Buddies in Bad Times is pleased to announce a season of new queer Canadian theatre. It is a season that empowers the individual as an agent of social change. It is a season that gives voice to perspectives that would otherwise not be heard. It is a season of deeply personal stories that challenge our assumptions around sexuality, gender, culture, nationhood, class, and race from some of our country’s most venerated artists and a few fresh voices. It is a season that reaffirms Buddies as an important source of solidarity and understanding for our city.
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre presents
OBAABERIMA
September 15 – October 7, 2012
created and performed by Tawiah M’carthy
directed by Evalyn Parry
live music by Kobena Aquaa-Harrison
Imprisoned in Canada for committing a violent crime, a young man from Ghana tells his cellmates a story on the eve of his release. Although there is great risk in sharing his tale, he must tell it to be truly free. Through storytelling, dance, and live music, Obaaberima chronicles a young African-Canadian’s journey across continents, genders, races, and sexualities.
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre proudly welcomes
a Studio 180 Theatre production
THE NORMAL HEART
October 19 – November 18, 2012
by Larry Kramer
directed by Joel Greenberg
starring John Bourgeois, Mark Crawford, Paul Essiembre, Ryan Kelly, Mark McGrinder, Jeff Miller, Sarah Orenstein, Jonathan Seinen and Jonathan Wilson
Larry Kramer’s landmark play chronicles the rise of the AIDS crisis in New York City as seen through the eyes of writer/activist Ned Weeks, the gay Jewish founder of a prominent HIV advocacy group. The Normal Heart‘s political and sexual polemics polarized the gay community when it was first performed in 1985. It has since been recognized as an important document of gay history and is widely considered to be one of the most significant plays of the 20th century.
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre presents
THE 34TH RHUBARB FESTIVAL
RAW. RADICAL. PERFORMANCE.
February 20 – March 3, 2013
Festival Director Laura Nanni
For two weeks, hundreds of local and international artists transform Buddies into a hotbed of creativity and experimentation, sharing new ideas in contemporary theatre, performance art, dance, and music with adventure-loving audiences.
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre presents
ARIGATO, TOKYO
March 16 – April 14, 2013
by Daniel MacIvor
directed by Brendan Healy
starring Michael Dufays, Cara Gee, Tyson James and David Storch
One of our country’s most distinct and celebrated writers pens a darkly poetic love letter to love itself. From the underground nightclubs of Tokyo to the hallowed stages of Noh Theatre, a visiting Canadian author is pulled into a world of obsession, sex, and longing. The award-winning creative team behind Blastedand The Maids brings to life this thoughtful meditation on the many meanings of love and our place in it.
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre proudly welcomes
a Cabaret Company production
A FEW BRITTLE LEAVES
April 24 – May 5, 2013
written and directed by Sky Gilbert
starring Gavin Crawford and Edward Roy
Veteran actors Edward Roy and Gavin Crawford play a pair of spinster sisters who, through a series of touching and comedic disasters, are forced to deal with the question: how does one age gracefully? Perennial provocateur Sky Gilbert returns to Buddies with this gender-bending dramatic comedy.
Ecce Homo Theatre in association with
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre presents
OF A MONSTROUS CHILD:
A GAGA MUSICAL
May 14 – 26, 2013
written and directed by Alistair Newton
starring Bruce Dow as Leigh Bowery and Kimberly Persona as Lady Gaga
with Tyson James and Chy Ryan Spain
Performance legend Leigh Bowery hosts an irreverent musical cabaret devoted to of one of our most enigmatic and polarizing pop stars, Lady Gaga. Featuring a collection of the art world’s greatest icons, this “dance floor dialectic” celebrates the place where high culture hooks up with low art. Brought to you by queer trailblazers Ecce Homo (Alistair Newton and Matt Jackson).