**Due to the special weather statement, Saturday’s performances have been moved inside. The new location is 1 Wiltshire Ave., Unit H. All pass/ticket holders have been sent an e-mail with a map and directions. Sunday’s performances remain outside at Earlscourt Park.**
12:45pm to 4:45pm daily
Ages: 7 to 12
For ASL vlog and additional Relaxed Performances info click here.
Forward March Festival: unDONE invites artists and audiences to let go of what has been, and redefine how we connect with each other and our community.
This year, our line-up features four new outdoor site-specific plays in development created by emerging artist companies and commissioned by Theatre Direct. The four performances take place one after the other in familiar spaces from the playground to the baseball diamond in locations around Earlscourt Park for an audience of kids between the ages of 7 – 12. Throughout the weekend, families can visit our festival hub with a chill-out zone for audience members, and take in entertainment and musical guests.
Special to this year, the shows are being offered exclusively for children. Tickets are available for each show separately on the hour starting from 1pm, or, kids can get a festival pass and travel with us from show to show, starting at 12:45pm. Parents and guardians must accompany their children to the festival, but kids will be front and centre in these exciting interactive creations.
All plays are Relaxed Performances with ASL interpretation or, for plays in ASL, with voice-over in English. There is accessible parking and washrooms available at the Joseph P. Piccininni Centre located next to Earlscourt Park. Please note that due to performances being held on outdoor surfaces including grass, dirt, and pavement, shows may not be accessible to audience members with limited mobility, or those using mobility aids. Audiences will be standing and/or seated on the ground for the duration of performances. Limited chairs will be available.
Free Tickets/Passes and Tickets/Passes by Donation are available. By selecting Tickets/Passes by Donation, you help support Theatre Direct in continuing to provide subsidized programming for young people. For questions about tickets, please contact Company Producer Madeleine Brown at madeleine@theatredirect.ca.
A Live Others Theatre Collective Production Co-Produced and Presented by Theatre Direct
HOW WE PLAY(ED) Created and Directed by Lucy Rose Coren and Rinchen Dolma
1pm daily
Featuring Co-Creator Youth Participants: Clara Dias Henriques Campelo, Giovanna de Paula Monteiro, Doruk Kolbasi, Cristina Marin, Stephanie Marin, Lucas Maciel V.N. Souza and Samuel Maciel V.N. Souza
Sound Designer: Uko Abara
Guest Director: Lisa Marie DiLiberto Indigenous Culture Consultant: Charlotte Big Canoe Accessibility Consultant: Rachael Marks ASL-English Interpreters: Timothy Keslick and Eboni Ricketts-Ewen
How We Play(ed) is a project co-created by Live Others and a group of newcomer and immigrant youth in the city of Toronto. It’s a site-specific audio experience that invites its listeners to play!
A Fox Den Collective Production Co-Produced and Presented by Theatre Direct
BENCHED Created by The Fox Den Collective Co-Directed by Jessy Ardern and Sarah Feutl
2pm daily
Featuring: Fatma Naguib and Carmen Osahor
Stage Manager: Helen Ho
Guest Director: Andrew Lamb Indigenous Culture Consultant: Charlotte Big Canoe Accessibility Consultant: Rachael Marks ASL-English Interpreters: Timothy Keslick and Eboni Ricketts-Ewen
Best friends Charlie and Zoe aren’t talking anymore, and they expect you to choose sides. In this interactive play, kids piece together the story of Charlie and Zoe’s friendship through conversations with the characters, and by following physical clues that help uncover the whole story. Can you investigate the events that led these friends apart? And can anything bring them back together again?
A Phoenix The Fire Production Co-Produced and Presented by Theatre Direct
THE GALAXY OF SITARA Created and Directed by Gaitrie Persaud-Killings
3pm daily
Featuring: Jaideep Goray and Gaitrie Persaud-Killings
Guest Director: Sehar Bhojani Indigenous Culture Consultant: Charlotte Big Canoe Accessibility Consultant: Rachael Marks ASL-English Interpreters: Amanda Hyde and Savannah Tomev
The Galaxy of Sitara is a fantasy story about a princess born Deaf only to be forced through speech therapy because it is believed that karNahlna (Hindi word: Deafness) is a curse. Sitara soon meets a strange being who shakily lifts his hands before signing to her, prompting her to go on a journey of self-discovery to find her birthright: American Sign Language. To keep her reign, Sitara must fight not only for her homeland, but also to preserve what should be her primary language.
A Sanskruti Marathe Production Co-Produced and Presented by Theatre Direct
AT THE END OF KALIYUGA Created by Sanskruti Marathe Co-Directed by Malika Daya and Sanskruti Marathe
4pm daily
Featuring: Sanskruti Marathe
Stage Manager: Sky-Ravinn Ffrench
Guest Director: Anita Majumdar Indigenous Culture Consultant: Charlotte Big Canoe Accessibility Consultant: Rachael Marks ASL-English Interpreters: Timothy Keslick and Eboni Ricketts-Ewen
At The End of Kaliyuga is about Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the preserver), and Shiva (the destroyer). These three, known as the Holy trinity of Hinduism, need to decide the fate of the Earth as we come to the end of the fourth and the final cycle (Yuga) of the Universe. Will they put an end to the planet to begin a fresh start, will humanity get a second chance to fix all the problems, or, is there a third path that the Gods will take for the sake of humanity?
Musical Guests OPÉRA QUEENS
12:45pm to 4:45pm daily
Featuring: Tanya Smania, drag opera diva (she) aka Mike Fan | 范祖铭, tenor (they) Christina Yun, soprano (she) Marianne Bendig Grandoni, mezzo (she) Thera Barclay, cover/understudy soprano (she)
The Opéra Queens will perform French, Italian, & Slavic classics from “Carmen”, “La bohème”, and more re-imagined in FULL COLOUR! You’ll see a rainbow of LGBTQ+ and BIPOC classical music artists in drag, gender-bent, and queerified. Join Tanya, Christina, & Marianne between the Forward March Festival shows in our festival hub at the Earlscourt Gazebo.
Check out highlights from last year’s festival FORWARD MARCH FESTIVAL 2022 ~ Stand in the Place Where You Live:
Forward March Festival 2023: unDONE
Theatre Direct presents:
FORWARD MARCH FESTIVAL: unDONE
Saturday March 25 and Sunday March 26, 2023
Earlscourt Park
(1200 Lansdowne Ave., Toronto)
**Due to the special weather statement, Saturday’s performances have been moved inside. The new location is 1 Wiltshire Ave., Unit H. All pass/ticket holders have been sent an e-mail with a map and directions. Sunday’s performances remain outside at Earlscourt Park.**
12:45pm to 4:45pm daily
Ages: 7 to 12
For ASL vlog and additional Relaxed Performances info click here.
Forward March Festival: unDONE invites artists and audiences to let go of what has been, and redefine how we connect with each other and our community.
This year, our line-up features four new outdoor site-specific plays in development created by emerging artist companies and commissioned by Theatre Direct. The four performances take place one after the other in familiar spaces from the playground to the baseball diamond in locations around Earlscourt Park for an audience of kids between the ages of 7 – 12. Throughout the weekend, families can visit our festival hub with a chill-out zone for audience members, and take in entertainment and musical guests.
Special to this year, the shows are being offered exclusively for children. Tickets are available for each show separately on the hour starting from 1pm, or, kids can get a festival pass and travel with us from show to show, starting at 12:45pm. Parents and guardians must accompany their children to the festival, but kids will be front and centre in these exciting interactive creations.
All plays are Relaxed Performances with ASL interpretation or, for plays in ASL, with voice-over in English. There is accessible parking and washrooms available at the Joseph P. Piccininni Centre located next to Earlscourt Park. Please note that due to performances being held on outdoor surfaces including grass, dirt, and pavement, shows may not be accessible to audience members with limited mobility, or those using mobility aids. Audiences will be standing and/or seated on the ground for the duration of performances. Limited chairs will be available.
Free Tickets/Passes and Tickets/Passes by Donation are available. By selecting Tickets/Passes by Donation, you help support Theatre Direct in continuing to provide subsidized programming for young people. For questions about tickets, please contact Company Producer Madeleine Brown at madeleine@theatredirect.ca.
A Live Others Theatre Collective Production
Co-Produced and Presented by Theatre Direct
HOW WE PLAY(ED)
Created and Directed by Lucy Rose Coren and Rinchen Dolma
1pm daily
Featuring Co-Creator Youth Participants:
Clara Dias Henriques Campelo, Giovanna de Paula Monteiro, Doruk Kolbasi, Cristina Marin, Stephanie Marin, Lucas Maciel V.N. Souza and Samuel Maciel V.N. Souza
Sound Designer: Uko Abara
Guest Director: Lisa Marie DiLiberto
Indigenous Culture Consultant: Charlotte Big Canoe
Accessibility Consultant: Rachael Marks
ASL-English Interpreters: Timothy Keslick and Eboni Ricketts-Ewen
How We Play(ed) is a project co-created by Live Others and a group of newcomer and immigrant youth in the city of Toronto. It’s a site-specific audio experience that invites its listeners to play!
A Fox Den Collective Production
Co-Produced and Presented by Theatre Direct
BENCHED
Created by The Fox Den Collective
Co-Directed by Jessy Ardern and Sarah Feutl
2pm daily
Featuring:
Fatma Naguib and Carmen Osahor
Stage Manager: Helen Ho
Guest Director: Andrew Lamb
Indigenous Culture Consultant: Charlotte Big Canoe
Accessibility Consultant: Rachael Marks
ASL-English Interpreters: Timothy Keslick and Eboni Ricketts-Ewen
Best friends Charlie and Zoe aren’t talking anymore, and they expect you to choose sides. In this interactive play, kids piece together the story of Charlie and Zoe’s friendship through conversations with the characters, and by following physical clues that help uncover the whole story. Can you investigate the events that led these friends apart? And can anything bring them back together again?
A Phoenix The Fire Production
Co-Produced and Presented by Theatre Direct
THE GALAXY OF SITARA
Created and Directed by Gaitrie Persaud-Killings
3pm daily
Featuring:
Jaideep Goray and Gaitrie Persaud-Killings
Puppet Designer: Alessio Convito
Collaborators: Sign1 News and Deaf Spectrum
Mentor: Ramesh Meyyappan
Assistant: Nadira Balchand
Guest Director: Sehar Bhojani
Indigenous Culture Consultant: Charlotte Big Canoe
Accessibility Consultant: Rachael Marks
ASL-English Interpreters: Amanda Hyde and Savannah Tomev
The Galaxy of Sitara is a fantasy story about a princess born Deaf only to be forced through speech therapy because it is believed that karNahlna (Hindi word: Deafness) is a curse. Sitara soon meets a strange being who shakily lifts his hands before signing to her, prompting her to go on a journey of self-discovery to find her birthright: American Sign Language. To keep her reign, Sitara must fight not only for her homeland, but also to preserve what should be her primary language.
A Sanskruti Marathe Production
Co-Produced and Presented by Theatre Direct
AT THE END OF KALIYUGA
Created by Sanskruti Marathe
Co-Directed by Malika Daya and Sanskruti Marathe
4pm daily
Featuring:
Sanskruti Marathe
Stage Manager: Sky-Ravinn Ffrench
Guest Director: Anita Majumdar
Indigenous Culture Consultant: Charlotte Big Canoe
Accessibility Consultant: Rachael Marks
ASL-English Interpreters: Timothy Keslick and Eboni Ricketts-Ewen
At The End of Kaliyuga is about Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the preserver), and Shiva (the destroyer). These three, known as the Holy trinity of Hinduism, need to decide the fate of the Earth as we come to the end of the fourth and the final cycle (Yuga) of the Universe. Will they put an end to the planet to begin a fresh start, will humanity get a second chance to fix all the problems, or, is there a third path that the Gods will take for the sake of humanity?
Musical Guests
OPÉRA QUEENS
12:45pm to 4:45pm daily
Featuring:
Tanya Smania, drag opera diva (she) aka Mike Fan | 范祖铭, tenor (they)
Christina Yun, soprano (she)
Marianne Bendig Grandoni, mezzo (she)
Thera Barclay, cover/understudy soprano (she)
The Opéra Queens will perform French, Italian, & Slavic classics from “Carmen”, “La bohème”, and more re-imagined in FULL COLOUR! You’ll see a rainbow of LGBTQ+ and BIPOC classical music artists in drag, gender-bent, and queerified. Join Tanya, Christina, & Marianne between the Forward March Festival shows in our festival hub at the Earlscourt Gazebo.
Check out highlights from last year’s festival FORWARD MARCH FESTIVAL 2022 ~ Stand in the Place Where You Live:
Photo Credit: Sam Polzin Photography