2008 NEXT STAGE FESTIVAL Play Lineup Master Schedule - all plays, all days Next Stage Program (Printable, B&W, PDF) Individual Play Listings: A Quiet Place Bash'd! Conservatives In Love DON'T WAKE ME JESUS CHRIST: The Lost Years Moving Day Random Acts of Love The Corner

single threat
Toronto, ON
presents

A Quiet Place

By Brendan Gall
Directed by Geoffrey Pounsett

In a small, dark room lit by a single bulb, two men face each other. David is tied to a chair. Henry is not. Some games aren't fair.

Hilarious and heartbreaking, A Quiet Place is a simple story about an impossible problem – one that will stay with you long after you leave the theatre.

5 STARS! The moody and mysterious script is gripping. ... You can't wait for more . - Eye Weekly

Word for word there seems to be almost nothing out of place. The language is as stark as the set, as the story in a way. ... I kept imagining myself in the audience. ... I kept having to stop and walk around the room a couple of times just reading it. - Joan MacLeod

A Quiet Place was shortlisted for the 2003 Herman Voaden National Playwriting Competition.

Cast: James Cade & Christopher Stanton
Stage Manager: Sherry Roher

Play-Comedy / Mature Audience / Warnings: content, language
Running time: 75 Minutes

Factory Studio Theatre

the gay4pay co-op
Edmonton, AB
presents

BASH'd!

Written and performed by Chris Craddock and Nathan Cuckow
Directed by Ron Jenkins
Music by Aaron Macri

BASH'd! is a high energy Hip-Hop Opera that chronicles the tale of a pair of lovers; one of whom is bashed, prompting the other to take revenge.

BASH'd is Brilliant…this is a show you don't dare miss - Toronto Star

NNNNN – Now Magazine

One of the strongest Fringe entries I've seen in the 11 years of the festival – Theater Mania, NYC

An unreasonable delight – The Village Voice

I doubt that I will see a better show than this all year - Gay City News, NYC

Winner of Outstanding Musical 2007 NYC International Fringe Festival

www.homohiphop.blogspot.com

Stage Manager: Eva Pang.

Musical / Mature Audience / Warning: Language, Fog Machine, Boys kissing boys
Running time: 60 Minutes

Factory Theatre Mainspace

UnSpun Theatre
Toronto, ON
presents

DON'T WAKE ME

By Brendan Gall, Chris Hanratty, Kate Hewlett, Mike McPhaden, and Christopher Stanton
Directed by Chris Hanratty

James, the victim of a mysterious and vicious attack, has lost his vision. His days are long and cloaked in a drab, all-encompassing grey. But one night, the world of his dreams opens into a wild and beautiful vista. His dreamscape becomes a world filled with sex, with adventure, with hope - with a thrilling chance to see again.

James meets a beautiful singer who swears that she can help him - and he follows her into the dark, uneasy underbelly of a strange city. It is only here, James finds, that the questions surrounding his monstrous attack can at last be answered...

This deliciously strange, surreal play looks at a man tragically blinded, his fantastic reconstruction of how it happened and the collision of what may be imagination with his actual life. Inventive storytelling from a company who push their audience to wrestle with complex, challenging ideas. – Now Magazine

www.unspuntheatre.com

Cast: John Cleland, Kate Hewlett and Christopher Stanton
Dramaturge: Mike McPhaden
Assistant Director: Brendan Gall

Play-Drama / General Audience
Running time: 75 Minutes

Factory Theatre Mainspace

Monster Theatre
Vancouver, BC
presents

JESUS CHRIST: The Lost Years

By Ryan Gladstone, Katherine Sanders and Bruce Horak
Directed by Bruce Horak

The Gospel According to Monster Theatre!

Hilarious/Blasphemous! Virtuoso Performances! - National Post

Nothing short of a Comic Miracle! - FFWD Magazine

NNNNN - Let's just say that comic acting – in the fringe or anywhere else – doesn't get better than this. - Glenn Sumi, Now Magazine

This delightful comedy is not only one of the most deft pieces of physical comedy I've ever seen, it is as subtle as it is overtly funny and as literate as it is energetic and frantic! - 5 STARS - SEE Magazine

In the bible, there is a plot-hole… We see Jesus at the age of 13 teaching with the Rabbis in the Synagogue, then he disappears from record until we find him 18 years later wandering in the desert.

Have you ever wondered what Jesus was really up to between the ages 13 and 30? Or how he reacted when told – “Joseph isn't your real father!” Find out in Monster Theatre's latest “historically hilarious” extravaganza! Puppets! Songs! Sacrilege!

Don't Miss our Video Game JESUS CHRIST: Zombie Slayer on www.monstertheatre.com

www.monstertheatre.com

Cast: Katherine Sanders and Ryan Gladstone
Composer: Drew Jurecka
Stage Manager: Michelle Field

Play-comedy / General Audience / Warning: sacrilege
Running time: 60 Minutes

ZillA Productions
Cookstown, ON
presents

Moving Day

By Cathy Elliott
Directed by Jeannette Lambermont-Morey
Musical direction by Konrad Pluta

Cathy Elliott delivers the performance of a lifetime , Artsbeat Huronia.

It's moving day, July 20, 1969: man lands on moon, housewife packs it in, Godzilla saves the day. An unusual musical piece.

Sharon, a frustrated, alcoholic housewife, once again packs up the family's belongings to follow her husband to another promotion. John and the kids have gone ahead, leaving her behind to take care of the move. History is in the making and they have the TV in the car.

Sharon 's turmoil plays out like a Judy Garland-esque TV Variety Show. But her very real depression cannot be cured by ordinary means; it careens, angry and out-of-control, into fantasy, pop culture and Japanese anime as she searches for survival.

It's refreshing... a songwriter who doesn't shrink from warm open melodies and who is able to match them with succinct lyrics that mix the sugar of poetry with the spice of reality. Richard Ouzounian, The Toronto Star

Warmth, Humour and Understanding drive captivating performance! , Jennifer Jaensch.

www.cathyelliott.com

Cast: Cathy Elliott as Sharon; Konrad Pluta on piano
Set Design: Cathy Elliott and the ZillA team

Musical / General Audience / Warning: Fog machine
Running time: 90 Minutes

Factory Studio Theatre

New Fangled Stages
Toronto, ON
presents

Random Acts of Love

By Bruce Gooch
Directed by Sanjay Talwar

Victoria Daniels is “let go” from her daytime soap. Producing and starring in a compilation of Shakespeare called The Seven Ages of Love; she crashes into her co-star, Russell Thomas, with whom she had a passionate affair fifteen years earlier. Can they survive each other?

NNNN - Gooch's absorbing two-hander about a couple of actors who rehash an old affair while rehearsing a show about love in Shakespeare is clever, moving and-if my antennae are accurately tuned-accessible enough to become a hot commercial property. Set in present and past, the script takes many shots at acting and its revered institutions. When asked to deliver the goods, the play and actors, Lynn Vogt and Bruce Gooch, make good with exquisite Shakespeare in an emotionally rich conclusion. - NOW Magazine

OUTSTANDING NEW PLAY - Toronto Fringe 2004; PICK OF THE FRINGE. - Robert Crew, Toronto Star

It was nice to see a love story. It felt real…good humour - CBC

Cast: Lynn Vogt, Bruce Gooch

Drama / General Audience / Warning: language
Running time: 90 Minutes

Factory Studio Theatre

JSquared Productions
Toronto, ON
presents

The Corner

Written and directed by Jason Maghanoy

LINA stands alone on stage.

LINA
I noticed his eyes.
I don't know how I did. I guess I was looking for eyes like his.
He walked up to me, and I remember wondering what his mouth tasted like.
I didn't kiss him, but I remember a taste. I remember leaving the club with that taste in my mouth.

I imagined it all.

Featuring: Darrel Gamotin, Rose Cortez, Byron Abalos, Brandon Coffey and Edward De Juan
Production Manger: Maria Villegas

Play-drama / General Audience / Warning: language
Running time: 60 Minutes

Factory Studio Theatre

top