New Voices Festival 2024
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Produced by Alice Zheng, Cassandra Pires, and Sofia Farahani
Festival Production Manager, Jonathan Cestnick
With the guidance of Jennifer Tarver
February 13th-16th, 2024
Full of Honey
Visiting her brother in the hospital, Macey deals with grief and regret as her words induce recent memories of their past. Full of Honey explores the present and the unconscious, colliding through one melody and tethered relationship.
Director: Aiden Altow
Playwright: Claudia Chiodo
Rehersal Stage Manager: Jess Morcombe
Calling Stage Manager: Bella Szpala
Lyricists/Composers: Karim Butt, Aiden Altow
Dramaturge: Nicole Kleiman
Sound Designer: Anna Simmons
Lighting Designer: Alex Grozdanis
Show Producer: Sofia Farahani
Cast: Paris Sandford, Halle Tator
Under the Floodlights
Two lovers and the entity of evil. Study dates and English class. A late bus and a drug deal gone wrong. Placed in the heart of 2016, Under the Floodlights is a nostalgia-fuelled coming-of-age drama laced with poetic revelations.
Director: Alice Zheng
Playwright: Sean Chen
Stage Manager: Liam Cox
Dramaturge: Austin White
Costume Coordinator: Nala Lendor
Set/Prop Coordinator: Quỳnh Diep
Sound Designer: Anna Simmons
Lighting Designer: Alex Grozdanis
Intimacy Coordinator: Roshahn Dhoré
Fight Coordinator: Ailsa Wilson
Show Producer: Sofia Farahani
Cast: Arjun Kalra, Sam Domingues, Eddie Ally, Alex Pearce, Bo Gleave-Tan, Tara Nikravesh
Tradesmen
On lunch break in southwestern Ontario, two construction workers seek truth regarding their perceptions of masculinity in culture, society, and themselves. An excerpt from a play in development, Tradesmen, explores what defines a modern man in the internet age; strength? control? mosh style? And asks the question, “how do we find validation?
Director: Austin White
Playwright: Sebastian Reimer
Rehearsal Stage Manager: Sarah Yeoman
Calling Stage Manager: Bella Szpala
Dramaturge: Mya Wong
Lighting Designer: Maya Prashad
Show Producer: Cassandra Pires
Cast: Nolan Byrne, Carson Kroeker
Peeling a Citrus Fruit
An immigrant father and daughter try to make sense of each other using their respective understandings of the past and the present. peeling a citrus fruit is a play where the concepts of language and communication are told through the laborious fruit that is the Orange.
Director/Sound Designer: Diego O'Brien
Playwright: Nicole Kleiman
Rehearsal Stage Manager: Luis Zaldivar
Calling Stage Manager: Liam Cox
Dramaturge: Mya Wong
Set/Prop Coordinator/Lighting Designer: Alex Grozdanis
Costume Coordinator: Ailsa Wilson
Show Producer: Cassandra Pires
Cast/Cultural Consultants: Sofia Farahani, Karim Butt
Hereafter
What happens after we die? Inspired by the gravediggers from Hamlet, Hereafter is an investigative solo work about a gravedigger surviving the Black Death. Alone, with the endless task of digging, he looks for answers while grappling with the grief of the most fatal pandemic in human history.
Director/Dramaturge: Austin White
Playwright/Performer: Evelyn Gray
Rehearsal Stage Manager: Kate Chubbs
Calling Stage Manager: Bella Szpala
Lighting Designer: Niall Durcan
Show Producer: Sofia Farahani
Orca
In a waiting room, 21 years after her adoption, Paige collides with her birth mother, Louise. Orca is a play about blood, forgiveness, and unanswered questions.
Director/Set and Costume Coordinator/Lighting Designer: Naomi Kaplan
Playwright: Heather Thomas
Rehearsal Stage Manager: Sarah Yeoman
Calling Stage Manager: Liam Cox
Sound Designer: Anna Simmons
Show Producer: Sofia Farahani
Cast: Madigan Skene, Ailsa Wilson, Edan Leslie
A Christmas Choice
It’s Christmas time in New York City, and small-town girl Christina Miracle has to choose between chasing her ambition or love. Tasked by her boss to return to her hometown, Christina faces a crucial decision: will she seize her corporate dreams, or will she let love guide the way? In this excerpt of “A Christmas Choice”, the choice is now yours.
Director/Choreographer: Mya Wong
Playwright/Assistant Choreographer: Naomi Kaplan
Stage Manager: Bella Szpala
Dramaturge: Halle Tator
Music Director: Claudia Chiodo
Composer/Band: Claudia Chiodo, Hugo Huang, Dean Marcynuk
Lyricists: Naomi Kaplan, Nicole Kleiman
Costume Coordinator: Nála Lendor
Set/Prop Coordinator: Quỳnh Diep
Sound Designer: Daniel Lei
Lighting Designer: Joana Provido
Show Producer: Cassandra Pires
Cast: Paloma Stewart-Ramos, Tia Sandhu, Karim Butt, Edan Leslie, Roshahn Dhoré, Nicole Kleiman, Hannah Phillips
The Candy Lady
Four Torontonians are stranded on the subway. No one knows what happened or how long they’re going to be there. Chaos ensues, unearthing the dynamics that lie beneath our city.
Director: Cassandra Pires
Playwright: Ailsa Wilson
Rehearsal Stage Managers: Yllana Williams, Paulina Tapia
Calling Stage Manager: Liam Cox
Dramaturge: Sofia Farahani
Costume Coordinator: Hannah Dulong
Lighting Designer: Joana Provido
Sound Designer: Anna Simmons
Set/Props Coordinator: Quỳnh Diep
Fight Coordinator: Sebastian Reimer
Show Producer: Cassandra Pires
Cast/Script Consultants: Boro Milosevic, Michhelle Otubu, Tia Sandhu, Miguel Gallego Meneses