This Winter Horse Trade and EXIT Theatre return to bring you a festival that is uncensored, unjuried and totally downtown.
Hi-D Theatre Freedom 85! By Debra Hale
|
 |
|
This Winter Horse Trade and EXIT Theatre return to bring you a festival that is uncensored, unjuried and totally downtown.
|
|---|
|
“Highly Recommended” TORONTO STAR “on the risqué side of quaint” EYE WEEKLY “nothing short of superb” T.O. BLOG Enjoy this previously SOLD-OUT Fringe Hit, a 2 woman multi-character comedy about an inept waitress, a feisty senior and their nursing home breakout. |
||||||||||||||||
|
Swing to and from a present day Jamaican diner and wartime Britain. Experience colorful locals, a tough wiener-demanding biker, AA meetings, combat memories and love. See the show that’s been called “funny, sad, quirky and sweet all at once.” TORONTO STAR A hit at the 2008 Toronto Fringe, Freedom 85! sold out after the opening performance. The full-length version of the show is being premiered in 2010 in Ontario, Canada. |
Company History: Hi-D Theatre debuted FREEDOM 85! at the 2008 Toronto Fringe. The script was originally work-shopped by Thousand Islands Playhouse’s associate director Kathryn MacKay. Hale’s two other plays have both had critical acclaim. I Won’t Tell A Soul (Gryphon Theatre; Port Hope Festival) review headline “Tell Everyone—play is really good” Cobourg Daily Star and “It’s worth telling your friends about.” Barrie Advance. Soul had 3 other productions, one of which was a divisional winner at ACT-CO. Heads Will Roll, first played at Fringe Nord. Press quote: “I was bowled over by the high quality…to date, theirs’ is the finest…Strong! Strong! Strong!” Sudbury Star.
“Highly Recommended”… “Ladies that can act”…“it's funny, sad, quirky and sweet all at once.” TORONTO STAR
Best of the Fringe List…“unbelievable execution of the clever blocking and fast-paced script” … “on the risqué side of quaint” EYE WEEKLY
“two thumbs up + a standing ovation.” “nothing short of superb” “one of the best shows the fringe has to offer.” T.O. BLOG
 |
Andrea is a Toronto actress looking forward to spending time in NYC for the Frigid Festival. She particularly looks forward to the challenge of playing multiple characters in Debra’s wonderful show. Some of Andrea’s favourite stage credits include Mary in the Canadian premiere of Caught in the Net with Trevor Bannister and Jacqueline in Don’t Dress for Dinner (both at Victoria Playhouse Petrolia); The Uninvited Guest (Tarragon’s Extra Space)Lucienne in A Flea in Her Ear (Drayton Festival); Maria in Lend Me a Tenor (King’s Wharf Theatre); Lucky in Waiting for Godot (Toronto Studio Players) and over 500 performances as Barbara DeMarco in seven separate productions of Shear Madness, including two seasons at the Charlottetown Festival in beautiful Prince Edward Island. Most recently, Andrea appeared as Judith in Boeing Boeing with the fabulous Peter Scolari at Stage West Mississauga and as Susan in Bed Among the Lentils with First Stages Theatre Company at the Capitol Theatre in Port Hope. |
 |
DEBRA HALE’S extensive theatre career includes the two-actor shows SEXY LAUNDRY (1000 Islands Playhouse) and Norm Foster’s STORM WARNING (Lighthouse, Theatre In Port and in Toronto’s Walmer Centre). She also starred in the comedies SOMETHING DRASTIC (Tarragon Extra Space) and leapt into the role of Constance Ledbelly in GOODNIGHT DESDEMONA, GOODMORNING JULIET (Magnus Theatre). On the serious side—the title role in Shaw’s ANNAJANSKA’S (Factory Studio) and spicy Ginger Reed in Lanford Wilson’s BOOK OF DAYS (Toronto). There are many other theatre credits around Ontario and Toronto. TV/film includes a recurring role on CBC’s WIND AT MY BACK, dozens of commercials and several independent films. She’s also a performance storyteller and her playwriting includes 2 produced plays; the thriller I WON’T TELL A SOUL (5 different theatres) and the comedy HEADS WILL ROLL (two festivals). |
 Kim Blackwell, Director |
Kim has been directing professionally for 17 years including eight seasons with 4th Line Theatre. She has directed 23 productions and 12 development workshops of new Canadian plays. Selected 4th Line credits include: artistic and producing associate since 2001; directing: Schoolhouse, The Art of Silent Killing, That Summer, Crow Hill, The Cavan Blazers, Attrition, and Gimme That Primetime Religion. Other select directing credits: Getting Lucky (Rhubarb!, 2005), Unlucky (Summerworks, 2003), The Ugly Man, Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), Poor Super Man, Unidentified Human Remains…, House, The Lover, Killer’s Head, Seduced (Black Well Theatre); Once A Flame, Fire in the Stable, The Shadow of Genius (Heritage Pavilion). Upcoming Kim will be directing the world premiere of Alex Poch-Goldin’s The Right Road to Pontypool (Summer 2009) Kim also runs Blackwell Communications. Her clients include Nightwood Theatre, Dancemakers, Tapestry, Contrary Company, Birdland Theatre, Adeona Productions, Theatre Direct and Stage Centre Productions. |
 JULIAN MULOCK, Stage Manager |
Julian Mulock has worked in many aspects of theatre. Favorite onstage roles are as Oscar Wilde in the North American premiere of Tom Stoppard’s The Invention of Love with John Neville, directed by Herbert Whittaker; Dr Treves in The Elephant Man, Charles Condomine in Blithe Spirit and Bertram in the Canadian premiere of Vaclav Havel’s Largo Desolato. Directing credits include The Browning Version (Rattigan), Time of My Life (Ayckbourn) An Inspector Calls (Priestley) and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe (Albee). He devised and directed the Noel Coward review An Evening to Amuse and wrote the script for the Cole Porter review Cole Porter Tonight both for the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto. In TV he particularly remembers a week on location in India for The Jewel in the Crown. He is also an accomplished visual artist. Visit his website at: www.julianmulock.ca |
 Kathryn MacKay-Dramaturge |
Kathryn is an original founding member of the Thousand Islands Playhouse and currently serves as Associate Artistic Director. For the Firehall Theatre at the Playhouse, she has directed The Girl in the Goldfish Bowl (the inaugural Playhouse production for the theatre), Trying, Perfect Pie, The Red Priest and The Russian Play and Essay by Hannah Moscovitch for the theatre. At the Springer Theatre, she has directed Blessings in Disguise, Sexy Laundry, Looking and Half Life by John Mighton. Kathryn is also an Associate Director of Guerilla Cabaret, an international woman's theatre collective comprised of artists from the UK, Canada and the US. In 2007, she directed Hope at Collective:Unconscious in New York for the company and in 2008 she directed Between Drinks by Mary O'Malley in Los Angeles this summer. She is the former Artistic Director and General Manager for Theatre Kingston and her directing credits there include: How I Learned to Drive, The Passion, The Shape of a Girl and Perfect Pie and The Garbage and the Flowers.In addition to her professional directing work, Kathryn also works with H'art Studio, a company dedicated to promoting literacy in intellectually challenged adults through art. She is currently adapting a book written by the participants for the stage and will direct the finished result. |
|
||||||||
