Diminished Workshop

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Hatched over a single night right before the onset of the Covid pandemic in 2020, Gloria Mok’s Diminished is about to wrap up its first full phase of development.

What began as a short, 10-minute piece set among an upper hallway of Whitby’s Trafalgar Castle has emerged as a full length, two-act play which explores the relationship between a precocious and lonely 11-year old girl and a tightly-wound piano tuner.

Playwright, Gloria Mok

When the 10-minute play first premiered at Trafalgar 24 on March 8, 2020, it was both the jury and audience choice for Driftwood’s Beyond the Bard Residency prize. In the fall of 2020, Gloria began work to expand the play, first fleshing out a full one-act and most recently adding a second act to further explore this unique and touching relationship between teacher and student. Gloria’s work has been supported by a dramaturg and regular meetings with members of Driftwood’s Playwrights Unit.

Multiple drafts and many conversations later, Diminished is now ready to welcome more creative partners. During the week of December 6, Driftwood will bring together a group of artists in-person for the first time since that 2020 Trafalgar 24 event. “Not only is this a fitting and highly anticipated return to working with artists in physical space,” explains Driftwood Artistic Director Jeremy Smith, “but it’s also the perfect way to close out this very strange year – working with a fabulous group of people to support the development of a beautifully crafted story.”

We’re so excited to be welcoming director Keira Loughran (Stratford Festival, Canadian Stage), performers Tess Benger (Talk is Free, Bad Hats/Soulpepper) and Jeff Yung (Theatre Centre/6th Man Collective, Young Peoples Theatre, Shakespeare in the Ruff), and composer James Smith (Outside the March, Storefront/Soulpepper) to work on the play. The workshop week will be supported by dramaturg Caitie Graham, Stage Manager Emmanuelle So, and Intern Dramaturg Ella Kohlmann who will also act as Safety Officer.

The week-long workshop will focus on the development of the play’s second act.

Though no public reading of Diminished is planned at this stage of development, keep your eyes peeled for future news about Gloria’s charming, funny and open-hearted play.

Driftwood Digital Short Play Festival Launches October 22, 2021

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It’s been a pretty strange year. Never would we have imagined that, nearing the end of summer 2021, we would have replaced our annual summer season of outdoor theatre with not one but three digital projects.

Driftwood audiences can already join Artistic Director Jeremy Smith as he celebrates reconnecting with people and places in Ontario with the Motorcycle Monologues and young viewers can experience the whimsical choose-your-own-adventure tale, Froxeaglousy, for free online through our YouTube channel. But we have one more very special experience to add before 2021 comes to a close: Driftwoods’ first-ever Digital Short Play Festival.

The Digital Short Play Festival collects four short plays currently in development at Driftwood and presents them for free online in digital format. Originally intended as opening-act performances prior to the Bard’s Bus Tour, all four plays were filmed over two days thanks to the generous support of the Toronto Arts Council’s Animating Toronto Parks program.

Ellen Denny’s romantically absurd So You, So I challenges a disillusioned couple to rekindle romance after tragedy bursts their idyllic existence. 

In Matthew Gorman’s Boutique Siblings, a pair of abandoned siblings hope a remarkable skill will be their chance for a better future.

Two unnamed individuals struggle with a tenuous codependency in Rebecca Lashmar’s deliciously dark Fairchild, where ethics and morals are questioned in the face of survival.

Sisters squabble in Rabiya Mansoor’s smart comedy A Jam Kind of Day after a family tragedy forces them each to come to terms with an ill-advised family business decision.  

The Digital Short Play Festival features performers Dhanish Chinniah (So You, So I; Boutique Siblings), Mina James (A Jam Kind of Day, Fairchild), Anand Rajaram (So You, So I), Gabriella Sundar Singh (A Jam Kind of Day, Fairchild) and Athena Kaitlin Trinh (Boutique Siblings).

The festival is directed by Cailleah Scott-Grimes and Jeremy Smith, with videography by Mateen Missaghi and Stella Racca, sound engineering by Ella Kohlmann, editing by Mitchell Allen, wardrobe by Carlyn Rahusaar Routledge and props by Almira Rahmati.

Driftwood’s Digital Short Play Festival will air for free on Driftwood’s YouTube channel, launching on October 22, 2021.

The Digital Short Play Festival is the culmination of a year-long process of development through Driftwood’s Beyond the Bard Playwrights Unit with dramaturgy by Caitie Graham. Driftwood’s 2021 Playwrights Unit is generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts.

Lunch menu at the Aurora Armoury

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Digital Driftwood: A 2021 Pandemic Update

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Oh, we so want to be sharing live theatre with communities across Ontario this summer! But it is not to be. 

 
In response to the ongoing Covid pandemic and after careful consideration, Driftwood Theatre has made the very difficult decision to refrain from producing the Bard’s Bus Tour for a second season. 
 
Though we are disappointed by this news, we feel that it is in the best interest of the safety and well-being of our company members and audience to delay until we are able to gather again in the way we’d like: face to face, eye to eye, shoulder to shoulder. 
 
But that doesn’t mean we’re resting idle! In many ways, Driftwood is busier than ever as we ramp up for a digital shift to bridge the gap. We have three very exciting projects lined up for the summer of 2021 and hope you’ll join us from home (and on the road, when it’s safe to do so) as we embark on new adventures. 
 
Read on for a quick preview of Driftwood Digital 2021 and be sure to visit back here again or follow us on social media to stay up-to-date on all the Driftwood news. 
 

The Motorcycle Monologues

Join Artistic Director Jeremy Smith as he sets out on a solo quest across Ontario to rediscover and reconnect with places and people we’ve been separated from during the Covid pandemic.
 
The Motorcycle Monologues will be an entirely unique and innovative experience fusing together three seemingly disparate elements: motorcycling, Shakespeare and documentary storytelling.
 
The Motorcycle Monologues, an 8-part video web series, will air in the summer of 2021.
 

Beyond The Bard Digital Short Play Festival

A week after Driftwood held its annual 24-hour play-creation festival, Trafalgar 24, on March 8 2020, the world came to an abrupt stop. The Covid pandemic has held us in its grip ever since.
 
For months we’ve been working with five playwrights to develop the short plays they originally wrote at Trafalgar 24, intending to present their work as opening-act performances for the Bard’s Bus Tour. 
 
The Beyond the Bard Digital Short Play Festival will instead air these stories online as short films in late summer 2021. 
 

Pop-Up Play Workshops

This summer, tell your story.
 
Driftwood artist Deivan Steele is back for another summer of in (socially-distanced) person and online workshops focusing on play and storytelling.
 
Pop-Up Play Workshops will encourage participants to explore the theatrical storytelling through fun and safe play. 
 
Pop-Up Play Workshops will be offered both digitally and in select Toronto and GTA parks during the month of August.