For Immediate Release: March 22, 2017 • Please include in your listings/announcements
Why Not Theatre
Ten Years as Creators and Accelerators
2017 Season
Why Not Theatre
in Association with Soulpepper Theatre Company
presents
PRINCE HAMLET
An English / American Sign Language Bilingual Production
Directed and Adapted by Ravi Jain
14 Performances Only | All Tickets Pay-What-You-Can-AFFORD
Why Not Theatre marks their tenth anniversary in 2017 with a groundbreaking English and American
Sign Language bilingual production of Prince Hamlet, adapted and directed by Why Not Artistic
Director Ravi Jain, presented in association with Soulpepper Theatre Company, April 17-29, 2017 at
The Theatre Centre.
Ravi Jain’s reordered, reconstructed and bilingual Prince Hamlet features a gender-bending, crosscultural cast which illuminates the contemporary relevance of the 400-year-old play and asks the
question “who gets to tell this story?”
Not yet two months after the death of his father the King, his mother has remarried and Prince Hamlet
struggles to understand the world they live in. The ghost of his father directs Hamlet to avenge his
murder, but is that the right thing to do? What is Hamlet’s responsibility? How does someone exist in
a world that is not their truth?
In every way Ravi Jain makes theatre, he defies convention. The tenth anniversary of Why Not
Theatre offers an opportunity for reflection and Jain is looking back to his first production of Prince
Hamlet—Why Not’s inaugural production which The Globe and Mail called "an astonishingly
absorbing piece of theatre for his first Toronto show"—to see what the future can offer. This new
production of Prince Hamlet stars the multi-award winning actress Christine Horne as Hamlet. She
has already tackled Juliet, Viola and Desdemona; is a member of the Company Theatre ensemble;
and worked with Why Not in the past appearing in Nicolas Billon’s Iceland, directed by Ravi Jain.
The cast also features award-wining stage and screen actor Rick Roberts as Claudius. Rick most
recently appeared in Tarragon Theatre’s hit, Enemy of the People, Soulpepper’s The Accidental
Death of an Anarchist, and the CBC TV series This Life. Karen Robinson, who recently appeared in
The Groundling Theatre Company’s Winter Garden presentation of The Winter’s Tale and Measure
for Measure, and who can currently be seen in the CBC TV series Schitt’s Creek, will portray
Gertrude.
The cast also includes Hong Kong-born Jeff Ho, apprentice artistic director at Factory and
Playwright-in-Residence with Nightswimming Theatre, as Ophelia; Maria Vacratsis, who recently
appeared in Daniel MacIvor’s Cake and Dirt at Tarragon Theatre and Domesticated for Company
Theatre, as Polonius; Dawn Jani Birley, Canadian-born, Europe-based deaf actor with over a
decade of performance experience in theatre and film working with both deaf and hearing companies,
as Horatio; Khadijah Roberts-Abdullah, who recently starred in Trey Anthony’s How Black Mother’s
Say I Love You at Factory and The Theatre Centre’s We Are Proud to Present..., as Laertes, Miriam
Fernandes, theatre creator, educator and co-founder of The Pomegranate Project, an initiative that
connects students in Toronto and Mumbai through the arts, as Rosencrantz; and Israeli-born Hannah
Miller, who came to Toronto to study theatre with the Soulpepper Academy and made her local stage
debut as Abigail Williams in Soulpepper’s The Crucible, as Guildenstern.
Director Ravi Jain is a seasoned international producer and an award-winning actor, writer and
director. Directing credits include Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Soulpepper, nominated for 6 Dora
Awards, winner of two including Outstanding Production), Nicolas Billon’s Governor General Awardwinning triptych Fault Lines (Greenland, Iceland and Faroe Islands), Like Mother, Like Daughter (Why
Not Theatre in partnership with Complicite, UK), We Are Proud to Present… (The Theatre Centre),
The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God (Shaw Festival) The 39 Steps (Soulpepper) and
Salt-Water Moon (Factory, Dora Award for Outstanding Direction) which is being presented as part of
the Off-Mirvish 2017/18 season at the Panasonic Theatre.
In the pursuit of ticket price accessibility, Why Not is offering four different price points for the same
general admission ticket, to be chosen based “pay-what-you-can-afford” for a night out.
"This above all: to thine own self be true." Hamlet (Act I, Sc. III).
Why Not Theatre
Ten Years as Creators and Accelerators
2017 Season
Why Not Theatre
in association with Soulpepper Theatre Company
presents
Prince Hamlet
Directed and Adapted by Ravi Jain
Starring Dawn Jani Birley, Miriam Fernandes, Jeff Ho, Christine Horne, Hannah Miller
Rick Roberts, Khadijah Roberts-Abdullah, Karen Robinson, Maria Vacratsis
Set and Costume Design by Lorenzo Savoini, Young Family Director of Design at Soulpepper
Lighting Design by Andre du Toit • Sound Design by Thomas Ryder Payne
April 17-29, 2017
Opening Night: Wednesday, April 19 @ 8pm
Monday-Saturday @ 8pm, Saturday @ 2pm
Franco Boni Theatre, The Theatre Centre, 1115 Queen Street West
Pay-What-You-Can-AFFORD Tickets: $5/$25/$50/$75
To purchase tickets call 416.538.0988 or visit tickets.theatrecentre.org
For more information theatrewhynot.org/
FB/theatrewhynot | @theatrewhynot #PrinceHamlet
Media Contact: FLIP PUBLICITY, 416.533.7710, Carrie Sager X224, [email protected]
About Why Not Theatre: Founded in 2007, Why Not Theatre is a Toronto-based theatre company with an
international scope. Under founding Artistic Director Ravi Jain and Artistic Producers Owais Lightwala and
Kelly Read, Why Not has established a reputation as a company synonymous with inventive, experimental,
cross-cultural collaborations resulting in shows featuring new Canadian writing, company-devised and site
specific shows alongside revitalized interpretations of classics. In recent years, the company has also become
known for its presentation of international productions and workshops from diverse cultures and artistic
practices, along with support for the development of local emerging artists and companies.