Ensemble Theatre Company (ETC) is welcoming audiences back to the theatre as its Summer Repertory Festival returns June 15 to July 2, 2022 moving to a new home stage at Waterfront Theatre (Granville Island).
Taking the stage this year are two pointed and powerful plays: Marjorie Prime and Pass Over, anchoring the festival’s lineup that also includes Sunday readings and film screenings and other outreach events. The two dramas, playing on alternate evenings, one a science fiction exploration of memory and technology; one a radical re-writing of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot – are deeply relevant works selected for their vital commentary and profound insight on the human condition.
Written by award-winning playwright Jordan Harrison, Marjorie Prime, a 2015 Pulitzer Prize finalist, explores poignant issues of memory, grief, aging, depression, and our relationship with technology through the story of an ailing 86-year-old who spends her final days interacting with a computerized version of her deceased husband. Set in 2062, the “elegant, thoughtful and quietly unsettling drama” (NYT) combines the near-future science fiction of Black Mirror with the moody family drama of Chekhov into a work that raises significant questions about our dependence on technology, our family relationships, and the way we define self though memory.
Directed by Shelby Bushell, the cast includes Gai Brown (Marjorie), Carlen Escarraga (Walter Prime), Tariq Leslie (Jon), and Bronwen Smith (Tess).
Hailed as a “surreal and morbidly funny existential drama” (Variety), Pass Over, by playwright Antoinette Nwandu, transplants Beckett’s Waiting for Godot to Chicago’s South Side where two young African-American men wait out the night under the constant threat of violence. This radical rewriting of the modern classic unflinchingly confronts racism and police violence, but does so with a deft and witty hand – weaving morbid existential humour and abundant brainy references into its clever criticism. Since its world premiere at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater in 2017, the work has enjoyed frequent stagings – including the honour of being the first full-length play to re-open on Broadway following the first wave of the pandemic in August of 2021.
Directed by Omari Newton, the cast includes Chris Francisque (Moses), Kwasi Thomas (Kitch), and Alex Forsyth (Mister/Ossifer).
The ETC Summer Repertory Festival runs June 15 to July 2, 2022, festival passes are available online at ensembletheatrecompany.ca
Marjorie Prime opens June 15th (preview performance)
Pass Over opens June 16th (preview performance)
In addition to the main stage festival, the Festival also includes:
Brunch Readings: Sundays @ Noon
June 19th – The Life and Times of MULTIVAC by Isaac Asimov
June 26th – These Things Happen in All Our Harlem’s by James Baldwin and others.
Film Screenings: Sundays @ 7:30pm
June 19th – Spike Jonze’s her (2013)
June 26th – Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing (1989)