|
TV Vetran Patrick Mckenna Joins Award-Winning
Cast In Stage Adaptation Of It’s A Wonderful
Life
This Holiday Season
Canadian Premiere features acting veterans
Mike Shara, Nicole Underhay and Juan Chioran -
- Tickets On Sale Now -
Toronto – Martin Bragg, Artistic Producer of
The Canadian Stage Company, is proud to announce
the cast of It’s a Wonderful Life. The
new stage adaptation will make its Canadian Stage debut at the
Bluma Appel Theatre, November 24 to December
20, 2008. Bringing the holiday classic to life are:
TV actor and Shaw Festival veteran Mike Shara
(Queer as Folk, Canadian Stage’s Take Me Out) as George
Bailey; Dora Award-winning actress Nicole Underhay
(recently awarded the Dora for her role in the Canadian Stage
production of Fire) as Mary Bailey; multi-Gemini Award-winning
actor Patrick McKenna (CBC TV’s Traders
and The Red Green Show) as Clarence; and multi-award-winner
Juan Chioran as Mr. Potter. Stratford Shakespeare
Festival veteran Donna Feore directs. Tickets are on sale now.
Ensemble cast includes: Tracey Ferencz (The Virgin Suicides,
Canadian Stage’s The Overcoat); Steven Gallagher (Queer
as Folk, Canadian Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream);
Diana Cofini; Douglas E. Hughes; and Kawa Ada. One ensemble member
is yet to be cast.
It’s a Wonderful Life is Philip Grecian’s
staged radio dramatization of Frank Capra's Academy Award-nominated
iconic holiday classic. It is the story of George Bailey, an ambitious
and restless man whose loyalty, empathy and generosity tie him to
his father’s business, keeping him from his dream of seeing the
world. George is desperate and thinks himself more valuable dead
when his guardian angel Clarence, hoping to earn his wings, is sent
to show him the value of his life. This production will feature
just 10 actors playing 63 speaking parts while sound effects harkening
back to the golden age of radio are performed onstage. In this unique
radio drama adapted for the stage, the holiday tale that we know
and love comes to life in an ingenious way.
Mike Shara appeared in the mini-series The
Gathering with Peter Gallagher and Peter Fonda and made guest
appearances in several television series, including Queer as
Folk (in a five-episode story arc), Little Mosque on the
Prairie, F/X: The Series, and Due South. Theatre
credits include: Take Me Out (The Canadian Stage Company);
The Way of the World, The Real Inspector Hound (Soulpepper);
The Importance of Being Earnest, Long Day’s Journey Into
Night (Manitoba Theatre Centre); Arms and the Man,
The Heiress, You Never Can Tell, Autumn Garden
(Shaw Festival).
Nicole Underhay recently won a Dora Mavor Moore
Award for Best Female Performance in a Musical for her portrayal
of Molly in The Canadian Stage Company’s Fire. Film and television
credits include: The Shipping News, Undercurrents
and Goosebumps. A veteran of the Shaw Festival, Ms. Underhay
has appeared in The Philanderer, Summer and Smoke,
Too Good to Be True, Design for Living and You
Never Can Tell, among others. Other theatre credits include
Salome (Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre); Trying
(Neptune Theatre); Arms and the Man (NAC/Citadel Theatre).
Patrick McKenna rose to prominence portraying Marty
Stephens, the frenetic head trader on the television series Traders,
and the loveable and naive nephew Harold on The Red Green Show.
In 1998, Mr. McKenna won a Gemini for each of these roles, becoming
the first person ever to win the award for dramatic and comedic
performances in the same year. He was also the host of the Gemini
Awards in 1995 and 1996. McKenna honed his comic skills with Second
City troupes in Toronto and Vancouver, as well as by performing
his stand-up comedy routines throughout Canada and the United States.
McKenna has made guest appearances on numerous television series
including: Blue Murder, The Associates, Trudeau,
Blackfly and Playmakers. He also appeared in the feature
films Joe’s Wedding, Red Green’s Duct Tape Forever
and Writer’s Block, with Kelsey Grammer.
Juan Chioran received a 2004 Dora Mavor Moore Award
for his outstanding performance in Mirvish’s The Producers.
He also received a Gemini Award in 2000 for his performance in
Dracula. Theatre credits include: Much Ado About Nothing
(The Canadian Stage Company); Cymbeline, The Three
Musketeers, Hecuba (Chicago Shakespeare); Blithe
Spirit (Citadel); Love’s Labour’s Lost (NAC); and
Hamlet, As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
Man of La Mancha (Stratford Festival). He has also appeared
on the television series This is Wonderland, Queer as
Folk, Earth: Final Conflict, Relic Hunter and
Traders. Feature film appearances include Finn on the
Fly and Republic of Love.
2008-2009 Canadian Stage Company Season
At the Bluma Appel Theatre: Frost/Nixon (Oct. 13
to Nov. 8, 2008); It’s a Wonderful Life (Nov. 24 – Dec. 20,
2008); Miss Julie: Freedom Summer (Feb. 9 – Mar. 7, 2009);
Shirley Valentine (Mar. 23 – Apr. 18, 2009); Doubt, a parable
(May 4 – 30, 2009).
At the Berkeley Street Theatre: Nightwood Theatre’s Wild
Dogs (Oct. 4 – Nov. 8, 2008); Studio 180’s Blackbird
(Mar. 9 – Apr. 4, 2008); Necessary Angel and WYRD’s HARDSELL
(Apr. 13 – May 9, 2009).
Ticket Information
Subscription packages and single tickets are on sale now. For
subscription or ticket information, please contact The Canadian
Stage Box Office at 416.368.3110, online at canstage.com
or in person at our two locations Bluma Appel Theatre,
27 Front St. E. or Berkeley Street Theatre, 26 Berkeley
St.
About The Canadian Stage Company
Nationally and internationally acclaimed, The Canadian Stage
Company is Canada’s leading not-for-profit contemporary theatre
company. Founded in 1987 with the merger of CentreStage and Toronto
Free Theatre, the Company is dedicated to programming international
contemporary theatre and to developing and producing landmark Canadian
works which have been awarded some of the country’s most prestigious
literary and performing arts honours, including the Governor General’s,
Chalmers and Dora Mavor Moore Awards. The Company presents the richest
variety of Canadian and international plays and musicals – from
edgy and provocative works at the Berkeley Street Theatre to productions
with universal appeal at the Bluma Appel Theatre and a summer of
Shakespeare at the CanStage TD Dream in High Park. Canadian Stage
has a long-standing commitment to education and enhancement programs
for the public, nurturing theatre professionals, and developing
new Canadian plays, while producing thought-provoking theatre and
high quality entertainment in Toronto, one of North America’s largest
theatre centres. For more information, refer to
www.canstage.com.
COMMUNITY ACCESSIBILITY SPONSOR: Sun Life Financial
|
|
It’s
A Wonderful Life
