BADBUDDIESINTIMESTHEATRE 2022 2023
BUDDIES
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is situated on the traditional lands of the Haudenosaunee, the Anishinaabe, and the Wendat, and the treaty territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit. We acknowledge them and any other Nations who care for the land (acknowledged and unacknowledged, recorded and unrecorded) as the past, present, and future caretakers of this land, referred to as Tkaronto (“Where the Trees Meet the Water”; “The Gathering Place”). Buddies is honoured to be a home for queer, trans, and 2-Spirit artists on these storied and sacred lands that have been stewarded by Indigenous Peoples for thousands of years before the arrival of colonial settlers.
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Established in 1979, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is Toronto’s leading destination for artistically rigorous alternative theatre and a world leader in developing queer voices and stories for the Buddiesstage.offers a year-round program that includes a full season of queer theatre, new works festivals, artist residencies, and intergenerational training and education initiatives. In its 44-year history, Buddies has welcomed more than a million people into its home in the heart of Toronto’s queer village and has premiered more than 1,000 new works for the stage, making it the largest and longest-running queer theatre company in the world.
BUDDIESAboutBuddies BUDDIES IN BAD TIMES THEATRE 12 ALEXANDER STREET TORONTO, ONTARIO M4Y 1B4 416 975 8555 @ BUDDIESTO BUDDIESINBADTIMESTHEATRE.COM THEATRETIMESBADINBUDDIES3
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It is in this spirit that our 2022/2023 season peels back layers of time, history, community, and language. It explores notions of accountability and justice; it expands our understanding of belonging, home, and family; and compels us to think about and be critical of our futures. How has the past informed our present? And what choices will we make today to impact generations to come? As we enter a new phase of the pandemic, and a new pivotal chapter of this company’s history, I remain in awe of and full of gratitude for the communities who continue to engage in vital conversation, who continue to champion this necessary theatre and the work it does and the artists it supports, and who continue to participate in dreaming of all the possibilities of what Buddies can be. I’m thrilled to welcome you, alongside new and familiar partners, artists, and collaborators, to our 44th season: to build upon the history of this theatre and boldly move forward into a future of Buddies that is beautifully queer and radical.
WITH INTERIMDANIELLOVE,CARTERDIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS & PROGRAMMING BUDDIESINBADTIMESTHEATRE.COM
As we enter our 44th season, ahead of a milestone year, I am reflecting on the prolific and complex history of Buddies in Bad Times. The successes, the challenges, the celebrations, the heartbreaks. This company has continuously created and recreated itself, to grow and to respond to the changing world around it. Its presence and its growth overtime is a testament to its resiliency but also to the resilience of the community that surrounds and supports it.
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ST. DIRECTEDBERNARDBY YVETTE NOLAN OCTOBER 6–16, 2022 BY
PresentsBuddies BY
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ZOM-FAM In Mauritian Kreol, “zom-fam” means “man-woman” or “transgender.” This intimate solo brings to the stage Kama La Mackerel’s award-winning eponymous poetry collection. Through dance, storytelling, spoken word, and ritual, the piece weaves together ancestral voices, femme tongues, broken colonial languages, and a tender queer subjectivity, all of which grapple with the legacy of plantation servitude. DONNA-MICHELLE KAMA LA MACKEREL
THE STONEFIRST A New Harlem Productions and Great Canadian Theatre Company production An epic exploration of history, war, and forgiveness, The First Stone delves into the exploitation of child abductees, the communities from which these children are stolen, the determination to bring them home, and the hard road to reconciliation that follows. Through poetry and song, this world-premiere production follows one family’s effort to reunite, measuring the cost of holding on, and of letting go.
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THEATRETIMESBADINBUDDIES9 Exploding the cabaret form, The Man That Got Away grapples with the layers of our performed identities and the plurality of ways that we “come out”. Family secrets, shared histories, and the musical theatre canon come together in this gesture towards a space of liberation, memory, desire, and truth. The Man That Got Away A SPECIAL APPEARANCE BY MARTIN JULIEN DIRECTED BY PETER BUDDIESINBADTIMESTHEATRE.COMDECEMBERHINTON-DAVIS8–18,2022ABUDDIESINBADTIMES THEATRE PRODUCTION How do we reinhabit the stories that make us who we are? How do those who’ve left us continue to inhabit us? In an intimate performance weaving together music, confessionals, and personal archives, Martin Julien unmaps, through space and time, his queer upbringing as the child of a lesbian mother and gay father in mid-20th-century Toronto.
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This year, the festival intentionally expands its scope exchangethroughinternationally,acuratorialwiththreelive art festivals in Europe and the UK: FLAM in Amsterdam; Les Urbaines in Lausanne, Switzerland; BUZZCUT in Glasgow. As part of this multiyear exchange, Rhubarb will invite artists from — and send Canadian artists to — each of these contexts to perform.
The FestivalRhubarb FESTIVAL DIRECTOR CLAYTON LEE FEBRUARY BUDDIESINBADTIMESTHEATRE.COM2023 THEATRETIMESBADINBUDDIES11 BUDDIES IN BAD TIMES THEATRE PRESENTS
Back for a 44th year, Rhubarb transforms Buddies into a hotbed of experimentation, with artists challenging our notions of what art-making and art-watching can be. As Canada’s longest-running new works festival, Rhubarb is the place to encounter the most adventurous ideas in performance and to catch familiar and unfamiliar artists venturing into uncharted territory.
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Presented
The toBelongedHoovestheDeer MAKRAM AYACHE When Izzy’s family immigrates to a small rural town, the young queer Muslim boy becomes the salvation pet project to the local Pastor Isaac. In his attempt to reconcile his sexuality and faith, Izzy invents an imagined Garden of Eden, where Adam and Hawa’s (Eve in Arabic) relationship is turned upside down by the arrival of Steve, a beautiful, blue-eyed, white-skinned northerner. An emotionally-charged and ritualistic journey of two universes colliding, The Hooves Belonged to the Deer offers an epic story of life, discovery, and belonging, where small-town Canada meets the Garden of Eden. at Tarragon Theatre
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THEATRETIMESBADINBUDDIES13 A TARRAGON THEATRE PRODUCTION, IN ASSOCIATION WITH BUDDIES IN BAD TIMES THEATRE
DIRECTED BY PETER HINTON-DAVIS APRIL 4–23, 2023
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Body FluorescentSo BUDDIESINBADTIMESTHEATRE.COM THEATRETIMESBADINBUDDIES15 A BUDDIESMADONNANERA,INBAD TIMES THEATRE, AND B CURRENT PRODUCTION Following a national tour, critical acclaim, and a short film adaptation, co-creators Amanda Cordner and David di Giovanni reimagine their hit show for the Buddies stage. CREATED BY AMANDA CORDNER & DAVID DI GIOVANNI APRIL 13–23, 2023 Winner of NOW Magazine Best of Fest in Outstanding Play, Production and Performance at SummerWorks 2018. What happened last night on the dance floor? Two friends retrace their steps from the night before to figure out how it all ended in an explosive fight, shifting from self to alter-ego. Body So Fluorescent is an electrifying solo performance that asks difficult questions about Blackness, otherness, and appropriation.
BUDDIES IN BAD TIMES THEATRE WELCOMES A BAD NEW DAYS PRODUCTION ProjectLandscapeUntitled Inspired by post-humanist thought, this new creation from Bad New Days brings fresh eyes to the age-old predicament of being human. An experiment in form that digs into our relationship to the landscape—both natural and artificial— and our nostalgia for personal and collective pasts in the face of environmental collapse. CREATED AND DIRECTED BY ADAM PAOLOZZA MARCH 9–19, 2023 THEATRETIMESBADINBUDDIES 2022/2023 BUDDIESINBADTIMES.COMPROGRAMSEASON
A BUDDIES IN BAD TIMES THEATRE PRODUCTION
A concert and a conversation, Kiinalik: These Sharp Tools is the meeting place of two people, and the North and South of a country. Inuk artist Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory and queer theatre-maker Evalyn Parry met on an Arctic expedition from Iqaluit to Greenland. Now sharing a stage, these two powerful storytellers map new territory together in a work that gives voice and body to the histories, culture, and climate we’ve inherited, and asks how we reckon with these sharp tools. The award-winning production picks up its international tour this season, with presentations in the UK and Europe in November, and more stops to be announced.
CREATED BY EVALYN PARRY, LAAKKULUK WILLIAMSON BATHORY, ERIN BRUBACHER AND ELYSHA POIRIER WITH CRIS DERKSEN
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TheseKiinalik:Sharp Tools ON TOUR
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Alongside our mainstage and artistic development programming, our home on 12 Alexander Street plays host to the full gamut of queer performance and community events throughout the year: from concerts to clown shows, and poetry readings to pageants. Stop by any day of the week and you’ll find something different. And of course, Buddies wouldn’t be Buddies without our weekly parties and annual Queer Pride Festival.
for Celebration BUDDIESINBADTIMESTHEATRE.COM THEATRETIMESBADINBUDDIES19 SMITHDAINTYCURATOR&PRODUCERSTORYTELLER,
Making
Tallulah’s Cabaret is a place where communities come together to celebrate, to remember, and to create new futures together. Space
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BUDDIESINBADTIMESTHEATRE.COM THEATRETIMESBADINBUDDIES21 Julie Phan ( 潘家雯 ) Never Walk Alone Pencil Kit Productions WHITE MUSCLE DADDY Heath V. Salazar Francis Bilal Baig Kitne Saare Laloo Yahan Pey Hain & Kainchee Lagaa Celia Green SOWWY DevelopmentCreativeNurturing 2022/2023 ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE 2022/2023 SEEDING WORK ARTISTS As the world’s largest and longest-running queer theatre, creating development opportunities for the next generation of queer artists and arts workers is an integral part of what we do. The Buddies Residency program continues to nurture long-term relationships with new and returning queer artists and collectives as they develop new works. The Seeding Work incubator program returns for a second season, welcoming artist Celia Green.
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Featuring skills workshops, talkbacks, and curated conversations, our intergenerationally focused programming continues this year, providing in-person and virtual opportunities to build relationships with the theatre and with each other. Throughout the season, our buildartisticexchange,queerstages,beyondconversationprogrammingcommunity-engagedbuildsaroundandtheworkonourbringingtogetherfolkstoconnect,experimentwithexpression,andcommunity. CommunitiesEngaging “ONE DAY, IF YOU’RE LUCKY, YOU TOO WILL BE A QUEER SENIOR.” — LEZLIE LEE BUDDIESINBADTIMESTHEATRE.COMKAM THEATRETIMESBADINBUDDIES23
THEATRETIMESBADINBUDDIES 2022/2023 BUDDIESINBADTIMES.COMPROGRAMSEASON LISTED DONATIONS FROM JUNE 1, 2021MAY 31, 2022 LEGACY CIRCLE Ed Cabell & Roy Forrester John Alan Lee Russell Mathew & Scott JimJamesAdamRichardFergusonMcLellanMorrison&OwenRobertson&Jim Scott BrianAlonElizabethRobertWilliamPaulAndrewPrivateTheLEADERSFoundationNIgEMarthaPaulLawrenceHEROESDavidJimKennethThe$5000+VISIONARIESEstateofDaweLawrence&Salak$2500+BennettButler&ChrisBlackLAMcCainGoughShineOn$1000+Bulmash-SiegelFoundationGillespieHartwickHodge&WyliePasternak&NashmanSambourne Pia Schmidt-Hansen & Alicia Wesolowski Peter Taylor The Wine ADVOCATESButler $500+ D. Arcand & A. Karmali Ken Aucoin & Gerald Crowell Neil LesleyLucindaMichaelBrianJamesLisRichardMontanaTimFoundationTheSmokestackGeorgeTuckerCalgaryFranklinTheDennisPhilipRobertKellyDougKateBetteridgeBishop&GerhartClippertonG.CoatesDoironFindlayCharlieandLuluFundattheFoundationGordonGrantStudioMehtaRahimJones&TaylorRathsKimelMcLellanSparksTennysonTerryDavidTrentWallace&Fraser PARTNERS $250+ Mark Aikman & Gustavo Cerquera Benjumea Cole Alvis – in honour of René Highway Jason Aviss + Jordaan Mason Russell Connelly Shawn Daudlin Alan CorporationMCANDingleMortgage–on behalf of Aaron Ballantine Robin Gordon Ken OldfieldEdwardAidanGillesDr.JaigrisHarveyHodsonBenLouieMarchildonMorishita-MikiNowinaManagement Inc. Wes D. MarkAllenMichelofColeBenjumeaGustavoMarkMONTHLYLionelDaveAndreaJackieManufacturingPigeonsPearceandThreadInc.“Ma”RaposoRidgleySteinbergTonaDONORSAikman&CerqueraAlvis–inhonourRenéHighwayBeauvaisBraudeBrodsky Russell Connelly David ArielleHerngCathrinAllisonAyseLionelPeterAllenMitsukoAndreaSusannaIngridRuiThompsonAidanRichardPaulieGillesCameronJonathanDr.KristinaMontanaPaulTomJustinCarloDariaAndreaJaigrisRobertWilliamGeorgeRobinTuckerBarbaraCoutureFingeroteGordonGordonGrantHodge&WylieHodsonHoustonIlkinaIsolaKennedyKeogh&McClureKimelLemieuxBenLouieMacArthurMacLeodMarchildonMcDermidMcLellanMorishita-MikiNguyenPiresRandojaReidRidgleySadaSangalangTaylorTonaTurakVanekWinkelmannYiChengZamora Our Community of Donors As we head out of a global pandemic and move towards our 45th anniversary, the support of our incredible community of donors is needed now more than ever. Over the past two years, many of our main fundraising sources have been limited in operation. It is thanks to our generous communities that we have been able to continue to support queer artists, helping them to create queer stories and new connections through online and in-person initiatives like our residency program, queer emerging artists awards, and community conversations. By making a donation today, you will play an instrumental role in bringing vital queer arts and community programming to our city, and beyond. You can make a monthly or one-time donation online at buddiesinbadtimes.com/support, or contact aidan@buddiesinbadtimes.com to inquire about other ways to support.
BUDDIESINBADTIMESTHEATRE.COM THEATRETIMESBADINBUDDIES25 SEASON SPONSORS SEASON PARTNERS MADONNANERA LEAD CORPORATE SPONSOR COMMUNITY AND EDUCATION PARTNER MEDIA PARTNER CORPORATE PARTNERS PUBLIC AGENCIES Sponsors & Partners an Ontario government agency un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario CREATIVE CREDITS Photography DYLAN MITRO Wardrobe & Styling CAT CALICA Hair & Makeup ROBERT WEIR Assistant to Photography WYATT LOWRY Assistant to Wardrobe & Styling KAI JACKMAN Assistant to Hair & Makeup TORU MIYAKE GALLARDO Additional photography (Kiinalik: These Sharp Tools) JEREMY MIMNAGH
The Company Interim Director of Operations & Programming DANIEL CARTER Director of Special Projects JACQUELINE COSTA Production Manager REBECCA VANDEVELDE Rhubarb Festival Director CLAYTON LEE Rental & Events Manager STEPH RAPOSO Communications & Development Manager AIDAN MORISHITA-MIKI Box Office Front-of-House& Manager JULIA LEWIS Interim Bar Manager DEVIN REID Manager of Touring CHRIS REYNOLDS Artistic Producing Intern JULIE PHAN ( 潘家雯 ) ProgrammingYouth/Elders Coordinator LEZLIE LEE KAM Marketing Associate NATASHA RAMONDINO Stewardship & Events Associate CHASE HIEBERT Development Associate ARJUN SINGH Facility Manager PAUL THERRIEN Finance Manager CYNTHIA MURDY Box Office Front-of-House& Lead JAKE RAMOS Box Office & RepresentativesFront-of-House SKY FFRENCH BRAWK HESSEL NETASAMUHADDISAHSKIAMULLERROSE Bar Personnel RICHARD BELL CHARLEE BOYES BRADEN BUTLER ANDREW DESABRAIS VISHMAYAA JEYAMOORTHY RONNIE LÉGÈRE RICH MATUKAITIS NETA ROSE JESSICA RUSSELL JONATHAN SAVAGETHEATRETIMESBADINBUDDIES 2022/2023 BUDDIESINBADTIMES.COMPROGRAMSEASON
TIERED TICKET PRICING For each of our mainstage shows this season, we’re offering tickets at a range of price points, though seating is general admission, and every seat is just as good as the next. If cost is a barrier, this is your chance to get an affordable ticket. If you are able to pay more, this is your chance to increase your support for the work onstage and ensure it stays affordable for those who need it. BUDDIES REWARDS See More. Spend Less. Plan on seeing a couple of shows this season? Sign up for Buddies Rewards and earn more savings automatically with every mainstage ticket you buy (alongside additional perks and company news). It’s as simple as the tick of a box in your online customer profile, or a call or visit to the box office. rewardsbuddiesinbadtimes.com/ ONLINE buddiesinbadtimes.com/ tickets BY PHONE 416 975 8555 IN-PERSON 12 Alexander Street Tickets
2022 2023