Camouflage

Produced by Camouflage Productions

Author: Gail Roberts

We all have something to hide — or something we'd rather not face, and pretty often, we're bedeviled by both.  As we get older the blinders get tighter and our attitudes, sometimes brought about by circumstances only vaguely remembered, harden. In Camouflage, a woman journeys by bus, but the physical journey also takes her into her past and, in the process, holds out hope for change.

By interacting with an entertaining array of people from the present and from the past (Gail Roberts plays them all!), Camouflage underscores a very contemporary human condition:  Our preference to hide our own foibles from ourselves and others.  It's as up to date as today's breakfast; wherein we try to convince ourselves that bacon is as good for us as Fiber 1. 

We hope that audiences, after seeing Camouflage, may reflect on how to make their lives a little brighter and to love those close to them, if not unconditionally, at least somewhat more so. 

Mark Schoenberg, director

Jihad for Vent and Dummy

Produced by Coulter and Star Ventriloquists

Author: Ronald Coulter and Sid Star

Jihad for Vent and Dummy is about you, the audience.  The fun and secrets of ventriloquism invite you to frolic with belief.  Expect a shocking play within a comic show.  You will experience provocative content before it is verbalized.  Is this a solo show?  Yes, but never tell my puppet partner, Sid Star, or our stagehand.

Jihad means holy war.  Jihad is always one collection of beliefs at war with a different collection of beliefs.  Apparently we're going to kill each other over these conflicting beliefs.  Jihad...  explores the process rather than the content of belief.  Here is an opportunity for personal and political discovery embracing hope.  Laughter can so do this.

Actors, ventriloquists and clergy are athletes of belief.  We have robust ability and elaborate techniques to inspire and manipulate belief.  Often this manipulation is in your best interest.  Usually it's harmless; sometimes it's not.  Jihad for Vent and Dummy suggests an alternative human dynamic that is superior to belief's dangerous conceit.  COME PLAY WITH US.

Ronald Coulter, writer/performer

Recess

Author: Una Aya Osato

During the wake of one of my closest friends, her 5-year-old daughter stood up and said: "It's ok to cry everyone, crying's ok, but it's not gonna change nothing, it's not gonna bring my mommy back."  Moved beyond tears, this got me thinking about the insight children have that we, as adults, usually fail to notice.  Young people's perspectives of the world, so often filled with compassion and different ways of understanding, are often readily written off.  This experience was the seed that grew into my one-woman show Recess.  

Having grown up attending New York City public schools and then teaching in them for several years, I have been witnessing first hand what is happening to many of our youth.  As products of "No Child Left Behind" we are telling children that their role is to listen and do well on tests; essentially to just be seen and not heard; rather than actively developing their minds and persons in order to critically participate in the world around them.  My concerns about the education system compelled me to act.  I see Recess as one mean of shedding light to these issues. Recess is an attempt to give voices to those we rarely take seriously. The show deals with how our actions as an American society affect our children and their future tomorrow. Recess examines the ways in which the violence that is occurring in the world (continuing wars; police brutality; families who are being split apart because of ICE raids; workers loosing their jobs, racism, etc) ends up affecting kids, how they see themselves and how they treat one another.

What to expect from this show: Kids. Teachers. Fun. Fast pace. All over the place. Happy times. Sad times. Silly times. Difficult questions. Imagination. (Everything a good recess has... hope to see you there!)

Una Aya Osato, writer/performer

The Surprise

Author: Martin Dockery

The Surprise is a comic, true monologue about a man exploring the expansive ruins of an ancient, powerful world as his own small world — his family, his girlfriend — is busy collapsing into a set of equally spectacular ruins.  

What exactly can we rely on in today's world with its rapidly dissolving foundations? As our nation threatens to crumble into ruin, and our sense of national identity begins to fray, we are faced with either radically accepting and reorienting, or giving ourselves over to history.

These days, particularly, we like to think we at least have our family to rely on. But whose family is truly reliable? The Surprise is the funny story of trying to keep it all together as everything falls apart.

Martin Dockery, creator/performer

Brainstorming

Author: Rory Raven

Brainstorming takes the vaudeville mind reading act of yesteryear and updates it for modern audiences.  While I stand in that tradition, I am not overshadowed by it.  I am not trying to re-create the turban-wearing, crystal-ball gazing mystic swami, but rather take some of those themes and adapt them to my own interests, and my own ends.  To see the show is to become a participant, so be prepared to have your mind read.

The show taps into some timeless concepts, exploring possibilities and potentials, asking "What if …?", which is something theater has done in every age.  People have always been intrigued and enthralled with mysteries, in whatever way you wish to interpret the word.  And besides, it's just fun — one minute you'll laugh, and the next minute you'll be wondering "How the hell did that just happen?"    

The show draws from the Victorian tradition of "parlor" or "chamber" theater, and the intimate space at the Red Room seemed like a great place to do the show.  It's very much the kind of space the show is best suited for — it all happens a few feet away, and in a minute, you might find yourself called upon to try something you didn't think was possible. (Photo credit: Samuel Cousins)

Rory Raven, writer/performer

Coffee Dad, Chicken Mom, and the Fabulous Buddha Boy

Produced by Mischief and Mayhem Theatre

Coffee Dad, Chicken Mom and the Fabulous Buddha Boi is a show about family and love and finding out that who you thought you were and who your family thinks you are may not be the same person. It is also a show about love and finding peace with yourself, where you've been and who you're becoming.

Coffee Dad, Chicken Mom and the Fabulous Buddha Boi is pertinent for an audience today or any day because there isn't a single person in the entire world who hasn't struggled with gigantic questions of self and hasn't worried or wondered how their family will react. These moments of uncertainty and the desire for support are the things that bind us together as human beings. The desire for love and acceptance and certainty extends through the hearts of every global citizen.

We have chosen to present this show because it is simple, beautiful, well written and well performed. We want to expose this gorgeous, touching play to an audience beyond our tiny sphere of Western Canada and ultimately we want to remind people that they are not alone in their struggle and no matter how dark it seems someone is on your side and someone is there, sitting in a dark kitchen, holding your hand.

Michelle Kennedy, director

The Hefner Monologues

Author: John Hefner

My show's about making a name for yourself when someone else already has. In my case, that name happens to be Hefner. And yes, I do mean THAT Hefner! I''m the black sheep of the white bunny family: the estranged Anti-Hefner, a manic, awkward geek with a tendency to flail his arms and put on impromptu stripteases set to "You Put The Lime In The Coconut!" This is not your typical "identity monologue" show. And it's all true. Even the really crazy parts.

People should see my show because it's funny, honest, and 100% wank-free. Also, because I am poor and would like to eat. Man cannot live on Hot Pockets alone!

I chose to present this show, first and foremost, to entertain people. I''ve always admired performers like Richard Pryor, John Leguizamo, and Christopher Titus: people who can make comic gold out of even the most painful and embarrassing parts of life. I wanted to tell my own story from the sorely-underrepresented awkward arms-flailing geek-boy perspective.

John Hefner, writer/performer

BAGS: Obsessions of a Hoardaholic

Author: Lee Michael Buckman

In BAGS: Obsessions of a Hoardaholic, I explore our obsessive nature by exampling my own bouts with OCD through my life. It's funny, reflective, extremely honest  and a little sad. It's an intimate piece about how you can be taken over by thoughts that attempt to run your life and my attempts to seek the roots of it to further understand myself. I also play and sing a few introspective songs on guitar.

As we  all  look deeper into ourselves to further understand who we are and the things/events that shaped us into who we've become through our triumphs and our flaws, it's important to honestly look at them without censoring or feeling that we are    wrong in anyway. In this piece I unabashedly look at them all.

At first I wrote this show to out myself as a hoarder and an obsessive because I thought it would be entertaining, but as I started to perform it, I started to get responses from people that had either been touched by this same trait, either directly or indirectly or those that had witnessed the passing of a parent. I was trying to alienate myself from people by saying  how different I am but through putting it out there honestly, I'm seeing how alike we all really are.

Lee Michael Buckman, author/performer

Dalton Trumbo's Johnny Got His Gun

Produced by Sleepless Lookout Players

Author: Bradley Rand Smith

Johnny Got His Gun is a solo show based on the classic 1939 novel by Dalton Trumbo.  It is the story of Joe Bonham, a young WWI soldier who, in his service, loses his limbs, sight, hearing and speech.  The audience witnesses his discovery of his condition, and his attempts to communicate with the outside world and retain his sanity in the face of potentially endless isolation.

The show becomes more relevant as medical technology advances in relation to the destructive potential of combat.  Even though soldiers now survive injuries that are more and more horrific, war is presented to us as a distant and abstract affair.  The protagonist in Johnny wants to confront people with his ravaged body, to show people that war has real, living consequences that cannot be swept under the rug.  This show just does that.

Revivals always carry with them the threat of obsolescence, but Johnny's immediacy was clear to me from the start.  The psychology of this soldier is timeless, and while experiencing the performance it is easy to forget the war he fought in occurred almost a century ago.  And, though the play is incredibly dark, it is nevertheless an incredibly inspiring and hopeful story, following one man's journey back from the grave to stand and fight to be heard. The text is very powerful and elicits introspection in its audience, both about war and human connection.

Ricardo Pérez-Gonzalez, performer

Hysteri-KILLY! A One Freak Show

Author: Killer Killy Dwyer

Hysteri-KILLY! is a hilarious, psychedelic, witty wet dream.  It's like if Carol Burnett, Andy Kaufman's ghost, the Spice Girls, Sigmund Freud and a banana peel all had the same best friend — that best friend is my freak show.  It's a manic-depressive, cockeyed-optimist toy train wreck, with catchy original music that will have your toes tapping, possibly turn you gay and have you leaving the theater with a life changing experience and a brand new car.  It's rock and roll meets performance art. It's super heros and super egos.  Hysteri-KILLY! Is art imitating art imitating life imitating art.

My show is pertinent to today's times because it is priced for a crappy economy...well, that AND it's a multi-personality, multi-media comment on an over medicated, over stimulated society.  It's a silly and surreal observation of ourselves, our stressed and saturated psyches, and our inner children yearning to be free from fear and failure. The audience should expect to be surprised, to laugh at inappropriate things at inappropriate times and to have their inner children experience a play date with Hyster-KILLY!

This show chose to present me.  I gave birth to it.  It owes me just like any child owes their parent.  My parents (its grandparents) don''t approve of my bastard love child and have since disowned us both.  That's how bad ass my show is.  Good show.  Good. (Pats show on head) Good.

Kelly B. Dwyer, writer/director/performer

Oens

Author: Wilson Loria

From the Age of Discovery to the effects of today's globalization, Oens portrays a disquieting ordinary man and his journey to self-realization. Bringing and mixing the past and the present together, Oens shows that "globalization" is not a recently coined word in today's vocabulary. The Portuguese suffix Ões, (the corresponding and loosely translated word in English would be "Oens") from which the title of the play is derived, is used for making nouns into the plural and the augmentative forms. Most important, it is part of the name of the 16th century Portuguese poet Luiz Vaz de Camões (Camoens in English) who wrote the most famous epic poem in the Portuguese language, The Lusiads, which describes Vasco da Gama's voyage via southern Africa to India in 1497-1498. Through music, mime and dance, Oens also enacts the eternal wish for a better world.

Oens attempts to call people's attention to some current and relevant social questions. We've unfortunately grown accustomed to being and living only in our own small "worlds." We should never let our guard down just because we have a new president elected by the majority. We must always keep questioning the establishment and, above all, our own role in today's society.

Oens causes people to think of their place both in society and life. It also attempts to show that we should not value all that paraphernalia we see on stage today. That has definitely never been the primary goal of the theater. The main element of any performance should undoubtedly be the actor on the apron of the stage. (Photo credit: Carlos Guerriero)

Wilson Loria, writer/performer

Y, marilyn unstitched

Author: Irene Glezos & Brad Calcaterra

Y, marilyn unstitched is a solo play that explores the inner landscape of a woman who was given the name Marilyn Monroe.  It's about a longing for self in a world strongly bent on defining and possessing us, a world where others are sure they know us even if we aren't sure we know ourselves.  Weaving truth with imagination '— and with liberal use of free association, alter egos, pill-induced manic episodes, and, especially, an open heart, Y follows MM as she tries to solve her own death.  We like to call the process by which we arrived at this play, and, for that matter, the playing of it:  "making proper use of the crazies."

This show is pertinent because who wouldn't want an intimate hour with Marilyn!  I would!

Y, marilyn unstitched was developed by Irene Glezos and Brad Calcaterra in an ongoing workshop called "Risk" under Brad's direction at the Sally Johnson Studio over the course of one year.  In "Risk," a group of solo performers meet on Mondays to explore their truth in front of each other.  We call it "Live Diary" or "Stand Up Drama."  Out of these improvisations, characters emerge, and stories begin to take shape. We believe that the things we want to hide from or about which we are ashamed are actually the seeds of our creativity.  The performer's improvised material is videotaped each week, then transcribed and shaped into the play.   The attempt is never to impersonate but rather to engage an archetype, and through the character and play, to find ways of telling our own truth. 

Irene Glezos, co-creator/actress