Play Reading Week
Each year, the Tarragon invites six writers into its Playwrights Unit, where, with the support of artistic director Richard Rose and literary manager Andrea Romaldi, they work to develop a new play. After the first draft is read by professional actors in January, quarterly meetings follow where successive drafts are read by fellow unit members. Each playwright has the opportunity to hear his/her script read aloud several times, and receive constructive feedback following the reading from fellow writers as well as the artistic director and literary manager. Our annual Play Reading Week takes place in November or December of each year. Here, each play from the unit receives a public reading by professional actors.
Play Reading Week 2011
It’s that time of year again: Tarragon’s annual Play Reading Week will run from November 14 to 20, 2011 in our upstairs studios. This is your opportunity to hear brand new plays from some of Canada’s most promising artists.
All readings will take place in the upstairs studios at 8 pm, except Sunday’s reading which takes place at 2:30pm.
Admission is free, and no reservations are taken.
For more information, please contact our box office at 416.531.1827.
The Angel's Cradle
The universal bond between mother and child is printed in our genes and tattooed on our hearts. As a ghastly death is investigated in Canada, and as a trail of abandoned children is traced through Europe, The Angel's Cradle explores what our myths of motherhood reveal about us all.
Everyday Neurotics
Six determined lost souls live communally and practice therapy together. Driven by the best of intentions, they face Paulo Freire's perennial question: "What if we discover that our present way of life is irreconcilable with our vocation to become fully human?" Inspired by real events, Everyday Neurotics celebrates and mourns the optimistic experiment that took place in Toronto's Annex from 1966 to 1981.
Hangman
In a nineteenth century town ruptured and scarred by the effects of coal mining, a young man is hanged but does not die. Hangman traces the effects of this event on the town's psyche, and struggles with the violence that comes with keeping a community together and building a new world.
Aftershock
First you revere it, then you want to destroy it.
When Anna returns to her trailer home after an "Extreme Makeover", she quickly discovers the ugly side of beauty. Her transformation ignites a torrent of consequences and she is forced to take drastic action to damage the repairs in order repair the damage.
Swallow
A junior hockey coach's past and present collide after his mother dies. Now the gloves are off - and some secrets just can't stay on the ice.
carried away on
the crest of a wave
Set in the years following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, carried away on the crest of a wave is a play about causality and the interconnectedness of things. From an escort in Khao Lak, to a priest in Tamil Nadu, to a housewife in Utah, it asks, "What happens when the events that tie us together are the same that tear us apart?"