PRODUCTIONS

October 17-28, 2011

Guns & Roses

written & directed by Julian DeZotti

Produced in association with

Breakaway Addiction Services and Mixed Company Theatre.

At Toronto’s historic Alumnae Theatre

Featuring: Brendan McMurtry-Howlett, Rebecca Applebaum, Zarrin Darnell, Peyson Rock, Alex Fiddes & DJ FASE

Video Design: Cam Davis and Will Hofstetter

Lighting Design: CJ Astronomo

Stage Manager: Erin Fitzgerald

Producer: Aislinn Rose

TEACHERS! - click here> Educator_GandR_SEPT UPDATED-1.pdf to download the Educator Info pdf. and book your classes for this limited engagement at a great discount!

Inspired by real Toronto teens and the city's headlines, Guns & Roses is a fast-paced, honest look into the lives of these teens and the often too-secret world they inhabit.  Rather than sentimentalizing or sugar-coating the high school experience, Guns & Roses uses authentic dialogue and situations to portray the lives of five teenagers - this is not a finger waving after school special. You will not hear the words "Just say no" and it is not about "bad kids" pressuring "good kids", it's about taking a real look at their pressures and reality- drug (ecstasy) use and abuse, sexuality, violence at school and at home, racism, to start. You thought your days were full. Focusing on teens from Toronto's Rosedale neighbourhood, and various walks of life the show incorporates a live DJ (Toronto's very own DJ FASE, rated the city's top club DJ by NOW Magazine) and video projections (through which the characters send text messages etc.), creating a vibrant, kinetic production. Guns & Roses, was developed with playwrights Djanet Sears and Tom Walmsley, in the classrooms of Toronto’s at-risk youth and through staged readings with the Canadian Stage Company, Toronto Centre for the Arts and Roseneath Theatre.

Read NOW Magazine’s review here of the The January 2010 Workshop.

This production is made possible by the generous support of The Canada Council for the Arts and The Ontario Trillium Foundation.

PAST

You Should Have Stayed Home: A G20 Romp!

written and performed by Tommy Taylor

directed by Michael Wheeler

Co-Produced with Praxis Theatre

At the Theatre Centre, part of the 2011 SummerWorks Festival.

Based upon Tommy Taylor's note posted to his Facebook after his arrest and detention at the infamous Toronto G20 Summit. The note went viral and has been translated into 7 languages and appearing in 21 countries - a detailed, frightening and often funny account of the largest mass arrest in Canada. His story of 24 hour detainment in a cage and arrest without charge has been covered by national and international media. This is the true story of a heartbroken Canadian.

Kayak

a new play by Jordan Hall

Directed by Tommy Taylor

Producers: Julian DeZotti & Tara Yelland

Featuring:

Rosemary Dunsmore , Dienye Waboso & Daniel Briere

*CBC and NOW Critics’ Pick*

At Theatre Passe Muraille as part of the 2010 Toronto SummerWorks Festival,

Climate change, global responsibility, SUV driving moms and a biblical flooding of the GTA. Annie (Rosemary Dunsmore), a suburban mother, recounts the events that led to her being stranded in her son's old kayak. Reflecting on the past four years, she describes her turbulent relationship with Julie, her son Peter's radical environmentalist girlfriend. As Peter and Julie grow closer, Julie’s black-and-white interpretation of environmental ethics clash more and more strongly with Annie's middle-of-the-road politics. Annie fears that her son will be caught up in Julie's increasingly dangerous attempts to make a difference in the world. Annie to is caught up in a global crisis, stranded alone on a vast stretch of water and is forced to confront the implications of her personal and political choices. We’re all in the same boat.

January, 2010

Guns & Roses

(workshop presentation)

written & directed by Julian DeZotti

Produced in association with Breakaway Addiction Services

At Toronto Centre for the Arts

The January 2010 Workshop Featured: Brendan McMurtry-Howlett, Hannah Cheesman, Colin Doyle, Amy Lee and Ben Sanders. Video projections by Cameron Davis and music (performed live) by DJ FASE. Stage Manager: Kathleen Harrison.

This production was made possible by the generous support of The Toronto Arts Council and The Ontario Arts Council Creator’s Reserve.

Read NOW Magazine’s review here of the The January 2010 Workshop.

IN DEVELOPMENT

Dear Everybody

adapted by Tommy Taylor

from the novel by Michael Kimball

A 30 minute staged reading was held at the 2009 CanStage Festival of Ideas and Creation:

Adapted & Directed by Tommy Taylor

With Michael Spence, RH Thomson, Viv Moore, Raven Dauda and Julian DeZotti

Adapted from the 2008 novel by Michael Kimball, Dear Everybody tells the story of deceased weatherman Jonathon Bender. Told through a collection of letters and documents left behind after his suicide (he writes letters to everybody he has ever known—including his mother and father, his brother and other relatives, his childhood friends and neighbours, the Tooth Fairy, his classmates and teachers, his psychiatrists, his ex-girlfriends and his ex-wife, the state of Michigan, a television station, a tornado, God and a weather satellite. Taken together, these odd, sometimes humorous, sometimes heartbreakingly honest unsent letters tell the remarkable story of Jonathon’s life. The tragedy of mental illness and abuse is shared with us as Robert Bender attempts to present the broken pieces of his dead brother’s life. Part apology, part presentation.  Remember Jonathon Bender.

theatre that speaks...