The Theatre Centre announces upcoming programming

a group of people playing basketball outside

After an incredible first six months in our permanent home, we are thrilled to announce some programming highlights for the fall!  Join us at a special opening night party for Monday Nights on Monday, Sept. 8 at 9:30 p.m., when we’ll announce full details about The Theatre Centre’s upcoming programming.

This fall, two productions developed in residency will animate our live arts hub and incubator: 6th Man Collective’s immersive basketball experience, Monday Nights, and Philip McKee and Tanja Jacobs’ interpretation of a classic Greek tragedy, Bloody Family.

Development of new artists and their work has always been an integral part of our mandate at The Theatre Centre, whether it’s through providing space, subsidy, or mentorship within the cultural sector. We are delighted to be able to showcase some of the work of our residency partnerships through programming.

Created and performed by 6th Man Collective, the interactive basketball performance, Monday Nights, tips off Sept. 5 and runs until Sept. 20. In the summer of 2008, five guys came to the basketball court at Queen’s Quay and Bathurst. Religiously, every Monday night, they stayed until the lights turned off.  Now, audiences will meet these guys on the court at The Theatre Centre, to join in their basketball bromance. With opportunities to join the team and show off your best slam dunk, or to just watch, everyone is welcome.

Next is Bloody Family (Sept. 26 to Oct. 5), a story of a family ripped apart by idealism. Philip McKee and Tanja Jacobs’ personal and volatile adaptation of the ancient Greek tragedy The Oresteia is an experimental work that contrasts compassion with necessity, and examines the birth and failure of justice. A father kills his daughter for honour, a wife kills her husband for revenge, and a son kills his mother for justice.

After Bloody Family closes, we are excited to welcome Why Not Theatre and Suburban Beast, who will be presenting Concord Floral a re-imagining of Boccaccio’s medieval allegory The Decameron, set in contemporary Vaughan. The show is written and conceived by Jordan Tannahill, created and directed by Erin Brubacher, Cara Spooner and Jordan Tannahill, and told by ten teenage performers from across Toronto.

During November, we’ll welcome back Studio 180 Theatre, who return to The Theatre Centre after their successful run of the play Cock last April. They will be presenting NSFW, by Lucy Kirkwood, a sharp new comedy that looks at power games and privacy in the media and beyond.

Full details about The Theatre Centre’s upcoming programming will be announced at a special opening night party for Monday Nights on Monday, Sept. 8 at 9:30 p.m.

Please join us, even if you’re not attending the show that night, to celebrate and hear about the rest of the exciting programming we have coming up this year!

Moving Toward Accessibility

front view of historic carnegie building with canada flag

One of the most exciting features of our new facility is its accessibility.  For anyone who visited our former location, the steps taken toward accessibility will be clearly evident.  We now have a lift that helps patrons move between floors, barrier free washrooms, and the main entrance is down a ramp straight from Queen Street.  We are so proud to be a theatre where everyone can have an excellent experience and our staff are always on hand to help facilitate this.  This should be the case everywhere, but unfortunately, it’s not.

This week NOW Magazine published an article by Alex Bulmer, a playwright and actor who is blind, detailing her experience booking a hotel room in Toronto.  She was in town working on The Book of Judith, which we were presenting with Self Conscious Theatre Company and The Abilities Centre in Whitby.  The show is about accessibility, telling the story of Judith Snow, an artist with quadriplegia.  The performers are people with and without disabilities and the show spreads a message of inclusion, accessibility, and agency.  It’s surprising then, that while working on this show, Alex experienced numerous setbacks while trying to book a hotel with her guide dog.  Although her dog is not a pet, she was told she would have to pay a ”pet fee.”  Alex’s experience illustrates the ignorance that is still prevalent when dealing with differently abled people.  Not only is her experience contrary to human decency, but it’s also in breach of the Human Rights Code.

A performer with a ukelele singing into the mic with one hand in the air

What Alex experienced is beyond embarrassing.  She explains it best:

“Toronto will be hosting the Para-Pan Am Games next summer. Some 1,500 athletes with physical disabilities will be participating in 15 sports at the event.

And it’s high time Toronto got its act together and the facts straight: people who live with disability deserve to live in a society that respects their cultural practice, understands their access needs and, at the very least, delivers services in accordance with the provincial laws.”