Thursday 7 April 2011

Festival 2011 Brings Together Four Outstanding Productions From Across Ontario

Theatre Ontario is thrilled to announce the full line-up of plays for the 2011 Theatre Ontario Festival, our celebration of Ontario’s community theatres, running May 18 to 22 in Richmond Hill.  The week will feature two Canadian plays—one a classic from the 1970s; the other a recent smash, plus a rollicking musical comedy, and one of the classics of American theatre.
Our Festival opens on Wednesday, May 18 with Whitby Courthouse Theatre’s production of Suds, “the rocking 60’s musical soap opera” by Steve Gundersen, Bryan Scott & Melinda Gilb—representing ACT-CO, the Association of Community Theatres of Central Ontario.  This is the second year in a row that WCT has participated in Festival; last year they presented The Long Weekend in London.

On Thursday, May 19, Espanola Little Theatre will represent QUONTA (Northeastern Ontario) with their production of David Fennario’s Balconville.  Espanola are veterans of the Festival—most recently participating in 2003 in Oshawa with their production of Night Sky, and winners of the Elsie Award for Outstanding Production in 1997 for their memorable production of The Woman Without A Name.

Friday, May 19 marks our second group returning from 2010, as Kingston’s Domino Theatre will again represent the Eastern Ontario Drama League with a production of Joanna McClelland Glass’ Trying.  Winners of the Festival in 2007 for their production of All My Sons, they closed last year’s Festival with Doubt.

The Festival’s final performance on Saturday, May 20 features the “rookies” of the week, as Theatre Windsor will be representing the Western Ontario Drama League for the first time.  They are presenting the Edward Albee classic Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?

The Festival closes on Sunday, May 21 with an Awards Brunch where adjudicator Jane Carnwath will recognize outstanding achievements from the week’s productions.  The Festival is co-hosted by The Curtain Club, ACT-CO and Theatre Ontario.  All performances will be at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts.  For ticket information, please visit the Festival website.

No comments:

Post a Comment