Botticelli in the Fire & Sunday in Sodom - Program

APR 26 - MAY 15, 2016 BERKELEY STREET THEATRE

botticelli in the fire & sunday in sodom A double bill by Jordan Tannahill WORLD PREMIERES #csFireSunday A CANADIAN STAGE PRODUCTION IN COLLABORATION WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE IN THE SCHOOL OF THE ARTS, MEDIA, PERFORMANCE & DESIGN AT YORK UNIVERSITY

CAST

CREATIVE

BOT TICE LLI / CH RIS

PL AY WRIG HT

SALVATORE ANTONIO

JORDAN TANNAHILL

MADRE MARIA / E DITH

DIR EC TO R – BOT TIC ELLI I N TH E FI R E

VALERIE BUHAGIAR CL ARICE / SAH R AH

NICOLA CORREIADAMUDE

MATJASH MROZEWSKI DIR EC TO R – SU N DAY I N SODOM

ESTELLE SHOOK

LEONARDO / ISA AC

SE T & COSTU M E DE SIG N

STEPHEN JACKMANTORKOFF

LIG HTING DE SIG N

LORE NZO / DE RE K

CHRISTOPHER MORRIS SAVANAROL A / LOT

ALON NASHMAN This production runs approximately 120 minutes including an intermission.

JAMES LAVOIE STEVE LUCAS COMPOSITION / SOUND DESIGN

SAMUEL SHOLDICE PROJ EC TIO N CO NSU LTANT

CAMERON DAVIS FIG HT DIR EC TO R

SIMON FON STAG E MANAG E R

PRODUCTION SPONSOR

MICHAEL SINCLAIR ASSISTANT STAG E MANAG E R

ANDREA BAGGS ASSOCIATE TECHNICAL DIRECTOR SUPPORT FOR JORDAN TANNAHILL Thank you to Chris Abraham, Peter Hinton and Birgit Schreyer Duarte for their dramaturgical support. Special thanks to Canadian Opera Company Props Department.

Several lines from Edith’s opening monologue in Sunday in Sodom were inspired by Wislawa Szymborska’s poem Lot’s Wife.

BRYAN STEELE PRO PS B U ILDE R

VANESSA JANISZEWSKI CAR PE NTE R

PETER VELOCCI PRO DUC TIO N ASSISTANT

MELANIE HALL

SALVATORE ANTONIO

VALERIE BUHAGIAR

“The two plays in this double bill question who writes the official record. Through history, that has seldom been the politically dispossessed. As the old aphorism goes, the deer never tells the story of the hunt. These two plays present joyfully apocryphal retellings of two events— one historic, one mythic — that question the official record via decidedly queer and feminist lenses.”

– Jordan Tannahill, playwright.

For more insight on the inspiration behind this double bill, go to page 9 of the Spring Program.

NICOLA CORREIA-DAMUDE

STEPHEN JACKMAN-TORKOFF

CHRISTOPHER MORRIS

ALON NASHMAN

JORDAN TANNAHILL

MATJASH MROZEWSKI

ESTELLE SHOOK

JAMES LAVOIE

STEVE LUCAS

SAMUEL SHOLDICE

CAMERON DAVIS

SIMON FON

MICHAEL SINCLAIR

ANDREA BAGGS

SYNOPSIS BOTTICELLI IN THE FIRE

SUNDAY IN SODOM

While painting The Birth of Venus, famed artist and bon-vivant Sandro Botticelli becomes entangled in sexual and political brinkmanship that puts a lot more than his masterpiece at stake. Caught in a web between the powerful Medici family, the Church and his young lover, he must choose between art and survival.

In the Bible, she goes unnamed, known only as Lot’s Wife: the impertinent woman who was turned to a pillar of salt for looking back to behold God’s destruction of her hometown. In Sunday in Sodom, Edith recounts how her husband Lot welcomed two visitors into their house and the destruction that followed.

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR’S NOTE Botticelli in the Fire and Sunday in Sodom represent the culmination of two very special artistic partnerships: a playwriting residency with Jordan Tannahill, and the completion of the second graduating class of our MFA program with York University, with directors Matjash Mrozewski and Estelle Shook.

These three artists, alongside many of their collaborators, have journeyed together through the fabrication of these works, including a full month’s workshop last summer (thanks to generous support from the Brian Linehan Charitable Foundation), a fundamental early visit of the texts which enabled the playwright to confront the essence of his work as it played out on stage, and gave the directors much cherished time to shape and massage their vision.

Botticelli in the Fire and Sunday in Sodom read like a bawdy Italian ballad and an austere medieval hymn, two deftly crafted lenses through which to experience the elastic nature of time, of love, betrayal, penitence, forgiveness. Or their opposites.

We are infinitely proud to have these two plays enter the Canadian canon.

Enjoy.

MATTHEW JOCELYN Artistic & General Director, Canadian Stage

DIRECTORS’ NOTES WHATEVER HAPPENED TO Celebrity magazine features with those three words in the headline have always made me cringe. Of course I read them because, you know, Schadenfreude. But it’s terrible the way we turn today’s star into tomorrow’s birdcage-liner, judging without knowing all of the facts. Well, ladies and gentlemen, artist and legend Sandro Botticelli is here to fill in the blanks of his story, sparing no juicy detail.

MATJASH MROZEWSKI Director, Botticelli in the Fire

SUNDAY IN SODOM This is a Story An act of recounting An act of re-living, An act of reckoning Old as myth, modern as fuck ESTELLE SHOOK Director, Sunday in Sodom

CAST

CLARICE / SAHRAH

BOTTICELLI / CHRIS

Nicola is a Toronto-based Actor who has performed for The Stratford Shakespeare Festival, The Shaw Festival of Canada, Canadian Stage, Tarragon Theatre, Factory Theatre, Caravan Farm Theatre, Bard on the Beach, Alameda Theatre Company and Aluna Theatre. Film and Television credits include: Shadowhunters, The Strain, Remedy, Annedroids, Haven, Republic of Doyle, Stargate: SG1, Mayday, Young Blades, Degrassi: TNG and the feature films Mem’o’re, Havana 57 and Margarita. Nicola is also a singer and a motion capture performer for Ubisoft. She received the Best Actress in a Feature Film Award at the San Diego FilmOut Festival for her work in Margarita and was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for her Guest Starring performance in Remedy.

SALVATORE ANTONIO Salvatore has appeared on stages across Canada. At Canadian Stage he was last seen as ‘Transsexual’ in Domesticated. Selected stage credits include: Much Ado About Nothing (Tarragon); The Refugee Hotel (TPM); Hosanna (Pleiades); Léo (Tarragon, GCTC, & national tour). Salvatore works regularly in TV & film, with recent guest starring roles in; Private Eyes (Global), Damien (A&E), and recurring roles in Remedy (Global), Saving Hope (CTV), and Single Ladies (BET). Salvatore is a Governor General’s Award-nominated playwright for his play In Gabriel’s Kitchen which has gone on to be published and produced in Canada, Europe, & the U.S. He is a proud graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada.

Currently: his newest play, Sheets. (written and directed by Salvatore) is playing at Videofag (May 17-29).

MADRE MARIA / EDITH

VALERIE BUHAGIAR Valerie is an award-winning actor, filmmaker and theatre artist. Her most recent theatre includes, We Are Not Afraid of the Dark performed at the Mousonturm Theatre in Frankfurt and The Theatre Centre in Toronto. She is also the co-creator and actor in the site specific piece Peter and Valerie, developed and performed at the National Theatre Studios in the UK and Magnetic North, Ottawa. She has acted in several indie films and television series including Murdoch Mysteries and Degrassi. Her first feature film as writer/ director/producer, The Anniversary, won several awards including Best Feature Comedy at Cinequest, California. She is in post-production for her 2nd feature It’s Hard to be Human and will be heading to Malta to prep for her third feature, Carmen Has been Touched.

NICOLA CORREIA-DAMUDE

LEONARDO / ISAAC

STEPHEN JACKMANTORKOFF After graduating from the National Theatre School in 2013, Stephen spent two seasons at the Shaw Festival.

Now, just moved to Toronto, he is greatly expanding his artistic field and playing with different mediums including visual arts, poetry, dance and theatre. Stephen is one-part of Saga Collectif whose show Black Boys is in residency at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. Most recently he was the narrator for Queer Songbook Orchestra’s show Blood Count, which told the story of jazz musician and composer Billy Strayhorn. Stephen likes reading and is a Pisces.

LORENZO / DEREK

CHRISTOPHER MORRIS Christopher is an actor, director, playwright and Artistic Director of Human Cargo. Acting credits: Hedda Gabler (Necessary Angel), Oedipus Rex, The Diary of Anne Frank (Stratford Festival), The Importance of Being Earnest, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Stuff Happens (NAC). For Human Cargo: Co-wrote and directed The Road to Paradise presented at Buddies in Bad Times, the Aga Khan Museum and CFB Petawawa. He’s developing The China Project (a collaboration with the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre) and The Runner (a collaboration with Daniel Brooks and Tel Aviv’s Nephesh Theatre). He’s the recipient of the 2008 KM Hunter Award and the 2012 Canada Council for the Arts John Hirsch Prize for Directing. Upcoming: Christopher’s play Our Beautiful Sons will premiere in the Blyth Festival’s 2016 season.

SAVANAROLA / LOT

ALON NASHMAN Alon Nashman is a performer and creator of theatre, whose work has toured nationally and internationally.

Canadian Stage credits include Picasso at the Lapin Agile (Dora Nomination), THIS (Toronto Theatre Critics Award); Selected theatre: Much Ado About Nothing, Forests, Alias Godot, Scorched, Democracy, Remnants (Tarragon); Hirsch (Stratford Festival), Reading Hebron, A Short History of Night (Factory Theatre); Wedding Day at the Cromagnons, This Hotel (Passe Muraille); The Wild Duck (Soulpepper); Hedda Gabler (Volcano); Kafka and Son (Outstanding Performance, Prague), Alphonse, The Snow Queen (Theaturtle).

Film & TV: Mr. Bernstein, Cinderella Man; Our Fathers; Jonestown: Paradise Lost; Slings and Arrows; The Newsroom.

Upcoming: From Leipzig to Damascus with Tafelmusik; Shakespeare in High Park (Canadian Stage).

CREATIVE PLAYWRIGHT

JORDAN TANNAHILL Jordan Tannahill is a playwright, theatre director and filmmaker. His plays have been presented across Canada, and his films have been exhibited at festivals and galleries including the Toronto International Film Festival, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the British Film Institute. Jordan received the 2014 Governor General’s Award for Drama for his book Age of Minority: Three Solo Plays, the 2014 John Hirsch Prize for directing, and a Dora Award for rihannaboi95 in 2013 and for Concord Floral in 2015. His book Theatre of the Unimpressed, published by Coach House Press in 2015, was called “essential reading for anyone interested in the state of contemporary theatre and performance” by The Globe and Mail. In collaboration with William Ellis, Jordan runs the alternative art-space Videofag, out of a defunct barbershop in Toronto’s Kensington Market. Up next, Jordan will be performing alongside Christopher House in their new dance piece Marienbad, at the Toronto Dance Theatre (May 26 - June 4, 2016).

DIRECTOR – BOTTICELLI IN THE FIRE

MATJASH MROZEWSKI Matjash Mrozewski is a Toronto-based choreographer and director. Trained at Canada’s National Ballet School, he has choreographed for dance companies across Canada, the United States, Europe and Australia. Matjash recently completed the Canadian Stage/York University MFA in Large Scale Stage Direction, which culminated in his production of The Comedy of Errors in High Park this past summer. He has been nominated for two Dora Awards for Outstanding Choreography. This fall, Matjash will direct and choreograph a dance version of Dangerous Liaisons in St-Gallen, Switzerland.

DIRECTOR – SUNDAY IN SODOM

LIGHTING DESIGNER

ESTELLE SHOOK

STEVE LUCAS

An Artistic Director of BC’s nationally acclaimed Caravan Farm Theatre from 1998 to 2010, Estelle Shook has produced, developed, and directed over thirty outdoor productions for the company. Highlights include The Ballad of Weedy Peetstraw, by Peter Anderson and John Millard; Cowboy King and IOU Land, by Linz Kenyon; Shakespeare’s Macbeth and King Lear; Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children; and Everyone, a modern morality play in seven horse drawn acts created with six Vancouver theatre companies. Most recently, Estelle directed Julius Caesar for Canadian Stage’s Shakespeare in High Park. Estelle is a recent graduate of the York/Canadian Stage MFA in Large Scale Stage Direction.

For three decades, Steve has designed award-winning sets and lighting for more than 400 productions of theatre, dance and performance art, as well as live events and trade shows. His work has toured extensively across Canada and the United State as well as the UK, Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, Australia, and Asia. Steve has designed the world premieres of hundreds of shows, many of which have gone on to further acclaim. He conceived and directed his own show, the award-winning, the performer-less BREATH[e]. Steve also serves as Vice President of The Coal Mine, Toronto’s hottest new indie theatre company. He is the recipient of four Dora Mavor Moore awards (with 29 nominations) and has been shortlisted for several of Canada’s most prestigious awards including the Siminovitch Prize in Theatre.

SET & COSTUME DESIGN

JAMES LAVOIE James is a Montreal-based costume and set designer for live performance. He holds a Masters Degree in Scenography from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design (London, UK). He has designed over 70 productions of theatre, dance and circus in Canada and abroad, and is a six-time recipient of the Montreal Theatre Awards for Best Set or Costume Design. Recent projects include: Costume Design for the Cirque du Soleil’s latest permanent show, Joya, in Riviera Maya, Mexico. Set and Costume Design for the North American Tour of Sherlock, for Just For Laugh’s new production of Grease, for both Pig and Bliss (Buddies in Bad Times) and for Innocence Lost at Canada’s National Arts Centre. James is also a teacher and mentor for the design students at the National Theatre School of Canada.

COMPOSITION/SOUND DESIGN

SAMUEL SHOLDICE Samuel is a composer, designer, musician and producer. Canadian Stage credits include: Titus Andronicus, As You Like It, Ronin Office Women (Spotlight Japan). Other theatre credits include: Cowboy vs. Samurai, Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Soulpepper); Fury, Falling A Wake, Beyond The Farm Show (Blyth Festival); Mr. Burns, Vitals, Passion Play (Outside The March); Paolozza-pedia (Bad New Days); The Speedy (Harbourfront); The Boy In The Moon (GCTC). Other Media: Barbelle (web series 2016); Vitals (film, 2015); editor/ composer for the Spoke Podcast; creator of Factory Shorts Music Series.

PROJECTION CONSULTANT

STAGE MANAGER

CAMERON DAVIS

MICHAEL SINCLAIR

Selected credits include: Sweet Charity, You Never Can Tell (Shaw Festival); Life, Death, and the Blues (Theatre Passe Muraille); Watching Glory Die (Canadian Rep Theatre); Six Essential Questions, Every Letter Counts (Factory Theatre); The Gay Heritage Project (Buddies in Bad Times); Yukonstyle, Cruel and Tender (Canadian Stage); Domesticated (Company Theatre/Canadian Stage) CRASH (Theatre Passe Muraille); Beyond the Farm Show, The Book of Esther (Blyth Festival); Feng Yi Ting (Spoleto Festival USA/Lincoln Center Festival/ Luminato Festival); Card Table Artifice, Natural Magick (Magicana/Luminato); Rock ‘n’ Roll (Canadian Stage/Citadel); DanceMarathon (bluemouth inc); lighting design: How Do I Love Thee?

(Canadian Rep Theatre); They Say He Fell, BIRTH, Tjorvi the Flaccid (Pandemic Theatre); With Individual Desire (Lady Parts Theatre/Groundswell Festival).

Cameron also teaches and mentors projection design at the National Theatre School of Canada.

Michael has stage managed over 10 different productions at Canadian Stage including this season’s Domesticated and Beckett Trilogy, some were coproductions with Company Theatre, The Citadel Theatre and Obsidian Theatre Company. Some favourite shows include: Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God (Nightwood, OTC and Mirvish Productions), Belleville (Company Theatre), ‘da kink in my Hair (Mirvish Productions), Fire (Canadian Stage/Citadel Theatre), Hana’s Suitcase (YPT/Geordie Productions/Green Thumb/The Citadel Theatre and MTYP), Our Town (Soulpepper), The Postman (Appledore Productions). Michael also spent two seasons at the Stratford Festival and has worked with Soulpepper, Theatre New Brunswick, Buddies in Bad Times, Factory Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille among others.

FIGHT DIRECTOR

SIMON FON Recently for Canadian Stage: Hedda Gabbler, Helen Lawrence, Julius Caesar.

With over 600 professional credits in TV, Film and Stage stretching from Broadway to Stratford to Yellowknife, Simon specializes in all areas: Weaponry, Aerial Flying (NAAFED certified), Unarmed Combat (Eastern and Western). Simon has coached and performed with actors Christopher Plummer, Rachel McAdams, Martin Short, Billy Connolly, and Colm Feore to name a few. Simon is a Fight Master with FDC, Executive Director and Founder of RIOT A.C.T. and the recipient of 17 nominations and 8 awards, including Simon for Male Action Performer of the Year 2009 AOF Festival – California.

ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER

ANDREA BAGGS Andrea is thrilled to be working with Canadian Stage on another beautiful piece in the Berkeley Street Theatre, and would like to thank the wonderful production team for inviting her to work on this project, and to Negin for her constant support. For Canadian Stage: Domesticated, Julius Caesar + Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare in High Park 15’), Titus Andronicus + As You Like It (Shakespeare in High Park 14’).

Other theatre credits: Assistant Stage Manager; 2 Pianos 4 Hands (Marquis Entertainment), Apprentice Stage Manager; Dream A Little Dream (The Grand Theatre London); Same Same But Different (Theatre Passe Muraille); Land of Smiles (Toronto Operetta Theatre); Night of the Living Dead (Nictophobia Films).

concord floral SEP 27 – OCT 16, 2016 BLUMA APPEL THEATRE

WRITTEN BY

Jordan Tannahill

CREATED AND DIRECTED BY

Erin Brubacher, Cara Spooner AND Jordan Tannahill A SUBURBAN BEAST PRODUCTION PRESENTED BY CANADIAN STAGE

“packs a theatrical and emotional punch”

photo: Erin Brubacher

– NOW MAGAZINE

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