a distant time, a
woman seeks revenge for the murder of her lover. A hilarious modern take on the
classic Jacobean play, The Revenger’s
Tragedy and told in true kung-fu style, this play promises to provoke,
arouse and entertain all in one. Come follow Fury in her quest for payback –
will revenge be hers?
Play
Development Partner: Diaspora Dialogues
Dramaturged
by Guillermo Verdecchia
Playwright & Director:
Jovanni Sy
Jovanni Sy is the Artistic Director of Cahoots
Theatre Projects in Toronto. His association with Cahoots dates back to
1992 when he first performed there as an actor. During his fourteen-year
theatre career, Jovanni has been an actor, singer, writer, and
dramaturge. As an actor, he has performed with theatre companies across
Canada and as a singer, he created the role of Ah Lum in the world premiere of
Tapestry New Opera Works’ Iron Road. Among his numerous film and
television credits are regular roles on two CBC series—Riverdale and Side
Effects. He is currently the Ontario Arts Council
Playwright-in-Residence at Tapestry New Opera Works.
UnderCurrents
After 13 weeks of workshops and play
creation under the skillful guidance of industry professionals, 12 emerging
artists of colour (thanks to the generous support of Theatre Ontario) will
present the fruits of their labour. Our UnderCurrents young members have been
learning the elements of design, direction, playwriting, performance and stage
management. With this new found knowledge and support from their mentors, they
have created a show that reflects their lives, their issues but more
importantly, dramatizes their own stories.
Written, performed, designed and directed
by: Rong Fu, Evance Gomez, Adetutu Oluwole-Rotimi, Reut Shilton & Chantel
McDonald.
UnderCurrents Mentors: Romeo Candido,
Catherine Hernandez, Camellia Koo, Keira Laughran, Weyni Mengesha, Michael
Sinclair & David Yee.
* * * * *
Line Up For Festival See Below.
7th
Annual CrossCurrents Festival
April 27th – May 6th, 2007
Factory Studio Theatre
125 Bathurst Street at Adelaide
All events are pay-what-you-can
CROSSCURRENTS
PROMENADE OPENING NIGHT
Co-presented by Factory Theatre and Diaspora
Dialogues
April 27th, 8pm
TRUTH AND
TREASON
By Rahul Varma
April 28th, 8pm
Obsidian
Theatre Company
The Mussorgsky Project
April 29th, 8pm
Factory
Theatre Play Development Program
Open workshop of:
LADY IN A RED DRESS
By David Yee
Dramaturge/Director Ken Gass and Nina Lee Aquino
April 30th, 5:30pm
THE
COMMUNION
By Beatriz Pizano
May 1st, 8pm
Cahoots
Theatre Projects
Lift Off!
May 2nd, 8pm
WHO BEAT
ROCKY?
By C.E. Gatchalian, Play Development Partner:
The Stratford Festival of Canada
May 3rd, 8pm
fu-GEN
Asian Canadian Theatre Company
The 4th Annual Potluck Festival
May 4th, 7:30pm
UNDERCURRENTS
DAY May
5th
Undercurrents Presentation at 12pm
Theatre Revolve Presentation at 1:30pm
THE CORNER
By Jason Maghanoy
May 5th, 8pm
THE FIVE
VENGEANCES
By Jovanni Sy, Play Development Partner:
Diaspora Dialogues
May 6th, 8pm
Sarah Mackie
Publicity and Outreach Officer
Factory Theatre
416.504.4473 x224
125 Bathurst Street (at Adelaide) Toronto M5V
2R2
www.factorytheatre.ca
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