Three Women of Swatow - Written by Chloé Hung April 19 - May 15 - Tarragon Theatre
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written by Three Women of Swatow Chloé Hung creative team cast Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster* Carolyn Fe Director Grandmother Karthy Chin** Diana Luong Assistant Director Daughter Jareth Li Chantria Tram Set and Lighting Design*** Mother Gavin McDonald Associate Lighting Design Shannon Lea Doyle Costume Design Sim Suzer Associate Costume Design sponsored by: Deanna H. Choi Composition and Sound Design Olivia Wheeler and: Associate Sound Design Daniel Oulton Stage Manager Kayla Thomas Apprentice Stage Manager Jennifer Dzialoszynski Fight Director Guillermo Verdecchia Tai Chi Consultant *supported by The Rose Directing Fund, in recognition of Courtney’s commitment to bolstering new voices and her meaningful contribution to Tarragon’s artistic community **Made possible through the generous support of The Shen Family Charitable Foundation. ***Made possible through the Lighting Designer Project, in memory of John Reginald Stammers: former lighting designer for Tarragon Theatre and Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet, teacher and friend. The Lighting Designer Project is generously supported by J. Sergei Sawchyn.
a message from the artistic director and managing director Welcome back! We have been so grateful for the encouragement we have received from you, our incredible patrons and community, as we re-open our doors to live gathering and the experience of sharing new Canadian stories. Thank you! It’s no secret that we have endured so much during this long intermission, and while we are beginning to see light through and at the end of the tunnel, we also acknowledge the incredible sacrifices this time has brought. Our disconnection from family and the inability to play and imagine with each other has certainly been a weight on us all. With that in mind, and after a two-year delay in our offering of this exceptional new work and dark comedy by Chloé Hung, we are pleased to invite you to enter the world and family of the Three Women of Swatow. This story celebrates strong women and their connection across generations – women who take control of their lives in trying circumstances. We revel in the strength these three women have to change their own (mis)fortunes under the guidance of their matriarch, Grandmother, and the opportunities they give us to laugh in the darkness. How we have all been craving humour in the dark moments of these last two years! While it missed its opening in March 2020, Three Women of Swatow perhaps resonates even more today, given the impacts we know the pandemic has had on many women and families facing domestic abuse; its comedic lens offers a lighter entry point to consider an important subject. Thank you for re-discovering your home at Tarragon, and from our family to yours, we are thrilled to have you continue this season with us, one that challenges us to look ahead and to imagine so many possibilities. Thank you for being the foundation on which we can walk this journey forward. Enjoy the show and bon spectacle! Mike Payette -Artistic Director & Andrea Vagianos - Managing Director l and acknowledgement As we gather on the sacred land upon which Tarragon is built, Tarragon acknowledges that we all are a part of a larger ecosystem within our community, Tkaronto, where Tarragon Theatre lives and operates - and that we also commit ourselves and in turn energize our audiences to continually reflect on and respond to our relationship to the land around us. This country has been cared for by generations of First Nations, Inuit and Métis Nations, and the land on which Tarragon rests and is able to share this story has been cherished and protected by, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, the Wendat, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Please Note: Your Safety is our Priority. All visitors are required to wear a mask that fully covers the nose, mouth and chin at all times during their visit to the theatre. Tarragon Theatre is an active member of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (PACT), the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA), and engages professional artists who are members of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association under the terms of the Canadian Theatre Agreement.
playwright’s note Three Women of Swatow started its Tarragon journey in the Playwrights Unit six years ago.I’m so grateful to Richard Rose, Mike Payette, the three Andreas: Donaldson, Romaldi, Vagianos, Joanna Falck, the playwrights from the Playwrights Unit, all the actors, directors, designers, and production team who have helped shape Three Women into the play you’re seeing tonight. In the arts, playwrights of colour often have to contend with the word “universality.” I have never seen a play by a white playwright heralded as “universal,” because it’s an assumption that our default is whiteness. So much so that when a BIPOC playwright has a hit, they are praised for writing a play that white people can relate to. I present to you a play that is not meant to be universal: it deals with issues of homicide, domestic abuse, butchery, and blood. While I hope you relate to the emotional life of the characters, I do not intend for the story itself to be universal, in fact, I hope it is not. This is a specific play, about specific people, dealing with a specific and unique circumstance. I want to thank again the Tarragon team. Thank you to our fierce director Courtney, our actors Chantria, Carolyn, and Diana. Karthy, Daniel, our creative team of incredible technical magicians, and all the babies (yes there have been several amongst this team) who have been born throughout this process. We’ve waited two years to bring this play to you and we thank you for coming back to the theatre! We hope you enjoy Three Women of Swatow. With immense gratitude, Chloé - April 2022 director ’s note Legacy, inheritance, skill, technique, artistry, trauma, addiction. Can we control what we pass on to our children? Can we select certain parts of ourselves and wall up others? What are we willing to do to survive? It has been an honour to live with Chloé Hung’s dark comedy, for longer than expected. It is due to the patience, generosity and faith of many people that we are here today - Chloé, for trusting me with her creation, Richard Rose for believing in me, Andrea Vagianos, Mike Payette, and the entire staff at the Tarragon for keeping the faith despite many bumps along the way, and our remarkable cast and creative team, for sticking with it. Thank you. I became a mother shortly before beginning rehearsals on Three Women of Swatow in the winter of 2020. My own mother was present at the birth of my child and provided enormous, mountain-moving support to me as I balanced new parenthood with preparing to direct this show. On the first day of rehearsal, I received a message from my uncle, and I had to let mum know that my Ah Mah, her mother, had passed away peacefully in her sleep on the other side of the world. She was just shy of a century old, and in her lifetime had been witness to remarkable change. Through it all, she fiercely cared for her children as my mother cares for me. She shared a little over a week on this earth with my child, but I know he has inherited that strength from her - and as we finally, finally prepare to open this play about fierce women, I am thinking of her Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster - April 2022
PERFORMERS AND CREATIVE KARTHY CHIN - Assistant Director For Tarragon: Debut Selected Credits: Director - Trafalgar 24 (Driftwood); The Shimmering Verge (Prairie Fire, Please/ Art Thing); One Song Glory (Musical Stage Company); Bluebird Encounters (Campbell House Museum); Asst Director - Director’s Workshop Presentation (Stratford Festival), Hadestown (Citadel Theatre), The Enchanted Loom (Cahoots/ Factory) Upcoming: Ghost Seamstress (Peterborough Art Gallery) Other: Karthy Chin is the Dramaturgy and Accessibility Intern at The- atre Passe Muraille and a member of Factory Theatre’s Foundry new work creation group. She has produced around Toronto for different arts festivals and produced Chloé Hung’s latest short, Gem and Shaz, in association with the Harold Greenberg Fund and Bell Media. DEANNA H. CHOI – Composition and Sound Designer For Tarragon: Light; Shape of a Girl; The Realistic Joneses (assistant sound designer) Selected Credits: Controlled Damage (Neptune/bcurrent), Between Riverside and Crazy (Coal Mine), Honour Beat (Theatre Calgary), Voice (Prairie Theatre Exchange), Let’s Run Away (Canadian Stage/ReWork), The Wolves (Howland/Crow’s Theatre), Towards Youth (Project Humanity/Crow’s Theatre), The Horse and His Boy (Shaw), Paradise Lost (Stratford), August Osage County (Soulpepper) Selected Film and Television: Last of the Right Whales (CBC/ Hitplay), He Murdered Sleep (Boxenworks) Upcoming: Bad Parent (Soulpepper), Indecent (Studio 180/Mirvish), Awards: 2020 Pauline McGibbon Award for Theatre Design. Other: Very happy to finally share this show. Current artist-in- residence for Necessary Angel, associate artist at the National Theatre School of Canada; proud member of IATSE ADC 659, SCGC, SOCAN. www.splitbrainsound.com @deanna.h.choi SHANNON LEA DOYLE – Costume Designer For Tarragon: The Jungle, Girls Like That Selected Credits: Getting Married (Shaw Festival); Audible Songs From Rockwood (SummerWorks); Maada’ookii Songlines (Luminato); Jesus Hopped The ‘A’ Train, Fool For Love, Little Menace: The Pinter Plays, La Bête, Vimy, The Just, The Heidi Chronicles, The Anger of Ernest and Ernestine, The Dybbuk (Soulpepper Theatre); Boy In The Moon, Breath In Between (Crows Theatre); Romeo and Juliet (Canadian Stage); This Is How We Got Here (Native Earth); Trout Stanley (Factory Theatre); John (Company Theatre); Violet, Merrily We Roll Along (YES Theatre). Awards: Dora Mavor Moore Award for Set Design, Nominated for the 2020 Virginia and Myrtle Cooper Award in Costume Design. Other: Shannon holds a BFA in Sculpture and Installation from OCAD University and is a graduate of the Soulpepper Academy. She is a Co-founder of Triga Creative: a design collective working to create extraordinary live experiences through collaborative models that value people, planet and profit.
PERFORMERS AND CREATIVE JENNIFER DZIALOSZYNSKI - Fight Director For Tarragon: Theory, Girls Like That Selected Credits: The Nether (Coal Mine/Studio 180), Poison (Coal Mine), Hello Bertha, Talk To Me Like The Rain And Let Me Listen, Rococo, Lithuania (Shaw Festival), Boeing, Boeing, Perfect Wedding (Magnus Theatre) Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare Bash’d), The Duchess of Malfi, The Revenger’s Tragedy (Ryerson School of Performance) Selected Film and Television: SkyMed (CBC), Let It Snow (Netflix), Shut Up (Short), The Strain (TV Series), Dark Matter (TV Series), Rogue (TV Series), XIII The Series (TV Series) Upcoming: Is God Is – Canadian Stage/Obsidian Theatre/Necessary Angel Theatre Fairview (Actor) - Canadian Stage/Obsidian Theatre Awards: My Entertainment World Winner – Hamlet, Dora Award Nomination - Kindertransport Other: Jennifer is delighted to be back at Tarragon with another fantastic team of artists. Shout out to all the fierce women, from Swatow and everywhere. CAROLYN FE - Grandmother For Tarragon: Debut Selected Credits: Calpurnia (Nightwood/Sulong Theatre); Through The Bamboo (Uwi Collective); Hilot (Cahoots); Believe Your Eyes (Punchdrunk); Life, Death & The Blues (Theatre Passe Muraille); Miss Orient(ed) (Teesri Duniya) Selected Film and Television: Blues Clues and You (Television/ Nickelodeon); Pinecone and Pony (Television/DreamWorks); Abroad (Television/OMNI); Two Sentence Horror Stories (Television/CW Network/Netflix USA); The Saver (Film/Prospector); Mother (Film/ Protozoa) Other: When Carolyn is not on the theatre’s stage or front of the camera, she is performing songs from her albums or collaborating with musicians around the globe. Her continuous pursuit of artistic evolution adds new instruments to her creative toolbox as a published Writer and emerging Playwright. She is currently in two playwright residencies: Montreal’s Teesri Duniya Theatre’s Fireworks Playwrights’ Program and Toronto’s Factory Theatre’s The Foundry new work creation group. More about Carolyn: https://linktr.ee/TheCarolynFe
PERFORMERS AND CREATIVE CHLOÉ HUNG - Playwright For Tarragon: Debut Selected Credits: All Our Yesterdays (AnOther Theatre Company – Toronto Fringe Festival, Next Stage Festival); Issei, He Say (or the Myth of the First) (New Jersey Repertory Company, The Kennedy Center/ NNPN MFA workshop); Model Minority (AyeDefy Reading Series, Banff Playwrights Lab), Alien of Extraordinary Ability (Geffen Theatre’s Writers Room) As Screenwriter: Cherish the Day (OWN), Queen Sugar (OWN/W Network), and currently writes for The Greybourne (Freeform). Awards: RBC Emerging Playwrights Award; My Entertainment World – Outstanding New Work; Patron’s Pick Toronto Fringe Festival; Other: Born and raised in Toronto, Chloé Hung is a Chinese-Canadian playwright, TV Writer, and screenwriter. Chloé has developed for Netflix. In film, Chloé has been a Black List screenwriters lab fellow and Women In Film Production program fellow for Signal. Her latest short film, Gem & Shaz, was produced in association with the Harold Greenberg Fund and Bell Media. COURTNEY CH’NG LANCASTER – Director For Tarragon: Three Women of Swatow, The Message Selected Credits: Director, The Wolves (Crow’s Theatre/Howland Company); 52 Pick-Up (Howland Company); Cannibal (Scrap Paper Theatre); Gray (Theatre Inamorata); appeared in Cyrano de Bergerac and Man and Superman (Shaw Festival) I Call myself Princess (Cahoots/Native Earth/Paper Canoe); Innocence Lost: A Play about Steven Truscott, Idomeneus, Incident at Vichy, Marat/Sade, Eurydice, Blood Wedding, Spoon River, Alligator Pie, Of Human Bondage, Idiot’s Delight, The Barber of Seville, The Royal Comedians, The Crucible (Soulpepper); Other Jesus (Public Recordings); The Flood Thereafter (Canadian Stage), The Tin Drum (UnSpun Theatre); Pride and Prejudice (Citadel Theatre); Anywhere (One Four One Collective); Macbeth: Nach Shakespeare (Theatre Conspiracy). Other: Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster is a theatre maker from Antigonish, Nova Scotia. She is a co-founder and artistic leader of The Howland Company, was recently the Assistant Artistic Director at Tarragon Theatre in Toronto, and is a former resident artist with Soulpepper Theatre. During these strange pandemic times she has directed radio play versions of 7 Stories, Shape of a Girl and Democracy (Expect Theatre/Tarragon), and Ins Choi’s Casting, part of You Can’t Get There From Here at Factory Theatre.
PERFORMERS AND CREATIVE Jareth Li - Set and Lighting Designer For Tarragon: Orphan Song, Copy That; Select design credits: The Hours That Remain (Theatre Aquarius); The Home Project, Casimir and Caroline, (The Howland Company); The Wolves (Howland & Crows Theatre); Ring of Fire (Citadel Theatre); Serving Elizabeth (WCT); Iphigenia and The Furies (Saga Collectif, Dora nomination). Other: Jareth is thrilled to invite audiences back to live theatre. Born in Singapore, Jareth is a stage designer now based in Toronto by way of Calgary. He has a love for new work that examines identity politics, culture, and heritage. In addition to his artistic practice, he is a member of The Howland Company, as well as a stagecraft instructor at York University. He believes strongly in mentorship, and creating opportunity for upcoming generations of designers. DIANA LUONG - Daughter For Tarragon: Debut Selected Credits: Fearless (fu-Gen); Twelfth Night (Dauntless City Theatre); Orpheus & Eurydice (Theatre TOnight); The Good Story (SummerWorks); Cleave (New Words Festival); Scorched (NTS) Selected Film and Television: Bellwoods (Web Series), It’s Not You (TIFF Shortcuts/Sundance) Other: Diana is a self-represented Toronto based artist and a graduate of The National Theatre School of Canada. She would like to give thanks to her people, the Asian Ancestral Nose and the Asian Squat. DANIEL OULTON - Stage Manager For Tarragon: Light, Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes Selected Credits: SM -Let’s Try This Standing, Constellations (Keep Good); Under the Stairs, One Thing Leads to Another (YPT); The Dream Catchers (Charlottetown Festival); two tours of When it Rains (2b); ASM - Cakewalk, Wing Night at the Boot (Blyth Festival); Projections - A Million Billion Pieces (YPT); Creative Technologist - The Tape Escape (Outside the March); Other: Daniel is a Toronto based, Nova Scotia raised Stage Manager, Designer, and Creative Technologist. danieloulton.ca SIM SUZER - Associate Costume Design For Tarragon: Debut Selected Credits: Recent Design Work: Costume Design and Associate Set Design - Everybody (Shaw Festival), Costume Design - Per Gint (George Brown College), Set and Costume Design - Untamed (XU) Assistant Set and Costume Design - Romeo and Juliet (Stratford Festival). Assistant Costume Design - Gypsy (Shaw Festival), Assistant Set Design - Devil’s Disciple. (Shaw Festival) Assistant Set and Costume Design - Horse and His Boy, The Ladykillers, Victory, Holiday Inn. Design Work 2019: Costume Designer - Water Wonder (Carousel Players), Set and Costume Designer - Play House (Shaw Festival) Cont.
PERFORMERS AND CREATIVE SIM SUZER - Cont. Set and Costume Designer - The Subjection of Kezia and Poof! (Shaw Festival), Set and Costume Designer Journey to the Greatest Gift (L’Arche Daybreak), Costume Designer - Good Morning, Viet Mom (Cahoots Theatre). KAYLA THOMAS – Apprentice Stage Manager For Tarragon: Debut Other: Toronto based, recent graduate from York University’s Theatre Production BFA Program. Grateful for the opportunity to work with Tarragon on this beautiful production as her debut and looking forward to continuing her professional career in Stage Management in the upcoming years! CHANTRIA TRAM - Mother For Tarragon: Debut Selected Credits: Someone Between (Factory Theatre, Young Centre for the Performing Arts, Hamilton Theatre, Centaur Theatre, Concordia University); Hot Hot Gossip (Edgy Women Theatre); Shifting Grounds (Black Theatre Workshop); At The Crossroads (Concordia University) Selected Film and Television: Titans, Workin’ Moms, The Expanse, The Coroner, 12 Monkeys, Private Eyes, Falling Waters Awards: BFA with honours in Theatre - Concordia University; Best Actress in a Dramedy - L.A Webseries Festival Other: Chantria is a Khmer-Krom Canadian performer and storyteller with a passion for bringing more diversity to the screen and stage. She is currently co-creating a television series called ‘Tiger Child’, adapted from her theatrical solo show. @chantriat (Instagram) / www.chantriatram.com GUILLERMO VERDECCHIA – Tai Chi Consultant For Tarragon: The Jungle, The Good Life; A Line in the Sand; Fronteras Americanas; Amigo’s Blue Guitar Other: Guillermo is a playwright, director and dramaturge. He directed the acclaimed production of The Jungle at the Tarragon BP (Before the Pandemic). He has practised taiji for some time, studying most recently with Sifu Dylan Kirk of Spiritwind Internal Arts in Toronto. OLIVIA WHEELER – Associate Sound Designer For Tarragon: Debut Selected Credits: Sound Designer - It’ll Come to Me (Theatre SKAM), Antigones (Victoria Fringe Festival), 7 Stories (University of Victoria); Music Direction and Composition – Othello (University of Victoria), Two Gentlemen of Verona, Julius Caesar (Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival); Assistant to the Sound and Video Designer – The Wedding Party (Alberta Theatre Projects); Production Designer – The Fates, Backliners (Theatre SKAM). Upcoming: Assistant Sound Designer - Every Little Nookie, Hamlet-911, 1939 (Stratford Festival) Other: Associate member of the Associate Designers of Canada. oliviagwheeler.com.
THANK YOU TARRAGON DONORS! Tarragon Theatre is extremely grateful for the support of our donors. Your gifts were crucial to keeping Tarragon going through 2 years of closures and are con- tinuing to support not only our outstanding professional theatrical productions, but also our important play development programs and our innovative outreach and youth initiatives. Foundation Foundation Foundation Foundation Fund Foundation at Toronto Foundation *in support of Charlotte: A Tri-Coloured Play with Music, presented in partnership with Theaturtle
THANK YOU TARRAGON DONORS! Advocates ($1,000 - $2,499) (Cont) Collaborators ($500 - $999) (Cont.) Gwen Burrows & Adam Redish Susan Carlyle & David Southen Royce Charles-Dunne Sid Clark Jane & Bob Clapp Carolyn & Hugh Cleland Catherine & Stephen Clark Dr. Jane Coryell Laurie Clark Brendan Dellandrea & Alissa Lumsden Marsha J. Copp Robert Elgie Janet Dewan Judy & Richard Ellen Sandra Dudley & Ronald Youd Jerry Finelli Roy England Tom Flemming Graham & Sheila Ewart Margaret Fox Bruce Geddes & Eugenia Piliotis Steve Garmaise & Sue Rebick Carol Greyeyes John & Susan Goddard Gillian & Ron Graham Kamala-Jean Gopie C. M. Langlois David Hamilton & Charis Wahl Larry E.S. Lubin Margaret Hawthorn Kit & Barbara Moore Richard & Susan Horner Fäggie & Curt Oliver Barbara Jacob Katherine Pollock & Orysia Semotiuk Christopher Johnson Heather Reid & Graham Morris Rebecca H. Joseph Elizabeth Driscoll & Duncan Reith Rita & Gabor Kandel Eva Saphir Ken Kessler & Martha Parrott Robert Sherrin Harriet & Andrew Lyons Maureen Simpson & Almos Tassonyi Christie MacInnes Ross & Ann Stuart Jean & Paul McGrath Michelle Strom & Tom Berend John & Sandra McManus Andrea Vagianos & Zis Parras Ruth Miller Halina & Kurt von dem Hagen Bill & Donna Porter Berta Zaccardi & Craig Robertson Stephen Raymond & Natasha Heather Yamoah Vandenhoven Walter Yim Sara Richardson & Graeme S. Thomson Collaborators ($500 - $999) Skip & Patricia Shand Anonymous Mary Sheppard the late Walter M. & Lisa Balfour Ivor M. & Renee Simmons Bowen Robert H. Thomson Krishna Balkissoon Beth Weintrop Alan & Helen Billing Keddy Williams Brenda Brooks Judith H. Winston Ed Cabell & Roy Forrester Joanne Wordham Jordan Caplan Hersh Zeifman If we have made any errors in the spelling, listing or omission of your name please accept our apologies and contact Courtney Fiddis, Director of Development at 416-536-5018 x 243 or courtney@tarragontheatre.com. Individuals recognized for donations made since January 2021
Tarragon Theatre has been Canada’s home for groundbreaking contemporary plays since 1970. Since its inception, Tarragon has created, developed and produced new plays by home-grown artists as well as significant works from the world stage. Tarragon assists over 30 emerging and established playwrights each year through residencies, grants, dramaturgical support, and training programs. Since its founding, over 190 works have premiered at Tarragon and over 500 scripts have been created and workshopped, receiving The Trillium Book Award, as well as 35 nominations and 12 wins for the Governor General’s Literary Award. TARRAGON THEATRE STAFF MIKE PAYETTE ANDREA VAGIANOS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR MANAGING DIRECTOR Myekah Payne Theresa Cutknife Associate Artistic Director Producer Justin Miller Courtney Fiddis Metcalf Creative Producing Intern Director of Development Gerry Egan Cameron Johnston Production Manager Director of Marketing & Communications Kai Masaoka Natasha Parsons Technical Director Director of Patron Services Julia Hodgson-Surich Heather Caplap Head of Wardrobe Education and Community Engagement Manager Andrew Chute Head Carpenter Kirk Thomson Manager of Patron Services Frank Donato Video Production Coordinator Micaela Molina Morales Assistant Manager of Patron Services Karen Kay Elizabeth Mainspace Technician Rahaf Fasheh & Yago Mesqita Patron Services Representatives David Mallette Extraspace Technician Danielle Morgan Publicist Fina MacDonell & Tim Hill Properties Emma Walker Bookkeeper Sara Ahmadieh Head Scenic Painter Kait Farrar COVID Safety Manager TARRAGON THEATRE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Adam Bryk President Brendan Dellandrea Treasurer Caroline O’Brien Anne Bermonte Joan Pierre Naomi Brown Katherine Pollock James Buchanan Laurence Siegel Jenny Gumbs Elaine Stavro Naguib Keval Heather Yamoah Suzanne Murphy Walter Yim
SPONSORS Funding provided by the Government of Ontario and the Ontario Arts Council. Coming Soon in the Mainspace The Herd Written by Kenneth T. Williams Directed by Tara Beagen Live Onstage: March 10 – June 12 Also Available Digitally:
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