Stageworthy

Natasha Adiyana Morris is an award winning playwright whose work has been presented in Canada, the United States, and Europe. She is the founder and executive director PIECE OF MINE Arts, a platform for Black play creators to showcase work-in-development, featuring over 150 artists since 2013. Natasha is the recipient of several accolades including SummerWorks’ New Performance Text Award, The Black Canadian Awards’ Leadership Certificate, and the Ontario’s Leading Women Building Communities Certificate. She credits local companies b current, anitafrika dub theatre, and Obsidian Theatre for her invaluable artistic training. The Negroes are Congregating originated out of development and excerpt presentations during the Piece of Mine Festival in 2016 at Toronto’s Palmerston Library Theatre. The Negroes Are Congregating The Negroes Are Congregating poses an unapologetic and impolite perspective about the ongoing effects of racism in Canada and around the world. Delivered through a fusion of spoken word, satire,

Alan Dilworth is a theatre director, playwright and teacher. He is Artistic Director of Necessary Angel Theatre Company in Toronto. Alan’s work explores personal, social and political transformation, questions of the nature of ‘self’ and its relationship with ‘the other’, and the notion of a contemporary text-based theatre, although he also works in physical and image-based forms. His practice privileges vulnerability, presence, simplicity and the unknown. Alan has directed across Canada and internationally. www.alandilworth.com Twitter: @alandilworth1 The Events by David Greig Music by John Browne Directed by Alan Dilworth Cast: Raven Dauda and Kevin Walker Written in response to the politically motivated mass shootings in Norway, The Events has been described as “…a solemn, searching and ultimately very moving play…” and “ an extraordinary new work…strangely uplifting…”. www.necessaryangel.com Twitter: @necessaryangel Note: in this episode, 2004 is given as the year of Utoya shootings, however this event ac

Lauren Allen is a theatre artist originally from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Since graduating from Grant MacEwan University in 2013, she has worked across Canada and Europe as an actor, producer, burlesque instructor, stage manager, and director. She has settled in Toronto, for the moment. Most recently she has taken courses to become a script supervisor and will soon be seen again in Saskatchewan for Burn Rubber, Dolly at The Lyric Theatre in Swift Current. Lauren is also a social media marketer, and the creator of Social Media the L.A. Way. lauren-allen.net socialthelaway.com Twitter: @lesmis456 Instagram: lesmis456 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/socialthelaway/ Transcript: https://stageworthypodcast.com/lauren-allen/

Shaista Latif is a Queer Afghan-Canadian multidisciplinary artist, consultant and facilitator. Her works and collaborations have been presented by Koffler Gallery, Ontario Scene Festival, SummerWorks, Why Not Theatre, Blackwood Gallery, Mercer Union, the AGO, Halifax Queer Acts Festival, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre and recently the Undercurrents Festival. She is a published playwright (Playwrights Canada Press) and voiced the character Soraya in the Oscar-nominated film The Breadwinner. In 2020, Latif will be touring her critically acclaimed show The Archivist around Ontario. Her latest work Learning the Language of My Enemies was recently presented in conjunction with Nevet Yitzhak: WarCraft at the Koffler Gallery. Twitter: @shaista_latif Instagram: shaistalatifmakes How I Learned to Serve Tea A participatory workshop on the politics of capacity and resource sharing, How I Learned to Serve Tea explores dynamics of power through acts of hospitality with artist-facilitator Shaista Latif. “Assessing the langua

Mateo Lewis is a Toronto based actor, writer and composer. His musical, Boys Don’t Cry was performed at the 2019 Toronto Fringe. Twitter: @mateolewis Instagram: mateo.lewis

Alexander Crowther plays Casimir, and Hallie Seline plays Caroline, in The Howland Company’s production of Casimir and Caroline. Casimir just got fired, his phone’s not working and his shoes are falling apart. Caroline wants to dance, sing karaoke, and forget about the weight of the world for just one night. They are engaged… for now. Casimir and Caroline is a play about love in the cold atmosphere of modern capitalism. We follow these ultra star-crossed lovers, as they navigate clingy co-workers, sketchy best friends, questionable HR representatives, the playboy boss, that powerhouse from the Montreal office and those beautiful few who might actually possess an ounce of wisdom. They all desperately long for something more. None of them can say what that might be. But at least their lives look #goals on Instagram. CASIMIR AND CAROLINE, European playwright and novelist Ödön von Horváth’s 1932 tragicomedy, is one of the most frequently staged plays in the modern German repertoire, but until now has never been s

Amy Lee & Heather Marie Annis, along with Byron Laviolette are the creators of the clown duo, Morro and Jasp, presenting Save the Date (directed byByron Laviolette and Kat Sandler) at the 2019 Next Stage Festival. Save the Date Does saying “I Do” to someone new mean saying “I Don’t” to each other? For better or for worse, the sisters have to negotiate what their relationship will look like now that there is a third person in the mix. Can they survive this new chapter of life without the person who has always been by their side? Can they still be Morro and Jasp? www.morroandjasp.com Twitter: @morroandjasp Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/morroandjasp/ Youtube: http://youtube.com/morroandjasp Tickets: https://fringetoronto.com/next-stage/show/morro-and-jasp-save-date

Beatrice Pizano is one of Canada’s most important Latin-Canadian playwrights and directors. She founded Aluna – Canada’s first Latin theatre company in 2001 and has gone on to win multiple Dora’s, the prestigious John Hirsch Prize for Direction from the Canada Council for the Arts, The Ken McDougall Award for Direction, The Chalmers Fellowship, The Urjo Kareda Award (Tarragon Theatre), and The Metcalf Performing Arts Internship. As a writer/director Bea has been nominated three times for Best New Play for her multi-award-winning trilogy about women and war comprised of For Sale, Madre, and La Comunión. She has also created and led a number of youth programs both in Canada and Colombia including a theatre/photography workshop with ex-combatant children and youth victims from the armed conflict in her native Colombia. In November, she was named one of TD Bank’s Most Influential Hispanic Canadians of 2019. The Solitudes Eight women follow the thread of history and the bloodlines that brought each of them to this

Alia Rasul is a Canadian Comedy Award nominated writer/performer. She received rave reviews for her performance in Generally Hospital whose “outstanding ensemble” won Patron’s Pick and the David Séguin Memorial Award. She understudied for 2 seasons of Second City’s Mainstage hit show, She The People. She is a NBCUniversal Bob Curry Fellowship alumni and holds a BA from McGill University. She made her directorial debut with Kwento, an improvised Filipino folktale. She is currently inclusion director at Bad Dog Theatre. Alia is also a member of the Tita Collective, who present their Fringe hit Tita Jokes at the 2020 Next Stage Festival. Also: check out the Tita Collective’s podcast: Chika Chika with the Titas. www.aliarasul.com Twitter: @aliarasul Instagram: aliarasul Tita Collective Twitter: @tita_collective Instagram: tita.collective Tickets: https://fringetoronto.com/next-stage/show/tita-jokes Chicka Chicka with the Titas: http://thesonarnetwork.com/chikachika/

No new episode this week. Just a quick note to say that we're excited to go into the fourth year of Stageworthy, and to thank all our guests who've been on this year, as well as everyone who's listened.

Helen Knight is a Calgary-based actor and creator, and was last seen in Toronto when she joined Soulpepper theater as Mary Tudor in their remount of The Virgin Trial this past January. As an actor, Helen has worked with Alberta Theater Projects (The Virgin Trial, The Last Wife – Winner of the Betty Mitchellaward for best supporting actress), Lunchbox Theatre, Downstage Theatre, Ghost River Theatre, and many other independent companies. Lindsey is passionate about women’s stories and feats of theatre magic.Recent projects include She Kills Monsters (University of Lethbridge), Legoland (Urban Curvz Theatre), FUGLY (The Janes), and The Hudson Bay Epic and River: A Puppet Myth (Mudfoot Theatre). Instagram: helenight02

Andrew Joseph Richardson Andrew is an Indo-Canadian actor, director, dramaturg, and dad. He is a graduate of both the Theatre Arts Program at Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton (where he is originally from) and the Acting Program at the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal. He is also the Co-Ordinator of the Guerrilla Ruffian Squad and directed their production, Situation Unknown (a Shakespearean improv performance), at the Shakespeare Lives microfestival in libraries across Toronto. A.J. has lead the adaptations for every Shakespeare in the Ruff production in Withrow Park in collaboration with each show’s director. He has also created short adaptations of Henry VI, Part 3 and Julius Caesar (amongst others) for Original Practices events. His adaptation of The Tempest was directed by Diane D’Aquila for Theatre Calgary’s Shakespeare by the Bow. He directed the Shakespeare-in-Hospitals Program for Spur-of-the-Moment Shakespeare Collective in 2014. Selected Shakespeare Acting Credits: Launce in Two Gents,

Nicole Smieja is a Toronto based actor, and a graduate of the University of Windor’s Acting program. Victoria Urquhart is a Toronto-based actor and director from Caledon, and the artistic director of Spur of the Moment Shakespeare. (and also a graduate of the University of Windsor’s Acting program). Heart In Hand at Shakespeare-In-Hospitals’ Family Reunion Gala! Grab a drink at the bar, enjoy some sweet and savoury eats and put your picture on our family tree as we extend the SOTMSC family with a final performance of the 2019 Program’s show, Heart In Hand: How will you choose your family if your family doesn’t choose you? In the last flashes of a mother’s life, we see the hopeful imaginings of her family’s choices to move forward when she is gone. Brought together by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, Amsterdam Brewery and the Spur of The Moment Shakespeare Collective, this funny and touching piece has toured to rave reviews from patient, staff and family audiences across Toronto and t

Blythe Haynes is a Toronto-based actor and producer. She is a co-founder of Gangway! Theatre Co. with playwright KT Bryski. Together they focus on Canadian, female-based stories. She also works as a voice artist, and has been a part of two PARSEC winning audio-drama podcasts! With KT Byrski, she created and performed in the web series “Blythe Tries” for Black Creek Pioneer Village. Select credits include To A Degree! An Orwellian Musical Comedy (Elia Pasic) Six Stories, Told At Night (Gangway! Theatre Co.) Canticle of Light (Missed Metaphor Productions), The Polar Bear Prince (Gangway! Theatre Co.), Mary’s Wedding (Toronto Fringe Festival), In His Name (Canadian History Project), The Skylar Neese Story (Discovery Channel), various episodes of Campfire Radio Theatre and Six Stories, Told At Night (PARSEC Award winning audio-drama podcast, KT Bryski Productions). Twitter: @haynesblythe Instagram: blythe_haynes Watching Glory Die (the podcast): https://podcas

Michael Spence is Associate Artistic Director of Theatre Gargantua and an award-winning, long-standing member of Theatre Gargantua’s creative team. He has been involved in all of TG’s productions, appearing in all major Cycles and writing or designing for many of the company’s noted works. His script for The Exit Room was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play, and he won the award twice for Outstanding Set Designs. He has received a total of ten Dora nominations for his work with the company, winning four. Michael is a recipient of a Harold Award, a distinguished honour for members of the Toronto independent theatre community. He is also an accomplished musician and singer-songwriter. He directed the first SideStream Cycle, Shrapnel, which represented his directorial debut with the company. The Wager Inspired by true events, The Wager is award-winning Theatre Gargantua’s bold and irreverent investigation into the strange things that people believe. Climate change deniers, anti-vaxxer

Michael Kelly is an actor, director, producer, writer, teacher, and arts educator. He is the founder and current artistic director of “Shakespeare In Action” Theatre Company in Toronto. His work has attracted local, national and international media attention for its innovative work with young audiences; with feature presentations on W-5, Canada AM, TVO Imprint and C.B.C.’s “As It Happens.” His credits include directing many Shakespeare and contemporary plays; teaching master classes for the Shakespeare Globe in London, Canada’s Stratford Festival, the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, York University and Shakespeare Globe Centre in New Zealand. Michael is an adjunct professor in the theatre department in the School of Arts, Media, Performance and Design at York University. He has taught acting for such established institutes as George Brown College, Randolph Academy for the Arts, and the National Youth Drama School in New Zealand. Michael is a Paul Harris Fellow appointed by the Rotary international foundation a

Tanisha Taitt is a director, actor, playwright, educator, activist and accidental essayist who has worked with companies including Obsidian, Nightwood, NAC, Workman Arts, Buddies in Bad Times, and Soulpepper, and spent three seasons as a Resident Artist-Educator with Young People’s Theatre. She was Artistic Mentor for the Paprika Festival Creators’ Unit and Program Director for The Musical Stage Company’s youth training initiative One Song Glory, and since 2013 has been a Dramatic Arts mentor with the Toronto District School Board. Also a singer/songsmith for over 30 years, Tanisha is a recipient of the Canadian Music Publishers Association Songwriters Award for outstanding achievement in songwriting, and is currently writing two musical theatrical works. For a decade, Tanisha was an artist and director with the award-winning Children’s Peace Theatre, an organization that uses the arts to teach children and youth about the creation of peace through justice. As a longtime anti-VAW activist, Tanisha spent seven

Colin Asuncion is an actor, singer and cabaret performer, as well as a Marketing Manager. Twitter: @colinasuncion Instagram: colinasuncion Uncovered: Stevie Wonder & Prince Prince credited Stevie Wonder as a “role model.” Wonder said that Prince “took music to a whole other place.” These friends, sometimes collaborators, and groundbreaking icons inspired each other and the world. The Musical Stage Company’s 13th annual signature concert spotlights hit songs from two hugely influential artists with wildly imaginative arrangements by music director Reza Jacobs. Featuring Canada’s most celebrated performers, UnCovered is a one-of-a-kind ‘unmissable’ event. www.musicalstagecompany.com Twitter: @MusicalStageCo Instagram: musicalstageco Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicalstageco Tickets: https://musicalstagecompany.com/production/uncovered2019/

Holly Wyder is an actor, producer, writer and comedian, living in Toronto. Her solo show, Drink of Choice was a hit of the 2019 Toronto Fringe. www.hollywyder.com Twitter: @hollyiswyder Instagram: hollyiswyder Drink of Choice Winner of the 2019 Toronto Fringe Patron’s Pick, Drink of Choice returns at Factory’s Studio Theatre. You play the Customer. The drink you choose will decide the Bartender’s story. A create-your-own-adventure semi autobiographical piece, Drink of Choice examines sexual identity, especially the often overlooked and misunderstood conceptions of being asexual. Twitter: @choicedrink Instagram: choicedrink Tickets: https://www.factorytheatre.ca/what-s-on/drink-of-choice/

Shakura Dickson Shakura is a Toronto based actor and playwright. Most Recently, she appeared in Mirvish Productions’ presentation of Dear Evan Hansen, and appears in Factory Theatre’s Trout Stanley. Twitter: @shakooks Trout Stanley It’s the eve of twins Sugar and Grace Ducharme’s 30th birthday and the 10th anniversary of their parents’ deaths, the local Scrabble Champ Stripper has gone missing, and mysterious drifter Trout Stanley arrives looking for love…and a lake. Experience the wild, touching, and hysterically funny play that took New York by storm from Governor General’s Award-nominated playwright and novelist, Claudia Dey, returning to Factory’s Mainspace 14 years after its Toronto premiere at Factory. A story of Northern Proportions, Trout Stanley is about the secrets that bind us and finding love wherever you can. And snails. www.factorytheatre.ca Twitter: @factorytoronto Tickets: https://www.factorytheatre.ca/2019-20-season/trout-stanley/