Category Archives: All Years

Stepping Out (March 16-25, 2017)

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STAGE CENTRE PRODUCTIONS

proudly present the fourth play of their 40th season

“A surefire winner.” ~ New York Daily News

Stepping-Out-Banner

 

A delightful and heart-warming comedy

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“You’ll stand up and cheer.” ~ WABC-TV

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Directed by Lorraine Kimsa 

Producer, Stage Manager and Set Designer: Todd Davies

Lighting by Jaime Farley   

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With Astrid Atherly, Cathy Condie, Brad Emes,

Willene Falconer, Judy Gans, Jennie Garde, Heather Goodall, Nikki Hogan, Isabel Hornstein and Cindy Platten

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“… a character driven plot… mixed with comic and dramatic moments… an excellent show with laughs and poignancy along the way.” ~ The Theater Mirror

 

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This well-loved comedy charts the lives of seven women and one man attempting to tap their troubles away at a weekly dancing class. Initially all thumbs and left feet, the group is just getting to grips with the basics when they are asked to take part in a charity gala.

Over the course of several months we meet the group, and all of them have a story to tell. There’s haughty Vera, mouthy Maxine and uptight Andy; bubbly Sylvia and shy Dorothy; eager Lynne and cheerful Rose, and, of course, Geoffrey. At the piano is the dour Mrs. Fraser and spurring them all on, the ever-patient Mavis, a former professional chorus girl, who tries her hardest to teach the bumbling amateurs some terpsichorean skills.

The original production opened at the Duke of York’s Theatre, London, in 1984 and ran for almost three years. It was awarded the Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy. Stepping Out played on Broadway in 1987 and has been staged successfully world-wide by both professional and amateur companies. A new production plays at London’s Vaudeville Theatre between March and June this year.

Stepping Out was produced as a film in 1991, directed by Lewis Gilbert, and starring Liza Minnelli, with Julie Walters who was nominated for a BAFTA Award.

Stage Centre Productions are offering a highly entertaining version of this well-loved favourite, one not to be missed.

“A funny, slick show which leaves you with a warm glow.” ~ The British Theatre Guide

 

March 16 – 18 & March 22 – 25, 2017: 8:00 p.m.

March 19 & 25, 2017:  2:00 pm Matinee

 

“Constantly simmers with laughter.” ~ Sunday Express

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Stage Centre Productions’ fourth play of the 40th season at the Fairview Library Theatre, Stepping Out opens on Thursday, March 16, 2017 and runs until Saturday, March 25, 2017. Please call the Box Office at 416-299-5557 to reserve tickets or book on line through http://www.stagecentreproductions.com.

DATES:  March 16 to 19 (Thursday to Sunday) and March 22 to 25 (Wednesday to Saturday)

MEDIA/VIP OPENING:  Thursday, March 16, 2017 at 8:00 p.m.

TIMES:   Performances begin at 8:00 p.m., except the matinees on March 19 and 25, which begin at 2:00 p.m.

 

TICKETS:  Adults $30 Seniors/Students $25   To order tickets call 416-299-5557 or click http://www.stagecentreproductions.com.

LOCATION: Fairview Public Library Theatre, 35 Fairview Mall Drive, North York, steps away from the Don Mills Subway Station on the Sheppard Line. There is plenty of free parking in the Fairview Mall parking lot. Both wheelchair access and hearing devices are available.

Stage Centre Productions, a full repertory theatre company founded in 1977 and dedicated to presenting a wide cross-section of plays, usually offers five productions each season. We are now celebrating our 40th season with Entertaining Angels (September 29 to October 8, 2016), The Best Man (November 24 to December 3, 2016), Strictly Murder (January 26 to February 4, 2017),Stepping Out (March 16 to 25, 2017) and Anything to Declare? (May 18 to 27, 2017). This season is the sixth under Artistic Director Michael James Burgess, who brings many years of experience to the company.

 

The company constructs all the sets, costumes, wigs and properties required for each production at its rehearsal workshop in Scarborough.

 

For more information about Stage Centre Productions check out our website at http://www.stagecentreproductions.com.

For further information please contact 416-299-5557

Strictly Murder (Jan 26 – Feb 4, 2017)

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Strictly Murder by Brian Clemens

April 1939. An English couple, Peter and Suzy, are living in Provence in idyllic isolation, far, it seems, from the rumblings of the coming war. Their peace is shattered from within when Suzy discovers she has been betrayed: Peter is not the man he claims to be! Is he in fact a ruthless killer on the run? When a Scotland Yard detective arrives, events become even more complicated and frightening. Lies, subterfuge and murder make this fast-moving thriller a dark and disturbing roller coaster of bluff and double bluff. “…an intricate, interesting and enigmatic story… plenty of intrigue and suspense…” ~ British Theatre Guide

The Best Man (Nov 24 – Dec 3, 2016)

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The Best Man by Gore Vidal

William Russell, the former U.S. Secretary of State, is a wit and scholar with high liberal principles, beloved of the eggheads and suspected by practical politicians. Joseph Cantwell is a ruthless and hard-driving young man, a dirty fighter who lets no scruples stand in the way of his ambitions, and Arthur Hockstader is an ex-President, who loves politics for their own sake, admires a rough-and-tumble battler more than a chivalrous one, and is determined to have the final say in the selection of his party’s candidate. Cantwell has got hold of papers indicating that his rival once suffered from a mental crackup, which he is all set to use. Then his scrupulous antagonist comes across some incriminating evidence about Cantwell… “Well-crafted and witty with surprises, reversals, pungent character sketches, satire, worldly wisdom and juicy roles for all concerned.” ~ New York Magazine

Entertaining Angels (Sept 29 – Oct 8, 2016)

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Entertaining Angels by Richard Everett
From September 29 to October 8, 2016

A North American premiere!

As a vicar’s wife in an English country parish, Grace has spent a lifetime on her best behaviour. Now, after the death of her husband Bardolph, she can enjoy the new-found freedom of being able to say and do exactly what she wants. But the return of her eccentric missionary sister, Ruth, together with some disturbing revelations, forces Grace to confront the truth of her marriage. Set in a lush vicarage garden, the play is filled with sharp-edged comedy and probing wit. “A very English comedy with some real emotion… scratch the surface and you’ll find interesting undercurrents rippling the water… Adultery, miscarriage, divorce and deception interestingly handled all, are just some of the problems that writer Richard Everett beds down among well-received jokes… This is a sure-fire hit…” ~ London Evening Standard

You Never Can Tell (May 19-28, 2016)

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An Irish Comedy by George Bernard Shaw.

The comedy You Never Can Tell was George Bernard Shaw’s 1896 answer to The Importance of Being Earnest. As the play opens, Mrs. Clandon and her children, Dolly, Phillip and Gloria, have just returned to England 18 years after their departure. The children have no idea who their father is and, through a comedy of errors, end up inviting him to a family lunch. At the same time, a dentist named Valentine has fallen in love with the eldest daughter, Gloria, who considers herself a modern woman and claims to have no interest in love or marriage. Will Valentine succeed in changing her mind? Throughout the play, the wise and friendly waiter, Walter (most commonly referred to by the characters as “William,” because Dolly thinks he resembles Shakespeare), dispenses his wisdom with the titular phrase “You Never Can Tell.” The New York Dramatic Mirror thought the comedy “So full of whimsical turns . . . It is brainy champagne.” We hope you will think so too!

Leading Ladies (March 17-26, 2016)

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By Ken Ludwig.

In this uproarious comedy two English Shakespearean actors, Jack and Leo, find themselves so down on their luck that they are performing “Scenes from Shakespeare” on the Moose Lodge circuit in the Amish country of Pennsylvania. When they hear that a local old lady plans to leave her fortune to her two long lost English nephews, Jack and Leo resolve to pass themselves off as her relatives and get the cash. Complications ensue when they find out that the relatives aren’t nephews but nieces! Romantic entanglements abound, especially when Leo falls head-over-petticoat in love with the old lady’s vivacious niece, Meg, who’s engaged to the local minister, who is anything but vivacious! Meg knows that there’s a wide world out there, but it’s not until she meets “Maxine and Stephanie” that she finally gets a taste of it. “Leading Ladies is consistently funny − indeed, increasingly hilarious as it progresses.” ~ Houston Chronicle.

The Deadly Game (January 21-30, 2016)

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Adapted by James Yaffe from the novel by Friedrich Dürrenmatt.

Three retired lawyers in a remote village in the Swiss Alps amuse themselves by going through the legal ceremony of prosecuting strangers who drop in. One evening, a stranded American travelling salesman is their guest, having run his car into a snowdrift during a fierce blizzard. Although the men’s ‘deadly game’ seems foolish to him, he agrees to participate to humour his hosts. Since he has never been guilty of a crime in his life, he is unable to suggest anything they can try him for. After some amiable social conversation, the retired prosecutor discovers a plausible case and accuses the salesman of having murdered his boss. At first, this appears to be a wild improvisation, but the playwright gradually makes something real out of phantoms… “… genuinely engrossing … the tension builds with the slow, steady, intricate movement of a courtroom drama” wrote Leah D. Frank of The New York Times. Be sure not to miss this cat and mouse thriller!

The Dover Road (November 26 – December 5, 2015)

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By A. A. Milne.

Leonard and Anne are eloping along the lovers’ road to Dover, intending to embark for Calais and go to Paris, Leonard having abandoned his wife Eustasia in order to do so. Unfortunately, their car breaks down and they seek refuge in ‘a sort of hotel’ nearby, which turns out to be a residence, owned by a rich and somewhat eccentric gentleman, Mr. Latimer. It seems that Latimer intends to keep the couple prisoner for a week so that they can see if a marriage between them will work. The next day, Anne begins to notice things about Leonard that she ignored before. Unknown to them, however, another couple in the house are about to leave after seven days — Leonard’s wife Eustasia and her runaway lover Nicholas… When this comedy was last seen in Toronto in 2007, Mark Andrew Lawrence described it as “…a little gem of a play… this charming relic from Broadway’s golden age.”