It begins with a bang. The sounds of gunshots and shouting ring out through the theatre as Alice Childress’s Wine in the Wilderness starts its journey. It’s 1964, and this is one of the worst riots Harlem has ever seen. An artist sits alone in his studio, observing the chaos outside his window. But when…
Have you seen the ads for the new Meta AI “Muse”? I’ve been bombarded with them lately. “It’ll help sort out your inbox and clear your schedule” the ads claim, “it’ll shop for you!” Hang on, shop for me? Like Aye Caesar? Yes, just like Carolyn Fe’s existential thriller, a fiction no longer. Truly a…
Who are you drawn to? Is it people who look like you, or think like you? What about someone who’s charming or vivacious? Or maybe you’re drawn to those you think you can fix, those with “natural deficiencies”? Erin Shields’s To A Flame looks at the perils of being drawn in by someone who might…
When you’re a teenager, the world feels huge and mysterious, and it’s hard to find anyone who will actually tell you what’s really going on. To find anything out, you have to rely on each other. Frank Wedekind’s remarkable play Spring Awakening, deftly adapted and directed by Paulo Santalucia, looks at a group of teenagers…
“This whole earth which we inhabit is but a point in space” - Henry David Thoreau, “Walden or, Life in the Woods” Many of us look up to the stars in awe of the vastness of space, but few of us have ever experienced it. But what if the opportunity to fulfill your dream was…
Did you know that in 2009 there were 8 states in the US who were legally allowed to deny women healthcare insurance due to domestic abuse? They saw that abuse as a “pre-existing condition”, forcing women to stay in abusive relationships to save their healthcare plans for themselves and their children. Marin Ireland’s drama Pre-Existing…
“You have to maintain a fine balance between hope and despair” The truth in these words reverberated through me long after they were said. They replayed over and over in my head as I drove home: isn’t this the emotional tightrope we all walk? And the tightrope feels like it’s getting thinner by the moment.…
The desire to disconnect completely from the world and hide away in a little cabin somewhere feels more present for me than it ever has before. Martin Crimp’s adaptation of Molière’s “The Misanthrope” had me relating to Alice, the titular character, on a very deep level. Directed for the stage by Indhu Rubasingham and for…
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is kicking off their 26/27 season, “Flesh”, with Robert O'Hara's Bootycandy, which is a co-production with Obsidian Theatre. Meghan Swaby is certainly no stranger to Toronto audiences, and now she’ll be performing at Buddies in Bootycandy. I get to ask Meghan about one of my favourites of her previous roles,…
Nighwood Theatre is kicking off their 26/27 season with Erin Shield’s To a Flame, in collaboration with 1S1 Theatre. Dawn Jani Birley, 1S1 Theatre’s founder, has not only been instrumental in this collaboration, but is also performing in To a Flame. I got to ask Dawn about the process of working with Nightwood Theatre, her…
