2022 Directors' Showcase

When and Where

Friday, December 02, 2022 7:30 pm to Sunday, December 04, 2022 4:00 pm
Playhouse
79 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario

Description

The Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies presents its 2022 DRM402 Directors’ Showcase featuring five short plays presented over two evenings and two matinee performances in a fringe-style festival from December 2 to 4. The titles of the five productions, play descriptions, producton and cast teams can be found below. Talkback sessions with the directors and performers will be held following the matinee performances on December 3rd and 4th. There will also be a reception held on Saturday, December 3 at 8:30pm. View our promo video here

To reserve your free tickets, visit 2022DirectorsShowcase.eventbrite.ca

Read the 2022 Directors' Showcase Programs: 

Let It Enfold You Program

Lunch Program

He Said Yes / He Said No Program

A Number Program

the mark on the wall Program

 

  Friday, December 2 Saturday, December 3 Sunday, December 4
2:00pm  

Let It Enfold You
Lunch
He Said Yes / He Said No

(Talkback to follow)

 A Number
the mark on the wall

(Talkback to follow)

7:30pm

Let It Enfold You
Lunch
He Said Yes / He Said No

 A Number
the mark on the wall

(Reception to follow)

 

 

window with TV antenna opening to messy desk and chair

Let It Enfold You directed by Bo Hong Fu is a poem written by German-American poet Charles Bukowski. It depicts the life journey of a young man and a young woman as they crave and eventually find happiness, self-acceptance, and peace of mind. Like going down a slippery slope, Bukowski’s language is fast and easy to capture, but it is only until you reach the end of the poem, its meaning and imagery start to embrace or enfold you. It is a story about angst and peace, rejection and acceptance, finding a soul that once was lost in pandemonium. Happiness is always there, find it and make it yours.

Creative Team: 
Writer: Charles Bukowski
Director: Bo Hong Fu
Set Designer: Snezana Pesic
Costume Designer: Selina Jia
Lighting Designer: Cass Iacovelli
Sound Designer: Lynn-Noémie Tremblay
Movement Coordinator: Kimia Karachi
Intimacy coach: Alix Sideris
Stage manager: Chelsea Young
 
Cast: 

Maria-Fedra Archimandriti
Timothy-Paul Chevalier

Special thanks to Elžbieta (Elizabeth) Chernyak and Jordan Chan.

*Audience warning: Themes of suicide and substance abuse. 

Couple sitting on bench with ocean wave above themLunch directed by Chloë Flowers follows a dynamically tortured relationship between a Man and a Woman who meet during their lunch break. The one-act expressionist piece explores an emotional, psychological, and sexual power struggle fuelled by fast-paced wit. This production will be analyzing Berkoff’s work through a feminist lens, exploring the story through the Woman’s memory and symptoms of PTSD.

Creative Team: 
Playwright: Steven Berkoff
Director: Chloë Rose Flowers
Set Designer: Snezana Pesic
Costume Designer: Benny Soave
Lighting Designer: Tara Costello
Sound Designer: Shreya Jha
Composer: Shreya Jha
Intimacy Choreographer: Alix Sideris
Co-Stage Managers: Ness Wong and Emelia Findlay 

Cast:
Man: Nicholas Spina
Woman: Anoushka Prasad

silhouette of person standing among empty audience seatingHe Said Yes / He Said No directed by Ohryong (Olivia) Kwon is a short dramatic fable written by Bertolt Brecht. Depicting a tale of a boy who decides to go on a dangerous expedition to the mountains to cure his mother’s illness, this play criticizes the notion of blindly adhering to the custom or complying with the majority. 

This production aims to be experimental, meaning that the entire crew did their best in challenging some of the most fundamental theatrical customs while creating this piece. The production is also by nature audience participatory; the fourth wall is broken down throughout the show because, in this production, audiences are as important as performers. This production could be summed up by using the following adjectives: stylized, presentational, didactic, playful, spontaneous, rebellious, and “strange.”   

Creative Team: 
Playwright: Bertolt Brecht
Director: Ohryong (Olivia) Kwon 
Set Designer: Snezana Pesic
Costume Designer: Gabe Woo 
Lighting Designer: Lisha Zhao
Stage Manager: Qilin Yu

Cast:
The Boy: James Eric Jumaway 
The Teacher: Athena Park 
The Mother / The Student: Elzbieta Chernyak
 

Collage of finger print over profile of face and silhouette of child
A Number directed by Valeria Venturo is a science fiction play about identity, parent-child relationships, nature vs. nurture, and human cloning. Equal parts thrilling, touching and thought-provoking, it brings forth questions about what individuality means in an age where who we are can be so easily reduced to a genetic sequence. What is it that makes us who we are? 

Creative Team:
Playwright: Caryl Churchill
Director: Valeria Venturo Esaine
Set Designer: Snezana Pesic
Costume Designer: Gabriel Woo
Lighting Designer: Abbey Kowalski
Projection Designer: Abbey Kowalski
Sound Designer: Avi Kleinman
Stage Manager: Caitlyn Grant

Cast:
B1 / B2 / Michael Black: Valerio Greganti
Salter: Aidan Bennett

teddy bear holding marker and lap top computer
An antiquary. Shrew-mice. A cavalcade of red knights. A snail. An after-tea cigarette. These are the thoughts of Chrissie, a young woman in her room fighting to hang on to reality against the chaos of the outside world. She veers from thought to thought, exploring the fantastical world of her mind until it overwhelms her and she has to ground herself by looking at a mark on the wall of her room.

Creative Team: 
Writer: Virginia Woolf
Director: Liam Peter Donovan
Set Design: Snezana Pesic
Costume Design: Selina Jia
Lighting Design: Woo Ho
Sound Design: Liam Peter Donovan
Stage Manager: Sabrina Weinstein

Cast:
Christina Gross
Gaby Chanen

 

 

Map

79 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario