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On this page: Number Eleven Theatre | Stranger Theatre | A Company of Fools |
Le Petit Théâtre de l'Absolu | red red rose

Comments? strangertheatre@gmail.com

Number Eleven Theatre (Toronto) ~ "The Stolen Child"

Number Eleven is a permanent ensemble dedicated to creating original performances from text, action, story and song. The company creates theatre over time, allowing performer training research, thorough rehearsal periods, and a sustained ensemble dynamic to inform the creation of densely woven performances. Throughout all phases of work the company members, Varrick Grimes, Alex McLean, Elizabeth Rucker, and Jane Wells, with director Ker Wells, engage in a rigorous training of body and voice. Number Eleven is committed to the rich potential of a permanent ensemble, a dynamic forged both through performer training, and attention to all aspects of the company's practice, from creation to promotion, from design to construction. Based in Toronto, Number Eleven has successfully toured through Canada and the U.S., introducing the company's unique performances to fresh audiences and winning strong appreciation for its work in diverse and remote communities.

Find out more about Number 11 Theatre at www.numbereleventheatre.com

Stranger Theatre (Toronto) ~ "The World Turned Upside Down"

Stranger Theatre is an artist-run collective interested in exploring the social and political manifestations of storytelling. Using myth or literature as the springboard, we wish to tell stories in a way that invites thought while also giving delight or surprise through playful ways of telling, incorporating physical theatre, various forms of puppetry, found text and objects, mask, music, and poetry as well as original writing. Our primary focus is the creation of new pieces, adapting old texts into new forms, and producing work that uses public space in unconventional ways. Stranger Theatre was founded by Kate Cayley, Kilby Smith-McGregor, Simone Rosenberg, and Lea Ambros in 2001. The company has performed at the On The Waterfront Festival (Halifax), Rhubarb! (Toronto), SummerWorks (Toronto), the Atlantic Fringe Festival (Halifax), Groundswell (Toronto), and LadyFest Midwest (Chicago) as well as staging independent indoor and outdoor work in both Toronto and Halifax. Past work includes "East of the Sun, West of the Moon," "The Yellow Wallpaper Project," "The Clown of God," and "The Counterfeit Marquise." Currently in development: "Luz," adapted from a Jewish folktale; and "what alice found there," a multimedia reworking of "Alice in Wonderland."

Find out more about Stranger Theatre at www.strangertheatre.ca

A Company of Fools (Ottawa) ~ "Shakespeare's Interactive Circus"

In 1990 two graduates of the University of Ottawa, Margo MacDonald and Heather Jopling, set out to fulfill a dream. Rooted in the belief that Shakespeare should be seen and not read, the pair recruited almost a dozen young performers and took to the streets. Inspired by the rogue Elizabethan players that once entertained audiences outdoors at the Globe theatre, they called themselves a Company of Fools and performed for crowds on the streets of Ottawa.

Find out more about Company of Fools at www.fools.ca

Le Petit Théâtre de l'Absolu (Montreal) ~ "Birds of the Coming Storm"

Le Petit Théâtre de l'Absolu is a collective founded in 2001 by a group of young Montreal-based puppeteers and musicians. We are a puppet theatre company dedicated to producing new work on a wide range of subjects, using a variety of techniques. From intimate toy theatre to outdoor spectacle, from the cabaret stage to the streetcorner, we draw on the old techniques of puppetry to engage with the contemporary moment. Our shows use the puppet theatrum mundi to refigure the world, to turn history inside out, to lambaste the powerful and remember the forgotten. Recently, we have performed at La Semaine Mondiale de la Marionnette in Jonquiéres, the Palestinian National Theatre's International Puppet Festival in Jerusalem, New York's International Toy Theater Festival, the Rencontres Internationales du Théâtre de Papier in Troyes, France, and at Chicago's Puppetropolis festival. Le Petit Théâtre de l'Absolu performs and gives workshops in both French and English.

red red rose (Toronto) ~ "Joan"

We work through the medium of clown to push the boundaries of the audience/performer relationship, removing the fourth wall and asking both performers and audience to be in the present moment, in the room with each other. The work is script based and is driven by a physical and emotional liberty to be true to the moment, true to the world of the play and not constricted by conventions of realism or naturalism. We are interested in examining stories and works from the cannon and reviving them for a contemporary audience. The intent is not to 'modernize' them but to peel off the yellowed veneer of age that has made them 'museum pieces' and breathe life into them with a modern sense of the theatre, for a modern audience.

Find out more about red red rose at www.redredrosetheatre.com

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