Studio 180 IN DEVELOPMENT

launched in 2015

Join us in the writer’s room to experience the intimate reading of a play in process.

Mortified Reading, photo by Dahlia Katz
Elley Rae Hennessy in an IN DEVELOPMENT Reading of Mortified by Amy Rutherford. Photo by Dahlia Katz

We invite you to learn about the writer’s concept, explore a social or political issue through theatre and share your experience of the work with the writer.

“One of my greatest joys as a writer is watching a piece develop and evolve every time I work on it… This partnership with Studio 180 Theatre was a gift to allow me to explore this play without the pressure of a finished product.”

Rachel Mutombo, IN DEVELOPMENT Playwright 2020/21

For playwrights, Studio 180 IN DEVELOPMENT gives you a helping hand as you develop new work exploring provocative social and political issues. We provide you with the time, space, and resources required to bring your insightful ideas to the stage, culminating in a public reading in our Studio Series.

past READINGS

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Camille Intson, Rebecca Auerbach

Death to the Prometheans!

Written by Camille Intson
Directed & Dramaturged by 郝邦宇 Steven Hao
Featuring Maev Beaty, Alison Beckwith, Jaelynn Thora Brooks, Sepehr Reybod, Merlin Simard & Ethan Zuchkan
Special thanks to Maria Ricossa & Ben Yoganathan for their contributions to the workshop of this play.

February 28, 2024

7:00 PM

Buddies In Bad Times Theatre
12 Alexander Street

Five internationally selected young artists are indoctrinated into a training program at world-leading performing arts conservatory, navigating as best they can the perils of young adulthood, institutional demands, and finding purpose in making art in a world on fire. Death to the Prometheans! is a play about institutional resistance and the quest for knowledge and truth in educational systems that promise young people agency and freedom just as they foreclose it. Can authority really be challenged from within? How can young people imagine systems of education, governance, and political power outside of that which they were taught? What does it mean to break the shackles of tradition? And, at the end of the world, how much is art really worth?

Camille Intson

Camille Intson

Playwright

Camille Intson (she/her) is an award-winning Tkaronto-based writer, interdisciplinary theatre maker, and new media artist. Her work frequently explores the nature of queer femme identity and spirituality, emerging technology and intimacy, intergenerational power relations, and institutionalized whiteness, often pandering to new generation performers and audiences. Recent projects include JANE (Tarragon Theatre Greenhouse Festival/in development with Pantheon Projects; 2023 Equity Showcase Cayle Chernin Development Award Finalist), CLICK BUSH TRAIN BUG: A Fable for Twelve (Tarragon Theatre/TMU Creative School), WALSH: A New Musical (with Jake Schindler), troubadour (2023 Canadian Folk Music Award Nominee/2022 Colleen Peterson Songwriting Award), We All Got Lost (2021 Playwrights’ Guild of Canada Tom Hendry Award Winner; 2019 Hamilton Fringe Best in Fringe/Best in Venue/New Play Contest Winner), and Road (2017 NNPF National Playwriting Competition Winner). She can be found at camilleintson.com or @thecamiliad.


Season Launch & Discount Dave and the Fix

Written by Rebecca Auerbach
Directed by Aviva Armour-Ostroff

October 12, 2023

7:00 PM

Studio Theatre
Factory Theatre
125 Bathurst Street

When a rockstar crashes a backstage party at a Shakespeare Festival, a thrill-seeking young actor is set on a path of self-reckoning. A provocative blend of truth and fiction, Discount Dave and The Fix is a suspenseful, hilarious, and harrowing examination of our obsession with celebrity, how addiction can bury our wounds, and what it takes to heal.

Rebecca Auerbach

Rebecca Auerbach

Playwright

Rebecca is an award-winning actor, singer/songwriter, and playwright. As an actor, she has worked extensively in theatre across the country including The Arts Club (Jessie Nomination), Theatre Calgary (Betty Award), Alberta Theatre Projects, The Vancouver Playhouse (Jessie Award), Caravan Farm, The Belfry, The Globe, The Citadel, Royal MTC, WJT, Factory Theatre, Nightwood, Studio 180, Musical Stage Company (Dora nominations) National Arts Centre, Summerworks, The Charlottetown Festival and many more. Highlights include 2 season’s with Bard on the Beach, and 9 season’s with Blyth Festival where most recently she co-created and co-composed The Pigeon King (Blyth/NAC). As a writer, in addition to her new solo piece Discount Dave & The Fix, she is currently developing The Wilder Sisters (working title), a play with music commissioned by the Blyth Festival about a country music duo inspired by the women of the CKNX Barndance era. Rebecca also works as a voice artist, narrating numerous audiobooks, voicing commercials and animation. She is a recipient of the Jessie Award for Most Promising Newcomer and a graduate of Studio 58. Recent Film/TV highlights: Sunset Superman (TUBI/Feature), Bike (BELL/Series), and Riley Rocket (Sphere Media/Oasis Animation). Rebecca also plays in the folk/roots/country band Regal Road, and she is most grateful to her soulful German Shepherd, Archer, for changing her life.


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