Author Archives: admin

Love Letters (June 11-20, 2015)

By | | ,
Comments Off on Love Letters (June 11-20, 2015)

A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Love Letters centres on two characters who sit side by side at tables and read the notes, letters and cards – in which over nearly 50 years, they discuss their hopes and ambitions, dreams and disappointments, victories and defeats – that have passed between them throughout their separated lives.

“LOVE LETTERS is an extraordinary piece. You cannot stage a play more simply than this, and yet it’s about everything in life. First love, loss of opportunities, loss of life, loss of love…It’s a beautiful play, and all you do is speak it.” ~ Brian Dennehy, 2014

Four different couples will be on stage over nine performances, as follows:

  • Lorraine Kimsa and Michael James Burgess: Thursday June 11 at 8:00 PM and Saturday June 20 (mat).
  • Judy Gans and Roger Kell: Friday June 12 and Wednesday June 17 at 8:00 PM and Saturday June 20 at 8:00 PM.
  • Dani Holden and Michael Chodos: Saturday June 13 and Thursday June 18 at 8:00 PM.
  • Heather Goodall and Alan Washbrook: Sunday June 14 (mat) and Friday June 19 at 8:00 PM.

Special 2-for-1 offer for repeat bookings!

“… superbly crafted…  If one goes back to see the production with alternate couplings, one has the opportunity to appreciate the human capacity for soul intimacy expressed via Gurney’s fine writing…  I was thrilled and engaged by continual discovery.” ~ blogcritics.org

Harvey (May 14-23, 2015)

By | | ,
Comments Off on Harvey (May 14-23, 2015)

By Mary Chase

Big-hearted Elwood P. Dowd makes friends wherever he goes, but his social-climbing sister, Veta, has a problem with his dear friend Harvey, an invisible, six-and-a-half-foot tall white rabbit. When she tries to have Elwood committed to an institution to save the family’s reputation, a comedy of errors ensues. Mary Chase’s 1944 Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy tells the tale of an unlikely friendship and the tug-of-war between the individual and society. James Stewart starred in the original Broadway production as well as the 1950 movie version. He also repeated his stage role in London in 1975. Revived yet again on Broadway as recently as 2012, this classic comedy is as entertaining as ever. Perhaps surprisingly, Stage Centre Productions has never presented this play before. “It’s impossible not to be drawn in by Harvey’s sweet and charming nature” wrote CBC critic Joff Schmidt in October 2013. We are confident that you will agree!

Pack of Lies (March 19-28, 2015)

By | | ,
Comments Off on Pack of Lies (March 19-28, 2015)

By Hugh Whitemore

What would you do if you were asked to betray your best friends because the authorities believed them to be spies? Which is more important, loyalty to your friends or loyalty to your country? That’s the situation at the heart of this play, based on the true story of Peter and Helen Kroger who − at the height of the Cold War in England in 1961 − were found guilty of spying for the Russians and sentenced to twenty years imprisonment. Pack of Lies focuses on the moral dilemmas that devastate ordinary people when requested by the authorities to spy on their friends. First staged in 1983, the play was successful in both London and New York, and was later filmed with Ellen Burstyn and Alan Bates. The New York City Tribune described Pack of Lies as “A highly suspenseful and continuously engrossing spy thriller.” It’s a riveting and highly entertaining play for the thinking person.

Perfect Wedding (January 15-24, 2015)

By | | ,
Comments Off on Perfect Wedding (January 15-24, 2015)

By Robin Hawdon

A young bridegroom wakes on his wedding morning in his own bridal suite in a hotel not far from Toronto, with his bride-to-be about to arrive any moment, and finds a strange girl in bed beside him. What’s more, an extremely attractive girl whom, in the depths of his post stag-night hangover, he can’t remotely remember even having been introduced to. Worse, during the ensuing panic to get the stranger dressed and out of the way, the bride arrives, the girl is trapped in the bathroom, the best man pretends the hidden girl is his girlfriend, his real girlfriend has to be kept ignorant of the fact, and the hotel chamber maid gets mistaken for everybody’s girlfriend! By the time the bride’s parents and half the hotel staff get in on the act, the chaos reaches nuclear proportions! Perfect Wedding is that rare combination − a riotous comedy and a touching love story at the same time. “The play moves at the speed of light, with a riot a minute that leaves the audience crying with laughter…The perfect medicine for all those thinking about getting married,” said the Hull Daily Mail.

84 Charing Cross Road (November 20-29, 2014)

By | | ,
Comments Off on 84 Charing Cross Road (November 20-29, 2014)

In 1949, when Helene Hanff was a struggling and unsuccessful author, she started to write to Marks and Co., a London bookshop, inquiring about editions of the obscure classics and English literature she loved. Her book, 84 Charing Cross Road, first published in 1970, chronicles her twenty years of correspondence with Frank Doel, the manager of the shop. As time passed, she became intimately involved in the lives of the shop’s staff, sending them food parcels during Britain’s postwar shortages and sharing with them details of her life in Manhattan. Due mainly to financial difficulties, she put off visiting her English friends until too late; Frank Doel died in December 1968, and the bookshop eventually closed. Hanff did finally visit Charing Cross Road and the empty but still standing shop in the summer of 1971, a trip recorded in her 1973 book The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street. The 1983 play based on her letters was a great success in both London and on Broadway. Writing in the New York Daily News, Liz Smith said, “84 Charing Cross Road is a play I loved… This is really unusual theatre that will touch the heart.” We hope it will touch the hearts of our audiences, too.

Arsenic and Old Lace (October 2-11, 2014)

By | | ,
Comments Off on Arsenic and Old Lace (October 2-11, 2014)

by Joseph Kesselring

We launch Stage Centre Productions’ 38th season with one of everybody’s favourite comedies, as funny now as it was when it was first seen in 1941. Arsenic and Old Lace centres on two charming and (apparently) innocent elderly sisters, Abby and Martha Brewster, who are famous in their Brooklyn neighbourhood for their numerous acts of charity. Unfortunately, however, their charity includes poisoning lonely old men who come to their home looking for lodging! The two sisters are assisted in their crimes by their crazy nephew who believes he is Teddy Roosevelt and who frequently blasts a bugle and yells “charge” as he bounds up the stairs. Matters get complicated when a second nephew, a theatre critic, discovers the murders. In trying to explain his aunts to his new wife, he tells her: “Insanity runs in my family…. It practically gallops.” Then there’s the third nephew who has just escaped from a prison for the criminally insane… Only last year, Broadway World.com said that “The zany, madcap comedy… is one that still manages to captivate audiences today… The play is as funny as ever… leaves the audience rolling with laughter.”

Theatre Review of Taking Sides

By | |
Comments Off on Theatre Review of Taking Sides
by Mark Andrew Lawrence

“Is this a professional theatre company?”

The question was asked an audience member as we headed out for intermission at a recent performance of the play Taking Sides being presented by Stage Centre productions at York Woods Library Theatre. Her companion explained that no, it was company of amateurs. I suppose technically he was correct since these community theatre casts do not get paid for their efforts, but believe me, every moment of this production has such a professional sheen that I could understand why the patron asked the question. It is engagingly performed by a dedicated cast under the carefully controlled direction by Michael James Burgess that builds in intensity as it speeds towards the climax.

Taking sides is a powerful play by Ronald Harwood. In Germany just after the Second World War, Major Steve Arnold interrogates the famous conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler about his supposed involvement with the Nazi party. Harwood neatly sets up Major Arnold’s antipathy towards the famed conductor. Antipathy that often boils over into rage. Tony Rein gives a dazzling performance of frightening intensity as he bullies Alan Washbrook who plays the aging conductor with passion and dignity. Washbrook delivers Furtwangler’s ardent defense claiming that music can and should be a unifying force in the world, beyond politics, beyond boarders.

In an effort to counter the major’s sometimes vicious attacks, Holm Bradwell in the role of a young Lieutenant, David Wills often finds himself defending the conductor, further infuriating the Major. Hanna Peltoniemi-Fam portrays Emmi Straube -the secretary charged with transcribing the interrogation, who is mortified by the condescending way Major Arnold treats Furtwangler. She pleads with him in vain to show some respect. The Major frequently refers to the conductor as a “bandleader” and ignores her. Robert Glen appears as Helmuth Rode, a former second violinist who provides the Major with information about Furtwangler’s professional rivalries and womanizing. Molly Lubell makes the most of her brief appearance early on in the play as Tamara Sachs.

It’s a small cast in small office which lends a claustrophobic feel to the cross-examination. Karen Edgley created the sets and Cynthia Pereira provides the severe lighting. There are warning signs in the lobby advising of strong language in the play, though as the director observes in his program notes it is “no worse than one hears constantly on the streets of Toronto nowadays.” The language, mostly spewed by the American Major quickly establishes his intimidating character. Don’t be put off by it. It’s part of the fabric of fascinating play that will leave you with much to think about afterwards. And you too will marvel at the professionalism of both the cast and the production.

Taking Sides Page Demo

By | |
Comments Off on Taking Sides Page Demo
Praise for Taking Sides

[quoteRotator delay=”3″ fade=”4″ fadeout=”2″]

Click to read a review of this production

Taking Sides

Advisory: Taking Sides is set in post-World War II Germany and contains offensive language and subject matter which some may find disturbing. Discretion is strongly advised.
Directed by Michael James Burgess
Designed by Karen Edgley

The action takes place in the American Zone of occupied Berlin, in 1946…

…where the De-Nazification Tribunal has convened to take over the questioning of Wilhelm Furtwängler, one of the outstanding conductors of his time. Furtwängler was at the height of his career in 1933, just as Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. As the terrors of Nazism spread, many of Furtwängler’s colleagues fled the country but Furtwängler chose to stay. Did he stay to do as much good as possible in the face of evil, or did he stay to serve Hitler? The Tribunal’s evidence has been prepared firstly by the British, and then taken over by two groups of Americans: one in Wiesbaden which assisted in Furtwängler’s defence, the other in Berlin which helped build the case against him.

Little is known of the motives and methods of this group, which is the focus of Taking Sides. What is known is that Furtwängler was humiliated, pursued and, even after his acquittal, disinformation followed him. This may or may not have been justified – it all depends on the side you take.

[fbphotos id=506966566011557 limit=6 rand=1]
About the author

Ronald Harwood is best known for his plays for the British stage as well as the screenplays for Quartet, The Dresser and The Pianist.

He is also the author of Quartet.

Background:

Dustin Hoffman makes his directorial debut with this tale of four aging opera singers (Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly and Pauline Collins).

One of the most celebrated actors in world cinema, multiple nominee and two-time Academy Award® winner Dustin Hoffman steps behind the camera for the first time with this charming adaptation of Ronald Harwood’s eponymous play. Having played a variety of roles spanning generations, from Willy Loman in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman to Jack Crabb in Little Big Man, it’s fitting that Hoffman’s first effort as director addresses the theme of aging, and does so with grace, gusto and wonderfully wry humour.

Quartet tells the story of retired opera singers and lifelong chums Wilf (Billy Connolly) and Reggie (Tom Courtenay) who, together with their former colleague Cissy (Pauline Collins), reside in the Beecham House retirement home. No ordinary residence, Beecham is host to an entirely musical clientele, from orchestra members to operatic luminaries. Each year on Giuseppe Verdi’s birthday, the residents arrange a concert to raise funds for their home. It is usually a smooth-running, perfectly pleasant event, evoking warm memories of old times and grand traditions. Enter stage right Jean (Maggie Smith), Reggie’s ex and the fourth, most famous member of the former quartet. Having recently fallen on hard times, the aged diva checks into Beecham, and it’s not long until long-buried grievances rise to the surface, rivalries resume, and plans begin to fall apart. Reconciliation is not on the program, but the show must go on — right?

Under Hoffman’s affectionate and attentive gaze, these marvellous veteran actors shine. Connolly is as wise-cracking and boisterous as ever, while Smith is divine as a charismatic old tigress who can make one wither with the slightest glance. The music enchants and the banter is steady and playful. Beneath all the tensions and the fun there is a quiet fire, an urge to feel alive again, to use art as a way of raging against the dying of the light. This is a sweet, delightful and moving film—and an auspicious debut.

[fbphotos id=506966566011557 limit=6 rand=1]
Special Features
Click the thumbnails below to wach our promotional videos
**The first video contains Nazi imagery and sounds. View an edited version instead.

Which side would you choose?Time Lapse of Set Build

View our gallery of rehearsal photos for Taking Sides