Centaur Proudly Presents The Wildside Festival

This twelve-day-long theatre festival presented on January 9-20, 2007 features five cutting-edge performances by local, national and international independent theatre companies. Centaur is pleased to grant these deserving companies exposure while festival-goers get ample opportunity to discover fresh young and progressive companies.

Artistic Director, Gordon McCall, and co-producer Andrew Shaver of Sabooge Theatre have selected the five pieces based on their overall ability to entertain, inspire and even provoke - so get ready to talk a walk on the WILDSIDE!The

Living Shadows A story of Mary Pickford, by Tracey Power, directed by Brian Dooley: During the golden age of silent film, this Canadian fireball was not only the world's most celebrated actress but the most well known and idolized woman in the world. Using the formula of silent movies with the partnership of words, music and movement, this powerful play tells one woman's story of determination, survival and her journey to that crucial moment, when a piece of motion picture history may be lost forever.

"A Steller One-Woman show." - Edmonton Sun/Colin Maclean

"You won't want to miss a moment of Power's performance. She plays Mary with a wide-eyed innocence and enthusiasm that is simultaneously evocative of silent film acting and entirely natural - and completely engrossing." - CBC Winnipeg/Joff Schmidt

"Power's close spiritual alliance with the project is evident in every impassioned, stylized move she makes" - Eye Weekly/TorontoBy The Clock Productions is a co-operative company, a group of like-minded artists who have come together with the sole intention of producing the World Premiere production of Living Shadows, A Story of Mary Pickford on its Canadian tour. The group is comprised of experienced theatre professionals and artists with involvement in all areas of Theatre across Canada who believe that with a unified vision comes extraordinary results.

Misery Loves Company, by Gillian Ferrier, directed by Elkhana Talbi: Ann, Becky and Connie are like any other young urban women desperately looking for love, meaning and happiness in their lives. As they move into the ever-complicated and seemingly unforgiving phase of adulthood, the three friends are over educated, under stimulated and unable to deal with the realities, disappointments and expectations they now face. Overwhelmed and impatient, they get caught up in their dramatic existence, and go to absurd and extreme measures to find a solution. An unexpected turn of events results in the characters re-evaluating their selfish and naïve views. Inspired by M.G. Elsey's short play Fortune is a Cowboy, Misery Loves Company is a timely dark comedy that exhibits the unmistakable cosmopolitan vibe of Montreal, while exploring the exaggerated extent of irrational behaviour that can accompany raw human emotion.

"Waking the Girl Productions was as fresh as youth, beauty, brains and talent could
make it"¦" -Halifax Chronicle Herald

"A truly elegant production of a demonically difficult work"¦ a smashing cast" -Montreal Gazette

Waking the Girl Productions was formed in 2002 by Concordia theatre students Gillian Ferrier and Vanessa Matsui. The company's mandate is to promote the theatrical works of Montreal women and to produce socially conscious theatre. Their debut production - Fairly Stale: a story unbound by Amanda Kellock - was received with rave reviews at the Liverpool International Theatre Festival winning the award for "Best New Play". The production was later invited to tour Nova Scotia and perform at Halifax's Neptune Theatre for the World Theatre Congress and Festival. Their most recent production an adapted The Fairies Are Thirsty by Denise Boucher was performed at the Montreal Fringe Festival where it was on the Centaur Theatre's top ten list and at the GLBT Theatre Festival where they were nominated for Best English ensemble and Best Actress, Dalia Marom.

Pentecostal Wisconsin, Written and performed by Ryan Paulson: Pentecostal Wisconsin is a one-person play that tells the story of an unorthodox upbringing in a faith that requires no less than religious ecstasy from a bunch of shy Scandinavians. In this hilarious tale of love, sex, and religion, RyanPaulso lets us in on what the religious right is really all about as he finds God, falls hard for a sexy Swedish teenager and winds up leaving his friend Jesus standing at the ticket counter at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport.

"This categorically pitch-perfect one-man comedy has it all"¦Don't miss!" -Time Out New York

"His story is funny, revealing, engaging, naive, honest and, regardless of your faith, universal in appeal"¦Paulson hits every requisite note of the ideal one-man show. MUST SEE." - St. Paul Pioneer Press (Minneapolis)

Ryan Paulson has performed at Lincoln Center, New York Comedy Club, Chicago City Limits, the Irish Arts Center, Sanford Eisner Theater, Oberon Theatre Ensemble, Vital Theatre Company, Breakaway Theatre Company and The Theater at Monmouth. Ryan has also appeared on the Early Show on CBS and in a workshop of What Didn't Happen by Christopher Shinn at HERE. Originally from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Ryan can often be seen wearing an enormous piece of fake cheese on his head. One of his most memorable moments performing "Pentecostal Wisconsin" involved a woman yelling, "The only real one person show is Jesus!"

Sex and La Cité: Part Deux, by Alexandra Valassis, directed by Paula Davis: A spoof of the HBO hit series Sex and the City, brings these New York ladies to Montreal where Big and Carrie finally tie the knot, Quebecois style. Carrie who now works for Mitsou (as they say "if the shoe fitsou"), begins to doubt their matrimonial union. Should they marry in a province plagued with separation issues?

Samantha, our whoroin, attempts to reserect her boytoy's flailing acting career after it takes a nosedive. Charlotte struggles with her pregnancy. Will she love her adopted baby, China, as much as her biological one and will her husband Harry ever lose the baby fat? Can Miranda accept her newfound fetish which has her husband, Steve shopping for himself at Le Shoppe des Grandes Salopes? Filled with musical numbers to tease and please, tranny temptresses, colorful characters, creative costumes, swanky shoes and wildly funny sexual predicaments.

Ayoye!"Each (actress) bears enough of a resemblance to her Sex and the City counterpart to be instantly identifiable, and more importantly, they have the TV actresses' mannerisms down cold." - The Montreal Mirror

"A cheeky crowd pleaser... The writing is sharp and witty, the cast is well-rounded and everyone on stage seems to be having a loads of fun. This is sure to be a hit, whether you are a fan of the series or no." - The Gazette

Dum Blond Productions was founded by Alexandra Valassis and Paula Davis in October 2004. Their first project was to be the stage show Sex and la Cité, (co-written by Kathy Slamen), a spoof of Sex and the City. A hit at the 2005 Montreal Fringe Festival, this show went on to play at the Comedy Nest to sold out audiences as well as in the GLBT Festival, where they won for Best Ensemble Cast and Best Marketing and Promotion. Alexandra and Paula are no dumb blondes; they enjoy working in comedy but are also working on scripts with more serious topics. This writing and production team looks forward to bringing new projects to stage and film in the very near future. So far, they have succeeded in making their audiences laugh, smile and beam with enthusiasm, which is what they set out to do.

Section O, by Anana Rydvald: Two time 2006 MECCA nominee (Best Actress and Best Independent Production) and recipient of the 2006 MECCA Revelation Award. "Section O" is a play about five women's struggle with their inner demons. The audience becomes intimate with their strange and private world as each character ravels on their own introspective journey. Anana Rydvald, who has written the show, plays all five characters using masks that she has created.

There is Tina, the neurotic teenager who suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Roxanne the manic dancer, Marian who cannot stop hoarding things in her apartment, Andrea the rapper who is struggling with panic attacks and Lubika the eccentric street performer who cannot control her anger.

"Touching, very funny at times, seriously tragic at others, Section O has both a ring of truth and a carefully modulated sense of physical energy." - The Gazette

"The performer obviously has so much love for these characters that we can't help falling for them too, and wanting them to get better." - The Montreal Mirror

Level 4 Theatre is a new company that aspires to find innovative means to express biographical and fictional stories. With a unique visual language, it strives to capture poetic and humorous modes of expression that relate to us all. "Section O", written and performed by Anana Rydvald and directed by Stacey Christodoulou, is the company's first production.

By www.centaurtheatre.com