welcome!

Andrea Donaldson is Tarragon Theatre’s Assistant Artistic Director. At Tarragon, Andrea has directed numerous workshops as well as Erin Shields’ Soliciting Temptation in the 2013/2014 season. She is the co-facilitator of the Go Deeper Pass. Outside of Tarragon, directing credits include the following Dora-nominated projects: The Atomic Weight of Happiness (Hub 14, The Loop Theatre & UNO Festival), Montparnasse (Theatre Passe Muraille), Offensive Fouls (Theatre Direct), The Unfortunate Misadventures of Masha Galinski (FemFest, UNO Festival,Factory Theatre, Diesel Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace).  Andrea has directed Tyumen, Then at the VECC, The Young Company at The Blyth Festival, Howard Barker’s The Possibilities (SummerWorks), Rob Baker’s Crack (Rhubarb Festival & The Office in Vancouver), as well as her own play Garden (Rhubarb Festival). Andrea trained at the Stratford Festival in the Michael Langham Workshop in Classical Direction, with the SITI Company in NYC, attended Peter Hinton’s Directors’ Masterclass at Magnetic North, and is a graduate of the School for Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University and Toronto’s Claude Watson School for the Arts. Andrea was honoured with Stratford’s Jean Gascon Award for Direction, has been nominated for the John Hirsch Directing Award (2008 & 2011) and has received a Dora Award for Outstanding Performance and Outstanding Production for performing in Theatre Direct’s URGE project And By the Way, Miss. Upcoming: A Glimpse of Me with SPiLL Propogation in Gatineau, Mistatim with Red Sky Performance, New Words Festival at the National Theatre School of Canada, and Quiver at Theatre Aquarius. Outside of Tarragon, Andrea is also the Program Director for Nightwood Theatre’s Write From the Hip.

Tyumen, Then in Vancouver July 21-28, 2012

Specially selected by The Neanderthal Festival as the National Production, Tyumen, Then will have six performances at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre’s VanCity Culture Lab.

 

Tyumen, Then

By: Adam Underwood

Directed by: Andrea Donaldson

Starring: Adam Lazarus, Kevin MacDonald & Lyon Smith

Set & Costume Design by: Jung-Hye Kim

Sound & Lighting Design by: Verne Good

Stage Managed by: Danielle Bourgon

July 4^th, 1941: Trapped in the boxcar of a motionless train, somewhere between Moscow and Siberia, two confined soldiers guard the rousing corpse of Vladimir Lenin. Join these award-winning Toronto & Vancouver theatre artists for Adam Underwood’s seriously unhinged satire about ideology, war, and the quest for survival.

A year after riveting audiences in Toronto, Adam Lazarus, Lyon Smith, and multiple Jessie-nominated actor Kevin MacDonald reunite in Tyumen, Then for Vancouver audiences. Andrea Donaldson, fresh off her directing hot streak of Dora nominated projects Montparnasse and The Atomic Weight of Happiness and assisting at The Stratford Shakespeare Festival, directs with in her vivid and precise signature style with beloved designers Jung-Hye Kim and Verne Good.

“One of the year’s must-sees.” The Torontoist

“A strong cast, inventive directing and hysterical one-liners keep the action rolling through shocking twists and disturbing turns.” NOW Magazine

“The play is a (sickening) riot.” Rhymes with Dramaturge

 

Show Dates & Times:

Saturday July 21st @ 7pm

Sunday July 22nd @ 7:30pm (*pay what you can performance, cash only)

Wednesday July 25th @ 7:30pm

Thursday July 26th @ 8:15pm

Friday July 27th @ 10:30pm

Saturday July 28th @ 8:15pm

At the Vancouver East Cultural Centre – VanCity Culture Lab (1895 Venables Street)

 

Ticket Information:

Buy Online at: www.thecultch.com

Purchase by phone through The Cultch Box Office: 604.251.1363

All tickets: $14 + service charge, or with passes available through The Cultch Box Office

More show info at www.thal.ca

Directors Lab North

Calling all directors!

This year’s Directors Lab North Application is up on the website: http://www.directorslabnorth.com

As Artistic Associate of this year’s lab, I urge you to apply.

Best,

Andrea

Atomic Closes (and will head to Victoria, BC in the Spring!)

Thanks to all who made our Atomic Weight of Happiness production at Theatre Direct such a success… We’ll be back in the spring (on the west coast)!

The Atomic Weight of Happiness Returns!

The Atomic Weight of Happiness

November 19 – 27, 2011

Photo by Lindsay Anne Black
Outstanding Dance Production, 2011 Dora Award Nominee

Bicycle-Powered Dance Theatre!

The Atomic Weight of Happiness
A production of Stand Up Dance 
Created by Meagan O’Shea & Andrea Donaldson
Performed by Meagan O’Shea
Designed by Lindsay Anne Black
Lighting by Michelle Ramsay

As a dancer born with 12 toes, Meagan O’Shea has always had to acknowledge her inner outcast. In The Atomic Weight of Happiness, she involves her audience in an hour-long experiment to arrest global warming; dissect, identify and measure the ingredients of each human emotion. Meagan O’ Shea is an engaging dance artist who has created a unique, funny and quirky  eco-inspired performance piece that weaves compelling dance and text.

“ Uplifting, energetic and totally out of the ordinary, Meagan O’Shea creates a highly amusing and unconventional theatre/dance performance that is bound to intrigue. “ -Theatre Mania

“This one of the most energetic and creative performances I’ve ever seen. O’Shea gets the audience completely involved in the work (we are instructed to laugh when she laughs as she peddles like a maniac).” -Theatre Mania

Recommended for ages 8+

Public performances
Saturday, November 19, 8:00 PM
Sunday, November 20, 2:00 PM
Saturday, November 26, 8:00 PM
Sunday, November 27, 2:00 PM

School performances
November 21 – 25
Daylong theatre and education programs available

John Hirsch Directing Award Nomination!

For the second time, I’ve been nominated for the John Hirsch Directing Award through the Ontario Arts Council! I think that earns me a glass of wine tonight…

SPiLL

Going back to Ottawa next week for another intense workshop of the SPiLL project – fusing ASL, LSQ and English into a fully multi-lingual Deaf/hearing performance!

Sleeptalker

Thursday, July 28th, 8.00 pm

At a time of great change in America the 40 year-old Dion McGregor worked as a lyricist who, with his creative partner Michael Barr, wrote songs that were recorded by Barbra Streisand, Blossom Dearie and Anita O’Day. By day his life was unremarkable, but when he fell asleep McGregor became quite remarkable. He talked in his sleep. McGregor’s dreams, often narrated to unseen companions, are full of bizarre imagery, strange logic and weird plot lines – all of which were the antitheses of his daily life. McGregor was a somniloquist and as such he verbalized fully realized miniature dramas of the unconscious.

Sleeptalker is his story.

Please join us at the workshop reading of Sleeptalker on Thursday July 28th at 8.00pm at The Theatre Centre. Admission is free. Audience members are invited to a reception and a Q&A with the cast and creators and encouraged to give their critical feedback. Sleeptalker is written by Jill Battson, directed by Andrea Donaldson and performed by an award-winning team of Toronto’s theatre artists.

http://thedreamworldofdionmcgregor.blogspot.com/

Tyumen, Then at the Toronto Fringe Festival!

Specially selected by the Fringe, October Theatre’s Tyumen, Then will have seven performances with the aim of raising $2000 for the Toronto Fringe Festival AND featured in NOW Magazine’s Top 5 Artists to Watch at the Fringe…

Tyumen, Then

By: Adam Underwood

Directed by: Andrea Donaldson

Starring: Adam Lazarus, Kevin MacDonald & Lyon Smith

Set & Costume Design by: Jung-Hye Kim

Sound & Lighting Design by: Verne Good

watch our amazing trailer for the show!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uexQ3W7Wp0&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

July 4^th, 1941: Trapped in the boxcar of a motionless train, somewhere between Moscow and Siberia, two confined soldiers guard the rousing corpse of Vladimir Lenin. Join these award-winning Toronto theatre artists for a ruthless, seriously unhinged satire about ideology, war, and the quest for survival.

Show Dates & Times:

Friday July 8^th @ 11pm

Monday July 11^th @ 8:45pm

Tuesday July 12^th @ 4:30pm

Wednesday July 13^th @ 12:15

Thursday July 14^th @ 7pm

Friday July 15^th @ 6:15pm

Saturday July 16^th @ 1:45pm

Robert Gill Theatre

214 College Street, 3rd floor (@ St. George)

(Air-Conditioned Theatre)

Ticket Information:

Tickets can be purchased for $11 at www.fringetoronto.com

& over the phone at 416.966.1062

& in person at the door one-hour prior to performance for $10

See you at the show, comrades!

NOW MAGAZINE

5 ARTISTS TO WATCH AT THE FRINGE

WHO: Andrea Donaldson

WHAT: Director of Tyumen, Then, a satire set on a 1941 train about war and survival.

WHY: Donaldson’s name on a program (Montparnasse, The Unfortunate Misadventures Of Masha Galinski, The Atomic Weight Of Happiness) always promises suggestive staging that teases the imagination. Can’t wait to see what she does with Adam Underwood’s play, in which the corpse of Vladimir Lenin plays a part.

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“With a strong cast and sound director, this quirky satire has all the makings for Fringe.” BlogTO

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“With a strong all-male trio of Toronto performers and Andrea Donaldson directing (Montparnasse, The Atomic Weight of Happiness), it’s one of the year’s must-sees. Besides, the show was invited by the Fringe to help raise $2,000 for the festival, so to not go would just be mean.” The Torontoist (Carly Maga)

Dora Fever!

Both The Atomic Weight of Happiness and Montparnasse have been nominated for mulitple awards. Yay teams!