What Lies Before Us by Morris Panych
Directed by Jim Millan
Canstage Berkeley
Jan15 to Feb 24 2007
Crow’s Theatre

TORONTO, ON: Oh dear, just when I was becoming a mite gushy about great evenings of theatre, Panych dumps some cold reality into my theatrical experiences. Rather like being hit by the avalanche in this play. As I told you in my last Rant,I think I am chionophobic – don’t like the frozen white stuff. And yes, it was so cold on our 40 minute walk down to the Berkeley that the synovial fluid in my knee joints froze!

TORONTO, ON: In spite of the intense cold in Toronto and the intermittent snowfalls that seem to start just as I am walking to theatre or dinner, I am enjoying some really great theatrical experiences during this visit.

Half Life by John Mighton
Directed by Daniel Brooks
Canstage at BLUMA, Toronto
Jan 8 to Feb 3, 2007
Necessary Angel Theatre Company

TORONTO, ON: Behind the curtain, Clara’s voice fades away as the lights dim to black. For a seemingly endless moment there is silence before the applause begins. That silence reveals the emotional impact that this poignant yet provocative work has had on the audience.

John Mighton’s play premiered in 2005 and won the Governor General Award for Drama and the Dora Award for Outstanding New Play. I can see why. Leaving aside the excellence of the production quality, the script itself raises complex and thoughtful issues that can only become increasingly important as our population ages.

PINOCCHIO
November 24 to December 31
The Stirling Festival Theatre

>> tickets and info

Christmas Recipe: 1 cup of Friends and Family¼ cup of Harmonious Laughter¼ cup of Uplifting Stories¼ cup of Charismatic Characters¼ cup of Motivating Music .

With the hussle and bussle of this time of year, we tend to forget some core essentials in the holiday season. With decorating, shopping, errands thrown into your work week, it’s extremely easy to do.

It is truly fitting that the first production of the Belleville Theatre Guild’s Fifty-Fifth Anniversary Season is a community theatre premiere.

The play Trying was written in 2004 by Saskatoon born Joanna McClelland Glass. It has been performed on professional stages in Manhattan, Chicago, Ottawa, Toronto and more.

Set in 1967, it is based on Glass’s working relationship as a young Canadian from the prairies with Francis Biddle, Attorney General under President Franklin D. Roosevelt and a judge during the Nuremberg trials.

BOOK MUSIC AND LYRICS – LIONEL BART
BASED ON CHARLES DICKENS’ OLIVER TWIST

SHOWING AUGUST 9-26 2006 at Stirling Festival Theatre

Directed and Choreographed by Caroline Smith
Music Director – Michael Lerner (Victor/Victoria)

STIRLING, ON - The story is internationally known as well as it’s fabulous musical score and lyrics continuously sampled though out time by not only advertisements but individuals can only give us a glimpse of how this adapted musical has enlightened so many lives within it’s existence. I’m positively sure there are not many people worldwide today who can say they don’t know who Oliver is. Whether or not they’ve read the classic novel written by Charles Dickens or have seen the movie/musical adaptation this century.

The St. Pugnacious Parish Hall Bingo Murder Mystery
Written by Ken MacDougall and Caroline Smith
Directed by Caroline Smith
Parish Hall Bingo Murder Mystery
Stirling Festival Theatre
July 5 to 22 2006

STIRLING, ON - Stirling never ceases to amaze me. A small community with large talent. Not only was this script written by the principal actor Ken MacDougall and director Caroline Smith but I was in stitches with the ample amount of local jokes weaving throughout an array of witty metaphors and humorous asides.

TORONTO, ON - The 27th Annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards for the 2005/2006 season were handed out in a star-studded ceremony on the evening of Monday, June 26 at the Winter Garden Theatre, Toronto, hosted by the multi-talented actor David Gale. The Dora Mavor Moore Awards are produced and presented on behalf of the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts and celebrate excellence in Toronto theatre, dance and opera. The Dora eligible shows for the 2005-2006 season totaled 197 in all categories, 55 of which were new plays or musicals in the General and Independent Theatre Divisions.

The Importance of Being Earnest  by Oscar Wilde. Directed by Ben Barnes.
June 3 - September 2, 2006. Soulpepper Theatre Company.
Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 55 Mill Street, Building 49
416.866.8666

TORONTO ON. - “The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely. All art is quite useless.” Oscar Wilde

First produced in 1895, Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest hinges on Wilde’s extraordinary use of language. Marriage and mistaken identity, unknown parentage and social mores abound in this farcical romp where everything ends in a happy, neatly coiled bow. The humor comes almost exclusively from the way these characters manipulate and embrace conversational cleverness.