See you in the new year, with many new things on the horizon.
Hope your socks stay dry.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Collective History:
We decided to formalize our work together as a collective as a natural outgrowth of our continued collaborations and mutual commitment to developing young women’s voices. Miranda Plant, Julia Lederer, and Anna Gallagher-Ross worked together as co-producers on the Paprika Festival in 2006 where they met Jayne Collins. The opportunity to mentor and teach the youth in the festival led to sharing their own work with each other. This atmosphere of encouragement led to Julia Lederer’s script, Louise, Thelma and Something in the Middle being produced at Alumnae Theatre’s New Ideas Festival in March of 2007. Dramaturgical meetings were held between Julia Lederer and the director, Jory Berger, and the script was workshopped with actors Miranda Plant and Esther Maloney however, due to time constraints the play could not be fully realized within the framework of the festival. A shorter version of the full piece was presented. The feedback was very positive; many audience members spoke about being deeply affected by the play. After coming together as a team for this project, and challenging one another artistically, Lederer, Berger, Plant, and Maloney, with the dramaturgical support of Anna Gallagher-Ross, continued to develop the piece, with the goal of a complete production. An application was submitted to HATCH at the Harbour Front Centre for 2008, while other options were also considered and pursued.
Soon after the New Ideas Festival, Lederer’s short play, Boxed In, was selected for the Whale Riders project, serving as a curtain-raiser for Seventh Stage’s production of Whale Music at Tarragon Theatre in May. This piece was co-directed by Anna Gallagher-Ross and Esther Maloney and featured Jayne Collins, Julia Lederer and Katherine Barcsay. Since this production, Boxed In has been featured in the Summerworks Youth Reading Series at the Factory Studio Theatre. It will also be performed as part of the 2007 Hysteria Festival.
After meeting other female artists and seeing their pieces performed at Whale Riders, as well as Lederer, Collins, and Gallagher-Ross seizing opportunities to work with Nightwood Theatre, our company pursued different ways to support women's work. Our most recent project for 2007-2008 is to host a series of staged readings showcasing new work by young women. This will also act as a fundraiser for Louise, Thelma, & Something in the Middle.
Each member of our project's team brings diverse experience as a contributor to Toronto theatre. Our collective has been formed through a common desire to create work that both challenges traditional methods of storytelling onstage, and is focused on developing the female voice and changing the status of women in the arts. As a collective, we are opening our own doors, and producing the work that is important to us, and, as we have learned through the projects leading up to this one, our community as well.
Jayne is an actor, playwright, and musician. Recent acting credits include; Canon in D Minor (Core Theatre/SummerWorks 2007), Looking After Eden (WeFew Collective/ Toronto Fringe), Out (Theatre Inspirato), Unseen Summer (Burdock Root), Ride of the Yoga Valkyries (Metal Dog Films/BravoFact), The Shields Stories (W Network). She is currently developing a new script through Nightwood Theatre's 'Write from the Hip' program. Upcoming: Reprising her role as "Beatrice" in Boxed In, as part of the 2007 Hysteria Festival (Theatre in Her Shoes/Buddies in Bad Times).
Anna is a graduate of the theatre program at Etobicoke School of the Arts. She is currently the Associate Producer of Theatre Revolve and will be attending the University of Toronto in September. This past year she was in residence at Nightwood Theatre as Artistic Intern and Assistant to the Artistic Director, as well as a producing/directing intern with the Paprika Festival. Assistant Directing Credits include: The Danish Play (Nightwood), Crave (Nightwood) and a workshop of Internazionale (Kelly Thornton/Alex Poch-Goldin). Anna was also co-director of the first production of Boxed In, which was recently featured as part of the Whale Riders program, at the Tarragon Theatre (Seventh Stage Productions). Upcoming: Directing a new version of Boxed In for the 2007 Hysteria Festival (Theatre in Her Shoes/ Buddies in Bad Times).
1 comment:
Our lovely logo created by the talented Kate Sage!
Post a Comment