Groundswell Unplugged
Groundswell Unplugged–a fertile environment for new works by female playwrights to take root. From October 29th to November 1st join us at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre to be the premiere audience for brand new Canadian plays.
Headlining the event - a workshop production of Unholy by Diane Flacks, directed by Kelly Thornton.
Unholy is about the complex intersection of religion and misogyny, and the conflict between ideology and personal morality. Set in a fictional live, public debate on the topic of women and religion, four female panellists form two sides of a debate, which asks, “Is religion harmful to women?” Holding them together is our Moderator, an amiable pacifist who, despite being the only man on stage, manages to remain out of the line of fire, until he doesn’t.
Diane Flacks is a Canadian comedian, actress, screenwriter and playwright. She has written and performed several one-woman shows: Myth Me, By a Thread, Random Acts and Bear with Me. Flacks is also a featured columnist with the Toronto Star, and is a regular contributor for the CBC Radio show Definitely Not the Opera.
The festival’s Reading Series includes Trident Moon by Nightwood’s playwright in residence Anusree Roy.
Trident Moon takes us to the 1947 division of Hindustan. After a 200-year rule, the British were forced to leave Hindustan but they wanted to leave with one last blow– deciding to split Hindustan into two halves. Their strategy was remarkable – instead of dividing the country arbitrarily, they decided to exploit the religious hatred between the Hindus and the Muslims and divided based on religious differences – A Muslim majority in Pakistan and a Hindu majority in India. This event resulted in the biggest mass migration in history.
Anusree Roy is an Indo-Canadian playwright, actress and librettist. Some of her work includes the Dora award winning plays Pyaasa and Brothel #9, as well as Roshni and Letters to my Grandma.
We’ll also hear readings from Nightwood’s 2014/15 Write from the Hip playwrights. The year-long script development program supports new writers as they work toward completing a full play. This years playwrights and pieces are Heather Debling – The Antigone Project, Hilary Rexe – This is August, Pearl Chan – Eva, and Rose Napoli - Lo (or Dear Mr. Wells).
PERFORMANCE DATES
Tuesday, October 27th
Write from the Hip Reading 6pm-9pm
Wednesday, October 28th
Write from the Hip Reading 5pm-8pm
Thursday, October 29th
Write from the Hip Reading 5pm-7pm, Unholy performance 8pm-10:30pm
Friday, October 30th
Write from the Hip Reading 5pm-7pm, Unholy performance 8pm-10:30pm, followed by a dance party
Saturday, October 31st
Unholy performance 2pm-4pm
Sunday, November 1st
Unholy performance 2pm-4:30pm, Trident Moon reading 5pm-8pm
Buddies in Bad Times
12 Alexander St., Toronto, ON, M4Y 1B4 Box office: 416-975-8555
TICKET PRICES
Unholy - $20 +tax
Trident Moon and Write from the Hip readings are PWYC
In addition Nightwood initiated The Groundswell Festival, (now in its 30th year) which is Canada’s national play development program for new works by women. It also initiated Write from the Hip, a youth training program for novice playwrights (now in its 15th year).
Date:
Oct 29 2015 - 12:00am to Nov 1 2015 - 12:00am
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Location:
Buddies in Bad Times - 12 Alexander Street, Toronto
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