“Worlds of Exile,” Theatre @ York’s 2017-18 season, culminates in Christopher Marlowe’s Dido, Queen of Carthage, an epic story in an intimate and innovative new production directed by acclaimed director, dramaturg and playwright Peter Hinton.
Shadowed by war, Dido, Queen of Carthage is the original tragic love story with its hero Aeneas, the exiled prince of Troy, compelled by Fate to leave his beloved Dido, Queen of Carthage to fulfil a political destiny. Aeneas, the son of Venus, is one of the Trojans who escapes from the city after it is destroyed. In his exile he seeks refuge in Carthage. Learning of Aeneas’ experience and loss, Dido falls in love with him, only to be forsaken shortly after. Torn between her personal abandonment and national sacrifice, Dido performs an ultimate act of resistance.
Dido, Queen of Carthage is Marlowe’s first play, written when he was just 19 and still a student at Cambridge. Inspired by the fourth book of Virgil’s Aeneid, the story of Dido and Aeneas has stimulated artists for two millennia; from Ovid to Henry Purcell to modern-day science-fiction like Battlestar Galactica, with its exiled travellers seeking a prophesied new home. It isn’t hard to see the story’s appeal.
Performance Schedule: March 18 to 23 at 7:30pm
Box Office Information: Tickets are available online or over the phone 416-736-5888
Previews: $7.00 March 18 & 19
Relaxed Performance: $5.00
Thursday March 22 7:30pm
All Other Performances:
Tickets: $20.00
Student/Senior $12.00
(Group price applies when all group tickets are purchased at once for a single performance. Not available online, please phone or visit the box office)
Have a chat over delicious brunch-style foods with the Dean of the School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design, Norma Sue Fisher-Stitt. Brunch will be served from 12:00pm-2:00pm in the Junior Common Room (012) of Winters College on Thursday, November 15th 2018.
50 years since its founding, Theatre @ York opens the 2018-2019 season with the premiere of rochdale, a new play by David Yee under the direction of Nina Lee Aquino, featuring the fourth-year acting ensemble.
Opened in 1968, Rochdale College was an experiment in student-run alternative education and co-operative living. The project ultimately failed when it could not cover its financing and neighbours complained that it had become a haven for drugs and crime.
“We are delighted to open our season with a new Canadian play that embraces the same spirit of experimentation and social advocacy that guided the founding of the Department of Theatre at York 50 years ago,” commented department chair Marlis Schweitzer. David Yee and Nina Lee Aquino have collaborated on a play that not only gives voice to the youth, energy, and passion of the 1960s but also resonates with students today. We are incredibly fortunate to have such Canadian innovators kick off this season, as we reflect on the past 50 years and look ahead to the future.”
David Yee is a Canadian actor, playwright and the artistic director of fu-Gen Theatre Company. His play carried away on the crest of a wave won the 2015 Governor General Award.
Nina Lee Aquino is an award-winning director and dramaturge, and the Artistic Director of Factory Theatre. She is committed to the development of new works, and to the manifestation of interculturalism in theatre.
Performance Schedule:
7:30 p.m. on November 17, 19-23
1:00 p.m. on November 21 & 23
2 p.m. on November 24
Tickets $7- 20
Online Box Office or call 416-736-5888
We are excited to bring you a new tradition to celebrate the end of a semester, and another year. The first ever “Winters Frolic” at Winters College, with a theme of “Havana Nights”! A formal dinner party event where Cuban-inspired dinner and drinks will be served along with exciting performances by both musicians and dancers. We will be raffling away fantastic prizes, with all proceeds going towards our Winters College student scholarships and funds. Follow us on Instagram: @WintersCollege for a sneak peek of the big day and the prizes we will be raffling off!
Theatre @ York presents Middletown by Will Eno, featuring the acting students in the MFA program and directed by the esteemed Jackie Maxwell.
Lives of the inhabitants of Middletown transect in an emotional journey that takes them from the local library to outer space and beyond. The moving and funny play emerges as a meditation on loneliness, birth, death, and the anxieties of our contemporary lives.
Performance Schedule:
Thursday, January 24 7:30pm Opening
Friday, January 25 2pm & 7:30pm
Saturday, January 26, 2pm
Created and produced by undergraduate students in the Department of Theatre; this annual, student-produced fringe fest features new, original works collaborated on and created by young playwrights, devisers, designers, and directors.
Keeping the “play” in playGround, this year creators were challenged with an image inspiration along with the theme “everything but the drama…” Encouraging a plethora of passion projects, this year the festival features a wide range of genre bending works that push boundaries and take risks.
playGround runs in two series, each featuring six short works
SERIES A
Tues. Feb. 12, 7:00 pm
Wed. Feb. 13, 7:00 pm
Fri. Feb. 15, 2:00 pm
On the program:
A Friend of Dorothy
Concealer
Finger Painting
Post-Pracki
Spitting Image
The Untitled Bread Project
SERIES B
Wed. Feb. 13, 2:00 pm
Thurs. Feb. 14, 7:00 pm
Fri. Feb. 15, 7:00 pm
On the program:
A Working Class Child
Dice, Daggers, and Darkness
Let’s Have an Orgy!
Our American Dream
Piccolo’s Pasticcio
She² & He²
Admission: $7 per series.
Box Office: online or tel. 416.736.5888.
Seating is limited and performances often sell out in advance. Book early to avoid disappointment!
Theatre @ York presents Orlando by Sarah Ruhl, directed by MFA candidate Lindsay Bell and The Balcony by Jean Genet, directed by MFA candidate Margaret Legere. The two shows will be performed in repertory and feature the MFA and fourth-year actors.
Orlando is a dramatic adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s feminist classic by contemporary playwright Sarah Ruhl. It investigates the adventures of a poet who changes sex from man to woman and lives for centuries, meeting the key figures of English literary history.
The Balcony uses the setting of an unnamed city and a distant background of a revolution and counterrevolution to explore strains of power in a society. The play compelling examines the delicate equilibrium of reality and illusion.
Performance Schedule:
Orlando
Sunday, March 24 at 7:30pm (Preview)
Tuesday, March 26 at 7:30pm (Opening)
Wednesday, March 27 at 1:00pm
Friday, March 29 at 7:30pm
Saturday, March 30 at 1:00pm
The Balcony
Monday, March 25 at 7:30pm (Preview)
Wednesday, March 27 at 7:30pm (Opening)
Thursday, March 28 at 7:30pm
Friday, March 29 at 1:00pm
Saturday, March 30 at 7:30pm
Tickets $7- 20
Buy online or call 416-736-5888
Scenes by Design, the annual showcase exhibition of the Department of Theatre, offers an insider’s look at the creative work done behind the scenes before the curtain rises on a stage production.
The exhibition features original set designs and maquettes, costumes, props, scene painting, renderings, drawings and lighting design by students in the production/design area.
Exhibition Hours:
Wed. March 27: 11am – 8pm Opens with 2019/20 Season Announcement
Thur. March 28: 11am – 8pm
Fri. March 29: 11am-8pm
Admission is free and all are welcome.
Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) is a beloved feminist revisioning of two of Shakespeare’s most well-known plays, Othello and Romeo & Juliet. Written by Canadian playwright Ann-Marie MacDonald, the play explores the hypothetical question: what if Shakespeare’s tragedies were actually intended to be comedies? To learn the answer to this question, please join us November 16-23 in the Joseph G. Green Theatre to find out.
Performance Schedule:
Sat, Nov. 16 (preview 1) @ 7:30 pm
Sun. Nov. 17 (preview 2) @ 7:30 pm
Tues. Nov. 19 (Opening) @ 7:30 pm
Wed. Nov. 20 @ 1:00 pm
Wed. Nov. 20 (Relaxed Performance) @ 7:30 pm –Plan your visit
Thurs. Nov. 21@ 7:30 pm
Fri. Nov. 22 @ 1:00 pm
Fri. Nov. 22 @ 7:30pm
Sat. Nov. 23 @ 2:00 pm
Tickets $7- 20
Online Box Office or call 416-736-5888
playGround: Fringe Festival of New Plays in Development
Created and produced by undergraduate students in the Department of Theatre.
Now in its 28th season, this annual, student-produced fringe fest features new, highly original works and works-in-progress by up-and-coming playwrights, directors, designers and performers.
In keeping with the true spirit of playGround, the pieces reflect an uncurbed spirit, a humourous undertone and a risk-taking mindset.
playGround runs in two series
SERIES A
Tues. Feb. 11, 7:30 p.m. (Opening)
Wed. Feb. 12, 7:30 p.m.
Fri. Feb. 14, 1:00 p.m. (Closing)
SERIES B
Wed. Feb. 12, 1:00 pm (Opening)
Thurs. Feb. 13, 7:30 pm
Fri. Feb. 14, 7:30 pm (Closing)
Admission: $7 per series.
Box Office: online or tel. 416.736.5888.
Seating is limited and performances often sell out in advance. Book early to avoid disappointment!
Belly Dance as Mindful Movement for Stress Reduction
This movement-based workshop utilizes belly dance vocabulary designed for self-soothing. Learn movements that support the reduction of stress and anxiety symptoms. Participants will leave with applications on how stress responses can be experiences on a spectrum from hyper-arousal (feelings of overstimulation) to hypo-arousal (feelings associated with low-energy or burnout). Belly dance used as mindfulness offers gentle wavey movement designed to down-regulate physical stress responses. This workshop also combines more energizing vocabulary through shimmying and shaking as well as core engagement to support up-regulation of the nervous system, based on internal rhythm and percussion.
About the Facilitator :
Shaila is completing her Masters in Dance at York University. She concurrently training as a Dance Movement Therapist through the National Centre for Dance Therapy in Montreal. Her work focuses on belly dance practices that use sensuality as a healing tool within dance interventions. Her movement offerings look at building resiliency, decoupling stress responses and promoting body positivity. Shaila provides a unique framework that maps belly dance vocabulary for nervous-system regulation. Shaila has been an active member of the Toronto belly dancing community for over a decade, both as a performer and instructor. She currently works as a Health Educator and Training Specialist and enjoys offering students training on mental health and well-being.
Theatre @ York presents Elizabeth Rex by Timothy Findley directed by ted witzel
Timothy Findley’s Elizabeth Rex shares Good Night Desdemona’s interest in the Shakespearean canon.
Here, Findley imagines an intimate meeting between a group of players and Queen Elizabeth I, who has ordered a command performance of Much Ado About Nothing as she awaits the execution of a former lover, the Earl of Essex. With wit and poetry, Findley explores the entanglement of love, desire, and gender identity.
Performance Schedule:
Tuesday March 17th at 7:30 p.m. (Preview)
Wednesday March 18th at 1:00 p.m. (Preview)
Wednesday March 18th at 7:30 p.m. (Opening)
Thursday March 19 at 7:30 p.m. (Relaxed Performance)
Friday March 20th at 1:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Saturday March 21st at 2:00 p.m.
Saturday March 21st @ 7:30 p.m. (Closing)
Box Office Information
Previews: $7.00
All Other Performances:
Tickets: $20.00
Student: $12.00
Senior: $12.00
Groups of 10 or more: $10.00
(Group price applies when all group tickets are purchased at once for a single performance. Not available online, please phone or visit the box office)
Buy online or call 416-736-5888
Relaxed Performance: Thursday, March 19th at 7:30pm
A Relaxed performance is intended specifically to be sensitive to and accepting of audience members who may benefit from a more relaxed environment. The performance is designed to reduce anxiety and provide a safe, enjoyable experience, taking into account variable sensory, communication or learning needs and abilities. This means that there is a more casual-than-usual approach to front-of-house etiquette and we ask audience members to be aware of people’s needs to move or make involuntary noise.
Scenes by Design
The Theatre Department’s annual exhibition showcasing the work of the Design and Production area. Scenes by Design offers an insider’s look at the creative work done behind the scenes before the curtain rises on a stage production. The exhibition features original set designs and maquettes, costumes, props, scene painting, renderings, drawings and lighting design by students in the production/design area. Scenes by Design will also include the announcement of the 2020 – 2021 Theatre @ York Season.
Exhibition Hours:
Wed. March 25, 2020: 11:30 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. (Opening)
Thur. March 26, 2020: 11:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Fri. March 27, 2020: 11:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Sat. March 28, 2020: 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. (Closing)
Admission is free and all are welcome.
