NEWS RELEASE
TALK IS FREE THEATRE
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Talk Is Free Theatre (TIFT) artistic producer Arkady Spivak announced today that the Barrie-based company (that is no stranger to the 416) will stage three site-specific productions in Toronto, with two occurring simultaneously in January and another later in the spring.
TIFT was last seen in Toronto in March of this year with their critically acclaimed production of David Hirson’s La Bête, staged traditionally at the Harbourfront Centre Theatre. In 2022, the company was awarded the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Production of a Musical for their roving and immersive site-specific production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
Staged inside a home in Parkdale generously provided by Robert Sirman and Denis Lefebvre, For Both Resting and Breeding (Jan. 15 to 31, 2025), by Adam Meisner, is set in the year 2150.
Humans have become gender-neutral and use the pronoun ‘ish’ to identify themselves. Two historians want to transform an old residence into a living museum commemorating millennials for the upcoming sesquicentennial. As the museum is being created, members of the group become enamoured with their gendered counterparts and eventually start to re-enact the “dangerous” behaviours of their ancestors.
The play features Maja Ardal, Amy Keating, Richard Lam, Jamie McRoberts, and Alexander Thomas; Ardal directs, with the original set design by Joe Pagnan and costumes by Laura Delchiaro.
After their sold-out run in Barrie earlier this year, TIFT will transfer Mike Bartlett’s Cock (Jan. 19 to 31, 2025) to a studio inside Carlaw Industrial Centre.
The hit comedy is about John, a gay man, who has been in a relationship with his partner for seven years. But when he meets and falls in love with a woman, he is forced to contemplate the boundaries of his identity and decide what he really wants for his future.
Jakob Ehman, Michael Torontow, Tess Benger and Kevin Bundy reprise their roles in this hilarious and touching look at the difficulties that pop up when you have a choice. Dylan Trowbridge also returns to direct; the production is designed by Kathleen Black.
In October, TIFT celebrated its 750th performance of Tales of an Urban Indian by Darrell Dennis, staged entirely on a moving bus.
The story of a contemporary Indigenous man who grew up on both the reserve and in the “big city,” this dark comedy conjures up many characters that appear in his life, all played by one actor. TIFT’s production has toured extensively across Canada and around the world, and will make its Toronto debut in the spring starring Nolan Moberly and directed by Young People’s Theatre artistic director Herbie Barnes. Tales will run May 20 to June 1, 2025. (The company previously announced that the play would also arrive in Toronto in January, but it was decided to move the run to the spring to mitigate any weather-related complications.)
In addition to using traditional theatre spaces, TIFT has been producing immersive and site-specific plays and musicals for several years now. Spivak has found the response to be so positive that the entirety of their 2024-25 Barrie season eschews traditional staging in favour of offices, homes, a backyard, and even a hotel laundry room. It is for this he decided to take three of TIFT’s recent productions to Toronto.
“Each of these plays invites audiences to partake in the complications of humanity in very different ways,” says Spivak. “Staging them site-specifically encourages people to involve themselves in these stories much more intimately than if they were on a traditional stage, providing a deeper connection to the characters and leaving them with a more memorable experience.”
TIFT’s production of For Both Resting and Breeding has toured to Australia, Chile and Argentina, while Tales of an Urban Indian has played nearly two dozen locations across Canada, the U.S. and around the globe.
“Audiences have really enjoyed being so close to the action with our previous productions of Breeding, Cock, and Tales, and we can’t wait to share that experience with Toronto theatre goers,” Spivak adds.
Prior to their runs in Toronto, both For Both Resting and Breeding and Tales of an Urban Indian will have short stays in Windsor as part of the Windsor Theatre Project (www.tift.ca/wtp), with the former running Jan. 8 to 10, 2025, and the latter Jan. 9 to 12, 2025.
Spivak is also thrilled to note that all three productions will tour to Japan in early February. TIFT’s touring initiatives endeavour to bring theatre that wouldn’t normally tour (e.g., immersive, site specific, etc.) to markets at home and abroad where audiences wouldn’t typically experience those forms of the art and to other destinations where a professional theatre ecology is highly limited or difficult to access.
For over 20 years, TIFT has specialized in unexpected, drastic reimaginings of established works, neglected classics and new creations. Founded by Spivak and colleagues, TIFT develops and produces a wide range of work from the periphery of the mainstream, emphasizing the development and production of off-centre, story-driven musicals and new types of site-specific, immersive creation, among others.
In addition to producing theatre, TIFT has developed significant service projects designed to care for artists and their well-being, including Artist BIG, ARCS, Childcare Subsidy, and Two-Way Mentorship. TIFT also expands accessibility of the art form to communities across the country and around the world through their Canadian Musical Theatre Database and ARIA Translation Glasses projects.
Tickets for the Toronto runs of all three productions can be found at www.tift.ca or by calling the box office at 705-792-1949.
Tickets to the runs of For Both Resting and Breeding and Tales of an Urban Indian in Windsor can be found at www.tift.ca/wtp or by calling the box office.
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