The Arts Club announces The Radar: New Works in Progress
The theatre company’s free series of public readings of new scripts is back after a two-year hiatus, with a new name
Christine Quintana.
Dave Deveau.
The Arts Club Theatre Company presents The Radar: New Works in Progress nightly at 7 pm from August 14 to 17 at the Newmont Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre
THE ARTS CLUB Theatre Company’s free showcase of new scripts is back after a pandemic-induced pause with a new name, The Radar: New Works in Progress.
The free series will feature four plays by Canadian playwrights, each script read aloud by an ensemble of actors. Afterward, audiences are invited to take part in a discussion with the playwright and Stephen Drover, who oversees new works and professional engagement at the Arts Club and who assists the playwrights in developing their scripts.
According to a release, the series aims to make the creative process more accessible while fostering the creation of original works and providing a public forum for feedback with leading Canadian actors, directors, and playwrights.
On offer on August 14 is Armchair Confidential by Aaron Jensen, “a buddy comedy that explores our society’s obsession with true crime through the lens of golden-age musical theatre”.
Scott Button’s Night Bodies, which shines a light on a largely untold chapter of Canadian 2SLGBTQIA+ history, gets a reading on August 15. Set in Ottawa in 1958, it follows the story of a young, queer man who moves to the city from a small rural town, keen to become independent and to reinvent himself as “straight”, “only to be drawn into a seductive web of secrets, paranoia, and horror with the couple living next door”.
On August 16, it’s Someone Like You by Christine Quintana. The comedy “launches Cyrano de Bergerac into the 21st century: mistaken identities, millennial manifestos, and the quest for self-love”.
Finally, Bella Luz by Alexandra Lainfiesta will be read on August 17. In the trilingual ode to the complexities of living in diaspora, a character named Sumailla navigates the Canadian immigration system, the pressure to find a job, and a hopeful new love. The Latinx odyssey explores the meaning of home through magic realism, music, movement, and dance.
Bella Luz is one of the Arts Club’s two new Silver Commissions for 2022-23. The program provides funding for a playwright to create a brand-new work, with the goal of producing it on one of the theatre company’s stages. To date, the program has issued 30 full and three partial Silver Commissions, with 16 scripts having had premieres at the Arts Club.
The other new Silver Commission is Beaut by Dave Deveau and Meghan Gardiner. Here’s the rundown: “When the rough-and-tumble child of two drag queens insists on playing hockey, his parents reluctantly take him to a painfully early Sunday morning practice, eyelashes still on from the night before. The queens are surprised to find that the hockey coach’s kid, rather than being the star player for the team, is with his sporty mom at the rink next door, putting the final touches on his figure skating routine. When the rink is threatened by demolition, the four parents fight to keep it alive, and what better way than through an extravagant drag fundraiser. With sequins, sticks, and feathers flying, Beaut fills the arena with music, love, and hockey, reminding us that our kids tell us who they really are, and open our eyes to who we can be.”
The Radar readings are free of charge. To RSVP, head to artsclub.com.
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