WRITTEN BY DIANA TSO AND DIRECTED BY WILLIAM YONG
PERFORMED BY DIANA TSO AND NICK EDDIE
NOVEMBER 15 TO DECEMBER 2, 2018 AT THE THEATRE CENTRE INCUBATOR
TORONTO – RED SNOW COLLECTIVE presents the World Premiere of THE MONKEY QUEEN, written by Diana Tso, directed by William Yong, and performed by Diana Tso and Nick Eddie. The production weaves text, movement, visual art and music, and reimagines the ancient tale through the playwright’s own personal journey as a Chinese-Canadian female artist. THE MONKEY QUEEN runs from November 15 – December 2, 2018 at the Theatre Centre Incubator (media night on November 16 at 7:30pm).
In THE MONKEY QUEEN, the ancient mythology of the Monkey King in Wu Cheng’En’s Journey to the West has been re-envisioned through the playwright’s own heritage. In this modern version, The Monkey Queen is born in Canada and travels East towards China in search of her identity as a female warrior. Her epic path across the Canadian landscape combines dramatic styles from both eastern and western storytelling aesthetics.
“My Asian roots and my European theatre training and upbringing in the west are reflected in the weaving together of both these dramatic styles.” Says playwright Diana Tso, “This ancient mythology of my ancestral roots ignited my imagination in re-envisioning the story through my personal journey as a Chinese-Canadian artist.”
Playwright and performer Diana Tso is a theatre artist, playwright, storyteller, artist in education and Dora award-winning actor. She’s a graduate of the University of Toronto with an honours BA in English Literature and of Ecole Internationale de Théâtre de Jacques Lecoq in France. She’s worked with diverse theatres internationally for over 18 years. Most recently she performed in Les Misérables with Theatre Smith-Gilmour and at the 2017 Stratford Festival in Bakkhai and The Komagata Maru Incident. As artistic director of Red Snow Collective her theatre vision merges east & west storytelling art forms through music, movement & text. Her plays, Red Snow (2012) and Comfort (2016) bring to light the stories of World War Two in Asia.
Director, choreographer and scenic designer William Yong’s professional dance and theatre career spans more than twenty-four years. He has performed in 75 cities within 15 countries. He presented his first choreography for paying audiences in a production in Freiburg, Germany in 1993 and has since created over seventy-eight dance and theatre works world-wide. William and his works received five Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations. For William’s theatre directorial début Comfort in 2016, was nominated for several awards including a Dora Mavor Moore Award for ‘Outstanding Composition’ and ‘best direction’ for MyTheatre Award 2017. William’s works were featured in Harbourfront Centre’s World Stage in 2015, 2016 and 2017, and Fall For Dance North 2017.
The production also introduces recent George Brown Theatre graduate and Toronto based actor Nick Eddie, whose selected credits include The Virgin Mary (Sears Drama Festival), and Freda and Jem’s Best of the Week(Summerworks Festival). The performance also features original music by composers Nick Storring and Brandon Valdivia, and costume design by Robin Fisher.
Performances are at the Theatre Centre Incubator 1115 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario. To purchase tickets please visit www.redsnowcollective.ca, or call 416-538-0988.
Performances run from Tuesday to Saturday at 8pm, preview (November 15) and media night (November 16) are at 7:30pm, and Sunday matinées at 2pm. Tickets range from $20 – $35.
FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO REQUEST INTERVIEWS:
B-Rebel Communications – Ashley Belmer – Ashley@b-rebelcommunications.com, 514-627-5151
ABOUT RED SNOW COLLECTIVE:
Red Snow Collective is a theatre company dedicated to creating theatre that merges a myriad of cultural storytelling forms with movement and music to rediscover and re-envision the present by connecting with traditions, histories and mythologies; bringing together artists of the highest caliber and diversity to speak stories that are globally relevant and creatively powerful; building bridges and dialogue between communities through art and theatre.
