Don’t let the cold or the lack of theatre openings in the last half of December turn you blue.
January theatre heats up with Next Stage, the Fringe’s winter offshoot, now in its sixth year at Factory Theatre.
Festival organizers had a success last year by scheduling two short works – kind of dramatic appetizers – in the Factory bar, dubbed the Antechamber during the festival.
And if you’re in the mood for another kind of warmth, spend some time in the courtyard’s heated beer tent, where you can schmooze before or after a performance and meet the artists appearing in that day’s shows. On Saturday (January 5), from 6:30 to 8:30 pm, you can get some stew and stout ale, too.
In addition to the several shows NOW has previewed elsewhere, here’s a quick rundown on the other seven Next Stage shows, running in rep until January 13.
Check back for reviews at nowtoronto.com/stage.
AWAKE
An engaging and sobering piece of theatre at the 2011 Fringe, Awake looks at a semi-fictional Toronto neighbourhood known for its violence. The show examines not only the bloodshed but also the ripple effect that gangs have on a community.
Writer/directors Laura Mullin and Chris Tolley base their multimedia piece entirely on interviews with mothers who have lost children, outreach workers and police. It’s staged as a funeral, where those raised or living in the at-risk community offer their takes on the violence.
Though inspired by a 2005 shooting, Awake gets added poignancy and immediacy from more recent tragedies at the Eaton Centre and a Danzig Street barbeque.
The cast includes Beryl Bain, Lauren Brotman, Quancetia Hamilton, Muoi Nene, Peyson Rock, David Shelley and Richard Stewart.
Opens tonight (Thursday, January 3) at the Factory Mainspace.
LIZA LIVE!
Are you fascinated with the talent as well as the roller-coaster career of Liza Minnelli? So is performer Jennifer Walls, who’s created Liza Live!, a “living biography” of the superstar entertainer that includes not only her work but also her troubled relationship with her mother, Judy Garland.
Look for some stand-up, a touch of TV game show, personal reminiscences and a bit of cabaret as well as Cabaret – all taking place in an Atlantic City lounge where Liza reminisces about her past and sings some of her greatest hits.
Byron Laviolette directs, with a backup cast that includes Donavon LeNabat and Jamie Bird.
Now playing at the Factory Antechamber.
WITH LOVE AND A MAJOR ORGAN
One of the hot tickets at last summer’s Fringe, Julia Lederer’s With Love… blends laughter, lyricism and tears in the interconnected stories of a woman who gives her heart to a man she meets on the subway and another woman who seeks therapy from GoogleShrink and decides to try speed dating.
Add to the mix a guy on the run who blames his mother because he’s regularly distracted by romantic comedies.
The original cast – Robin Archer, Lederer and the always endearing Martha Ross – return for the Next Stage production, again directed by Andrew Lamb.
Now playing at the Factory Studio.
POST EDEN
Playwright/director Jordan Tannahill’s been on a roll this season with his company Suburban Beast, and the success is sure to continue with the revival of Post Eden, a 2010 SummerWorks hit in which five residents living in a new Richmond Hill development reveal their emptiness, sadness and desires.
Based on interviews with people who live in the neighbourhood, the show – a blend of spoken text and video subtext – follows a girl who digs up a dog buried in her backyard in order to break a family curse.
Tannahill’s proven expert at blending live actors and their filmic counterparts, so catch this subtle and moving look at modern suburbia, featuring Lindsey Clark, Sascha Cole, Sean Dixon, Kevin Walker and Linnea Swan.
Opens tonight (Thursday, January 3) at the Factory Studio.
THRONE OF GAMES
Are you a fan of the George R.R. Martin fantasy cycle about ancient baronial families squabbling and killing each other, or the HBO series it inspired? Or do you just like good improv featuring nearly two dozen of Toronto’s best comic performers?
This is an expanded, unscripted version of the serialized Bad Dog show that played last spring. Colin Munch again directs and performs, along with a team that includes Mark Andrada, Aurora Browne, Julie Dumais, Kris Siddiqi and Paul Bates.
And don’t worry if you don’t know the series: the company promises you’ll still be caught up in the action and the laughs.
Now playing at the Factory Mainspace.
SALT BABY
What does it mean to be ethnically invisible? Specifically, how does a person feel growing up on a native reserve and looking white? The central character in Falen Johnson’s play navigates what it’s like both on the rez and in the city, sorting out what part blood has to do with her history and her current relationships.
A workshop of Salt Baby demonstrated that Johnson can deal with serious material in an entertaining and sometimes satiric fashion. Again directed by Yvette Nolan, the Next Stage show features Mike Bernier, James Cade, Derek Garza and Paula-Jean Prudat.
Opens tonight (Thursday, January 3) at the Factory Studio.
PITCH BLOND
A success at the 2011 Fringe, Laura Anne Harris’s solo show about Broadway and Hollywood star Judy Holliday focuses on the troubles the actor had with the notorious anti-Communist hearings of the 50s.
Known for the dumb blonds she created for stage and screen, like Billy Dawn in Born Yesterday, the very canny Holliday drew on that persona during her court appearances when she was accused of being a Communist sympathizer.
In this half-hour version directed by Briana Brown, Pitch Blond shows off Holliday’s smarts and Harris’s acting charm and chops.
Opens tonight (Thursday, January 3) at the Factory Antechamber.3
jonkap@nowtoronto.com
