Necessary Notes

National Post Review – Divisadero: a performance 2011

necessarynotes — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 16:19:03 +0000

Season Announcement 2011-12

necessarynotes — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:38:59 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media refer: Lucy Eveleigh lucy@necessaryangel.com

NECESSARY ANGEL ANNOUNCES 2011-2012 SEASON

Toronto, October 3rd 2011 – Following one of the largest seasons in the company’s history, Necessary Angel will be spending more time in the studio developing new work as Artistic Director Daniel Brooks’ explores themes of urban life in his new Untitled piece as well as re-connecting with John Mighton on his new play Risk.

Launching the season and continuing its touring life (after successful runs at the prestigious Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, and The Great Canadian Theatre Company as part of the Magnetic North Theatre Festival), Daniel MacIvor’s and Daniel Brooks’ This Is What Happens Next will be presented in November at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton. In response to a highly successful run in our previous season, Divisadero: a performance, by Michael Ondaatje will be remounted in February 2012 with the same cast and directed by Daniel Brooks

THE 2011-2012 SEASON

This Is What Happens Next

Created by Daniel MacIvor and Daniel Brooks
Written and Performed by Daniel MacIvor
Directed and Dramaturged by Daniel Brooks
Music and Sound Design by Richard Feren
Lighting Design by Kimberly Purtell
Stage Managed by Marcie Januska
November 12 – December 4th, 2011
Citadel Theatre, (Rice Alternative Series)
9828-101A Avenue, Edmonton Alberta
For tickets call 1-780.425.1820
$39 – $69

A journey deep into the heart of the Kingdom of Kevin with an astrologer, a lawyer, an absent father, the embodiment of our own Will and Me, which takes us through the dark forest of addiction, divorce, Arthur Schopenhauer, The Little Mermaid and the life of John Denver. This is What Happens Next is a scary fairytale with a happy ending. Daniel MacIvor and Daniel Brooks’ previous collaborations include Here Lies Henry, House, Monster, and Cul-de-Sac.

Divisadero: a performance

Written by Michael Ondaatje
Directed by Daniel Brooks
Performed by Liane Balaban, Maggie Huculak, Tom McCamus, Amy Rutherford and Justin Rutledge
Music by Justin Rutledge
Designed by Andrea Lundy and John Thompson
Lighting Design by Alexander MacSween
Video Design by Jeremy Mimnagh
Stage Managed by Rob Harding
Produced in association with The Film Farm
February 8-26, 2011, opening date to be determined
Theatre Passe Muraille’s Mainspace, 16 Ryerson Avenue, Toronto.
For tickets, call 416-504-7529
$25- $35

Divisadero: a performance is a violent and passionate story exploring themes of memory, identity, love and the grip of the past on the present. It is an examination of the intimate relationship between the speaker and the listener, and of language’s ability to weave a magical spell.

Risk
Text by John Mighton
Directed and Dramaturged by Daniel Brooks
In Association with Canadian Stage.
A public reading in November, date TBA.

John Mighton’s new play investigates the story of Ignaz Semmelweis, an Austrian doctor whose discoveries about sanitation were ignored and whose life ended in an insane asylum. Set in a Vienna seething with revolution – full of political subversives, prostitutes, self-important writers and ambitious doctors – Risk explores the nature of human knowledge. Mighton and Brooks’ previous collaborations include Possible Worlds and Half Life.

Untitled
In creation by Daniel Brooks.
Workshop presentation in Spring 2012

Artistic Director Daniel Brooks is currently working on a project that inspects and dissects how people experience our city. The project will explore how urban space informs and influences themes such as loneliness/isolation, love, security, survival and the meaning of home, all in direct relation to the city of Toronto.

About Necessary Angel:

Founded in 1978 and based in Toronto, Canada, Necessary Angel has been an influential and original presence on the national and international theatre scene for over 30 years. Having produced more than 50 productions, including 30 world premieres and 10 North American premieres, the company is considered to be one of English Canada’s most important original creation and touring organizations. Necessary Angel tours its work to prominent theatres and festivals across Canada and internationally. The company’s plays have been nominated for and have won numerous Governor General’s Awards for Drama, Chalmers Awards for Outstanding New Play, and countless Dora Mavor Moore Awards. Over the years, Necessary Angel has welcomed the participation of outstanding literary icons, including Michael Ondaatje and Timothy Findley, while also developing new work with some of Canada’s leading playwrights, including Daniel MacIvor, John Mighton, Colleen Murphy, Jason Sherman, Colleen Wagner and David Young, whose works have become acclaimed on stages around the globe.

Daniel Brooks, Artistic Director of Necessary Angel since 2003, is a prolific and versatile artist whose innovation and risk-taking have made him a leader within the Canadian cultural landscape. He has been recognized with accolades and awards throughout Canada and around the world including the inaugural Elinore and Lou Siminovitch Prize in Theatre.

For more information, visit the Necessary Angel website at www.necessaryangel.com.

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Media refer: Lucy Eveleigh / 416.703.0406 lucy@necessaryangel.com

When My Name Was Anna – 2009

necessarynotes — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:36:46 +0000

This past November, artistic director Daniel Brooks and author Michael Ondaatje began work on When My Name Was Anna, a stage adaptation of Ondaatje’s violent and passionate novel Divisadero. For three weeks Brooks and Ondaatje explored the text with actors Liane Balaban, Maggie Huculak, Tom McCamus and Amy Rutherford, as well as singer/songwriter Justin Rutledge, examining the intimate relationship between the speaker and the listener. The workshop culminated in three public presentations at Theatre Passe Muraille. When My Name Was Anna will have its premiere at Passe Muraille in February 2011. Please see images below.

Click to view slideshow.
photos by Guntar Kravis

Risk – 2010

necessarynotes — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:28:21 +0000

We recently completed our second exploration of Risk, John Mighton’s new play currently in development. Joe Cobden, Brendan Gall, David Jansen, Diego Matamoros, Eric Peterson and Liisa Repo-Martell sat down with artistic director Daniel Brooks and Mighton. We would also like to thank Chris Earle, Michelle Monteith and Christopher Morris for their participation in an earlier workshop in November.

Tout Comme Elle Workshop

necessarynotes — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:28:01 +0000

Fourteen Women. Eight Days. One Vision.
For eight days in May, Montreal-based director and Necessary Angel associate artist, Brigitte Haentjens, travelled to Toronto to work with fourteen actresses on poet Erín Moure’s English translation of Louise Dupré’s Tout Comme Elle, a poignant and daring piece about the necessary separation of daughter and mother. The workshop was in preparation for Tout Comme Elle’s premiere in Toronto in June 2011, which will feature a cast of fifty women. The workshop ensemble included Raven Dauda, Laura de Carteret, Rosemary Dunsmore, Kyra Harper, Fiona Highet, Maggie Huculak, Joan Kivanda, Jani Lauzon, Amber Mills, Jessica Moss, Tara Nicodemo, Fiona Reid, Dharini Woollcombe and Jean Yoon. Please see images below.

photos by Christine Kim

Click to view slideshow.

This Is What Happens Next – 2010

necessarynotes — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:22:55 +0000

This Is What Happens in Charleston

At the beginning of June, fresh on the heels of a successful run at Berkeley Street Theatre in Toronto, Daniel MacIvor’s and Daniel Brooks’ This Is What Happens Next toured to the prestigious Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina where it received standing ovations and critical acclaim. Congratulations to Kimberly Purtell who received a Dora Mavor Moore Award Nomination for Outstanding Lighting Design. Please see images below.

“mesmerizing and unexpectedly funny… one of the best one-man shows I’ve seen in years” (Charleston City Paper)

“a tour de force… witty, amusing, dark, reflective, powerful and hilarious”
(The Digital Charleston)

Click to view slideshow.
photos by Guntar Kravis

Hamlet

necessarynotes — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 20:46:59 +0000

Hamlet Nets Most Dora Nominations!

Our production of Hamlet, directed by Glasgow-based director and Necessary Angel associate artist, Graham McLaren, captured the most Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations in the General Theatre Category, receiving six nominations – Outstanding Production, Outstanding Direction, two nominations for Outstanding Performance by a Female (Laura de Carteret and Tara Nicodemo), Outstanding Performance in a Featured Role (Eric Peterson), and Outstanding Original Lighting Design (Andrea Lundy). Congratulations to all nominated. We would also like to thank our Play Creation sponsor, Paradigm Capital. Please see images below.

Click to view slideshow.
photos by Tim Fennell

About Necessary Angel

necessarynotes — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 20:30:34 +0000

Necessary Angel Theatre Company has been an influential and original presence on the national and international theatre scene for over 30 years. Having produced more than 50 productions, including 25 world premieres and 10 North American premieres, Necessary Angel is considered one English Canada’s most important original creation and touring organizations. The company’s plays have been nominated for and have won numerous Governor General’s Awards for Drama, Chalmers Awards for Outstanding New Play, and countless Dora Mavor Moore Awards.

Daniel Brooks has been the company’s Artistic Director since 2003. A national leader in his field for many years, Brooks is an innovator and risk taker, well known for being constantly inventive with theatrical form and style.

Over the years, Necessary Angel has welcomed the participation of outstanding literary icons, including Michael Ondaatje and Timothy Findley, while also developing new work with some of Canada’s leading playwrights, including Daniel MacIvor, John Mighton, Colleen Murphy, Jason Sherman, Colleen Wagner, and David Young, whose works have become acclaimed on stages around the globe.

Necessary Angel tours its work to prominent theatres and festivals across Canada and internationally. In the last five years, the company has travelled to over 20 cities including every major Canadian city and numerous international destinations such as Charleston, Edinburgh, Florence, Glasgow, Melbourne, Miami and Munich.

Necessary Angel’s Associate Artist Program, founded in 2008, has allowed Necessary Angel to invite visionary theatre artists Graham McLaren and Brigitte Haentjens to work with Toronto artists to create theatrical works of lasting importance for national and international touring. This program is made possible entirely through the generous gift of Judith Harris in honour of Tony Woolfson’s turning 60.

Gala Event

necessarynotes — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 20:29:33 +0000

With A Little Help From Our Friends

On April 22nd Dr. Jim Stewart graciously welcomed Necessary Angel into his home, the architectural modern masterpiece, Integral House, where one hundred and fifty of our patrons helped us raise over $30,000. The event was generously sponsored by Burgundy Asset Management and featured excerpts from Michael Ondaatje’s When My Name Was Anna. We would also like to thank our beverage sponsors Cave Spring and Henry of Pelham, our food sponsor Frangipane, our print sponsor The Printing House, and our publishing sponsor Vintage Canada. Please see images below.

Click to view slideshow.
photos by Greg Wong

Divisadero: a performance

necessarynotes — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 20:07:11 +0000

We are looking forward to starting rehearsals for this show when we all get back from the holidays!