Students tour independent production across Toronto parks

Fourth-year Acting students Katarina Fiallos and Robert Morrison are co-directors for the play The Zoo Story, in collaboration with A Front Company (external link) . Starring fourth-year Acting student Ben Yoganathan and Acting alum Luke Kimball, the play is performed in various parks across Toronto. In its closing weekend, it’s a great time to look into their creative process and see how the whole production came to be.

With nothing else but a goal to put on theatre this summer no matter what, co-directors Fiallos and Morrison were looking for something that was meaningful but also COVID-friendly. Zoo Story fits their criteria perfectly as it only requires two actors, takes place in a park, and centers around the two characters longing for connection. Like many student productions, rehearsals began in Fiallos’ living room and later moved outside. Most of the rehearsal process was spent dissecting the relationship between these two people because each actor had to learn both roles and understand all the mysteries within playwright Edward Albee’s writing.

As Performance students committed to live art during a pandemic, most of the team already had experience with performing and working outdoors. That being said, surprises can still spring up unexpectedly, which is exactly what happened on their opening night. Near the end of the play, both directors noticed a security guard was watching them intensely through a fence.