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Update: More About Next Season and THE OVERWHELMING

May 6, 2010

With our final performance of The Overwhelming on April 3, Studio 180’s 2009/10 season came to a close just as preparations for our ambitious 2010/11 season were kicking into high gear. This update offers a preview of our coming year and salutes the outreach initiatives that helped make The Overwhelming such a satisfying production for artists and audiences alike.

Coming in 2010/11

Our new season features both a Canadian and a North American premiere of riveting international work, as well as a number of firsts for Studio 180: our first musical, our first co-production with another independent Toronto theatre company, and our first work in translation. Here’s the scoop…

Leo Frank at trial, with his wife Lucille

DEC 30, 2010 – JAN 22, 2011
BERKELEY STREET THEATRE UPSTAIRS

PARADE

co-produced with Acting Up Stage
BY Jason Robert Brown and Alfred Uhry
DIRECTED BY Joel Greenberg
MUSICAL DIRECTION BY Paul Sportelli

Based on real events, this two-time Tony Award-winning musical takes place in 1913 Atlanta, Georgia. After a teenaged girl is murdered, Leo Frank – a young Jewish factory manager – is charged with the crime. Parade recounts the press frenzy and public outrage surrounding Frank’s trial and conviction, amid religious intolerance, political injustice and racial tension.

Musicals are new for Studio 180 though not at all new to members of our core team, including director Joel Greenberg, who began his career as a musical performer, director and choreographer. Jason Robert Brown is a major voice in contemporary musical theatre, and Parade is arguably his most important work to date. Studio 180’s partnership with Acting Up Stage (most recently behind the sold-out run of The Light in the Piazza at the Berkeley Street Theatre) has made it possible for both companies to jump in, share resources and expertise, and bring Parade‘s long-awaited Canadian premiere to Toronto audiences.

A school class portrait from Poland in the early 1920s

APR 4 – 30, 2011
BERKELEY STREET THEATRE DOWNSTAIRS

OUR CLASS

in association with Canadian Stage
BY Tadeusz Slobodzianek
ENGLISH VERSION BY Ryan Craig
DIRECTED BY Joel Greenberg

A major success when it premiered in 2009 at London’s prestigious National Theatre, this drama is based on events in the small northern Polish town of Jedwabne. During World War II, a massacre annihilated the town’s Jewish population – a crime that was attributed to the Nazis for decades. In 2001, Polish-born historian Jan T. Gross published a controversial book, Neighbors, revealing that the perpetrators were in fact Roman Catholic Poles. Inspired by Gross’s book, Polish playwright Tadeusz Slobodzianek explores the event and its repercussions, following the fortunes of 10 classmates from one century into the next.

Our Class approaches the events surrounding the Holocaust in a boldly theatrical way, telling a story that none of us at Studio 180 had come across before. We are proud to tackle this unforgettable international work – one that has yet to be produced in its original language – and pleased to complement Canadian Stage‘s new artistic vision “to produce work that at times challenges classical notions of theatre and has its place in a contemporary international context.”

Tickets to Our Class are now available as part of Canadian Stage’s 2010/11 subscription packages. Single tickets to Parade and Our Class will go on sale in September.

Casting for both productions is happening right now and we’ll be making more announcements soon. Keep watching our website for details.

THE OVERWHELMING – Beyond the stage

Someone once said “the play’s the thing” but we think it’s only the beginning. Response to our production of The Overwhelming, by J.T. Rogers, was sweepingly positive – and not just because of what happened on stage. Here’s a brief follow up on some of the activities we undertook in support of the play.

Dr. James Orbinski, Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire and Joel Greenberg (Studio 180's Artistic Director) at the event

AN OVERWHELMING EVENING
On February 24, 2010, BMO Financial Group generously hosted a fundraising gala in shared support of Studio 180 and Dignitas International. We’re deeply indebted to our special guests, Dr. James Orbinski and Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire, for sharing their experiences, passion and compassion, and for encouraging Studio 180 to keep telling stories that both entertain and educate. It was a profoundly moving, engaging and inspiring evening that we, and the colleagues and supporters who were in attendance, will never forget.

Photo: Dr. James Orbinski, Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire and Joel Greenberg (Studio 180’s Artistic Director) at the event.

Some of our Streetsville Secondary School students – (clockwise from top left) Matt, Neil, Jaclyn, Josh, Marisa and Nick.

BACK TO SCHOOL
With the generous support of the George Cedric Metcalf Charitable Foundation and the participation of teacher Marsha Legault, Studio 180 artists Kimwun Perehinec and Mark McGrinder joined Grade 12 Drama students at Streetsville Secondary School (in the Peel District School Board) in an engaging theatre workshop aimed at generating dialogue, encouraging critical thinking, promoting increased awareness of social issues and inspiring creativity. Using The Overwhelming as a springboard for discussion, students explored ideas of personal and global responsibility and the power of theatre to humanize social issues.

We were gratified by everyone’s commitment and enthusiasm, and can’t wait to continue this vital initiative next year when we return to Streetsville for work tied to Studio 180’s April 2011 production of Our Class. Look for more about this year’s experience and next year’s innovations on our website soon. Meanwhile, here’s some feedback from our students…

“This experience was AWESOME!!!! It helped me look at the world differently.”
“I loved the entire workshop! There was so much to do and talk about.”
“It makes me wish I wasn’t in my senior year so I’d have more options to do this again.”

Photo: Some of our Streetsville Secondary School students – (clockwise from top left) Matt, Neil, Jaclyn, Josh, Marisa and Nick.

Studio 180's Audience Development Coordinator, Patty Jarvis, addresses audience members in the Berkeley Street front lobby before a Wednesday matinee. Seen behind Patty are a selection of photographs by Samer Muscati, described below.

THE PLAY’S NOT THE ONLY THING
Hundreds of The Overwhelming‘s audience members gathered before and after performances to learn about the Rwandan genocide and to participate in poignant discussions with the artists who helped bring J.T. Rogers’ powerful play to the stage. Particularly thrilling was the March 25 talkback with Dr. James Orbinski, who shared profound personal experiences and insights.

Photo: Studio 180’s Audience Development Coordinator, Patty Jarvis, addresses audience members in the Berkeley Street front lobby before a Wednesday matinee. Seen behind Patty are a selection of photographs by Samer Muscati, described below.

Photo from The Men Who Killed Me by Samer Muscati

LIVES IN FOCUS
In the theatre lobby, our display of powerful photos by Samer Muscati was another key to extending the play’s impact beyond the stage. Samer’s haunting images of survivors of the Rwandan genocide brought audience members face to face with the Rwanda of today, some 16 years after the events of the play. We were delighted to learn that as a result of the display during The Overwhelming Samer’s photos will also be shown as part of an upcoming Social Justice Conference organized by students at Avondale Alternative School in North York (www.ideasexchange.ca).