ORLANDO, DALLAS, and ST. CATHARINE'S:
Exactly a year after our first groundbreaking production at the Toronto Fringe Festival, we are proud to announce that our show was featured at the Association for Theatre in Higher Learning's Annual Conference in Orlando, on August 4th, 2013. The Conference theme was: P[L]AY: Performance, Pleasure and Pedagogy and our show will be brought to a round table discussion by internationally acclaimed theatre academic Susanne Shawyer. Shawyer then took this paper to Dallas where it took center stage at the American Sociey for Theatre Research Conference in Dallas, 2013.
Finally, Back home, Amanda and Daniel joined Dr Shawyer at the Canadian Association for Theatre Research Conference in St. Catharine's in 2014 where they presented excerpts for discussion.
Shawyer will examine "the intersections of celebrity culture with personal experiences of loss and death in “Release the Stars: The Ballad of Randy and Evi Quaid”; as part The Theory and Criticism Focus Group panel presentations at the conference round table discussion known as Play/Ground. This panel discussion explores how performances of social norms and community rituals of leisure and celebration test theories of reception, representation, and community formation.
For more, click here.
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Amanda Barker. Actor. Writer.
Amanda is a Canadian Comedy Award winning actor/writer, currently nominated for a Broadway World Award as “Best Featured Actress” for her work in SPANK! A 50 Shades of Grey Parody - which she took off-Broadway and continues to tour. Selected Theatre: Miracle on 34th Street (Theatre New Brunswick/STC), Moose on the Loose (Magnus Theatre), The Best of the Second City (National Tour), Just for Laughs Festival (Centaur Theatre), Second City at Sea (Norwegian Cruise Lines), Shame is Right! (ArtWorks Los Angeles), Caresses (CIT/Winchester Theatre) Dufflebag (National Tour) The Nutcracker (National Ballet of Canada) The Long Weekend (Theatre Aurora) TV/Film: The Case for Christmas (Hallmark Movie), Get Set for Life (CBC), Blood Empires, Separation, with Christopher Lloyd in 88, Upcoming: ZOOM with Alison Pill Tweet: @amandaisariot www.amandajbarker.com
Daniel Krolik. Actor. Writer.
Daniel was most recently seen in The Snow Queen (Sudbury Theatre Centre) and Dib and Dob and the Journey Home (Roseneath), which he will be reprising at the NAC in February. Past theatre credits include: The Enchanted Crackhouse, [sic], Point of Departure, The Book of Liz, In Trousers, and Nana (Toronto Fringe – NOW Magazine Artist to Watch), Yellow Face (Hart House), Twelfth Night (Direct Flight/GromKat), Ten Green Bottles (Te-Amim, also co-adapted), Much Ado About Nothing (Dream North –
Yukon Tour), Hello Again (Equity co-op/Tarragon Extra Space), Picasso at the Lapin Agile (Perimeter Institute), Romeo and Juliet and A Comedy of Errors (Repercussion Theatre – North American Tour). Daniel co-hosts the podcast Bad Gay Movies and is a graduate of Sheridan College and the University of Toronto.
Yukon Tour), Hello Again (Equity co-op/Tarragon Extra Space), Picasso at the Lapin Agile (Perimeter Institute), Romeo and Juliet and A Comedy of Errors (Repercussion Theatre – North American Tour). Daniel co-hosts the podcast Bad Gay Movies and is a graduate of Sheridan College and the University of Toronto.
Jack Grinhaus. Director.
Jack is the current Artistic Director of Theatre Northwest in Prince George, BC.
Recent Directing Credits Include: dirty butterfly (Obsidian Theatre/B2C), Taming of the Shrew (Grand Theatre HSP), Playing Cards Part 1: Spades (Observer/AD/Robert Lepage/Ex-Machina), Playwrights Cabaret (The Grand Theatre), Phaedra's Lust (Tapestry New Opera), Ghosts (AD/Morris Panych/Soulpepper), Macbeth (Classical Theatre Project), Saved (2011 Toronto Fringe Festival/Patron's Pick) ART (AD/Morris Panych/Canadian Stage Company) The Complex: A Toronto Tale (Festival of Creation/Canadian Stage/2010 Toronto Fringe), Carmen (Opera Lirica Italiana), Tough Jews (Harold Green Jewish Theatre/ Workshop Reading).Jack was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore award in 2011, was part of the 2010 Canadian Stage BASH Directors Residency as well as the inaugural Director’s Lab North, was the Artistic Associate/Apprentice Artistic Director at The Grand Theatre in London, Ontario during the 2012/13 Season and is Co-Artistic Director of Bound to Create Theatre www.boundtocreate.com
Recent Directing Credits Include: dirty butterfly (Obsidian Theatre/B2C), Taming of the Shrew (Grand Theatre HSP), Playing Cards Part 1: Spades (Observer/AD/Robert Lepage/Ex-Machina), Playwrights Cabaret (The Grand Theatre), Phaedra's Lust (Tapestry New Opera), Ghosts (AD/Morris Panych/Soulpepper), Macbeth (Classical Theatre Project), Saved (2011 Toronto Fringe Festival/Patron's Pick) ART (AD/Morris Panych/Canadian Stage Company) The Complex: A Toronto Tale (Festival of Creation/Canadian Stage/2010 Toronto Fringe), Carmen (Opera Lirica Italiana), Tough Jews (Harold Green Jewish Theatre/ Workshop Reading).Jack was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore award in 2011, was part of the 2010 Canadian Stage BASH Directors Residency as well as the inaugural Director’s Lab North, was the Artistic Associate/Apprentice Artistic Director at The Grand Theatre in London, Ontario during the 2012/13 Season and is Co-Artistic Director of Bound to Create Theatre www.boundtocreate.com
Megan Mooney. Dramaturge.
Megan’s love of theatre led to her founding Mooney on Theatre to spread the word about Toronto theatre far and wide. However, after taking a ‘Director as Dramaturg’ workshop with Nina Lee Aquino, she realised her passion for dramaturgy and immediately sought out dramaturgical opportunities. While doing apprenticeship work with Erica Kopyto at Nightwood Theatre, Megan was lucky enough to also work with the creative team in developing Release the Stars: The Ballad of Randy and Evi Quaid in 2012. She’s excited to have revisited it and helped it along the next stage of its journey.
Meredith Henry. Stage Manager.
As SM: Fear and Desire (and the whole damn thing) (Hope and Heartache Theatre), dirty butterfly [Apprentice] (Bound to Create Theatre), Blue Moon Girls (Fruitful Productions), A Few Brittle Leaves [Apprentice] (Cabaret Company), Gwen Powers (WORKhouse Theatre ), Hatched (Triangle Co-op), Oleanna (Unit 102 Theatre), Grey Ground (Beasts of the Theatre), This Wide Night (Mermaid Parade), Don Giovanni [Apprentice] (Opera Atelier), Oh, Ryan (Lost at Sea Theatre), Lu Xun Blossoms [Apprentice] (Theatre Smith-Gilmour), Le Docteur Miracle and L'Heure Espagnole [Apprentice] (Glenn Gould School) and The Shakespeare Experiment, as well as many other productions at the University of Guelph.
Siobhán Sleath. Lighting Design.
Siobhán is very excited to be working with the team on Release the Stars: The Ballad of Randy and Evi Quaid for the Next Stage Festival 2014. Siobhán’s recent credits include lighting design of The Last Resort (Globe Theatre), Tainted (Moyo Productions), The Dumb Waiter (Wordsmythe Theatre), A Few Brittle Leaves (A Cabaret Company), Ordinary Days and I Love You Because (Angelwalk Theatre), Macbeth (Classical Theatre Project), I Hired a Contract Killer and Hair (Randolph Academy for Performing Arts), Cabaret and The Great American Trailer Park Musical (Hart House Theatre). Siobhán also worked five seasons as an assistant lighting designer at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival on numerous productions including To Kill a Mockingbird, Twelfth Night, The Tempest and Dangerous Liaison as well as being the associate lighting designer on Kiss Me Kate. Upcoming projects include Elegies: A Song Cycle (Acting Up Stage) and Stars of David (Harold Green Jewish Theatre and Angelwalk Theatre).
Matt Campagna. Projection Design.
As an award-winning writer, director, cinematographer and editor of feature films such as Six Reasons Why (THINKfilm, E1 Entertainment) and Fallout Aylum (NBC/Universal), Matt brings an eye for the highest multimedia production value to his work in live theatre as well.
Matt's theatre credits include media producer for the critically acclaimed Savage in Limbo (Bob Kills Theatre) as well as projection design for Melissa D'Agostino's new solo production. www.MattCampagna.com
Matt's theatre credits include media producer for the critically acclaimed Savage in Limbo (Bob Kills Theatre) as well as projection design for Melissa D'Agostino's new solo production. www.MattCampagna.com
Vanessa Lee Wishart. Costume Design.
Vanessa Lee Wishart is a Toronto-based costume/fashion designer who, has been working in the field for over 15 years. Vanessa has designed for various productions at several regional theaters and colleges, professional dance companies, art installations, events, fashion collections, as well as with many film projects. In addition to her design work she has assisted on several large-scale productions. Some of her most notable credits are, INTIMATE APPAREL (Obsidian Theatre Company), REESOR (Unspun Theatre), EVIL DEAD: THE MUSICAL (Jeffrey Latimer Entertainment), PRICILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT (Mirvish Productions), and VIVA ELVIS (Cirque du Soleil).
Ms. Wishart is honored to be involved in this exciting new production and likes to thank all her loved ones for their love and support.
Erich Knoespel. Sound Design.
A new resident to Toronto, Erich is happy to be involved with a Fringe show this year. He has been involved with theater for the past ten years. Erich was one of the founding members of The Hooligans Brampton’s best known sketch and improv troupe, The Hoooligans. In the last five years he has performed on stages across the GTA; including The Second City, The Comedy Bar, and won 2011 Sketchfest’s Sketch-comagedon--named the best of 50 troupes across the GTA. It is through this that he met Amanda and is happy to work with her again behind the scenes.
Sue Edworthy. Communications
Sue Edworthy has worked in the non-profit performing arts for over a decade and is a self-described city enthusiast. Her passion for the performing arts has led her to stints as a director, stage manager, event coordinator and arts administrator in theatre, dance and opera organizations in and around Toronto and is now sought after as a marketing and communications specialist. Sue is a former Board Member for TAPA, was the Social Media Chair/Steering Committee member for Artsvote 2010, and is currently co-chair of that organization. She a Board Member for Expect Theatre and Vice President for the Toronto Fringe Festival. Recent clients include Bound to Create Theatre, Theatre Rusticle, Unspun Theatre and the Siminovitch Prize. She is a Harold Award recipient and received the 2012 Char-PR Prize for best publicity (Proud). She runs Sue Edworthy Arts Planning, a freelance marketing, producing and strategic planning company for the Toronto independent arts community, and is in demand as a social media consultant
For more information, visit www.sueedworthy.ca
For more information, visit www.sueedworthy.ca
Marco Timpano. Producer.
Marco is a multi-award winning actor, writer, and producer. An accomplished journalist and actor, he can be heard on the podcast; the insomnia show (www.insomniashow.ca). Winner of the 2009 Canadian Comedy Award for his one-person show entitled: “One Woman Show”. Marco continues to perform as his character “Vito Cazzolungo” in his webseries “An Espresso with Vito” at www.riotwire.com. Marco has recently been appointed Creative Director at Drumcast Productions, bringing over ten years of experience working in television, radio, film and stage - www.marcotimpano.com
Release the Stars: The Ballad of Randy and Evi Quaid
Would like to thank the support of the Ontario Arts Council.
We would also like to congratulate them on 50 years!
Would like to thank the support of the Ontario Arts Council.
We would also like to congratulate them on 50 years!