Storytellers and improvisers both create stageplay that resides mostly inside the audience’s imagination. If a storyteller says, “My grandmother smoked Lucky Strikes,” one person now thinks of her as a barefoot housedress wearing slattern. While another puts her in a pillbox hat and a sweater set. If an improviser says, “Take one step further, and I’ll stab you,” one person sees a diamond-studded dagger, while another sees a blood-stained, rusty knife. But everyone is experiencing the story together.
The theatre of the imagination is what we explore with True Stories, Made Up Plays. Each evening includes three hand-picked storytellers, who tell us true stories drawn from their own experiences. Smoking an imaginary joint with an elderly nursing home resident. Santa Claus’ sister-wives holding hands in the elementary school play. The woman who literally made his heart stop for a moment with a kiss.
And then, three hand-picked improvisational troupes perform long-form improv, playing with the true stories.
True Stories, Made Up Plays runs monthly. Upcoming events:
May 19: 10 PM
Facebook Event
Storytellers: Ryan Maule, Catherine McCormick, and Alex Tindal
Featuring Improv Troupes:
Corgi In The Forest (Andrea Ballantyne, Chris Besler, Jason Donovan, Maria Hajigeorgiou, Ryan Maule, Gord McGiverin, Sally Smallwood, Jeremy Voltz, Courtney Jane Walker)
Pickled Jesus (Kirsten Gallagher, Steve Baerwald)
Darcy and Bingley (Robert Ariss Hills, Chris Leveille)
FREE
Black Swan Tavern
154 Danforth
Toronto, Ontario
