Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts

In a courageous physical performance with a completely original text and score sung  a cappella, Amy Nostbakken tells the story of a brilliant young artist from Toronto given the opportunity of a lifetime: a solo exhibit at London’s Tate Modern Art Gallery. Nathalie has everything to live for: good looks, talent, a loving family, amazing scholarships and a career just waiting to take off. But just as she is rising to the heights of her potential, she begins to spiral down into the depths of depression. Through swanky gallery parties and grim pub toilets, ex-boyfriends and meddling aunts, mauled dogs and crashed cyclists, her descent into madness unfolds.  The Big Smoke is a stunning experience that walks the fine line between sanity and psychosis.

Theatre Ad Infinitum Canada, in association with  Why Not Theatre presents  The Big Smoke winner of the Argus Angel Award at the 2011 Brighton Festival Fringe. Nostbakken was also nominated for Best Female Performer in the Latest Awards, Brighton. The production premiered to rave reviews at the 2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, leading to a national tour of Britain in spring/summer 2011 that included stops in London, Manchester, Liverpool, Oxford and Leeds.  

The Big Smoke is a co-devised piece directed by  Nir Paldi, with music and performance by  Amy Nostbakken.  

Tickets are available via www.factorytheatre.ca, by email atboxoffice@factorytheatre.ca, by phone at 416-504-9971, or at the door.

More info can be found at www.theatreadinfinitum.com

After studying at the national theatre school, Toronto-raised playwright Mani Soleymanlou decided to write about his own experience growing up in Canada as the son of Iranian immigrants. Un is a coming-of-age and a coming-to-terms story where Mani Soleymanlou seeks an answer to a question that’s been on his mind all his life: “How can you feel Canadian and still be one with where you come from?”

Vacant  is a play about morality, relationships and the search for authenticity in digital-age Toronto.  The story centres around a successful young investment banker named Matthew whose life begins to unravel when he discovers a woman unconscious on the King Station subway platform.  When she turns out to be a ‘mystery woman’ with no identity and possessed of an unknown ailment, Matthew—along with the media—becomes obsessed with her.  In this ‘empty’ woman he sees reflected his own spiritual and emotional emptiness and that of the society he lives in.

A down-and-out floral shop assistant, becomes an overnight sensation when he inadvertently raises a mysterious blood thirsty plant. The plant grows into an ill-tempered, foul-mouthed, R&B-singing carnivore who offers him fame and fortune in exchange for feeding its growing appetite. Laced with dark humour and an irresistible doo-wop/rock/Motown score, Little Shop of Horrors has been making audiences scream with laughter for decades.

The Odyssey , adapted from Homer by Rick Chafe

The great general of the Trojan war, Odysseus, has been missing at sea for twenty years. His wife, the Ithican Queen Penelope, struggles to maintain the safety of her kingdom, her son and herself in the face of an increasingly hostile hoard of suitors. When a stranger arrives offering the fantastical story of her missing husband, does she dare hope that he might still be alive?

This summer, Driftwood Theatre takes you on the greatest journey of love, adventure and the search for home ever told. Pay-What-You-Can theatre across Ontario!

The Odyssey , adapted from Homer by Rick Chafe

  The great general of the Trojan war, Odysseus, has been missing at sea for twenty years. His wife, the Ithican Queen Penelope, struggles to maintain the safety of her kingdom, her son and herself in the face of an increasingly hostile hoard of suitors. When a stranger arrives offering the fantastical story of her missing husband, does she dare hope that he might still be alive?

This summer, Driftwood Theatre takes you on the greatest journey of love, adventure and the search for home ever told.

The Odyssey , adapted from Homer by Rick Chafe

The great general of the Trojan war, Odysseus, has been missing at sea for twenty years. His wife, the Ithican Queen Penelope, struggles to maintain the safety of her kingdom, her son and herself in the face of an increasingly hostile hoard of suitors. When a stranger arrives offering the fantastical story of her missing husband, does she dare hope that he might still be alive?

This summer, Driftwood Theatre takes you on the greatest journey of love, adventure and the search for home ever told. Pay-What-You-Can theatre across Ontario!

In one of the most compelling dramas presented on stage or screen, the fate of a young man accused of killing his father rests in the hands of a jury of 12 men. The verdict must be unanimous and, if convicted, a death sentence is mandatory. What seems at first like an open-and-shut murder case becomes a twisted puzzle of prejudice and intrigue.

A young couple, Mollie and Giles Ralston, have started a guest house in the converted Monkswell Manor. 

Their first four guests arrive: Christopher Wren, Mrs. Boyle, Major Metcalf and Miss Casewell. Mrs. Boyle complains about everything, and Giles offers to cancel her stay, but she refuses the offer. They become snowed in together and read in the newspaper of the murder. An additional traveler, Mr. Paravicini arrives, stranded after his car ran into a snowdrift, but he makes his hosts uneasy.

After Mrs. Boyle complains to the other guests, a telephone call is received causing alarm amongst the guests. Det. Sgt. Trotter arrives to inform the group that a murderer is at large and on his way to the hotel, following the death of Mrs. Maureen Lyon in London. When Mrs. Boyle is killed, they realize that the murderer is already there.

This Toronto production in the 60th anniversary season of the longest continuously running play in history. The Mousetrap opened in London’s west end on November 25, 1952 and has been enthralling audiences ever since. The Mousetrap is also the longest running play in Canadian history, having run for more than 25 years in Toronto.

Now, Chicken Coop Theatre presents an intimate production to celebrate the 60^th anniversary of Agatha Christie’s masterpiece.