As the final event of its successful current season, New Stages Theatre Company is presenting a staged reading of the compelling and provocative play Late Company by Toronto playwright Jordan Tannahill. The reading takes place at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 12th at Peterborough’s Market Hall and features Janet-Laine Green, Derek McGrath, Michael Riley, Linda Kash, and Quinlan Shearer.
Presented as part of The Page on Stage Reading Series, Late Company is about the aftermath of the death of a gay teen, who committed suicide after being bullied relentlessly by his peers. A year after the tragedy, the dead teen’s parents invite one of the bullies and his parents to their home for dinner.
The two families hope the dinner will result in closure and reconciliation, but what follows are unexpected revelations that reopen old wounds and create new ones.
The play is an extremely timely reminder of the burden social media has placed on the lives of youth and families, as it examines the potency and effect of electronic media now has on our daily lives.
Tannahill was inspired to write the play by the story of 15-year-old Jamie Hubley. The son of an Ottawa city councillor, Hubley killed himself in 2011 after being constantly bullied through elementary school and into high school.
Tannahill, who self-identifies as a queer artist and who grew up in Ottawa, was also bullied in elementary school.
“I was someone who read as gay and that opened me up to a degree of violence,” he tells the Toronto Star’s Richard Ouzounian in an interview. “I would be harassed just standing at a suburban bus shelter, coming home from a rehearsal.”
Over the past few years, the 27-year-old playwright, theatre producer, filmmaker, and author has emerged as one of Canada’s most promising young independent theatre artists. The highly prolific Tannahill has already won the Governor General’s Award for English-language drama and two Doras, among many other awards.
In addition to rave reviews, Late Company won first place in the 2013 Herman Voaden National Playwriting Competition and Best Production Award at the SummerWorks Festival in 2013. NOW Toronto has called it “first-rate theatre, searing but holding out a touch of hope and connection in its last moments” and the Vancourver Courier said it’s “excruciatingly good theatre”.
For its staged reading of Late Company, New Stages has assembled a cast of professional actors from film, stage, and television: Janet-Laine Green (This Life, She’s the Mayor), Derek McGrath (Cheers, Doc, Little Mosque on the Prairie), Michael Riley (This Is Wonderland, Being Erica), Linda Kash (Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond). They are joined by young Peterborough actor Quinlan Shearer.
The performance takes at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 12th at Market Hall Performing Arts Centre (140 Charlotte St., Peterborough). Tickets are $20 ($15 for students and arts workers) and are available at the Market Hall Box Office, by phone at 705-749-1146, or online at www.markethall.org.
As the play includes strong language and mature themes, parental discretion is advised. The play is recommended for ages 13 and up.
New Stages will also be announcing its 2016-17 season at this event, and will offer a limited number of season subscriptions for sale.
