Monday, March 9, 2009

Radio:30






Winner:
2001 Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award,
2001 Dora Mavor Moore Award: Outstanding New Play (Independent Theatre), 
2001 Canadian Comedy Award: Best New Play

Written by Chris Earle
Directed by Shari Hollett
Featuring Chris Earle and Robert Smith
Lighting designed by Jennifer Stobart
Sound by Bob Derkach
Stage Managed by Jennifer Stobart

Premiere: July, 1999, Toronto Fringe Festival.
Feb, 2000, U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, Aspen, Colorado. Original cast and director.
Sept/Oct, 2000, Tarragon Extra Space. Original cast and creative team
August, 2004; New York International Fringe Festival, NYC.
March 2009, Spark Festival, Belfry Theatre, Victoria B.C.


“a powerful tale of betrayal and deceit…created and performed to unsettling perfection by Chris Earle” - The New York Times

“Wickedly funny, unexpectedly moving” - The New York Sun

“a brilliant, nuanced script and performance from Earle; the play transcends mere criticism of the advertising industry by deconstructing our relationship with it”
- New York Metro.com

“The script is exquisite…one of the funniest shows of the Fringe, ‘Radio :30’ is also one of the most moving.” - Now Magazine

“Dazzling new piece…Witty and barbed” - The Toronto Star

Democrats Abroad

Winner: 
 2006 NYC Fringe Excellence Award, Outstanding Solo Show


Written and Performed by Chris Earle
Directed by Shari Hollett
Lighting Design by Mickey Wagg
Stage Managed by Amy Levett


Premiere: Aug, 2005, SummerWorks Theatre Festival, Toronto
Jan/Feb, 2006, Factory Studio Theatre, Toronto
Aug, 2006, New York International Fringe Festival, NYC

“ ***** - A first-rate show that’s alternately funny, engrossing, and chilling. Here’s political theatre, ironic and moving, that makes as much of its theatre as of its politics.” - Now Magazine

“Gripping, funny and terrifically performed…meticulous, nuanced direction”
- The Globe and Mail

“Stellar… Earle is a compelling monologist with excellent comic timing and his satiric story rings eerily true.” - Eye Weekly

Big Head Goes to Bed

Written and Performed by Chris Earle and Shari Hollett
Also Featuring Robert Smith and Leslie Ashton
Directed by Sue Miner
Lighting by Jennifer Stobart

Premiere: Aug, 1996; SummerWorks Festival, Toronto.
June/July, 1997 at the Tarragon Theatre, Toronto. Original cast and creative team. Set design by Lori Hickling. Sound Design by Greg Morrison.

"An extraordinary piece of theatre...incredibly funny, very touching...in its own way just perfect" - CBC Radio

"Delightful and intelligently conceived...inspired"- The Toronto Star

" - wonderfully witty and irreverent"- The Toronto Sun

" - Welcome to the long dark bedtime of the soul"- Now Magazine

" - Delightful and consistently funny” – The Globe and Mail

"The acting and comic timing are flawless"- Eye Weekly

Expectation

Written and performed by Chris Earle and Shari Hollett.
Directed by Deborah Kimmett.
Lighting by Jennifer Stobart.

Premiere: July, 1993, at the Toronto Fringe Festival, Toronto
June - July, 1997, produced as a twin bill with Big Head Goes to Bed at the Tarragon Mainspace, Toronto. Original cast and creative team.

"very funny, split second timing" - The Globe and Mail

The Proceedings

Written by Chris Earle.
Featuring Chris Earle, Shari Hollett, Tim Sims.
Directed by Jonathan Wilson.
Lighting by Jennifer Stobart.


Premiere: July 1992, at the Toronto Fringe Festival, Toronto
Dec, 1992, The Theatre Centre, Toronto. Original cast and creative team.

“An excellent all-around piece of traditional theatre… and also very funny, a great combination.” – The Globe and Mail

“A delicious little play – an amazingly accessible piece of alternative theatre.” – The Toronto Sun

Radio :30 Film Version











Directed by Mark Staunton
Produced by Crow Street Films and the night kitchen.
Featuring Chris Earle and Robert Smith
Producers: Mark Staunton, Shelagh Harcourt, Shari Hollett

Aired: Jan 5, 2006. “Opening Night”, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

“A commendable adaptation of Toronto playwright Chris Earle’s stage play… a different sort of story, and a very good one” – Andrew Ryan, The Globe and Mail

“There’s simply no escape for either the performer or the viewer… incredibly effective” - Henrietta Walmark, Broadcast Week

“Finely made… short sharp production” John Doyle, The Globe and Mail




BIOGRAPHIES

Chris Earle
 
Chris is a Toronto based playwright, actor and director. His most recent play Ancaster Park was commissioned and produced last spring by Canadore College’s Rep 21 Theatre Program. His other plays include Democrats Abroad (New York Fringe Excellence Award), Radio :30 (Dora Mavor Moore Award – Outstanding New Play, Chalmers New Play Award, Canadian Comedy Award), Russell Hill (produced by Tarragon Theatre, Dora nomination for Outstanding New Play) and Big Head Goes to Bed (written with long time collaborator Shari Hollett). He has also written adaptations of Peter Pan (Dora nomination) and Cinderella for Ross Petty Productions. Radio :30 has toured to the HBO Comedy Festival in Aspen, Colorado, and the New York Fringe Festival, and was also adapted for CBC Television. Chris was a writer/performer with The Second City sketch comedy theatre and has directed four revues for the company, including Bird Flu over the Cuckoo’s Nest and the Canadian Comedy Award-winner Psychedelicatessen. As well as performing his own work, his stage appearances include Faust and Miracle Mother for Tarragon, The Knee Plays 2 and Doubt for Theatre Columbus, and Possible Worlds for Theatre Passe Muraille. TV appearances include Slings and Arrows, The Newsroom, Due South, Conspiracy of Silence, Chasing Rainbows, Gentle Sinners, and the animated series Rescue Heroes and Slam Dunk. Stage directing credits include Karen Hines’ Dora and Chalmers nominated Hello…Hello at Tarragon and for Pochsy Productions, Joanne O’Sullivan’s Any Second Now, Howie The Rookie for SummerWorks, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Equity Showcase. Chris has been a Playwright-in-Residence at the Tarragon Theatre and a member of the Banff Playwrights Colony, and was also a series writer for The Second City’s Next Comedy Legend, and CBC Radio’s The Muckraker.

Shari Hollett (Director)

Shari co-founded the night kitchen with Chris Earle in 1992 and has collaborated on all the company’s productions. Most recently she directed Jonathan Wilson’s That Gay Guy for Summerworks, and Earle’s Ancaster Park for Canadore College. At Canadore, she also directed Ben Elton’s Popcorn, and Nicky Silver’s The Altruists. She is an acclaimed director of new plays, including Earle’s award-winning Democrats Abroad and Radio :30, Sean Reycraft’s One Good Marriage for Theatre Passe Muraille, Deb Filler’s Filler Up at the Wildside Festival in Montreal, Murdering Godot at the Rhubarb Festival, Sleepless – The Musical at the Toronto Fringe, and Posterchild and The Hurricane Project, both for Summerworks. Shari also assistant-directed and performed in Earle’s Russell Hill at the Tarragon. As a writer-performer, credits include Expectation, Big Head Goes to Bed, The Martha Stewart Projects, I’d Never Give an Acrylic Scarf to the Man I Love and numerous shows with The Second City. She also directed the Second City National Touring Company’s “If It’s Tuesday This Must Be Belleville”. Onstage she has also appeared in VideoCabaret’s City For Sale, Russell Hill, The Proceedings, White Trash Blue Eyes, and the improvised soap opera A Wedge of Night. TV and film work includes roles in The West Wing, WildCard, Blue Murder, Guilt by Association, The Associates, Walter and Henry, Thanks of a Grateful Nation, The Dan Jansen Story and SCTV.