#114 – Emmilia Gordon & Wes Berger

Published: Feb. 20, 2018, 5 a.m.

Emmilia Gordon
Emmelia is a Vancouver actor making the big leap into the Toronto theatre scene. Fierce will be her first semi professional debut in Toronto and couldn’t have ask for a more supportive and kick ass team. She is two time Jessie Richardson award winner (New Canadian Kid, Green Thumb Theatre & Dissolve, Shameless Hussy Productions) Acting credits include: Lady Parts (Pi Theatre); The Food Project (Theatre by Committee); Perter and the Starcatcher, (Arts Club Theatre); Proud, (Firehall Arts Centre (Jessie nominated)); Dirty Old Woman (wet ink collective); Fat Pig (Short, Sharp & Pointy); Measure for Measure (Honest Fishmongers/Pacific Theatre); The After Party (Sum Theatre/Pull Fest); Twelve Angry Men (Hardline Productions); She’s also had the pleasure of being co-creator, alongside Pippa Mackie, of the touring Fringe hit The Progressive Polygamists and an improviser in The Life Game created by Keith Johnstone. Emmelia is a graduate of Studio 58 and the recipient of the Antony Holland Scholarship for dedication and outstanding ability. ​Co-founder of Criminal Girlfriends.

http://www.emmeliagordon.com/
Twitter: @emmmmelia
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emmeliagordon

Wes Berger
Fierce will be the fourth World Premiere production of a play by George F. Walker for which Wes has served as director, after Parents Night (CrazyLady), The Bigger Issue (CrazyLady) and, most recently, The Chance (Leroy St Theatre). Wes also directed Walker's Criminal Genius (Lyndesfarne Theatre Projects) and acted in first productions of Walker's plays, The Ravine (Lyndesfarne Theatre Projects) and The Damage Done (Canadian Rep). Other directing credits include Rukmini's Gold (Red Betty), The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Connemara Collective), Scenic View (ECT), Larger Than Life: The Musical (Ghostlight Projects), Speed-the-Plow (Theatre Proteus), and his own play, FOOL (SummerWorks Festival). Wes also served as director and dramaturge for his partner Sarah Murphy-Dyson’s play The Naked Ballerina (SOULO Festival, In The Soil Festival, Toronto Fringe Festival) for which he was cited by NOW Magazine for Outstanding Direction.

Fierce
Two women. A retired professional woman, arrested while wandering in traffic is found to be under the influence of a potent "drug cocktail." She is ordered by the court to undergo treatment, and placed in a clinic run by a psychiatrist who has her own difficult history. A volatile 75-minute encounter, fuelled by painful revelations - and their mutual distaste of politeness - provocatively ensues.

Filled with Walker's trademark ferocious and finely-honed wit,Fierce stars Vancouver / Toronto / Montreal actor and performance artist Marisa Crockett as the psychiatrist Maggie and Vancouver's Emmelia Gordon (two-time Jessie Richardson award winner making her Toronto debut) as her patient, Jayne. These two starry-eyed drifters met while taking an acting workshop with the playwright. Kindred spirits, the two women created Criminal Girlfriends to produce this edgy comedy, born out of a common desire to make intense, punchy theatre happen in intimate spaces

http://www.criminalgirlfriends.com/

Criminal Girlfriends proudly presents the world premiere of
Fierce by George F. Walker
Directed by Wes Berger
Starring Marisa Crockett and Emmelia Gordon

Previews February 15 & 16, Opens Saturday, February 17 and runs to March 3, 2018
Red Sandcastle Theatre, 922 Queen St. East, Toronto
Monday-Saturday @ 8pm (except no show on Monday February 26); Sunday matinee on February 25 @ 3pm

Ticket Prices: February 15 & 16 Previews & February 25 Matinee - Pay-what-you-can

Regular Run: February 17-March 3 - $25 (Arts Workers/Students/ Seniors $20 and Youth 25 & under $15)
Tickets at: https://fiercetoronto.brownpapertickets.com/

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