Canada 300

1. Downsizing:

A comedy by Trina Davies (Vancouver, BC) A comic play about demographic shifts, high density living and cultural misunderstandings. Vancouver Theatre (Jessie’s) Award winning Trina Davies is a member of the Citadel Theatre, Edmonton’s Playwrights Unit.

2. Retrospect:

A clown show by Adam Lazarus (Toronto, ON) A buffoon style review of all of the high and low lights of Canadian history. A laughing look at why Canadians should be aware of what we did badly as well as what we did well in the last 150 years. Adam’s new play opens the 2014 season at Toronto’s acclaimed Factory Theatre.

3. Prophesy:

Dance/movement/text fusion/fantasy by Yvette Nolan (Saskatoon, SK/Toronto, ON).
This visually engaging magical piece is an exploration of life on the cusp of the First Nation’s Eighth Prophesy. In this final prophecy, First Nations’ people will welcome all the people of the world to their land to build a better life together. Yvette was the Artistic Director of Canada’s acclaimed Native Earth Theatre Company, creating indigenous theatre, and is an award winning playwright.

4. Burusera:

A science fiction by Chris Tolley and Laura Mullin (Toronto,ON). Life as a lonely, isolated worker in urban Canada , 2167, is shaken when Eric encounters intimacy and what they used to refer to in the olden days as a sense of “community”. Chris and Laura founded and direct Expect Theatre/Spark Productions, an international award winning 18 year old company exploring urban life with cutting edge theatre.

5. Dominion:

A poetic satire by Andréa Ledding (Saskatoon, SK) An unhappily married British man and French Canadian woman struggle with living in a house formerly owned by Tatawaw and Nimitaw, who are currently locked in the bathroom. Andréa is the 2012 recipient of the Dick and Mary Edney Masters Scholarship for International Understanding through the Humanities & Fine Arts for her multilingual creative thesis focusing on first contact in Canada. Ledding is an inaugural member of the MFA in Writing Program through the Interdisciplinary Centre for Creativity and Culture.

6. Adrift:

A fantasy with alternative endings to be selected by the audience by Melanie Leger (Montreal, QC/Shediac NB). In the entrails of the biggest oil sands production site in the world, a breath of air, of life… A cry. The earth moves, trembles… all of sudden, an enormous mouth. Mary, a Métis child, has strange powers of intuition and believes that she is the cause of the dinosaurs’ arrival. Melanie is one of the most exciting and unique voices writing in French language today. You can see a short film she created for the National Film Board here: https://www.nfb.ca/film/strange_hat/

7. Nibi:

A drama by Philippe Landry (Ottawa, ON/Montreal, QC) Is water a right, or a commodity? An aboriginal has entered a clean water distribution centre in 2167 because his community’s source of water is no longer safe. Using the Algonquin word for water, Nibi, he is denied because the forms must be filled in English or in French. This play will be written in French. Philippe is an Ottawa dramaturge, translator and actor who will be translating his own play.

8. The New New World:

A Science Fiction by Kevin Loring. (Vancouver, BC) Canada, 2165. Three friends tethered to life support systems float in outer space as they decide which planet to set home in the face of earth’s lack of livability. They debate which aspect of their former lives they consider the most important to bring with them. Kevin won the 2009 Governor General’s Prize from Drama for his play Where the Blood Mixes which has had national and international presentation and is currently in preproduction as a film. Kevin is an award winning actor and member of the N’lakap’ mux First Nation.

9. Departures:

A fusion of movement and text by Natasha Kowechi Martina and Gordon Portman, (Saskatoon, SK/Brandon, MB) Two immigrant women journey across time becoming their own descendants. Through theatre magic their stories are shared with a new immigrant woman. The need for courage does not end with the first step on the soil of a new land. Natasha As a performer, Natasha has worked for over ten years at various theatre companies across the United States and Canada Natasha’s theatre company, Ground Cover Theatre, is in development on a new project currently entitled Displaced set to premier in 2014 She was movement director for the first stage production of The Kite Runner. Gordon is a director of opera and theatre and the Dramaturge for the Saskatchewan Playwrights Centre in Saskatoon.