Media Release
For Immediate Release – June 2, 2010

Calgary, AB – Ten new plays will be added to the Canadian canon this June as they each receive a public reading through the Suncor Energy Stage One Festival of New Work. The 22^nd annual festival, which runs on Fridays and Saturdays from June 5 to July 3, features readings of new one-act plays in development and in consideration for future programming at Lunchbox Theatre.

The Suncor Energy Stage One program for the development of new plays is one of the cornerstones of Lunchbox Theatre. The nascent works chosen for the program are given professional dramaturgical services, editing support, and workshop presentations to enable the playwrights to have public readings and advance to the next stage of development. Suncor Energy Stage One is recognized as the premiere one-act development process in Canada.

“The changes that we have made this year in the Suncor Energy Stage One Festival are very exciting,” says Pamela Halstead, Artistic Director of Lunchbox Theatre and the festival’s dramaturg. “We will be hosting ten playwrights from across the country with work in various stages of development, all potentially destined for future production at Lunchbox.”

For 2010, the Suncor Energy Stage One Festival features:

Saturday, June 5, 12:10pm - In Flanders Fields by Robert Gontier and Nicky Phillips, Toronto
A new musical based on the life of John MacRae, who wrote the famous poem of the same name.

Friday, June 11, 6:10pm - Cradle and All by Joanne Miller, Halifax
Carole and Mike have two beautiful boys. Mike thinks he might like another baby. Carole thinks she might like to have a life. Or someday get hers back. Her mother is still trying to baptize the last baby when not trying to set her gay brother up with a nice girl.

Saturday, June 12, 12:10pm - The Whimsy State or The Principality of Outer Baldonia by AJ Demers, Calgary
The year is 1948 and an eccentric Washington lawyer and two fishermen from Yarmouth declare a small island off the coast of Nova Scotia a sovereign nation. The ruse is up when they declare war on the Soviet Union. Based on a true story.

Friday, June 18, 12:10pm - Super 8 by Charles Netto and Mark Hopkins, Calgary
A Super 8 Motel inspector, a lonely woman who haunts the Super 8 lounge, the unveiling of a new Super 8 logo and the introduction of the $9 “Intimacy” kit ($7 with employee discount). A humourous look at love, loneliness and life on the road.

Friday, June 18, 6:10pm - Aviatrix: The Untold Story of Amelia Earhart by Matthew Heiti, Fredericton
An intimate look at the life and the last hours of the legendary aviatrix and her trusty (if somewhat belligerent and inebriated) navigator.

Saturday, June 19, 12:10pm - The Bob Shivery Show by David Sealy, Regina
Bob Shivery is the local postmaster. He loves a girl named Germaine who has a cat named Snowball. He has never told her. His world falls apart when she announces that she is getting married.

Friday, June 25, 12:10pm - Dad’s Piano by Dave Kelly, Calgary
A man struggles through the death of his father and their turbulent relationship through his own and other’s eyes and through the music that bound them as deeply as their blood.

Friday, June 25, 6:10pm - The Bus to Anna’s Apartment by Julie McKenzie, Edmonton
Life is funny. Do we ever really know anyone? Who they are? Where they have been? One woman’s surreal journey and the discovery of what was right under her nose. And the sweater…we are all linked…

Saturday, June 26, 12:10pm - Shopaholic Husband Hunt by Glenda Stirling, Calgary
Abby is back and searching for the perfect husband with the same determination that she previously shopped for the perfect pair of pants.

Saturday, July 3, 12:10pm - Peril in Paris by Ethan Cole, Calgary
A talented singer with stars in her eyes, a shyster who lures her to gay Paree, and a young prairie boy determined to rescue her no matter the danger.

“Spreading the festival out over a longer period of time allows us to maximize the value of the experience for the playwrights depending on the needs of their particular piece,” says Halstead, “while offering our audience a better experience by giving them five weekends of readings.”

The Suncor Energy Stage One Festival features a small army of theatre artists including ten playwrights, two composers, seven directors/dramaturges, and fourteen actors. The Suncor Energy Stage One Festival runs on Fridays and Saturdays from June 5 to July 3 at 12:10pm and 6:10pm, with each play receiving one public reading followed by an opportunity for audience feedback. All readings take place on the TransCanada Stage at Lunchbox Theatre. Additional support for the In Flanders Fields development workshop was provided by The Shooting Edge and the Rozsa Foundation.

The world’s longest running lunchtime theatre, Lunchbox Theatre is a professional company that caters to downtown office workers over the noon-hour by producing seven plays per year as well as the Suncor Energy Stage One Festival and an Emerging Director Program. Lunchbox Theatre recently relocated to a new theatre at the base of the Calgary Tower.

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www.lunchboxtheatre.com

For more information, to request an interview, or to visit a rehearsal:
DJ Kelly
Marketing and Communications
Lunchbox Theatre
403 265 4292 x 229
dj.kelly@lunchboxtheatre.com