Drifting aimlessly through space, Doctor Zanita waits. Surrounded by a menagerie of marvelous machines, a handsome talking statue and her faithful assistant Bielke, this mad scientist is on a mission. Waiting For Alonzo is a surreal satire brimming with bizarre behaviour and seasoned with the tears of the unrepentant patriarch.
Empty Box Theatre Companyis a non-profit Toronto theatre company. We are interested in re-staging the classics and creating new collaborative plays. Our work often looks at gender politics, camp, wordplay, mythical and historical themes, and can be site-specific, immersive, feminist and political. Our company is dedicated to colour-conscious casting, and featuring the work of artists from all backgrounds.
Darby, a young playwright, has been living with his mentor Carla, who suffers with MS. When Darby shares his latest play it strikes all too closely to his mentor’s life.
OverTimeis a producer driven, artist focused production. Newface Entertainment doesn’t exist to advance its own. It exists in the role of a traditional producer; working to facilitate theatre so that artists can have the opportunity to focus on their craft.
Suzette McCanny, Sean Sullivan & Julia Nish-Lapidus
Shakespeare BASH’d presents The Merry Wives of Windsor
by William Shakespeare
Join your favourite Best of Fringe winning Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare BASH’d, for the Bard’s outrageous rural comedy: The Merry Wives of Windsor. In a world of drunks and cuckolds, two witty women set out to teach a lesson of love and jealousy.
Come crush a cup at the Victory cafe with this battle of wits.
Shakespeare BASH’dis a young actor initiative that seeks to take ownership of their own creativity by producing Shakespeare’s plays in social settings creating a relaxed, exciting environment for the audience. Their mission is to present Shakespeare’s plays as they were written: with simple staging, clear and specific language, and an emphasis on the words and characters telling the story.
As a fellow clown, albeit a new one who really has no experience clowning with or around these two, and York alumnae (it’s about time I shamelessly showed pride of my roots on this site – I realize that sounds like I harbour problems with York’s training. Really, I don’t; I had an excellent time there and think the training I received was exactly what I needed. I just don’t talk about it much anymore. Gotta move forward, amiright?) I am greatly excited to bring both Amy Lee and Heather Marie Annis by today to chat a little about the reprise of their hit, GO BAKE YOURSELF! That’s right, Morro and Jasp are in the field to chat about what got them started.
Amy, Heather and I mostly just missed each other at York University. I had seen them around, and I think Amy had seen me, or at least knew my face, but it wasn’t until, maybe three Fringes ago that we actually met and had a conversation. It’s funny because I think I’ve actually seen these two perform more frequently out of nose than I have in nose (if you haven’t seen these two bust out their acting chops, do yourself a favour and keep your ear to the ground for what they’re up to next; usually they come as a pair, but individually they are their own unique forces of theatre-nature. It’s quite refreshing).
I know Fringe is well underway, but if you need to fill a hole in your roster and you’re just hearing about this show right now (which you probably aren’t), there’s still time to catch it! You’ll just have to line up a bit early…
dossier #18:
Who are we talking with?
Heather Marie Annis and Amy Lee (sometimes known as Morro and Jasp).
What drew you down this path? (to theatre, to clowning, to Fringing, to wherever the hell you are in life)
We were in theatre school at York and discovered that we really loved working together. Byron Laviolette (our director and co-collaborator) had studied Pochinko clown and after he saw us in a physical piece together, asked us if we’d be interested in playing around with clown. We said yes, having no idea what to expect, and then we kept saying yes to every opportunity to experiment with/perform clown.
What is your earliest memory of realizing, yep, this is what I’m going to do with my life?
Amy decided when she was 6. Heather decided in high school. Although that was acting, not clown. Clown was a bit of a surprise love for both of us.
Why MORRO AND JASP: GO BAKE YOURSELF?
We both love cooking, baking, and food in a serious way. When we were roommates we would experiment with new recipes and they would almost always turn out disastrously (even though on our own, we are pretty kitchen saavy). We thought, “What could be more fun than letting our clowns play in the kitchen?” We also wanted to look at our relationship with food and how food helps us relate to one another. And we have a whole lotta fun doing it…
What kind of atmosphere do you intend to set up, or can someone expect from MORRO AND JASP: GO BAKE YOURSELF?
Fun, delicious, and full of love.
You’ve done the Canadian Fringe circuit often in the past. What do you look forward to the most when touring a new show to a new city?
Every audience is difference. And because we interact with our audiences so much, that really impacts us and the show. It is always really exciting to see how the space, city and people will affect the show and how we can play with that.
What is your favourite memory from a past Fringe circuit show?
Ah! Too many to pick one! Although, if we have to…We created a very audience-dependent ending to our show last year and we had no idea whether it would actually work, so on opening, when it did, we cried so many tears of joy!
Describe MORRO AND JASP: GO BAKE YOURSELF in three adjectives, a phrase, or with sound.
Mmmmm….
Do you have anything else you’d like to share? Photos, videos, links, posters, stories, wishes?
Here is our trailer for it:
We are sold out of our advance tickets for the run, but there are still tickets at the door every show!
We want to wish every Fringer out there, whether you’re performing or watching, so much love, so much gratitude, and may the Force be with you!
a field of crowns 