April 04, 2005 -

Ottawa, Ontario -- On Tuesday, March 29, 2005, from the stage of the NAC Studio, Marti Maraden, Artistic Director of the National Arts Centre English Theatre revealed the details of her 2005-2006 season to an audience of over 300 enthusiastic subscribers.

Ms. Maraden describes the 2005-2006 season, the last she will programme as Artistic Director of the National Arts Centre English Theatre, as:

filled with realized dreams: giving playwrights an environment in which to create the stories that matter deeply to them, reviving some of the best of our past works, nurturing partnerships, helping to realize and sustain a major new theatre festival, and looking to the great works beyond our borders.

The 2005-2006 Main Stage Series will open with After the Orchard, a brand new play commissioned by the NAC English Theatre by Jason Sherman, the playwright the Globe and Mail calls “one of the most sophisticated voices in Canadian Theatre.”  Set at a Muskoka cottage, this world premiere production will be directed by Marti Maraden  •  Next in the Main Stage Series is the first play in James Reaney’s extraordinary trilogy, The Donnellys. Sticks & Stones is based on one of the most shocking events in Canadian history and has been a staple of the Canadian dramatic canon since its premiere in 1973.  This National Arts Centre English Theatre production is presented in association with The Stratford Festival  •  New York audiences and critics raved about Doug Wright’s brilliant I Am My Own Wife, the one-man/woman show inspired by the unusual life of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf (née Lothar Berfelde), an enigmatic transvestite from East Berlin. The play was recognized with numerous prizes, including a Tony Award™ and a Pulitzer Prize, and was the talk of the town on the Great White Way in 2004.  This NAC/CanStage (Toronto) Canadian Premiere coproduction will come to the NAC Theatre in January, 2006  • I Am My Own Wife will be followed by a very different, yet equally admired smash-hit new musical from the States, Crowns by Regina Taylor.  Inspired by the women of the deep south and their extraordinary church hats, this joyous musical will make its Canadian debut in an NAC/Canstage (Toronto)/ Manitoba Theatre Centre (Winnipeg) coproduction • And bringing the Main Stage Season to a triumphant climax will be Tom Stoppard’s brilliant tribute to love, The Real Thing, coproduced by the NAC English Theatre with one of the finest theatre companies in the country, Soulpepper Theatre (Toronto.)

The 2005-2006 Studio Series will see not the usual three, but rather four plays on stage.  •  Soulpepper will open the season with a revival of their acclaimed 2004 production of two, one-act English language classics with Albee’s The Zoo Story and Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter, directed by Diana Leblanc and Ted Dykstra respectively • Morris Panych’s brilliant dark-comedy Earshot brings its forced-perspective set and sonically-challenged protagonist to the NAC Studio, starring Randy Hughson. This revival of the award-winning original production is coproduced by the National Arts Centre English Theatre and Crow’s Theatre (Toronto) •  Vancouver’s ground-breaking Electric Company brings the stunning, highly-original and acclaimed Brilliant! The Blinding Enlightenment of Nikola Tesla to the  and the season is completed by recovery, a brand new play commissioned and produced by the NAC, from one of this country’s most exciting and subversive playwrights, Greg MacArthur.

The English Theatre’s hugely successful three-play Family Theatre Series continues this season to offer outstanding theatre for young people ages 5 to 9 and their families  • Tomson Highway writes for young audiences in the delightful Caribou Song, inspired by aboriginal culture and mythology, and Drew Hayden Taylor recounts a traditional story of the Tlingit Nation in Raven Stole the Sun – one delightful production featuring two stories, presented by the acclaimed Red Sky (Toronto)  •  Carousel Players’ charming George and Martha, a pair of hippopotamus best friends, come to the studio with puppets and live music; and bringing the Family Theatre Series to a close is  •  Theatre Direct Canada’s lovely Beneath the Banyan Tree, the story of a young Indian girl making the transition to a new life in Canada.

The NAC English Theatre is excited to announce that, in response to popular demand, Pierre Brault will bring his enormously popular, critically-heralded, one-man show Portrait of an Unidentified Man back to the NAC Studio as a special summer presentation.  This Sleeping Dog Theatre (Ottawa)/NAC English Theatre premiere coproduction sold out as part of the 2004-2005 Studio Series.

Building on the success of last year’s introductory initiative, the International Reading Series will again be offered on subscription in the 2005-2006 season.  This year’s three-play series offers a celebration of significant anniversaries in theatre, with plays by three of the most important playwrights of the last century:  When We Dead Awaken, by Henrik Ibsen; Bend it Like Beckett – an evening of short pieces by Samuel Beckett; and Look Back in Anger by John Osborne.

As always, we will be welcoming some exceptional talent to the stages of the NAC this season.  Thespians performing in 2005-2006 include:  Brendan Averett, Pierre Brault, Lindsay Buchanan Clarke, Shane Carty, Kim Collier, Diane D’Aquila, Paul Dunn, Jerry Franken, Peter Froehlich, Michael Hanrahan, David Hudgins, Stuart Hughes, Randy Hughson, Kate Hurman, Kevin Kerr, Robert King, John Koensgen, Niki Landau, Jeff Lawson, Ian Leung, Nicola Lipman, Andrew Massingham, Michelle Monteith, Patrick McManus, Harry Nelken, Roger Shank, Alix Sideris, David Snelgrove, Peter van Gestel, Andy Velàsquez, Philip Warren Sarsons, Sarah Wilson, Jonathon Young.

We are very pleased to be working in coproduction with many wonderful partners in 2005-2006, including CanStage (Toronto), Manitoba Theatre Centre (Winnipeg), Soulpepper Theatre (Toronto), Crow’s Theatre (Toronto), and Sleeping Dog Theatre (Ottawa).  We are delighted, too, to be presenting a production this season in association with The Stratford Festival.

Invited productions will grace the NAC stages from Soulpepper Theatre, The Electric Company, Red Sky (Toronto), Carousel Players (St. Catharines), and Theatre Direct Canada.

In 2005-2006 the NAC English Theatre will continue to offer expanded programming in youth and education, national outreach, new play development, and audience outreach programming.  These include: New, this year, a Student Club for High School, College and University Students (details attached), Student Matinees, Theatre Plus (in School and for Teachers); Study Guides; ArtsAlive.ca; Teachers’ Night; the Canadian Improv Games; the new Magnetic North Theatre Festival (co-presenters); On the Verge; the NAC commissioning and workshop programmes; Pre-Show Chats; Thursday Talkbacks; and Shop Talks for subscribers.

We are proud to copresent the third annual Magnetic North Theatre Festival, Canada’s national festival of contemporary Canadian theatre in English, taking place in Ottawa June 8-18, 2005, featuring ten plays from across Canada and Encounters events. Subscribers to English Theatre receive a ten percent discount on Festival passes. This summer, too, the NAC’s On the Verge national festival of new play readings has been scheduled to take place during the Magnetic North Theatre Festival, June 13-18, 2005.  With readings all taking place in the NAC’s Fourth Stage, On the Verge 2005 features readings of eleven new plays, including new this year, two plays for young audiences.

We are delighted to be welcoming some returning sponsors this season, along with some new friends.We extend a special acknowledgement to The CanWest Global Foundation for its now 8-year association with the English Theatre.  This season they will sponsor our coproduction of Crowns.  The Ottawa Citizen is continuing its support as Proud Media Partner of the Main Stage Series, and the NAC Donors’ Circle supports After the Orchard.  We also thank the Imperial Oil Foundation and The Harold Crabtree Foundation for their support of our student matinees.  New Play Development is supported by the Laidlaw Foundation, and ING Canada is renewing its commitment to the Canadian Improv Games.  Special thanks to The Cyril and Dorothy, Joel and Jill Reitman Foundation for helping to make On the Verge possible.

Subscriptions (season tickets) for the 2005-2006 English Theatre season are affordable and easy to purchase.   Connoisseur packages (tickets to all Main Stage and Studio series productions) begin at only $222; subcriptions to the Main Stage Series start at an amazing value of $135 and a subscription to the 4-play Studio Series starts at a very low $99.  The Family Theatre Series remains one of the best entertainment values in Ottawa at a mere $115 for a family of four.  Our new International Reading Series subscription is exceptionally reasonable at only $30 (Adult) and $15 (Student) for all three readings!  In addition we offer a wide variety of subscriptions to suit every schedule and wallet, including a new Flex Pass for maximum convenience, and special packages for Seniors, Students, Twenty-somethings, Corporations and Groups.  And subscribing has never been easier:

Phone Us
Call 613-947-7000, ext. 620
1-866-850-ARTS, ext. 620
Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 17:00.

Online
For quick, easy and secure subscription purchases 24 hours a day, visit the NAC website at www.nac-cna.ca/subscribe/

Come and See Us
Subscription Office – 53 Elgin Street,
(Located on the lower level below the NAC Box Office)
Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 17:00.
FREE parking (30 min.) in the NAC Garage when purchasing or exchanging tickets.(Parking stub must be validated by Box Office or Subscription Office).

To receive a full-colour season brochure designed by Scott McKowen (Punch & Judy) please call the NAC Subscription Office at (613) 947-7000, ext. 620, or visit the NAC Web site at www.nac-cna.ca/subscribe/ for a downloadable version.

Information:
Laura Denker
Publicity and Media Relations Coordinator
(613) 947-7000 ext. 389
ldenker@nac-cna.ca