Chloe Moss's lovingly crafted, award winning 'women out of prison' drama. Set in the UK, it's a funny, poignant, fierce portrayal of two very different women trying to move forward with their scarred, stigmatized lives.

Over two productions, Astrid Van Wieren and Claire Burns achieved a symbiotic rapport and a genuine pathos that evoked Chekhov.

Canadian Premiere - Theatre Passe Muraille, Backspace

 “First class performances and astute direction make This Wide Night a night to remember."

 Jeniva Berger, scenechanges.ca

“There's lots to admire in director Jon Michaelson's production, which captures the script's humor as well as much of its tension."

Jon Kaplan, Now Magazine

Remounted as a site-specific production at the Red Sandcastle Theatre, Leslieville. Astrid received a Dora Mavor Moore award for her outstanding performance as Lorraine.

“Jon Michaelson has directed the two actors with great sensitivity and insight.  A play like this about constantly, subtly shifting aspects of a relationship will only work with strong performances from both performers. And both Astrid Van Wieren and Claire Burns are absolutely superb. Mermaid Parade's production proves that great theatre can happen anywhere.”

Christopher Hoile, Stage-door

“Both Van Wieren and Burns work beautifully together, creating that tenuous, careful, tentative world of these two fragile, damaged women. While Lorraine and Marie are hard-nosed British women, the story could be about anywhere. This Wide Night is a tough play, well done. Jon Michaelson’s direction adds to that bleak, yet vivid world. For 90 minutes we are in that world too. “

Lynn Slotkin, The Slotkin Letter

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Direction: JM
Set & wardrobe design: Lindsay Anne Black
Lighting: David DeGrow / Colin Harris
Music by Mike Conley and Emily Derr
Stage Manager: Meredith Henry                                              Photography: Virginia MacDonald                                                Associate Producer: Zarrin Darnell-Martin, NTS/CALP                        

CAST

Astrid Van Wieren

Claire Burns

Tony Kushner's epic follow-up to “Angels in America” - which no one in Canada seemed willing to produce. Part One consists of an extraordinary one hour monologue by the (British) Homebody - seated at her kitchen table in London; which is the last we see of her. Part Two unfolds in Afghanistan where the Homebody’s husband and daughter search for the now missing woman, and find confusion and misery, and mystery. It’s a beautifully crafted piece of work, humane, and conscientiously thought provoking, but perhaps in this instance Mr Kushner’s singular virtuosity has more literary than dramatic power. Ultimately though the work is moving in a somewhat Chekhovian manner. Or put another way, if Virginia Woolf and Graham Greene collaborated on a play…

Canadian Premiere – Berkeley Street Theatre Downstairs

“A uniformly strong cast deliver pathos, tension, and humor throughout.”

Toronto Star

“This is an important play from one of the theatre's most provocative playwrights - it should be seen. The Homebody is played by Fiona Reid – who is a standout. Lesley Faulkner and Sanjay Talwar have passion and nuance.”

CBC Radio One

“No theatre lover will want to miss the performances of Reid and Deena Aziz.”

Eye Magazine

“Mercury has staged two coups in this production: one, the fact that theirs is the Canadian premiere; two, that they got Fiona Reid to play the Homebody.”

Torontoist

PRODUCTION CREDITS

JM – producer; co-director

Sanjay Talwar, assoc director

Lighting - Stephen Plotkin

Set Design - Andrea Mittler

Set Painting - Ed Fielding

Costumes - Setareh Delzendeh

Sound Design - Martin Deller

Stage Manager - Sarah O’Brien

Production Manager - Lars Tillander

Photography - Virginia MacDonald

Graphics - David Wilson Design

Website - Drew Sellers

Assoc Producers - Astrid Van Wieren, Evan Tsitsias

Sponsor: Culturate Inc - Yanick Landry, Michael Thompson

CAST

Fiona Reid, Deena Aziz, Sanjay Talwar, Lesley Faulkner, Kris Holden-Ried, Michael Spencer-Davis, Elie Gemael, Gregory Myers, Anousha Alamian, Wajma Soroor.

A rock n' roll show

(Inspired by a 1920's play by Brecht)

On commission, Rose Cullis wrote a terrific contemporary drama about a fiercely autonomous, charismatically hard living artist. Promiscuously talented 'Baal'  writes the songs that makes the young girls sing, but at home and on the road she's in conflict with her lovers, her band, her managers, and her growing notoriety.

Astrid Van Wieren starred indelibly as Baal and composed 7 kick-ass original songs which she sang with sass and passion. John Gzowski was the excellent band's excellent leader.  The versatile company included John Evans as a Machiavellian record industry magnate,  and Brenda Bazinet as his star-struck wife. In her Toronto main stage debut, Tara Rosling played the ingenue love object with grace and fury. 

Canadian Premiere – Buddies in Bad Times, Main Stage.

“Jon Michaelson is renowned and respected for his musical theatre direction. Astrid Van Wieren was born to sing these songs. Damn fine rock and roll!'
Director Sarah Stanley

“A wonderful gutsy idea…this production avoided many pitfalls and delivered many rewards…it had power, depth, and enormous creativity…and the music is as inventive as the text. Such a work deserves to go all the way and have national exposure”
Mira Friedlander, Variety

“Music and performances provide the theatrical jolts…and the poetic monologues and the sexually and emotionally hot scenes between Van Wieren and Rosling strike theatrical sparks …Van Wieren turns in a powerhouse performance…”
Jon Kaplan, Now Magazine

“The play is also a concert that the band around whom the action swirls delivers with punch, with Van Wieren showing off terrific Janis Joplin licks as well as a knack for emotionally direct messages…As the mesmerized ingenue, Tara Rosling turns in a canny, calibrated portrait of a vulnerable soul…”
Geoff Chapman, Toronto Star

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Script by Rose Cullis  Directed and dramaturged by JM
Scenography, Videos, and Wardrobe design by Denyse Karn & Ken Winter
Lighting: Stephen Plotkin and Brad Trenaman.
Stage Manager: Heather Cornick    Photos: Kelly Ross & Charlene Olson               

CAST
Astrid Van Wieren, Tara Rosling, Brenda Bazinet, John Evans, Paul Braunstein, Adrian Churchill, Tara Samuel, Chris Adams, John Gzowksi, Jason Miller

VIDEO CLIP/s * - (with Tara Rosling, and Astrid Van Wieren)

SONG TRACKS (writer/singer : Astrid Van Wieren)

SHADE

https://soundcloud.com/jonmich/shade-live-version-performed

CLOSE YOUR EYES

https://soundcloud.com/jonmich/baal-close-your-eyes

SMALL DECISION

https://soundcloud.com/jonmich/baal-small-decisions

A hard day's night on the edge of a depressed Lancashire town, Jim Cartwright's defiantly epic play attacks Margaret Thatcher's England with a drama peopled by roughs, toughs, boozers, lovers and losers. Like down and dirty Dickens.

An exemplary cast of 13 played the hell out of some two dozern characters. The show was staged in a warehouse space housed in a former factory, which made for a fitting locale.

Canadian Premiere at the Liberty Street Theatre, Parkdale

“Raw but powerful...Two tips of the hat to director Jon Michaelson for presenting another worthwhile contemporary play and for staging it in dynamic fashion…the results rarely fail to be intelligent, committed and theatrical.”

Robert Crew, The Toronto Star

“Michaelson has a genuine talent for eliciting first class work from actors...

Most of this company are young, but all of them perform with impressive physical freedom, and their timing has been honed to the fraction of a second.

...The rough theatre effect is just what this play requires…It’s the kind of play Tarragon and Passe Muraille used to do before they got respectable.”

Ray Conlogue, The Globe & Mail

“The opening startles in its spontaneity. Late-comers to the show are maligned and jeered at by Road's main voice, Scullery (played to Drunken Poet perfection by Hugo Dann), effectively tying the audience in for the ride. The entire play- house serves as the stage, with even the intermission acting as a comic interlude. Throughout the performance the audience is continually shocked and awakened by the sheer vitality of this theatrical method, to say nothing of its contents. “

Scott Cowie, The Varsity, U of T.

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Directed by JM

Set Design: Darin Olson

Lighting: Stephen Plotkin

Executive Producer: Marcus Bruce

CAST

Caroline Barrett,  Bruce Beaton, Leanne Brody, Jennifer Capraru, Christine Cox, Hugo Dann, Mathew Heaney, Deborah Lambie, Murray Oliver, Dan Sampson, Rosalie Shackleton, Janet Snetsinger, Jonathan Tanner

Set in the frozen North, Cindy Lou Johnson's lyrically neurotic drama about broken dreams, stranded romance, and the male/female divide played artfully with some screwball comedy tropes, and her wounded characters touched the heart.

As a combustible odd couple, Janet Snetsinger killed it as the runaway bride seeking shelter from the storm inside her, while Marcus Bruce's hermit provided solid support for the distressed damsel's high flying arias.

Canadian Premiere - Inaugurating the Liberty Street Theatre, Parkdale

“A totally compelling ninety minutes…cogent drama that grips the audience right from the start and rarely lets up. It's a chance to see a blazing new acting talent - Janet Snetsinger.“

Robert Crew, The Toronto Star

“This explosive drama features a truly dynamic performance by Janet Snetsinger as the bride with cold feet who flees to Alaska and the cabin of a reclusive man...Under Jon Michaelson's direction the interplay between the two characters is fascinating. “

Mary Dickie, NOW magazine

“An excellent comedy-drama…with a stunning performance by Janet Snetsinger as the runaway bride. As usual Jon Michaelson provides direction that is sharp and tight…One of the best shows in town.

Henry Mietkiewicz, CJEZ Radio

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Directed by JM

Set Design: Darren Levstek

Lighting: Stephen Plotkin

Costumes: Anna Maria Valastro

CAST

Janet Snetsinger

Marcus Bruce

Nicky Silver's brazen, mordant, ultimately moving take on the screwball comedy of manners and marriage a la The Philadelphia Story by way of The Skin Of Our Teeth,  (with a knowing wink to Joe Orton), set in the era of the onset of AIDS.

A sterling cast did spirited work. Lisa Repo-Martell and Raphael Paccitti were outrageously funny as the mismatched couple not meant to be, while James Gallanders and the award worthy Brenda Bazinet carried the dramatic payload as a mother and son out of Ibsen.

Designer Mark McGann added a sixth character with his ingenious T-Rex fabrication.

Canadian Premiere - The Annex Theatre

“This production directed by Jon Michaelson is finely crafted and strongly performed…”

Kate Taylor, The Globe & Mail

 “…Magnificent wit and off-kilter comedy – fine acting…Liisa Repo-Martell’s performance is sheer delight…not far behind is Rafael Pacitti…”

Geoff Chapman, Toronto Star

“Pterodactyls uses the elements of farce and screwball tragedy to explore the darkest issues imaginable with style, humour, and incredible pacing. The cast offers high-energy comic performances…Pterodactyls is a funny, painful reminder that “denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.”

Laura Kosterski, XTRA!

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Directed by JM

Set Design: JM, Peter Jaworski

Lighting: Stephen Plotkin

Costumes: Anna Maria Valastro.

T-Rex design by Mark McGann

Stage Manager: Karl Wollinger

Associate Producer: Astrid Van Wieren

CAST

Brenda Bazinet

James Gallanders

Lisa Repo-Martell

Raffael Pacitti

Murray Cruchley

AT EMERSON'S BAR & GRILL

Towards the end of her life, in 1959, in a dive in Philly, a stoned Billie Holiday struggles to make it through a two set, 17 song late night show. Lanie Robertson wrote a series of jagged monologues which punctuated the famously plaintive, seductively heart broken bittersweet songs

In both her singing and her acting, Ranee Lee totally brought it as Lady Day, and her soulful authenticity was backed by a first rate band.

The show was staged in a downtown nightclub, where it ran for 9 months.

Toronto Premiere

“Ranee Lee's incomparable grasp of jazz is theatre as live and raw as jazz should always be...Lady Day will break your heart.”

Val Clery, Toronto Star

“Electrifying...First rate...shockingly realistic. Lady Day is red hot jazz and one of the best shows you'll see - “

Henry Mietkiewicz, CJEZ FM

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Direction: JM

Musical Arranger: Danny Holgate

Musical Director: Joe Sealy

Lighting & Sound: Hatem Habashi

Set Design: Harvey Cowan

Costumes: Robyn Kelly Boothe

Producers: Robert Chorney, Ken Cole, Victor Tovey, Marcus Bruce

CAST

Ranee Lee

Archie Alleyne (drums)

Doug Innis (bass)

Joe Sealy (piano)

Great playwright August Wilson – woefully under-produced in Canada - offers a hardscrabble, heart breaking, fiercely articulated look at racism, framed as a backstage drama set in a Chicago recording studio in 1927.

Jackie Richardson starred with warmth, gusto and formidable vocal chops as Ma, and her band was well played by David Collins (trumpet), Doug Innis (bass), Theodore Gentry (guitar), and Joe Sealy (piano).

Canadian Premiere – Theatre Passe Muraille, Backspace

“Taut race-friction drama – Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is the best play in town. Jon Michaelson has assembled a solid Toronto cast for his production, headed by Jackie Richardson. It's a pleasure to watch them in action in a superb production like this.”
Frank Rasky, The Canadian Jewish News

“Mercury Theatre has built a solid reputation for introducing important plays and playwrights to Toronto. Add August Wilson to an already impressive list.”
Robert Crew, The Toronto Star

“A moving and passionate piece of theatre - ”
Henry Mietkiewicz, CJEZ Radio

“Rainey rollicks and rolls”
NOW

“Ma Rainey play much more than a blues musical - “
The Globe & Mail

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Direction: JM

Set & Lighting Design: Stephen Plotkin

Costumes: Audrey Van der Stoop

Musical Director: John Devinish

Sound: Hatem Habashi

Photography: Hatem Habashi

 CAST

Jackie Richardson,  David Collins, Doug Innis, Theodore Gentry, Joe Sealy, Marium Carvell, John Devenish, Greg Blanchard, Ramon Tarranco

Ellen McLaughlin's surreal Cold War pas de deux between a Stasi male interrogator and an American woman accused of being a spy, set in an East Berlin prison. An appropriately Strindbergian take on Stockholm Syndrome. James Kidnie brought his always riveting presence to bear, and Barbara Nicholson had a gift for embodying an intense physical-theatre style which was effective here.

Canadian Premiere at The Nathan Cohen Studio, YPT.

“Artistic Director Jon Michaelson has mounted some of this city's most exciting productions in recent years. His dynamism is still evident here.

He gives the interrogation sequences the feverish desperation or silky menace they require. As well, there's a satisfying authenticity to James Kidnie's steely questioner and Barbara Nicholson's pathetically defiant prisoner. The mood is further enhanced by Gabor Zsigovics' simple evocative set: shiny metal grillwork, a spartan desk, venetian blinds, a battered chair.”

Henry Mietkiewicz, Toronto Star

“The play has scenes which introduce theatrical virtues – a dream sequence in which Ilse sees her interrogation as a clown scene, with her giving her tormentor wonderfully witty answers…. Michaelson stages this scene with physical inventiveness, having the actors riding, twisting and comically parodying each other. In other parts of the play he contrives clever images - the two dancing, she held to him by arms handcuffed around his neck...”

Ray Conlogue, The Globe & Mail

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Directed by JM

Set: Gabor Zsigovics

Lighting: Hatem Habashi

Sound: Marc Chretien

Photography: Richard Quinlan

CAST

James Kidnie

Barbara Nicholson

From Sam Shepard, wildly iconic characters embodying a supercharged show biz world idiom, set in an ominous velvet underground American tabloid limbo. Fading macho Elvis type rock star mixes it up with a wily rising Bowie-like punker.  A rock & roll Macbeth.

Owned by Michael Kopsa, and Denyse Karn - in another virtuoso performance.

Powered by Alan Cole's original score, played down and dirty by The Shivs, set to Sam the Shaman's sinuous lyrics.

The vibrantly surreal lighting was crafted by Stephen Plotkin, who typically excelled, but was especially masterful with musicals.

Revival – at the Bathurst Street Theatre

“The Tooth Of Crime still can bite…Mercury fits right into the Shepard groove ...A smart new take on a play that may yet make it to being a classic.”
Ray Conlogue, The Globe & Mail

“Mercury Theatre's Tooth of Crime is a punker's Wild-West Story. Audiences will find themselves developing a strong feel for the dynamism that originally powered Shepard’s work, and that stems from the scope and vision of Mercury’s Artistic Director Jon Michaelson.”
Henry Mietkiewicz, Toronto Star

“Without a doubt the most exciting Sam Shepard work I’ve ever seen done in Canada.”
Ron Singer, Chairman, York University, Theatre Dept.

“Costumes are as eclectic as the characters wearing them – creating explosions of contrasting colors and textures which are wonderful to look at. The high-powered music adapted by Allen Cole and played by a four-piece band called The Shivs, resounds with the anger and space-age energy of the warring singers.” Lillian Mingall, The Midtown Voice

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Directed by JM.

Set & Lighting Design: Stephen Plotkin, with Grant Primeau

Costumes: Denyse Karn

Videography: Doug Stephens and Charlene Olson

Musical Director: Allen Cole

Lyrics: Sam Shepard

Band: John Gzowski, Allen Cole, & others. 

SONG TRACKS

CROW'S SONG

https://soundcloud.com/jonmich/tooth-of-crime1

3 ROUNDS

https://soundcloud.com/jonmich/tooth-of-crime-1

ROLLIN' DOWN

https://soundcloud.com/jonmich/tooth-of-crime

Hustlers, drag queens, pimps, johns, drugs and power games. Playwright Alan Bowne tears a piece off NYC's 42nd Street. Like a lost Lou Reed song.    

A gritty ensemble featured Edward Roy, Angelo Pedari, and Brock Johnson (seen in clip), as well as a memorable turn by Danny Allman.       

Canadian Premiere - at the Bathurst Street Theatre

“A tight piece of theatre work powerfully performed by a company of seven actors, some of whom seem born to their roles.”
Zsuzsi Gartner, The Globe & Mail

“As directed by Jon Michaelson, it’s a deep and demanding theatrical experience…a powerful play oozing with violence.”
Rod Curie, Canadian Press

“Few companies in town would take on a work as difficult as this. Mercury deserves credit for the attempt and for a production that communicates manyof the play’s strengths.”
Jon Kaplan, Now Magazine

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Directed by JM

Set & Lighting Design by Stephen Plotkin & Robert Bosworth

Stage Manager: Kathryn Beet

Photography: Bruce Lam

Poster Design: David Wilson

Video: Charlene Olson

Executive Producer: James A. Leahy

CAST

Edward Roy

Angelo Pedari

Brock Johnson

Danny Allman

Sam Malkin

Edmund James

Greg Van Alstyne

Playwright Martin Sherman's follow-up to BENT - set in 1665, on the Ukranian border of Poland, and in the desert of Asia Minor, on the trail of the prophet (and false messiah) Sabbatai Sevi. Folksy melodrama with lots of tsuris. Maya Toman’s acting was very true, as was Maruska Stankova’s. The second act in the desert had a certain mirage like magic to it, with its moody twi-lighting and some haunting live music from Bev Kreller, Ernie Toller, and Alan Cole.

Canadian Premiere - at the Bathurst Street Theatre

(3rd of a 5 play subscription season)

“Messiah is its fifteenth major show in a list that includes a higher than average ratio of hits. Artistically, Mercury Theatre is a success story.”

Alan Filewod , CBC Radio

“Jon Michaelson has given this play a handsome-looking production, with an effectively spare and windblown set of the southern Polish hills, designed by Stephen Plotkin and Grant Primeau. And in Maya Toman's wonderful Rebecca he has a graceful and accomplished leading lady with a strong personality. “

Ray Conlogue, The Globe & Mail

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Directed by JM

Set: Grant Primeau and Stephen Plotkin

Lighting: Stephen Plotkin

Costumes: Densye Karn

Photography: Joanne Hovey

Poster Design: David Wilson

CAST

Maya Toman

Maruska Stankova

Martin Neufeld

James Westlake

Bobo Vian

Susanah Hoffman

Musicians: Allen Cole, Ernie Toller, Bev Kreller

A troubled psychiatrist vists a convent where she confronts a tough mother superior about examining a disturbed young nun accused of infanticide...

Effectively, John Pielmeir's play was a Gothic psychodrama in the vein of Equus, but it made for a tensely riveting show. Shirley Douglas was a formidable mother superior, and Anna Louise Richardson gave her all as Agnes; but the exquisitely gifted Roberta Maxwell was the real miracle worker here.

Housed in a repurposed Catholic church, the ambience of the Bathurst Street Theatre's stage lent itself well to the proceedings.

Toronto Premiere - at the Bathurst Street Theatre

“What holds one’s interest throughout most of the play is the skill of the Mercury production. Roberta Maxwell is excellent as the obsessive psychiatrist.”
Stephen Godfrey, The Globe & Mail

“Rarely have I seen a production in which the principals are so well matched in their performance. Jon Michaelson’s directing has melded with the intent of the writing to produce a unified organic whole. ‘Agnes’ soars with Mercury.” Toronto Tonight

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Directed by JM

Set Design and costumes: Myles Warren

Lighting: Stephen Plotkin

Stage Manager: Sarah Adler

Photography: Bruce Lam

Poster Design: David Wilson

Executive Producer: Morton B. Katz

CAST

Roberta Maxwell

Shirley Douglas

Anna Louise Richardson

Brecht/Weill's scintillating melodiously acerbic black comic assault on bourgeois propriety and mores, and on what Peter Brook would call deadly/dull theatre.

Jack Langedyk as Mack The Knife, Denyse Karn (fresh out of Ryerson Theatre School) as Jenny Diver, and Patrick Tierney and Anne Turnbull as Mr and Mrs Peachum delivered crucially potent performances, but truly this was an outstanding team effort, not least by a phenomenal orchestra, led by musical directors Marc Enkin and a very young Allen Cole, who also played piano. The snazzy lighting was by Stephen Plotkin, who also played drums. Kathryn Beet was our kick-ass choreographer.

Revival - (first of a 5 play subscription series season) - at the Bathurst Street Theatre

“What a high! A wonderful, grimy, Grand Guignol production – inspired throughout; part of the production’s success is the youthful insouciance and bravado of the cast. They are carried along by the director’s style and energy…”
Ray Conlogue, The Globe & Mail

“Mercury Theatre has staged a first class version…judging from the freshness that director Michaelson brings to Brecht, it’s clear Mercury still remains one of Toronto’s most compelling theatre groups.”
Henry Mietkiewicz, Toronto Star

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Directed by JM

Set Design: Ed Fielding

Lighting: Stephen Plotkin

Costumes: Denyse Karn

Musical Direction: Marc Enkin & Allen Cole.

Choreography: Kathyrn Beet

Make-up: Fran Korczaa

Production Manager: Cathy Thompson

Photography: Bruce Lam

Poster Design: David Wilson

CAST

Jack Langedyk, Denyse Karn, Patrick Tierney, Anne Turnbull, Stephanie Young, John Bourgeois, Barbara Nicholson, Joel Kaiser, Greg Blanchard, Martin Julien, Ed Fielding, Chris Kanurkas, Alvaro D'Antonio, Patrick Kelly, Dawn Ritchie, Sheri Astirino, Christine Kenwood, Donna Clasper, Eileen Lyons

Orchestra:

Marc Enkin, Allen Cole, Ernie Toller, Joe Smith, Al Gallaro, Tom Powers, Mike Zingrone, Dave Charlton, Steve Donald, Danny Douglas, Stephen Plotkin.

VIDEO CLIPS feature Ms Karn and our second Macheath…(Mr Tierney, who was our first Mr Peachum; ah, the versatility of youth!)

SONG TRACKS

(Music: Kurt Weill. Lyrics: Bertolt Brecht)

OVERTURE

https://soundcloud.com/jonmich/overture

MACK THE KNIFE

https://soundcloud.com/jonmich/mack-the-knife

BALLAD OF IMMORAL EARNINGS

https://soundcloud.com/jonmich/the-ballad-of-immoral-earnings

WHAT KEEPS MANKIND ALIVE

https://soundcloud.com/jonmich/k-three-penny-2nd-finale

Harry Kondoleon's dark, feminist, poetically composed fairy tale about abandoned brides conducting rites of exorcism.

Two weeks of intensely imaginative group choreographed rehearsal, with masks, costumes, and props, was interrupted to offer a work-in-progress presentation of the first 15 minutes or so of this piece, but the production was canceled when one of the performers sustained an injury during the public showing. (Six months later, she reappeared as Agnes of God, for Mercury Theatre.)

(CANADIAN PREMIERE)

Presented as a work in progress at The Altar Eros Festival on Queen St. West.

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Directed by JM

Production Design by Ed Fielding

Dramaturge - Barbara Nicholson.

CAST

Barbara Nicholson, Anna Louise Richardson, Martha Cronyn, Maja Bannerman, Patricia White, and violinist Irene Cox.

From Louisville's Jane Martin, eleven wildly idiosyncratic monologues: from a deep South Pentecostal snake handler, a crazed housewife, a bag lady, a rodeo gal, an actress, a woman in labor, an abandoned wife, a senior citizen, a daughter bereft from the death of her mother, and more.

(Two Productions)

Canadian Premiere - at The Poor Alex Theatre

“Talking With is a deft look at the private obsessions or bizarre personal philosophies of 11 women. Most effective are Michaelson's sharply directed segments which bring a frightening clarity to the subtle gradations of religious fervor.”

Henry Mietkiewicz, Toronto Star

PRODUCTION CREDITS

(Directors: first production)

JM, Bill Corcoran, Anne-Margaret Hines

(remount) JM

Set: Francine Tanguay

Lighting: Stephen Plotkin

Costumes: Eria Link

CAST

(First Production)

Annie Szamosi Barbara Nicholson Susan Seagrove Anne Marie Corman

Tasha Simms Francis Antle Anna Louise Richardson Linda Goranson

Deborah Turnbull Elenor Yeoman Patricia White

(Remount)

Annie Szamosi Barbara Nicholson Anna Louise Richardson Cheryl Wagner Patricia White Tasha Simms

MY SISTER IN THIS HOUSE

Canadian Premiere - at The Poor Alex Theatre

in rep with

THE MAIDS

Revival

Wendy Kesselman's subtle, spare cinematic take on the same 1930's murder case which inspired Jean Genet's verbally incandescent exploration – produced as a double bill with a new translation of The Maids, in all male production, with the one and only Sky Gilbert as Madam.

“A company that specializes in classy productions of rarely seen modern plays…

The Maids is an intelligent and well-done show...

...in My Sister In This House, four relatively unknown actresses do a sterling job. The play proceeds with oppressive silences, hushed whispers, and a very clever erotic tension, and at times the atmosphere is truly horrific.

Both plays treat the subject of murder with a great deal of wit and black humor. Seeing them together really does provide an added depth...

When it comes to putting together imaginative double bills it’s usually theatres like Mercury that take this kind of risk.”

Alan Filewod, CBC Radio

PRODUCTION CREDITS

My Sister In This House

Directed by JM

Set Design: Myles Warren

Lighting: Stephen Plotkin & Hatem Habashi

Costumes: Audrey Van der Stoop, Myles Warren

CAST Claire Crawford, Martha Cronyn, Angela Murphy, MJ Buell; Roberta Weiss

The Maids

Translator/Director: Ais Snyder

CAST Sky Gilbert, Michael Devine, Jon Michaelson

Set Design: Myles Warren

Lighting: Stephen Plotkin & Hatem Habashi

Costumes: Audrey Van der Stoop, Myles Warren

Harold Pinter's brilliantly unsettling comedy of menace. Brothers Mick and Aston are confronted with a homeless old man, Davies, who insinuates himself into the midst of their already troubled menage.

Among many questions this crafty claustrophobic play about damaged psyches asks is Who's the real caretaker here?

Revival - at the Poor Alex Theatre

“All three actors contribute to the tone of the play, that mixture of comedy and menace which is Pinter's trademark. This production is especially good at demonstrating those sudden and sometimes subtle shifts of mood and power that leave the audience with a sense of anxiety by the evening's end.”

Jon Kaplan, NOW magazine

CAST

Michael Devine, Jon Michaelson, Kevin O'Shea

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Directors: JM & Michael Devine

Set: Michaelson & Devine

Lighting: Hatem Habashi

Costumes: Audrey Van Der Stoop

Stage manager: Al Polo

('a far mean streak of indepence brought on by negleck')

UK playwright Michael Hastings' often brillant documentary-like version of a nightmare history which also lured writers like Norman Mailer and Don DeLillo into its web.

In this case, Warren Commission testimony by Oswald's wife Marina, and his mother Marguerite, was intercut with incisively off-kilter domestic flashbacks. In its authentically fraught way it was redolent of Tennessee Williams.

Amanda Plummer (as Marina) and James Kidnie (as Lee) offered charismatic, intense, gutsy performances.

Canadian Premiere at The Bayview Playhouse

“Michaelson goes for substance and entertainment.”
Canadian Theatre Review

“Innovative, intelligent, controversial and entertaining. Direction by Michaelson is crisp and deft.”
Toronto Sun

“Amanda Plummer is a superb Marina. It's a very still and compelling performance. James Kidnie's Oswald is also a deeply drawn portrait... Inventive playing – carefully directed by Jon Michaelson, with an elevated, revolving set...”
Ray Conlogue, The Globe & Mail

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Directed by JM

Set: Bill Layton

Lighting: Tim Fort.

Exec Producers: Robert Chorney, Victor Tovey, Tony Grillo. RTV Communications, and Toronto Truck Theatre. Initial support from Robbie Michaelson

Poster: David Wilson Design

CAST

Amanda Plummer

James Kidnie

Marion Gilsenan

James B. Douglas

Ian White

(NB: Video Clip is from a rehearsal.)

HITTING TOWN

A witty, unsettling urban jungle thriller from London pop bard Stephen Poliakoff who, early in his career, wrote like a latter day illegitimate heir to Noel Coward.

Holly Dennison's performance as a film noir style femme fatale was alluring, and Patrick Tierney and Paulette Philips contributed slyly adept support.

The surround span of the setting consisted of steel scaffolding, platforms and ramps, and lots of plastic furniture. Neon signage was also effectively deployed, as was Muzac.

Site-specific production at the Bedford Studio

(part 1 of a Stephen Poliakoff Festival)

“Michaelson has a knack for finding female performers (like Holly Dennison) who can bring an almost overwhelming intensity to their portrayals...He has not only directed with his usual aplomb but also designed his first set. The irony of performing, in a TV studio, a work that deals with modern youth culture infiltrated by the media is not lost on him. He has “exploited” the space and placed aspects of the stage all around the audience – It's all effective, as is the soundscape of rock music that accompanies much of the action.”
Jon Kaplan, NOW magazine

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Direction and set design by JM

Lighting: Stephen Plotkin

Sound: Adam Henderson

Costumes: Lana Tetlock

Stage Manager: Stephen LaFrenie

Associate Producer: Peter Erlich

Photography: Joanne Hovey

CAST

Holly Dennison

Patrick Tierney

Paulette Philips

AMERICAN DAYS

Canadian Premiere - at The Poor Alex Theatre

(part 2 of a Stephen Poliakoff Festival)

What price selling out? Poliakoff's satiric take on modern media saturated culture. Aspiring young singers endure a grueling round of auditions for a shot at being the next shiny new pop star – overseen by a Warhol like indie label impressario, played with off the wall innuendo, hauteur and zest by Andrew Paterson. Oh, and 'Simon Nine' brought some real punk band street cred. Variety magazine said it best: “Not a play to be staged at a record industry convention.”

“American Days has its rough edges, but whether you're drawn by the music, the theatre or a combination of the two, the work is an unusual and strangely likeable part of the Toronto scene.”
Jon Kaplan, NOW magazine

“Brave bold original casting - Wonderfully clever economical staging.“
Sheila Wawanash. Shades magazine

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Directed by JM

Set Design: Roderick Mayne

Lighting: Stephen Plotkin

Sound: Hatem Habashi

Costumes: Audrey Van der Stoop

Stage manager: Deborah Perry

Executive Producer: Paul Farrelly

Photography: Joanne Hovey

Graphic Design : David Wilson

CAST

Andrew Paterson

Simon Nine

Emma Hewitt

Siobhan McCormick

Michael Devine

David Perlman

Deborah Perry

Seventh son of a seventh son, Irishman Francis Hardy, his Scottish wife Grace, and his cockney manager Teddy, each offer a version of their on-their-road lives together, traveling the back counties of Wales, Scotland and Ireland, as Frank presides at a series of miracle working 'one night only' performances.

Four interlocking, densely eloquent monologues - a black rainbow of a play. Always lyric, sometimes funny, often anguished, this haunted/haunting ghost story is one of Brian Friel's masterpieces.

Jonathan Lynn, Claire Crawford, and Anton Percic all gave bold, brave, beautiful performances.

Canadian Premiere - at The Poor Alex Theatre (2 runs)

(plus 'One Night Only' performances at the Irish Canadian Cultural Center*; York Quay Center,  Harbourfront; and at Stratford's City Hall.)

“Michaelson and a fine cast have captured Faith Healer's spark. It's a bold experiment.”
Henry Mietkiewicz, Toronto Star

“Excellent…Michaelson structures the pacing and performances for maximum impact. It's not an easy play – it demands some work from the audience. This production rewards the effort.”
Jon Kaplan, Now Magazine

“Each of the four solo scenes is for the most part a tour-de-force in both the writing and the performances.”
The Canadian Tribune

“Unusual..Pulsates with passion, anger, humanity, and wit – sustained throughout by a remarkable cast.”
The New Edition, University of Toronto

“The only reason the 120 or so theatre-goers there that night didn't give the cast - Jonathan Lynn, Claire Crawford, Anton Percic - a standing ovation was that they were quite simply too weak in the knees - washed clean by a performance most drama-lovers only dream about.”
The Bloor West Villager

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Directed by JM
Set: David Perlman, and Trish Leeper
Lighting: Stephen Plotkin
Costumes: Lana Tetlock
Sound: Adam Henderson
Cinematography: Peter Williamson
Stage manager: Cathy Thompson
Exective Producer: Robert Chorney

CAST

Jonathan Lynn

Claire Crawford

Anton Percic

(NB. Underscoring in film clip was added by the filmmaker.)

On the beach – Leaping, talking lizards encounter a couple of Edward Albee humans, in a mysterious, touching play which drolly addresses the happy tragedy of love, and the sad comedy of life.

Catherine Marshall and Michael Devine’s sea creatures were marvelous, aided by Trish Leeper's vibrant masks and body-costume work.
 

Toronto Premiere - at The Poor Alex Theatre

“Affectionate, good natured, bizarre – set in a sort of theatrical twilight zone. Wit and deep insight painstakingly captured...presented with curiosity, wonder and pride. Stunning...”
Henry Mietkiewicz, Toronto Star

“Loopily charming…a novelty...it has moments of great wit and feeling.”
Ray Conlogue, The Globe & Mail

“A powerful cast…directed with considerable skill.”
David Warren, Our Canada

“Michaelson is one of the more talented directors now working in Toronto. The production benefits wonderfully from the masks and costumes of Trish Leeper, and the performances of Michael O' Devine and Catherine Marshall – The two move  around the stage like enormous iguanas, slithering on the several tons of sand and occasionally jumping from dune to dune. It’s all highly theatrical !
Jon Kaplan, NOW magazine

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Directed by JM
Setting: Adam Henderson, Brendan Lynskey, David Perlman, Keven O'Shea, Sheree Tams.
Lighting: Stephen Plotkin
Masks and costumes: Trish Leeper
Sound: Adam Henderson
Stage Managers: Cathy Thompson, Hatem Habashi

Photography: John Wild - Video : Charlene Olson   

CAST
David Main, Patricia Moffat, Catherine Marshall, Michael Devine

Working on an Athol Fugard play is a love/hate relationship: love for his compassion, humor and range of expression; hate for the brutal grace of his insights – his shrewd grasp of our weaknesses and lies, his ability to feel the pulse of our failures and secret guilt, and that sure South African instinct for the betrayal of self, and others. He knows more than most about the messiness of life, and he is a great theater poet of loss and affirmation, so it's both painful and exhilarating to dramatize these qualities. 

Set in a boarding house in Port Elizabeth in the early 1960's, this production was blessed with an intrepid cast, led by a luminous Claire Crawford.

Toronto Premiere – (Reopened) The Poor Alex Theatre

“A bold debut…the spirit of a brave new venture glows from it…I thought I’d seen once again what theatre was all about.”
Gordon Voght, CBC Radio

 “Auspicious start…bravery backed by intelligence…Director Jon Michaelson is obviously good with actors...Claire Crawford is remarkably attuned to the quick shifts of Millie's fitful mind; her performance is felt, detailed and psychologically accurate. Kevin O'Shea's performance has the feel of indubitable fact.”
Carol Corbeille, the Globe and Mail

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Directed by JM
Set Design: Brendan Lynskey
Lighting: Stephen Plotkin
Costumes: Susan Jin Suen
Sound: Clark McCarron
Stage Manager: Cathi Thompson                   
Executive Producer: Robert Chorney

CAST

Claire Crawford

Adam Henderson

Keven O'Shea

Angela Murphy

Toronto Irish Players at the Irish Canadian Center

“This TIP production of Beckett’s signature piece is a real treat. The acting is accomplished, and to hear the play done in the language for which it seems to have been meant is a rare pleasure. The cast have managed to mine the humor Beckett intended for the play, which is often bled out of more sombre productions.”

The Villager

CAST

Paddy Colfer

Terence Frawley

Kevin O'Shea

Kevin Kennedy

Michael Kennedy

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Directed by JM

SM: Pat Dowling

Set & Lighting Design: Hatem Habashi

Godin...Godet...Godot...(Director's Knook)

Joyce, that great overachiever, wanted to be able to smell the actors in a theater, and here, in waiting for Godot, that desire has been obliged by that great underachiever, Samuel Beckett. Atlas! Son of Jupiter! Shared, perhaps inherited, is a trouble-making talent, and, with Yeats, Wilde, O'Casey, and Behan, a lively penchant for epiphany and epigram – all cat and calculus to chart the marks of history's cruel lashings. What is the weather in Europe? The Celt reports twilight. But it is Beckett, that patron saint of ex-patriots, scoutmaster to all the lost sons, at home with the homeless, who has created in Godot what must be the 20th Century's most seminal drama of exile, and not least the funniest – a banana peel of a play, most serious when most slippery.

Perverse and profound in its humors, like all great plays this one speaks to its own time and ours, saying what it has to say with the only words possible with which to say it, saying what it is about with what it is about – which is the poet's only prerogative.

Inimitable, if much imitated, not the least of the mystery here is the tyro play writing skill. And what an impossible play! Impossible to forget it was conceived in the ravaged aftermath of the most destructive war ever endured by the citizens of Europe; just as it's impossible to believe it was not originally intended for the cadence of the Irish voice, or the character of the Irish player. For surely, despite homage to the patter and slapstick of American screen comics, this is one of the great Irish plays, steeped to its rhetorical root with all the rueful wit of the survivor – clever and contrary, melancholy and bawdy, savage and wise – a panegyric to the impossible universe we share. Nothing to be done. Enjoy it.

JM