:::OUR MANDATE:::
UnSpun Theatre is committed to the development of original works within an artist-driven environment. We strive to provide each new work with the time, energy, and resources necessary to generate it's greatest creative potential. We at UnSpun Theatre believe that in order to develop meaningful contemporary works it is essential to place a strong emphasis on the collaborative nature of theatre.
Music
Julie Doiron, Eels, Alain Goraguer, Kate Hewlett, Katherine Alison Porter, The Northwest Division, The Postal Service, The Shins, Silver Jews, Sleater-Kinney, Christopher Stanton, Sunparlour Players, Barney Wilen...
Movies
Theatre is the new Movie.
Television
We saw one in a play once.
Books
Buffalo Roam, House of Leaves, CNIB Brochures...
Heroes
Margo Charlton and the Toronto Arts Council, Pat Bradley and the Ontario Arts Council, Richard Rose and Tarragon Theatre, Layne Coleman and Theatre Passe Muraille, Jennifer Buffett, Andy Pogson, Geoffrey Pounsett, Yvette Nolan, Ryan Roguski and Indigo Manulife, Elizabeth Dawn Snell and Artists' Play, John Boylan and The Centre for the Arts, Lou and Pauline Beagan, Melissa Moore, Craig Lauzon, UpstandingImprov, Chris Gibbs, Joanne O'Sullivan, Greg MacDonald, Ben Harris, Trish Fagan, Kate Keenan, Kyle Horton, Steven Burley, Craig Buchert, Ryan Kingston, Laurie Graham, Christian Morgan, Jenn Orpana, Angel Morgan and Greg Lanthier at The Little Space, Michelle Iaizzo, Ian Shaw, Chris Kingswell, Philip Sword, Kenton Delisle, Dave Backus and Graham Vogt, Anne Turjansky, Slauka Fodchuk and everyone at St. Vlad's, Skinny Jo Productions, Dawn Obokata, Larry Laforet and Jimmy Simon at George Brown, Jody Hewston, Martin Gero, Kurt Smeaton, Becky Johnson, Graham Wagner, Ryan V. Hays, Julie Dumais and everyone at Catch-23 Improv, Kevin Gillese, Christian McKenna, Chad Donella, Keith Barker, Harold and Nancy Gall, Genevieve Dainard, Sean Jordan, Alexis Nederhoff, Luke Allen, Travis Murphy, Dave Hayes, Caroline Saulez, Rebecca Ridell, Erin Brandenburg, Andrew Penner, Chris Peake, Brandon Enriquez, Helen Vounotripidis, Will Langstroth, Amy Levett, Linus Hand, Chris Goddard, Franco Boni, Shauna Major, Greg Poulin, Dean Bradley, Sara Teitel, Nadia Schwien, Marc Tellez, Robert Harding, Trish Lindstrom, Kaeja d'Dance, Nervemeter Productions, Crate Productions, Rosie Shaw & CanStage, Dinkus, The Remainders, The Northwest Division, Sunparlour Players, Murray Gall...
Originally called Witness Theatre, the story of UnSpun began in the winter/spring of 2001 with a group of young actors hungry to explore alternative theatrical processes. Core members Christopher Stanton, Chris Hanratty (UnSpun's Co-Artistic Directors) and Tara Beagan (now an Associate Artist with UnSpun) formed a company of creator/performers that workshopped and ultimately produced the Edmonton Fringe hit Wreck - a one-act collective creation based on a fatal subway collision in London, England in 1999.
Relocating to Toronto, UnSpun began in earnest with the production of Panhandled (February 2004), a new work by Toronto playwright Brendan Gall, and featuring Tricia Lahde, both of whom have since become Associate Artists with UnSpun.
Beagan's first play, Thy Neighbour's Wife (June 2004), was an enormous success critically, garnering rave reviews from Toronto's major weeklies. It also received three nominations for the 2005 Dora Mavor Moore Awards, and Tara Beagan was ultimately awarded the Dora for "Outstanding New Play or Musical (Independent Division)."
Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump was staged as part of the 2005 Toronto Fringe Theatre Festival. The creative team returned to the alternative creation techniques that UnSpun first used to create Wreck. Basing the process of creation primarily on the "RSVP Cycles" (or "Methode Repère") popularized by Robert Lepage, the company drew upon a variety of techniques - including improvisation, found images/text, musical composition, and written assignments - in order to create Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. It was the first UnSpun project for Kate Hewlett, now an Associate Artist.
minotaur - presented as part of the Toronto Fringe Festival this past July - was called the "scariest hour you'll spend at the Fringe" by Eye Weekly. An experiment in form and filmic theatricality, the show took audiences by surprise with its blend of Japanese-style neo-horror, traditional ghost stories, and a wry underlying sense of humour.
DON'T WAKE ME, collectively created as part of the 2006 SummerWorks festival, borrowed liberally from the imaginative realms of hard-boiled fiction, film noir, and detective comics. Following a man who attempts to hide from his blindness in the mysterious world of his dreams, DON'T WAKE ME garnered a Best Ensemble mention in Now Magazine's SummerWorks Wrap-Up.
A further investigation of Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump followed in December of 2006. A full-length re-imagining of the hit Fringe show, the collective was disassembled and put back together with Tricia Lahde and UnSpun newcomer Shira Leuchter joining the creation team and stepping into the roles originated by Kate Hewlett and Tara Beagan.
Conceived in February of 2007, The WikiPlay Project is an ongoing experiment in global collective creation - an online "wiki" that invites anyone and everyone to test the limits of dramatic collaboration.
Coming up next...
Gather your courage. UnSpun's going back to the basement... (Hallowe'en, 2007)
Patrick Beagan, Emily Boutet, Leah Simone Bowen, James Cade, John Cleland, Tim Gentle, Robert Kingston, Emily Kulasa, Shira Leuchter, Amy Levett, Natasha Martina, Alison McElwain, Megan McGuire, Mike McPhaden, Katherine Alison Porter, Lisa Stanton.
TO THE DEATH OF MY OWN FAMILY, by David L. Meth, is coming back to the city after a two week tour through four cities in India: Chennai, Bangalore, Pondicherry and Mumbai, where we had to turn away theater-goers and nearly had a riot. So we decided to do an unplanned, second performance. It was standing-room-only and standing ovations throughout the tour. Therefore, I would like to invite all to visit my web site where you can take a tour, see a slide show, and read comments from the Indian press, including Time Out Mumbai:
http://web.mac.com/dlm67
Please join us to see Farah Bala's mesmerizing performance in a one-woman show with 15 characters in an intensely dramatic non-linear drama directed by Drama Guild Member Peter Ratray, veteran of Broadway, Off-Broadway, TV and film.
TO THE DEATH OF MY OWN FAMILY is the story of an Afghan-American woman who returns to Afghanistan to help her father escape and witnesses the slaughter of her entire family. She then has to justify her journey and reclaim her citizenship during an interrogation when she returns to the United States.
The Abrons Arts Center at the Henry Street Settlement Thursday, Friday and Saturday: 7:30 Sept. 27, 28, 29; Oct. 4, 5, 6; Oct 11, 12, 13.
Group show: The Square Foot 2007 Show dates: Aug 10 to Sep 2, 2007 Opening night: Friday August 10, 2007 @ 7 pm Location: 100A Ossington Avenue, Toronto, ON (Half a block north of Queen Street West)
World Interplay is the largest international festival for playwrights aged 18-26.
Find out more: www.worldinterplay.org and www.myspace.com/worldinterplay
TO THE DEATH OF MY OWN FAMILY, by David L. Meth, is an intensely dramatic non-linear play about an Afghan-American woman who returns to Afghanistan to help her father escape and witnesses the slaughter of her entire family. She then has to justify her journey, reclaim her citizenship, and relive lives lost, during an interrogation when she returns to the United States.
TO THE DEATH OF MY OWN FAMILY is directed by Tony Award Winner Trezana Beverley, and stars Farah Bala.
Interrogators’ Voices by Susan Barrett and Zaria Griffin.
Sound Design by Helen Coleshill, courtesy of Thoughts in Grey Circles.
DAVID L. METH has been produced nationally. For more information, visit:
http://myspace.com/mysterwriter
http://web.mac.com/dlm67
Monday, April 23rd at 8PM
Bowery Poetry Club, NYC
308 Bowery (off Bleecker)
$10.00
thanks for the add, fellow theatre company! awesome things are happening... a show next december, super-fun parties, and a summer filled with exciting theatrical hijinks!
ps- questions, comments, want in on the fun? hit us up!
Come check out the monthly relaunch of Canker on Friday, March 16 at the Unit 102 Theatre. It's a BYOB (that's right, a liquor store is conveinently located right across the street) comedy and music party! It's all going down at 46 Noble St. Unit 102 at 9pm. We have an amazing immersive comedy show planned for you, all for $5! ($2 if you use the codeword "Floigle" at the door) Come check out Toronto's newest/best comedy venue! We will now be back monthly!
Featuring Comedy by: Brian Barlow Terrance Balazo Holly Prazoff + Inessa Frantowski! Luis Fernandes Tiny Tuna Theatre and more!
Music by: Maylee Todd
Plus new videos and jokes by hosts Jared Sales and Daryn McIntyre
Friday, March 16 46 Noble St. Unit 102 (One block west of Dufferin, One block north of Queen) Doors at 9/Show at 10 $5 ($2 with the codeword "Floigle")
