(RE)BIRTH:
E. E. CUMMINGS
IN SONG
CREATED AND DEVELOPED BY INS CHOI, TATJANA CORNIJ,
RAQUEL DUFFY, MATTHEW KABWE, KEN MACKENZIE,
GREGORY PREST, KAREN RAE, MIKE ROSS, JASON ROTHERY,
AND BRENDAN WALL. MUSICAL DIRECTION BY MIKE ROSS.
SET AND LIGHTING DESIGN BY KEN MACKENZIE.
a pproxi m at e ru n ni ng t i m e: 63 m i nu t es
t her e w ill be no i n t er m ission
ARTIST NOTE: KEN MACKENZIE
Originally, (re)Birth was a project for
the Soulpepper Academy of 2009-10.
The thrust of the project was to investigate
a poet and explore the musical potential
of the poetry, and in the end, maybe
we’d do a small presentation if we could
cobble together anything worthwhile.
Eight years later, I think this is the
fourth remount.
But it occurs to me now, as we make this
piece come to life once again, that we’ve
all lived so much since the first production
that we put together as a group of
young(ish) artists exploring the poetry
and passion of Edward Estlin Cummings.
A collective 72 years have gone by. That’s
a veritable lifetime. And I’m reminded
of the first time that we sat down
with the poetry and asked one another
what it meant. We asked not just what
the literal meaning was but what the
personal meaning was.
E.E. Cummings is about life; it’s vitality,
it’s brutality, it’s heartache and love, it’s
gain and it’s loss and all the transcendental
powers at work in the machinery of life and perhaps as much as any of those,
his poetry is about the individual insight
into the panoply of life.
How lucky to be able to go back to
this show and revisit the meaning of the
poetry, and to be filled up with all of
the hope, the fear, the loss and the love
of all my friends who created this show.
KEN MACKENZIE,
Co-creator, Performer, & Production Designer
in (re)Birth: E. E. Cummings in Song
INS C HOI , BREN DAN WALL (2 0 1 1 PRODUC ITON ). PHOTO: s i a n r ic h a r ds
SEE (RE)BIRTH: E. E. CUMINGS
IN SONG IN NEW YORK CITY!
Join us in July for Soulpepper on
42nd St: Canada Crosses the Border
ARTISTS & BIOGRAPHIES
(RE)BIRTH: E. E. CUMMINGS IN SONG
Ins Choi
Creator & Performer
Karen Rae
Creator & Performer
Ashley Ireland
Stage Manager
Tatjana Cornij
Creator & Performer
Mike Ross
Creator & Performer
Jordana Weiss
Assistant Stage Manager
Raquel Duffy
Creator & Performer
Jason Rothery
Creator & Performer
Corey MacVicar
Technical Director
Ken MacKenzie
Creator, Performer,
& Production Designer
Brendan Wall
Creator & Performer
Lisa Nighswander
Head of Properties
Kelly McEvenue
Alexander Coach
Sarah Noyes
Head of Wardrobe
Robert Harding
Production Stage Manager
Erika Connor
Assistant Head of Wardrobe
Neema Bickersteth
Performer
Gregory Prest
Creator & Performer
INS CHOI born in Seoul, Korea and raised in Scarborough, Ontario.
RESIDENT ARTIST SOULPEPPER 2017: Playwright & Performer: Kim’s Convenience.
Performer: (re)Birth: E.E. Cummings in Song. FOR SOULPEPPER: Co-Creator:
Alligator Pie. Performer: A Very Soulpepper Christmas, A Midsummer
Night’s Dream, Death of a Salesman. OTHER THEATRE: lady in the red dress (fu-GEN);
Hamlet, The Odyssey (Stratford); Banana Boys (fu-GEN/Factory). OTHER: Currently
working on season two of Kim’s Convenience, the TV series on CBC in association
with Thunderbird Films and Soulpepper .Graduate of the Soulpepper Academy.
TATJANA CORNIJ born and raised in Novi Sad, Serbia. SOULPEPPER 2017:
(re)Birth: E.E. Cummings in Song. FOR SOULPEPPER: Window on Toronto,
The Time of Your Life, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Death of a Salesman,
Cherry Orchard, Oh, What a Lovely War. OTHER THEATRE: Mandelshtam
(Theatre Asylum), War Horse (Mirvish Productions), Waiting For My Man (CAP 21,
NYC), Silver Nitrate ( Juggernaut Theatre, NYC). FILM & TELEVISION: Oh Yuck, ZOS.
OTHER: Graduate of the Brandeis University Graduate Acting Program and the
Soulpepper Academy.
RAQUEL DUFFY born in Charlottetown P.E.I., raised in Dartmouth N.S.
RESIDENT ARTIST, SOULPEPPER 2017: The Complete 150, Of Human Bondage, Spoon
River, (re)Birth: E.E. Cummings in Song.. FOR SOULPEPPER: (Selected)
It’s a Wonderful Life, Noises Off, The 39 Steps, The Heidi Chronicles,
The Odd Couple, The Just, The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine, Accidental Death of
an Anarchist, Idiot’s Delight, Angels in America, Tartuffe, Co-creator: Alligator Pie.
OTHER THEATRE: The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs (Tarragon); Stratford, ATF,
Neptune, TNB, Eastern Front, Festival Antigonish, Charlottetown Festival.
OTHER: Seven Dora nominations, Dora Award (Alligator Pie), Robert Merritt
Award (Mary’s Wedding), nominations for Miss Julie, I Do I Do. Tyrone Guthrie
Award (Stratford). Graduate of the Soulpepper Academy.
KEN MACKENZIE born and raised in Toronto, Ontario. RESIDENT ARTIST,
SOULPEPPER 2017: Performer & Production Designer: (re)Birth: E.E.
Cummings in Song. Set & Costume Designer: Kim’s Convenience, Set Set
& Lighting Designer: Spoon River. FOR SOULPEPPER: Co-Creator: Alligator
Pie. Set & Lighting design: The Just, Cowboy Versus Samurai, The Heidi Chronicles.
Set & Costume designer: Kim’s Convenience, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Lighting
Designer: The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine. Set Designer: The 39 Steps, Bedroom
Farce, The Norman Conquests, Oh What a Lovely War. OTHER THEATRE: Set Designer:
Mr. Burns (Outside the March); Brantwood (Theatre Sheridan). OTHER: Graduate
of the Soulpepper Academy.
NEEMA BICKERSTETH born in Edmonton, Alberta. SOULPEPPER 2017:
(re)Birth: E.E. Cummings in Song. FOR SOULPEPPER: Voyager Golden Records,
Manhattan Concert Cycle, True Patriot Love. OTHER THEATRE: Century Song
(Volcano, Canadian and European tours; Toronto remount for
Nightwood); Acting Upstage; Luminato; Tapestry New Opera; Artistic Fraud;
Obsidian; Black Theatre Workshop; Urban Vessel; Summerworks; Common
Boots; bodytheatre; Space in Point. OTHER: 2 Dora Nominations in Performance;
KM Hunter Award Finalist; NOW Magazine top ten theatre artists; has had
the honour of singing for the XIVth Dalai Lama, Shirin Abadi and Archbishop
Desmond Tutu; UBC Opera BMus and MMus.
ARTISTS & BIOGRAPHIES
(RE)BIRTH: E. E. CUMMINGS IN SONG
GREGORY PREST born and raised in Pictou, Nova Scotia. RESIDENT ARTIST,
SOULPEPPER 2017: The Complete 150, Of Human Bondage, Spoon River,
(re)Birth: E.E. Cummings in Song. FOR SOULPEPPER: 40 productions including:
It’s a Wonderful Life, Father Comes Home From the Wars, The Anger in
Ernest and Ernestine, Parfumerie, Marat/Sade, Eurydice, Tartuffe, Angels in America,
Alligator Pie, Death of a Salesman, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Ghosts. Director:
Hosanna, The Heidi Chronicles. OTHER THEATRE: The Seagull (Crow’s/Company/Canadian
Stage), YPT, Tarragon, Canadian Opera Co. OTHER: Three Dora Awards. Graduate
of the National Theatre School and the Soulpepper Academy.
KAREN RAE born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia.
SOULPEPPER 2017: (re)Birth: E.E. Cummings in Song. FOR SOULPEPPER: Exit the
King, The Time of Your Life, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Death of
a Salesman, Window on Toronto, The Cherry Orchard, Oh What a Lovely
War. OTHER THEATRE: Nanay: A Testimonial Play (New World Theatre); John and
Beatrice (Pi Theatre); 3 seasons with Bard on the Beach; Halo (Pacific Theatre);
Delvecki’s Closet (Section 8). OTHER: 2 Dora nominations, 2 Jessie nominations,
1 Jessie Award. Graduate of Studio 58 and the Soulpepper Academy.
MIKE ROSS born in Charlottetown P.E.I., raised in Toms River,
New Jersey. SLAIGHT FAMILY DIRECTOR OF MUSIC, SOULPEPPER 2017: Sound Designer
& Composer: Of Human Bondage. Composer, Co-Adaptor, Music
Director & Performer: Spoon River. FOR SOULPEPPER: Selected: Composer:
The Dybbuk. Sound Designer & Composer: Of Human Bondage. Composer,
Arranger, & Music Director: Marat/Sade. Co-Creator: Alligator Pie. Actor: Angels
in America, Glenn, True West, Alligator Pie, Death of a Salesman, Oh What a Lovely
War. Co-Creator: (re)Birth: E.E. Cummings in Song. OTHER THEATRE: Assassins (Talk is
Free/Birdland); Fire, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Theatre Calgary); No Great Mischief,
Molière (Tarragon). OTHER: Five Dora Awards, two Robert Merritt Awards.
Graduate of the Soulpepper Academy.
JASON ROTHERY is a Calgary-based writer, theatre artist, and academic.
SOULPEPPER 2017: (re)Birth: E.E. Cummings in Song. FOR SOULPEPPER: (re)Birth:
E.E. Cummings in Song, A Midsummer Night's Dream. OTHER THEATRE:
The City and the City (PuSh); Window (Ghost River Theatre); Inside the
Seed (Upintheair, The Cultch); the space between us (Tziporah). OTHER: Currently
pursuing a PhD in Communication Studies at Carleton University.
BRENDAN WALL born and raised in Scarborough, Ontario. SOULPEPPER 2017:
Of Human Bondage, Spoon River, (re)Birth: E. E. Cummings in Song.
FOR SOULPEPPER: 12 shows over 5 seasons and graduate of 2nd Soulpepper
Academy. OTHER THEATRE: Selected: Once (Mirvish); War Horse (National
Theatre/West End); Joni Mitchell: River (The Grand). FILM & TELEVISION: Selected:
Reign, Suits, Flashpoint, Murdoch Mysteries, Gavin Crawford’s Wild West, Boondock
Saints II, Orphan, Hollywoodland, Hairspray, Chicago. OTHER: Upcoming: A misfortune
(Charlottetown Festival)
KELLY MCEVENUE born and raised in London, Ontario. RESIDENT ARTIST,
SOULPEPPER 2017: Alexander Coach. FOR SOULPEPPER: (Selected) Spoon River,
La Ronde, Of Human Bondage, Twelve Angry Men, Kim’s Convenience.
OTHER THEATRE: Stratford Shakespeare Festival & Birmingham Conservatory.
The Lion King (Mirvish); The Syringa Tree (Canadian Stage). FILM & TELEVISION:
Canadian Film Centre Conservatory, Triple Sensation, Terry: The Story of Terry
Fox. OTHER: Faculty member of Humber College Theatre Program, teaches on Patsy
Rodenburg’s Voice Teacher Training Course - NYC, published book The Actor
and the Alexander Technique, A&E Black Publishers, London & New York.
ROBERT HARDING born and raised in Lewisporte, Newfoundland.
SOULPEPPER 2017: Production Stage Manager. Stage Manager: Of Human
Bondage, Spoon River. FOR SOULPEPPER: It’s a Wonderful Life, The 39 Steps,
The Odd Couple, The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine, Marat/Sade,
The Dybbuk, Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Spoon River, Of Human Bondage,
The Norman Conquests, The Barber of Seville. OTHER THEATRE: Once On This Island
(Acting Up Stage/Obsidian); The Best Brothers, Communion, A Beautiful View,
How it Works, Past Perfect (Tarragon); Stuff Happens (Studio 180/Mirvish);
Parade (Acting Up Stage/Studio 180); Divisadero: APerformance, This Is What
Happens Next (Necessary Angel).
ARTISTS & BIOGRAPHIES
(RE)BIRTH: E. E. CUMMINGS IN SONG
ASHLEY IRELAND SOULPEPPER 2017: Stage Manager: Alligator Pie, (re)Birth:
E.E Cummings in Song. FOR SOULPEPPER: Stage Manager: The Just, Happy
Place. Assistant Stage Manager: Bedroom Farce, Tartuffe, The Crucible,
Twelve Angry Men, Entertaining Mr. Sloane, Great Expectations, Home,
The Royal Comedians, Death of a Salesman, Billy Bishop Goes to War, Our Town,
The Time of Your Life, The Price, Under Milkwood. OTHER THEATRE: The Emancipation
of Ms. Lovely (Emancipation Arts); The Wedding Party (Crows Theatre); The Other
Place, London Road (Canadian Stage); The Motherf**ker With The Hat (Bob Kills
Theatre); Hana’s Suitcase, Minotaur, You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown (YPT).
JORDANA WEISS Born and raised in Thornhill, Ontario. SOULPEPPER 2017:
Assistant Stage Manager: (re)Birth: E.E. Cummings in Song. Stage
Manager: Manhattan Concert Cycle: The Melting Pot, Midtown, Harlem,
True Patriot Love. FOR SOULPEPPER: Noises Off, Blood Wedding, Alligator Pie,
The Play’s The Thing, Spoon River, Tartuffe, The Crucible, Idiot’s Delight, The Norman
Conquests, and nine shows in the Concert Series. OTHER THEATRE: Casimir and Caroline
(Howland Company); Trudeau & Lévesque, Trudeau & the FLQ (VideoCabaret);
A Soldier’s Tale (Toronto Masque Theatre); If I Loved You (Luminato). OTHER:
Graduate of the Soulpepper Academy and McGill University.
PORGY & BESS
IN CONCERT
ON STAGE MAY 27 & 30, JUNE 1, 2, & 3
The Gershwins blended folk tunes
with classical opera to create what has
become one of the most enduring works
of the 20th century. The stories behind
this legendary work, and iconic song
writing, are brought to life by a company
of Toronto’s leading jazz, blues and
gospel singers.
music sponsor
JACKIE RICHARDSON
photo: cylla von tiedem an n
CELEBRATE CANADA 150 ALL SUMMER LONG
ERIC PE TERSON
–The Globe and Mail
“ONE OF THE GREAT
WORKS IN THE CANADIAN
THEATRE CANON”
photo: cylla von tiedem an n
illustr ation: gr acia la m
–Toronto Star
ON STAGE JULY 1
BILLY BISHOP GOES TO WAR
W RITTEN & COMPOSED BY JOHN MACLACHLAN GRAY
W ITH ERIC PETERSON
ON STAGE JUNE 9
C ONFEDERATION PART I
C ONFEDERATION & RIEL
V IDEOCABARET. MICHAEL HOLLINGSWORTH
ON S TAGE JUNE
MAY 529
production
sponsor
VERN
VIMY
THIESSEN
A group of Canadian soldiers convalesce in a field
hospital after facing the horrors of Vimy Ridge in this
striking WWI drama. As the soldiers battle with their
memories of the past, a young nurse from Nova Scotia
tends to their wounds both obvious and concealed.
ON STAGE JUNE 23
C ONFEDERATION PART II
S CANDAL & REBELLION
V IDEOCABARET. MICHAEL HOLLINGSWORTH
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