In an effort to deal creatively with recent massive government cutbacks to the arts, seven small Toronto theatre companies have formed a co-operative to stay alive. The well-respected Theatre Columbus has joined forces with Theatre Smith Gilmour, The Believer Project, Froth, Pochsy Productions and Volcano to form Go7, a cooperative that is offering a passport to seven shows. The seventh theatre will be a different guest company each season.

Among the productions on offer are The Betrayal, a new work from Theatre Columbus, showcasing the zaniness of two talented comic actresses Martha Ross and Leah Cherniak. Columbus also joins forces with Theatre Smith Gilmour for an adaptation of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, which is cheekily billed as a "sweet, little romantic comedy."

David Gow and his company Volcano, join forces with the more mainstream Factory Theatre for Cherry Docs, about a Jewish lawyer assigned to a Neo-Nazi defendant by Legal Aid.

And Pochsy Productions, led by a popular and deliciously evil clown played by Karen Hines, is staging a satire about a doomed, desperate world filled with despair.

-- By Mira Friedlander