The Play Development Department's program features "raw talent, raw first drafts, and raw exploration of new work" in the first three weekends of December.
The series boasts playwrights from Toronto, Edmonton, Montreal and Stratford. This series of play readings is open to the public and admission is pay-what-you-can.
To reserve tickets call the box office at (416) 368-3110. All readings begin at 7 PM in the Upstairs Theatre at 26 Berkeley Street, in Toronto.
The RAW! RAW! RAW! schedule follows.
Dec. 1, Savage Brown by Jane Edmonds, directed by Gina Wilkinson and featuring Shaun Smyth as Savage Brown; Gordon Pinsent, Mike Shara, Paul Fauteux, Richard Harte, Darren Hynes, Martin Julien, Billy MacLellan, Toby Malone, Sarah Orenstein, Robert Persichini, Julien Richings, Tara Rosling, Robin Schisler and Michael Spencer-Davis. "In his youth, Michael Brown was a notorious IRA bomb-maker — until he was caught. After twelve years of forced exile in England, he returns home to Northern Ireland...but why? What is he really doing there? And will he still live up to his nickname 'Savage,' or has he truly changed?"Dec. 2, Black Mothers Don't Say I Love You, by Trey Anthony, "facilitated by Iris Turcott" and featuring Lisa Karen Cox, Starr Domingue, Ngozi Paul and Ordena Stephens. "The funny but fierce examination of one mother's unexpected love for her daughters," it "examines a family dynamic where love and forgiveness are hard won in the face of death and past transgressions. This presentation of Act One by itself will leave you wanting more."Dec. 9, Waxworks by Trina Davies, directed by Ron Jenkins and featuring Colombe Demers, Randy Hughson, Michael Spencer-Davis, Kristen Thomson and Gina Wilkinson. "1789. The edge of the French Revolution and a young Madame Tussaud (Marie Grosholz) is recalled from her post at the Palace of Versailles back to Dr. Curtius' Wax Salon in the heart of Paris. Reunited with her mother and her mentor, she is introduced to the most influential persons in Paris, including Maximilien Robespierre, who takes a particular interest in her art. As the revolution descends into shadow, Marie is forced to confront the remains of those she has befriended — whose waxen images must be set with signs that identify them as 'patriots' or 'enemies.' A dark vaudeville, Waxworks is an exploration of the tales we are told, the heroes and villains we create — and the life of an extraordinary artist who developed the first world-wide brand in entertainment history."Dec. 15-16, Scratch by Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman, directed by Ahdri Zhina Mandiela and featuring Brenda Bazinet, John Blackwood, Monica Dottor, Paul Fauteux, Amanda Leblanc and Gina Wilkinson. "A teenage girl weaves her way between two very real and opposing worlds — a longed-for first kiss and her mother's silent fatal disease. Using wickedly dark humor, Corbeil-Coleman's heroine manifests her grief with a nasty case of head lice. Scratch is as bold and brave as it is real and tender. A tremendous first draft from our youngest playwright (currently a student at the National Theatre School)."
