By Allison Klamkin
05 Nov 2009
Toronto's Tarragon Theatre will present its annual Play Reading Week Nov. 19-28, giving writers a chance to test new plays in readings.
This year's Play Reading Week boasts nine new plays:
Thursday, Nov. 19
Beatrice Chancy by George Elliott Clarke
Directed by Richard Rose
"Beatrice, the daughter of a black slave woman and her white master, is sixteen and just returned from a convent school where she was sent 'to copy white ladies ways.' She is the apple of her father's eye until her declaration of love for a slave sparks a monstrous act."
Friday, Nov. 20
Mother of Him by Evan Placey
Directed by Kelly Straughan
"It could be a morning like any other as Brenda cooks breakfast for her two sons, but eight year-old Jason's refusing to go to school and teenager Matthew is under house arrest upstairs. As Brenda struggles for justice for her son, she learns it's the laws inside the house that matter most."
Saturday, Nov. 21
Smuggling Buddha by Nicolas Billon
Directed by Richard Rose
"When Anna asks her children, Colin and Elizabeth, to return home right away, they expect the worst. As always, animosity between the siblings quickly surfaces, but after Anna's unexpected announcement, brother and sister must face some truths that have remained obscured for years — and deal with their mother's impossible decision."
Monday, Nov. 23
Wide Awake Hearts by Brendan Gall
Directed by Richard Rose
"Wide Awake Hearts is a nightmare about love and fidelity set against the backdrop of the Toronto film industry. Four nameless characters are ripped from one scene into the next against their will and before they are ready, blurring the fine line between fiction and reality."
Tuesday, Nov. 24
Spine by Michelle D'Alessandro Hatt
Directed by Richard Rose
"A family is caught in the crossfire of gang violence after a mother and son witness a stabbing outside Christie Subway Station. As threats and fears loom large inside and outside their urban home, it is clear their lives will never be the same again."
Wednesday, Nov. 25
Carried Away on the Crest of a Wave by David Yee
Directed by Richard Rose
"Set in the years following the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, Carried Away on the Crest of a Wave is a play about causality and the interconnectedness of things. From a hitman in Bangkok, to a priest in Tamil Nadu, to a housewife in Utah, it asks what happens when the events that tie us together are the same that tear us apart."
Thursday, Nov. 26
Incendiaries by Jane Maggs
Directed by Richard Rose
"He saves her, she burns him, he plays her a song he wrote, she teaches him all humans are capable of all things. And after a life altering irrevocable act, they divide on an issue. She realizes all humans are not capable of all things at the precise moment he realizes they definitely are."
Friday, Nov. 27
The Attic Sequel by Jennifer Brewin, Leah Cherniak, Ann Marie MacDonald, Alisa Palmer and Martha Ross
Directed by Alisa Palmer
"This follow up to the acclaimed The Attic, The Pearls and Three Fine Girls opens 20 years later as the sisters reconvene for a family crisis. Jayne and Jojo will do anything to rescue Jelly, but end up rescuing themselves instead in this painfully funny look at family intimacy and the surprising truths of middle age."
Saturday, Nov. 28
Bethlehem by Aaron Bushkowsky
Directed by Richard Rose
"Ari, who needs a better job to keep his wife in money, ends up being the foreclosure specialist for a bank only to foreclose on his wife's ex-boyfriend — a man she never 'got over.' A funny, dark comedy about betrayal and interest rates."
All readings will take place in the Near Studio at 8 PM. Admission is free. For more information, call (416) 531-1827 or visit www.tarragontheatre.com.
