FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Nov. 12, 2014
Canadian Stage announces globetrotting 2015.2016 season
Featuring newly commissioned international collaborations from
Crystal Pite, Michèle Anne De Mey and Jaco Van Dormael;
Canadian Stage’s first-ever chamber opera by opera giant Philippe Boesmans;
Premieres helmed by company friends Akram Khan, Chris Abraham, Jennifer Tarver, Jordan
Tannahill, Philip Riccio of The Company Theatre, Soundstreams, Theatre Smash, and more
Toronto, ON – Canadian Stage today announced details for its 2015.2016 season outlining the 13 productions
and premieres commissioned and curated by Artistic & General Director Matthew Jocelyn. The company
continues to explore new forms of contemporary performance through collaborations with the best storytellers,
directors, choreographers and performers from Canada and around the world.
2015.2016 marks a series of exciting milestones: two pieces of newly commissioned work from Canadian Stage
will tour internationally, landing on stage in Toronto; Jocelyn will direct the company’s first-ever opera; a mini
music festival will animate the Berkeley Street Theatre; and a series of plays and dance theatre pieces from
around the world will mark North American premieres brought to life with artistic partners including Necessary
Angel Theatre Company, The Company Theatre, Soundstreams, Theatre Smash, Kidd Pivot, Electric Company
Theatre and many more.
This globetrotting season spans Canadian Stage’s three venues – the Bluma Appel Theatre, Berkeley Street
Theatre and High Park Amphitheatre – with pieces that push the boundaries between all mediums of artistic
expression.
“The 2015.2016 season at Canadian Stage has us bringing together artists from many different walks of life,
countries and disciplines” said Jocelyn. “With Canadian artists like Crystal Pite, Chris Abraham, Jordan Tannahill
and Jennifer Tarver, and international creators Michèle Anne De Mey, Jaco Van Dormael, Akram Khan, and Israel
Galván, this season will bring a wide range of stories and emotions to our stages, exploring our interactions
between world cultures, and the understandings and misunderstandings that happen on a global stage. From
theatre, dance, and music – including our first ever chamber opera – we are proud that this year also marks an
unprecedented number of partnerships and collaborations.”
Opening the season at the Bluma Appel Theatre is Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young’s theatre and dance hybrid,
Betroffenheit (working title), which explores the state of shock and bewilderment experienced in the wake of a
disaster. Presented by Panamania Arts and Culture Program and Canadian Stage, the production will have its
world premiere as part of the PanAm Games in July, returning to the Bluma Appel Theatre in February and then
heading off on an international tour.
In November, in an exciting inaugural collaboration with contemporary music company Soundstreams, Jocelyn
directs Canadian Stage’s first foray into operatic performance with Julie, a chamber opera by Belgian composer
Philippe Boesmans. Recognized internationally as one of the greatest opera composers of our time, this marks
the first time Boesmans’ work will be performed in North America. Based on Miss Julie by Swedish playwright
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August Strindberg, Julie will feature an all-Canadian cast and is presented in association with Soundstreams with
support from the Théâtre d’Orléans, France.
Also on stage at the Bluma is the North American Premiere of a new play by Chile’s most celebrated playwrightdirector, Guillermo Calderon. The Kiss is a provocative exploration of cultural boundaries as a group of western
actors interpret a Syrian play, slowly realizing the limits of their own understanding and the gravity of their own
assumptions. Chimerica, winner of the 2014 Olivier Award for Best New Play – a gripping adventure examining
the present day aftermath of the events in Tiananmen Square in 1989 – will have its North American debut
helmed by Chris Abraham. In TOROBAKA, Canadian Stage favourite Akram Khan (creator and choreographer of
DESH) partners with great flamenco artist Israel Galván in a new piece that mixes Indian kathak, Spanish
flamenco and their most contemporary expression in a dance performance that’s a thrilling invention of style
and form.
After an overwhelming success just last month, the breathtaking Kiss & Cry returns for a 4-show limited run in
February 2016, leading into the 5-show run of the North American premiere of Michèle Anne De Mey and Jaco
Van Dormael’s newest creation, Cold Blood – co-commissioned and presented by Canadian Stage.
At the Berkeley Street Theatre, expect the Canadian premiere of a new play by Pulitzer and Tony-winning
storyteller, Bruce Norris. Directed by Philip Riccio of The Company Theatre, Domesticated follows a scandal
surrounding a well-loved politician that damages both his credibility and the lives of his loved ones.
Jennifer Tarver takes on the contemporary re-telling of a classic play in Hedda Gabler. Presented in association
with Necessary Angel Theatre Company, this production continues the company’s three-year Berkeley Street
Theatre residency. Theatre Smash, in their first year of a new residency in the Berkeley Street Upstairs Theatre,
will present the English translation of Philipp Löhle's social comedy Das Ding (The Thing), directed by Ashlie
Corcoran.
Further animating the Berkeley Street Theatre, Canadian Stage is excited to present Célébration de la
Francophonie. A mini festival showcasing Canada’s great francophone musicianship and acts rarely seen in
Toronto, Célébration de la Francophonie features Montreal-born, Paris-based singer-songwriter Mélissa
Laveaux and Acadian singer-songwriter Lisa Leblanc.
And finally, the 2015.2016 season opens and closes with two productions marked by the company’s partnership
with York University and their MFA Program in Stage Direction in collaboration with Canadian Stage. In the
summer at Shakespeare in High Park, MFA candidates Estelle Shook and Matjash Mrozewski will direct the
Roman plays Julius Caesar and The Comedy of Errors respectively. Shook and Mrozewski return at the end of
the season to lead a double bill of two new plays at the Berkeley Street Theatre: Botticelli in the Fire and Sunday
in Sodom. Written by Canadian playwright Jordan Tannahill – who was recently nominated for the Governor
General’s Literary Award in Playwriting, is a Canadian Stage/OAC Playwright-in-Residence and was a participant
in Canadian Stage’s RBC Emerging Artist Program – the plays examine two key moments in time and of place:
Lot’s biblical birthplace and Botticelli’s Renaissance Italy.
To complement the work presented on stage, Canadian Stage continues to support the artistic community with
additional programming throughout the season. Through the 2015.2016 season, the company will offer postshow talkbacks with cast members, thematic pre-show chats moderated by experts, free Professional
Exploration workshops for teachers and educators, a Masterclass program offering up close and personal
experiences with artists from the season, and much more. Information about Canadian Stage’s artistic and
learning opportunities is available at canadianstage.com.
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2015.2016 Subscriptions are on sale beginning November 12 with 6-show packages starting from $180 and fullseason 13-show packages starting from $360. Subscribers who book before December 31, 2014 will receive an
additional five per cent off their package price and have exclusive access to reserve premium seats for
Shakespeare in High Park. Subscriptions may be purchased online, by phone at 416.368.3110 or in-person at the
Canadian Stage Box Office: Bluma Appel Theatre (27 Front Street E.) or Berkeley Street Theatre (26 Berkeley
St.). Single tickets will be on sale in March 2, 2015. Full details on the productions, casting and subscription
packages are available online at www.canadianstage.com
Full 2015.2016 season playbill and show details continued below
Facebook: Canadian Stage
Twitter: @CanadianStage
Hashtag: #CS1516
For more information or interview requests, please contact:
Ashley Ballantyne, rock-it promotions, inc., at 416.656.0707 ext. 111 or [email protected]
Rebecca Shoalts, rock-it promotions, inc., at 416.656.0707 ext. 104 or [email protected]
At the Bluma Appel Theatre
Betroffenheit – Jul. 23 to 25, 2015 and Feb. 18 to 21, 2016
Created by Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young
Written and conceived by Jonathon Young
A Kidd Pivot and Electric Company Theatre production presented by Panamania Arts and Culture Program and
Canadian Stage
“Pite brings a refined lyricism which transforms everything she touches” – The Observer
A state of shock and bewilderment encompasses you in the wake of a disaster. It is a timeless, liminal space
where you return again and again even while struggling to gain and maintain distance, repeatedly responding to
the disaster long after it has subsided. Here, a crisis-management team is keeping your emergency situation
alive and present, a trusted voice urging you to come to terms with the past, and a steady supply of “The Show”
available for all the distraction, escape and pleasure you might crave. In one sense, you are the survivor and this
is your refuge. In another, you’re the disaster waiting to happen. Betroffenheit (working title) brings the
choreographer of Dark Matters (2012) and The Tempest Replica (2014) with co-creator and lead actor of Tear
the Curtain! (2012) in a hybrid of theatre and dance.
Co- commissioned by the Toronto 2015 Arts and Culture Festival Panamania (Presented by CIBC), Sadler’s Wells
(London, UK), The Banff Centre, National Arts Centre, The CanDance Network, Canadian Stage, L’Agora de la
Danse, Brian Webb Dance Company and Dance Victoria.
The Kiss – Oct. 13 to Nov. 1, 2015
By Guillermo Calderon
A Canadian Stage production
“[Calderon is] Chile's most acclaimed playwright-director of the last two decades.” – L.A. Times
Two couples meet for dinner to take their minds off the war raging around them. An unexpected profession of
love, an untimely proposal, and one kiss later, one of the foursome lies dead on the floor. Chilean playwright
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Guillermo Calderon’s newest play breaks open cultural barriers as a group of western actors interpreting a
Syrian play slowly realize the limits of their own understanding, and the suffocating effect of an oppressive,
omnipresent regime.
Julie – Nov. 17 to Nov. 29, 2015
Composed by Philippe Boesmans, Libretto by Luc Bondy
Directed by Matthew Jocelyn, Music Direction by Les Dala
A Canadian Stage production presented in association with Soundstreams with support from the Théâtre
d’Orléans, France
In 1888, Swedish playwright August Strindberg debuted Miss Julie, a hallmark of naturalistic theatre that has
since been performed around the world in a variety of adaptations and formats. A tale of the narrowing realities
of life and the human aspiration to break free of those constraints, two servants and their countess grapple with
the complexities of desire, ambition and inevitable loss. Artistic & general director Matthew Jocelyn directs this
North American premiere of a work by Belgian composer Philippe Boesmans, recognized internationally as one
of the greatest opera composers of our times.
“If operas were always of the quality of this Julie, our musical life would be considerably richer” – Le Monde,
Paris
Kiss & Cry – Feb. 4 to Feb. 7, 2016
By Michèle Anne De Mey and Jaco Van Dormael
Presented by Canadian Stage
“Sheer magic, sheer joy... this astonishing and unrivalled show blends poetry and magic, film and dancing
fingers” – La Libre Belgique
After stunning audiences last year, Kiss & Cry returns to Canadian Stage for four performances in February 2016,
just days before the North American premiere of Michèle Anne De Mey and Jaco Van Dormael’s newest creation
Cold Blood. This is the final opportunity to catch Kiss & Cry. Projected live on screen and portrayed exclusively by
hands and fingers dancing on miniature landscapes, Gisele reflects on her life, starting with her first love: a boy
whose hand she touched for a few seconds on a crowded train when she was 13 years old. This extraordinary
blend of film, dance, text and theatre is unlike anything you’ve seen before and is sure to leave you breathless.
Cold Blood – Feb. 10 to Feb 14, 2016
By Michèle Anne De Mey and Jaco Van Dormael
Presented and co-produced by Canadian Stage
Employing many of the same stunning production values and cinematographic methods that captivated Kiss &
Cry audiences, Cold Blood continues the beautiful story of lost love by following a boy and his journey through
manhood into a darker, more uncaring world.
TOROBAKA – Mar. 9 to Mar. 12, 2016
Created and performed by Akram Khan and Israel Galván
Presented by Canadian Stage
“[Khan’s] dancing is mercurial, his characters superbly realised" – The Independent
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“None, surely, has been more daringly innovative than Israel Galván" – Financial Times
Following the audience favourite and critically acclaimed DESH (2013), Akram Khan returns to Canadian Stage
with the great flamenco artist Israel Galván in a new piece that mixes Indian kathak and Spanish flamenco in a
thrilling stylistic dialogue. Inspired by the rhythmic roots of civilization and the sacred relationship between the
hunter and animal, these virtuosic performers use innovative choreography, exquisite technique and
contemporary storytelling to create a distinctly new form of dance.
Chimerica – Mar. 29 to Apr. 17, 2016
By Lucy Kirkwood
Directed by Chris Abraham
A Canadian Stage and Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre production
"Ambitious, sprawling, morally fascinating, as gripping as a good novel." – London Times
As tanks roll through Tiananmen Square, crushing the student movement’s cries for democracy, a young
photojournalist from America captures on film a moment of defiance that comes to symbolize the struggle.
More than twenty years later, a mysterious note appears in a Beijing newspaper and the now middle-aged
journalist is driven to discover the truth about that fateful day, and the secrets that were buried as the world
looked on. Lucy Kirkwood’s play examines the changing fortunes of two countries, their tied fates, and the fates
of all caught in between.
At the Berkeley Street Theatre
Domesticated – Nov. 17 to Dec. 13, 2015 (Downstairs Theatre)
By Bruce Norris
Directed by Philip Riccio
A Canadian Stage production presented in association with The Company Theatre
“Terrifically, almost scandalously entertaining” – Time Magazine
What happens when a popular politician is discovered by police at the bedside of an injured prostitute? Bill
Pulver's credibility is irrevocably damaged and the lives of his wife and daughters are turned upside-down as
Pulitzer and Tony-Award winning author Bruce Norris (Clybourne Park, 2012) follows the scandal beyond the
cameras and into the private bedroom of a public humiliation. It’s a wickedly funny, deeply serious and totally
unpredictable take on power, sexuality and politics.
Hedda Gabler – Jan. 12 to Feb. 7, 2016 (Downstairs Theatre)
By Henrik Ibsen
Directed by Jennifer Tarver
A Necessary Angel Theatre Company production in association with Canadian Stage
“[Jennifer Tarver] is regarded as one of the finest talents of her generation” – Toronto Star
Hedda Gabler has just landed the perfect life: a successful husband, a beautiful home and the promise of a
growing family. But below the surface lies a yearning that threatens to explode the polished surface of her new
existence. Necessary Angel continues its residency at the Berkeley Street Theatre as Jennifer Tarver (Venus in
Fur, 2013 and What Makes a Man, 2014) brings her distinctive vision to Ibsen’s enduring and prescient portrait
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of a willfully blind society. For a woman determined to live her own truth, she will be free or destroy everything
trying.
Célébration de la Francophonie – Mar. 17 to Mar. 19, 2016 (Downstairs Theatre)
This season, for the first time, Canadian Stage is showcasing the sounds and spirit of Canada’s great francophone
musicianship with Célébration de la Francophonie: an intimate festival featuring some of the remarkable Frenchlanguage musicians that our country has produced, and who we rarely or never get to see in Toronto. Montrealborn, Outaouais-raised, Paris based singer-songwriter extraordinaire, Mélissa Laveaux, who brings her truly
unique style of rhythmic folk-world music, alongside the pithy, endlessly inventive Acadian-Canadian singersongwriter Lisa Leblanc.
Das Ding (The Thing) – Apr. 12 to May 1, 2016 (Upstairs Theatre)
By Philipp Löhle
Translated by Birgit Schreyer Duarte
Directed by Ashlie Corcoran
A Theatre Smash production in association with Canadian Stage
Philipp Löhle's highly ambitious social comedy Das Ding spans an interconnected world that binds the fates of
the African Siwa, Chinese business people, Romanian pig-breeders and two young newlyweds Katrin and
Thomas. As a global crisis attaches itself to the smallest marital problems on a deeply personal level, all are
forced to consider whether such a thing as coincidence can exist in a globalized world. Meanwhile, the
eponymous ‘thing’ – a cotton fibre in its apparently endless iterations – looks on humanity, amazed.
Botticelli in the Fire and Sunday in Sodom – Apr. 26 to May. 15, 2016 (Downstairs Theatre)
By Jordan Tannahill
Directed by Estelle Shook and Matjash Mrozewski
A Canadian Stage Production in collaboration with The Theatre Department in the Faculty of Fine Arts at York
University
A double bill by playwright Jordan Tannahill, recently nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Award in
Playwriting, a Canadian Stage OAC/Playwright-in-Residence and a past participant in Canadian Stage’s RBC
Emerging Artist Program.
Botticelli in the Fire
When Sandro Botticelli, a seeker of beauty and pleasure, is accused of ‘keeping a boy’, his close friendship with
fellow painter and bon vivant Andrea del Verrocchio, and his young apprentice Leonardo Da Vinci, is put to the
ultimate test when he realizes he must sacrifice more than just his art.
Sunday in Sodom
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, Aida recounts how her
husband Lot welcomed two American soldiers into their house, the fury this sparked in their village and the
destruction that followed.
At the High Park Amphitheatre
Shakespeare in High Park – Jul. 2 to Sept. 6, 2015
Julius Caesar and The Comedy of Errors
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By William Shakespeare
Julius Caesar directed by Estelle Shook, The Comedy of Errors directed by Matjash Mrozewski
A Canadian Stage production in collaboration with The Theatre Department in the Faculty of Fine Arts at York
University
A case of mistaken identity ends in hilarity. A case of mistaken intent results in war. Canadian Stage returns to
Toronto’s High Park for its 33rd season with two of Shakespeare’s great "Roman" plays on alternating nights
throughout the summer: the fast moving, delightful The Comedy of Errors, and the classic tragedy, Julius Caesar.
With two directors, the most recent graduates of the York-University-Canadian Stage MFA program, and one
sparkling cast, you have two opportunities to take in this summer tradition under the stars in the High Park
Amphitheatre.
Proud sponsors of the 2015.2016 Season:
• Julie Production Sponsor – BMO Financial Group
• Kiss & Cry Production Sponsor – Scotiabank
• Berkeley Season Sponsor – CIBC
• Dance Programming Supporter – The Hal Jackman Foundation
• Canadian Stage’s presentation of Kiss and Cry and Cold Blood is made possible by a group of individuals
who have provided generous financial support with an overwhelming passion for contemporary
performance
Canadian Stage is also generously supported by the following major sponsors and foundations:
TD Bank Group, RBC Foundation, Manulife Financial, Sun Life Financial, One King West Hotel & Residence, The
Brian Linehan Charitable Foundation, The J.P. Bickell Foundation, The Joan and Clifford Hatch Foundation and
The Henry White Kinnear Foundation
Canadian Stage is a grateful recipient of grants from the following:
The Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Toronto Arts Council, the Government of Canada
through the Department of Canadian Heritage, The Government of Ontario
About Canadian Stage:
Founded in 1987, Canadian Stage is one of the country’s leading not-for-profit contemporary theatre companies,
with the 2015.2016 season marking the organization’s 28th season. Led by Artistic & General Director Matthew
Jocelyn and Managing Director Su Hutchinson, Canadian Stage produces and showcases innovative theatre from
Canada and around the world, allowing its audience to encounter daring work guided by a strong directorial
vision and a 21st-century aesthetic. The company prides itself on presenting multidisciplinary pieces and work in
translation that pushes the boundaries of form and style. Canadian Stage reinforces the presence of Canadian
art and artists within an international context through work that mirrors the cultural diversity of Toronto. The
company stages an annual season of work at three major venues (the Bluma Appel Theatre, the Berkeley Street
Theatre and the High Park Amphitheatre) and runs a series of artist development and education initiatives, as
well as youth and community outreach programs. For more information, visit www.canadianstage.com.
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