life with more cowbell

I think I can safely say that I Fringed to the max this past Friday/weekend (for me, anyway – my limit is 3 in one day) – and I’m possibly even Fringed out.

Friday, July 15 – Headscarf and the Angry Bitch, a one-woman show created and performed by Zehra Fazal (who hails from Washington, D.C.). So much irreverent awesomeness – and educational too. And just when I thought character Zed Headscarf couldn’t get any awesomer, it turns out she’s a lesbian! Fazal takes us on an entertaining ride with amazing energy and frankness.

Saturday, July 16 – Finally: An Epic Cycle, by Sarah Cody (who also plays our intrepid heroine), directed by Joanne Williams, and featuring actors Cassie Muise, Luke Marty, Derek Perks and Michael Rode, takes the audience on a flawed hero’s journey as she and her roommate search for lost hockey tickets. And they’re not just any hockey tickets – they’re for the Stanley Cup Finals, where the Toronto Maple Leafs are playing. Finally, I saw this play at its closing performance. Lots of fun and nicely cast, with stand-out performances from Marty and Perks.

Wishes Are Horses, written and directed by Peter Bloch-Hansen (who is also one of the two multi-tasking actors) is a stage adaptation of a short story. We see the farcical aftermath when a physicist’s (Steve Flett) theory that the changing nature of the earth makes it possible to manifest wishes becomes public. His and his wife’s (Tina Sterling) lives are turned upside down when he’s fired from his job at the university and they are placed under house arrest by two FBI agents (Leeman Kessler is the other multi-tasking actor). Excellent ensemble and a trippy 50s design sensibility.

Shotgun Wedding, by Leonard Cervantes and directed by Catherine Hernandez, a 90s R&B mix tape musical, is the result of Cervantes wanting to “write a play that made [him] grin like an idiot,” and bring back feelings of a fast-beating heart and butterfly-filled stomach – memories of a time and place with friends and music. This play nails it and then some – and I was grinning like an idiot too. An energetic young cast (Belinda Corpuz, Richie Guzman, Tony Ofori, Arlene Paculan, Mickey Rodriguez and Jeff Yung) sing, dance and act the story of a group of Filipino friends at their friend’s debut – and the celebration takes a turn when it’s revealed that she’s pregnant and her love-sick escort is not the father. Loads of fun and excellent 90s music – I just love those R&B harmonies! And Arlene was particularly adorable in overalls.

Sunday, July 17 – Last day of Fringe (well, Fringe proper – there’s still The Best of Fringe to come), I started my day with a late matinée of Queer Bathroom Monologues, which was doing double-duty on their final day at the Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace, as they were the Paton’s pick for that venue. This verbatim play, directed by Megan Watson, was inspired by author/playwright Sheila Cavanagh’s book Queering Bathrooms, and features actors Hallie Burt, Tyson James and Chy Ryan Spain, who all play multiple LGBTQ characters speaking of their experiences in public washrooms. The script is both fun and touching, using scatological humour, movement and personal storytelling to present the stories of people who just want to be able to use the bathroom in peace and comfort – like everyone else. Excellent performances from the three actors.

We Few They Many is one of the G20-themed pieces in Fringe this year. Written and directed by Kat Edwards, this is the story of the Toronto Mobilization Group, a group of young people who work to facilitate and organize protest groups in the city – and their experience on the weekend of the 2010 G20 in Toronto. Amidst the rioting and mayhem that ensues, some of their group are arrested and detained at the Eastern Avenue detention centre, all the while dealing with individual personal drama, a headline-seeking tabloid newspaper reporter and an informant in their midst. Nice work by this young ensemble cast: Mitchell Court, Anthony Gerbrandt, Rebecca Perry, Tennille Read, Harmonie Tower and Andrew Young.

Swoon! got an extra performance on Sunday as the Patron’s pick for the Factory Theatre Mainspace. Written by the ensemble, with work by Jordan Tannahill, Jason Maghanoy (who also directs), Haley McGee, Ryan Griffith, Darrah Teitel and Alisa Palmer, this comedy drama is about falling in love, out of love and trying to stay in love – told with short scenes, monologue, movement and music. The marvelous and sexy cast includes Andrew Church, Brandon Coffey, Sochi Fried, Nicki Gallo, Darrel Gamotin, Adrienne Kress, Jajube Mandiela, Chris Mitchell, Jessica Moss, Paul Robinson and Aimee Roy (in the rush going from one show to another, I didn’t get a program for this – and it appears that the cast list included in the Fringe program and online had changed – so I have one extra woman listed here). Sexy, fun and heartbreaking, among my favourite moments were a lesbian talking about her struggles to reconnect with her partner as they settle into domestic middle-age, and the moment of calm and peace found with a partner as described by one of the young men.

Best of the Fringe is coming up this week at the Toronto Centre for the Arts. Congrats to Kim’s Convenience and Remember, Maggy? – among others – for getting an extra run. See the full program at: http://www.tocentre.com/studio/fringe

p.s. – As I mentioned, I also attended the SummerWorks fundraiser reading of Catherine Frid’s play Homegrown (on Friday night, after I saw Headscarf). The evening was well-attended (I bumped into a several folks from Alumnae there) and I was very happy to hear that, at last count, 14 cities were participating in the simultaneous reading to help SummerWorks make up for their lost federal funding.