OBSIDIAN THEATRE 2017-2018 - SEASON BROCHURE - OBSIDIAN - Obsidian Theatre Company
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OBSIDIAN
OBSIDIAN THEATRE
2017-2018
SEASON BROCHURE
Every year it gets more complex to
write these notes. It can feel reductive ARTISTIC
to simply extol “what’s on”, or to recycle
past thoughts. However it is clear to me DIRECTOR’S
that the power of what Obsidian does is
often found in the people that are deeply
moved by a production or a theatre artist
NOTES
who has made a career step forward. Those
moments along with (our secret passion)
98.7 keep us grooving into this new season.
So stop by the office, listen to a few tunes,
and let’s talk about how Obsidian can be a
part of your artistic journey.
Proud to support the
Obsidian Theatre Company. Philip Akin
Artistic Director
We are working together to make
a difference in our communities.
®
The TD logo and other trade-marks are the property of The Toronto-Dominion Bank. M05234 (0314)
Amanda’s kinetic political script gives
voice to black women who support their AKI STUDIO
men and live with a ride-or-die philosophy.
Set in contemporary Toronto, as well as 585 DUNDAS ST. E.
during the black civil rights movement,
the play intersects these shifts in time
with a prison waiting room, where the OCT 14 - NOV 5 2017
women are forever waiting.
Cast Creative Team
Peter Bailey Set & Props Joanna Yu
Designer
Shakura Dickson
Costume Designer Rachel Forbes
Virgilia Griffith
Ryan Rosery Lighting Designer Kaitlin Hickey
Ordena Stephens-Thompson Sound Designer Verne Good
Choreographer Jasmyn Fyffe
Tickets Dramaturge Marjorie Chan
Stage Manager Neha Ross
416.531.1402
Production Laura Warren
www.nativeearth.ca/otherside/ Manager
App. Stage Logan Raju Cracknell
Manager
ASL Deaf-Interpreted Performance available:
Friday October 20th at 8:00 PM.
Deaf Community Consultant
Symara Bonner
Deaf Interpreters ASL/English Interpreters
Samreen Aziz Tara Lee Everett
Charlene Malone Erin Fremlin
The Shaw Festival in association with Obsidian Theatre,
Presented by The Segal Centre in association with
Black Theatre Workshop
Our multi-award winning production of Athol Fugards seminal and riveting
work “Master Harold”… and the Boys goes on tour this season with runs in
Montreal and Buffalo.
Port Elizabeth, South Africa — 1950.
In a tea-shop owned by his parents,
THE SEGAL CENTRE
Montreal, QC
Harold does homework while two black
men rehearse ballroom dancing. Hally
and the men, who have long worked
JAN 21 - FEB 15 2018
for his family, recall fond memories of Tickets:
times spent together as the young boy 1.519.739.9340
www.segalcentre.org
escaped his family life. But when news
comes that the boy’s father is returning
home, the personal becomes political. THE SHEA CENTRE
First produced in 1982, the play was Buffalo, NY
initially banned in South Africa and has
since become an enduring, modern FEB 15 - FEB 18 2018
classic that continues to speak to
Tickets:
inequality and injustice. 1.716.847.0850
www.sheas.org/710main/
Directed by Philip Akin
Cast Creative Team
James Daly Set & Costume Peter Hartwell
Designer
Allan Louis
Lighting Designer Kevin Lamotte
André Sills Dance Sequence by Valerie Moore
Stage Manager Beatrice Campbell
Asst. Stage Sara Allison
Manager
Technical Director Anrita Petraroia
Asst. Lighting Chris Malkowski
Designer
Voice and Dialect Jane Gooderham
"Master Harold"...and the Boys is Coach
presented by special arrangement
with SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. Producer Natalie Ackers
Obsidian is proud to announce
the Canadian Premiere of British
BERKELEY STREET
Playwright debbie tucker green’s THEATRE - UPSTAIRS
remarkable work hang. Co-Directed
by Philip Akin and multi-Dora-nominated
choreographer Kimberley Rampersad,
26 BERKELEY ST.
hang is a powerfully compelling play
that brings us into the heart of a
woman’s unthinkable decision.
FEB 6 - FEB 25 2018
Co-Directed by Philip Akin &
Kimberley Rampersad
Cast Creative Team
Sarah Afful Set & Lighting Steve Lucas
Designer
Vladimir Alexis
Costume Designer Ming Wong
Zoé Doyle
Sound Designer Chris Stanton
Stage Manager Emilie Aubin
Tickets
Production Rebecca Vandevelde
416.368.3110 Manager
www.canadianstage.com/online/hang Prop Master David Hoekstra
Head of Wardrobe Natalie Voorn
hang
Auditing Director Carey Nicholson
Auditing Director Julie Lumsden*
by debbie tucker green
*Part of Creative Manitoba’s Careers in the
ARTS Youth Mentorship Program
A NEW INITIATIVE FROM OBSIDIAN THEATRE
PLAY & ARTIST DEVELOPMENT Darktown
It always amazes me how artistic
Playwrights Unit Associates
vision can morph and shift and
Obsidian’s Playwrights Unit is year-long 2017-2018 Associates bring ideas into focus. I often
intensive program that takes gifted Black talk about how Obsidian exists
theatre creators from a variety of experi- Assistant Director Tawiah M’Carthy to help develop and provide
ence levels and backgrounds. The Unit Neil Munro Intern Director opportunities for theatre artists
works with the company dramaturge to Shaw Festival, 2018 Season and this season we are diving
create finished drafts of new plays that
reflect and refract the Black experience Assistant Director Amanda Cordner deeper to make this an even
in Canada and beyond. Other Side of the Game bigger part of what we do. This
multi-pronged approach to
The Playwrights for 2017-2018 are: Factory Foreman Kwaku Okyere
networking for young-in-craft
Fatuma Adar Assistant Dramaturge Myekah Payne artists, sponsorship support
Intisar Awisse Obsidian Theatre Company for other Black theatres and
Dainty Smith an exploration into movement
creation and theatre, will all be
Obsidian welcomes our under the Darktown banner.
2017-18 Ontario Arts Council
Playwright-in-Residence,
Philip Akin
Kanika Ambrose Artistic Director
Kanika is a Toronto-based playwright.
Her short plays My Umm Hmm, Sleep
Country, and Aprés, have been produced In The Continuum Sponsored through Darktown with
in Toronto festivals including Paprika By Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter additional support from the National
Festival, and rock.paper.sistahz! This Theatre School of Canada
year, she has been featured as one of Workshopped and Produced by
Cahoots Theatre Company's 30 for 30 Black iNK Collective
theatremakers and is working on a Black iNK Collective, created by Natasha Mumba and Rebecca Gibian. Black iNK
new play in their Hot House. Kanika is
Collective seeks to harbour work by voices that may not always get a chance to
grateful to the Ontario Arts Council for
the opportunity to be Obsidian Theatre be heard, and propel new artists as well as lesser-known works into the community.
Company's 2017/2018 Playwright-in-
Residence.
BLACK ties
Monday, November 27th, 2017
6:00PM
The Cabaret – Buddies in Bad Times Theatre
A free event for young-in-craft Black theatre makers to engage with a panel of
senior artists over food and drink.
See what Darktown is up to year-round at obsidiantheatre.com/season/darktown/
OBSIDIAN
THEATRE
COMPANY
OBSIDIAN THEATRE PUBLIC RELATIONS BOARD OF DIRECTORS FOUNDING MEMBERS
For 17 years, Obsidian has been leading Flip Publicity Carrie Sager Harmony Cohen Susan Coleman Awaovieyi Agie Sandi Ross
culturally specific work in Canada. Our Other Side of the Game Chair Director Philip Akin Alison Sealy-Smith
mission has been to produce plays from Artistic Director Founding Artistic Director
McDowall & Chris McDowall Walter Gibbons Greg Holness
a world-wide canon focusing primarily, but Associates Treasurer Director Ardon Bess Djanet Sears
not exclusively, on works of highly acclaimed hang David Collins Satori Shakoor
Camille Isaacs Bev Salmon
Black playwrights; provides artistic support Roy Lewis Tricia Williams
Secretary Director
and promote the development of work by GRAPHIC DESIGNER Yanna McIntosh
Black theatre makers. Jean-Jacques
Erika Madsen Rousseau Diane Roberts
STAFF Past Chair Kim Roberts
PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS
Artistic Director Philip Akin Cesar Ghisilieri Obsidian staff photo, CONTACT
General Manager Michael Sinclair AD photo, hang
Obsidian Theatre Company
/ObsidianTheatreCompany
Producer David Cooper “Master Harold”...and 1089 Dundas Street East
Luke Reece
the Boys Toronto, ON M4M 1R9 @obsidiantheatre
Play Development Mel Hague
Coordinator Dhalia Katz Other Side of the Game Phone: 416.463.8444
office@obsidiantheatre.com
www.obsidiantheatre.com
Obsidian Theatre is a member of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres and theToronto Alliance for
the Performing Arts and engages, under the terms of the Canadian Theatre Agreement, professional artists who
are members of Canadian Actors Equity Association as well as designers under Associated Designers of Canada.
OBSIDIAN SPONSORS OBSIDIAN DONORS
Rainbow Sheen Red Mahogany Black Glass
Season Sponsor $1000+ $100-$249 up to $99
Joan Boxer Diana Abraham Henri Fiks
Astrid Janson Marguerite Alfred Nancy Lefeaver
Jefferson & Sally Mappin Jim Bartley Kenneth Pearl
Professor J.W. Michael & Harmony Cohen Tanisha Taitt in Memory
Dr. Edith Lorimer Yolanda Ferrato of Carlene Grant
Barbara Fingerote Anonymous
Gold Sheen
$500-$999 Kerene Harvey Anonymous
Sascha Cole & Michael Jon Kaplan
Collinge Maria Maksymiw
Supporters Kamala-Jean Gopie Grecia Mayers
Kevin Hanchard Derek Miller
Mary McDougall Maude Sonya Popovich
Ellen Wallace Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Carol Rowntree
Silver Sheen
$250-$499 Bev Salmon
Alicia Jeffery & Neil Foster Leslie Sanders
Larry Lubin L.A. Stokell In Memory of
Vince Dawson
Leslie Rivers & Greg Holness
Dennis Thomson and
Burgundy Asset Management
Leo Maloney
Anonymous
Randolf Williams
Hersh Zeifman
Partners
WANT TO HELP?
As we venture into our 17th season, Obsidian Associates & Darktown
with the aim to spread our reach farther initiatives. We will continue to be a
than ever, your support is necessary. home for Black artists to nurture,
Our resilience as a company is fueled discover and develop their craft,
Black iNK by our donors and the talented artists with the help from your donations.
Collective we work with. Despite a loss of funding
for our Mentor/Apprentice Program, Donations can be made online at
which saw over 60 non-performance www.canadahelps.org
based theatre artists take the first steps
into their careers, we bring to life our
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