The Last Wife by Kate Hennig Directed by Glynis Leyshon
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THE LAST WIFE BY KATE HENNIG DIRECTED BY GLYNIS LEYSHON SEPTEMBER 12 - 30, 2017 MEDIA KIT MYLA SOUTHWARD AND LORNE CARDINAL PHOTOGRAPHED BY ERIN WALLACE THE IMPORTANT STUFF Rating: Show contains sexuality, violence and coarse language. Suggested for ages 14+. Show Run: September 12 – September 30, 2017 No shows on Mondays. Show Times: Evening Shows: 7:30 PM | Matinees: 2:00 PM Preview Dates: September 12, 13 & 14 Opening Night & Reception: September 15, 2017 (reception free with ticket). Enjoy a glass of complimentary prosecco courtesy of LaMarca Prosecco, and a post-show reception catered by An Affair to Remember. Venue: The Martha Cohen Theatre at Arts Commons | 215 – 8 Avenue SE, Calgary, AB Tickets: $26-75 available at www.atplive.com or 403-294-7402 Parking: • On-street parking nearby (free after 6pm and on Sundays) • Paid underground parking available off Macleod Trail northbound (far left lane) Media Contact: Ashley Meller Director of Marketing & Communications Alberta Theatre Projects Cell: 587-894-2257 [email protected] ABOUT The Last Wife IN A NUTSHELL: A sexy, sophisticated, modern-day reimagining of Katherine Parr’s dangerous marriage to Henry VIII. The Chicago Tribune calls The Last Wife “a very smart piece of writing,” and the National Post calls it “…dynamic, engrossing…truly excellent theatre.” THE STORY: A modern-day Katherine Parr marries the most dangerous man in England, King Henry VIII, only to find herself locked in a fierce battle of wills for her ideals, and her life. She’ll change the monarchy forever… if she can keep her head. Lorne Cardinal (Corner Gas) and Calgary local Myla Southward lead a dynamic cast in what is sure to be the smartest, sexiest play of the season. 1 @ATPlive | AlbertaTheatreProjects IMAGES, SOUND & VIDEO To download promotional images and video recordings, please visit www.atplive.com/media IMAGES (HI RES) Promotional Images: Caption: Myla Southward and Lorne Cardinal in Alberta Theatre Projects’ The Last Wife Credit: Erin Wallace VIDEO TRAILER https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kunn902UD44 Images and video of the production are available at atplive.com/media ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT Kate Hennig is a multi-award-winning theatre artist, with over 35 years of professional experience as a performer, including seasons on Broadway, with the Royal Shakespeare Company and with both the Shaw and Stratford Festivals. She has a Masters with distinction in Voice Studies from the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, England, and is the proud recipient of the 2015 Christopher Plummer Fellowship Award for excellence in the classical theatre. Hennig has recently been appointed Associate Artistic Director of the Shaw Festival in Canada. She is writing a series of plays about the Tudor queens, known as The Queenmaker Trilogy starting with The Last Wife, which premiered at the Stratford Festival in 2015. The U.S. premiere took place at TimeLine Theatre, Chicago, in September 2016. The 2 @ATPlive | AlbertaTheatreProjects Last Wife was short-listed for the Carol Bolt Award and is on the curriculum at Queen's University and Glendon College. The Virgin Trial, the second play in the series, opened in June 2017 at the Stratford Festival, and is already largely sold out. Hennig is currently writing a third play in this series with the working title: Father’s Daughter. This season will also see the premiere of Wilde Tales: Hennig's adaptation for the stage of Oscar Wilde's stories for children. Wilde Tales debuts at the Shaw Festival in June 2017 and runs through the end of September. Hennig lives and writes in both Stratford and Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. www.katehennig.com. ABOUT THE DIRECTOR Glynis Leyshon, director of The Last Wife, last worked with ATP on the zany comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Also for ATP, Leyshon has directed The Melville Boys, M. Butterfly, Moo, Warriors, Seussical the Musical, The Wizard of Oz. She has also directed for theatre companies across the country, including the Shaw Festival, Tarragon Theatre, Bard on the Beach, and Theatre Calgary. Leyshon is one of Canada’s most respected opera and theatre directors. Verdi’s Otello was her calling card for both for Pacific Opera Victoria and L’Opéra de Montréal and other recent highlights include Don Giovanni in Buffalo, Lucia di Lammermoor for Pacific Opera Victoria and Mikado for Calgary Opera. Her special association with these two companies has also resulted in acclaimed productions of The Rake’s Progress, Barber’s Vanessa and Der Fliegende Holländer for Pacific Opera Victoria and Don Giovanni in Calgary. During her longstanding relationship with Pacific Opera Victoria, Ms. Leyshon has created over 20 new productions. As Artistic Director of the Playhouse Theatre Company in Vancouver (1997 – 2009), Leyshon directed a wide range of work, including a Jessie award-winning production of Equus. Before the Playhouse, Leyshon served as Artistic Director of the Belfry Theatre in Victoria for 11 seasons. Leyshon has a particular passion for working with and teaching young and emerging artists and is the recipient of Canada’s Commonwealth Medal for her contributions to the arts. She has conducted master classes for opera training programmes in Calgary, Victoria, Courtenay, and Banff. In addition to this work, she has also conducted courses at the University of Victoria, William Head Penitentiary, the Victoria Conservatory of Music, and the University of British Columbia, where she serves as an Adjunct Professor. ABOUT THE SET Scott Reid is the set designer for The Last Wife. Reid has a long history of designing for ATP, including productions Legend Has It, Venus In Fur, True Love Lies, East of Berlin, Half Life, Oliver Twist, Sitting on Paradise, as well having designed for 16 PlayRites Festivals, and last season’s hit premiere production of Michael Healey’s 1979. He also designs extensively for Vertigo Theatre (Turn of the Screw, I’ll Be Back Before Midnight, Farewell My Lovely, Vintage 3 @ATPlive | AlbertaTheatreProjects Hitchcock, In the Heat of the Night, Blithe Spirit, Dangerous Corner, And Then There Were None and Rebecca). Reid has designed for theatres across the country including Theatre Calgary, Soulpepper Theatre Company, the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Calgary Opera, DJD, and the Alberta Ballet. Reid is excited to bring the duality of the world of The Last Wife to the stage, nodding to history, but with a modern flair. Towering panels, hidden doors, and a raked stage (slightly sloped, creating a forced perspective) will beckon the audience into the uncertain world of The Last Wife. ABOUT THE COSTUMES Heather Moore is making her ATP debut designing the costumes for The Last Wife in the latest of many collaborations with director Glynis Leyshon. In designing cohesive and individual looks for the characters in The Last Wife, Moore is exploring the idea of dressing a modern royal family – understated, elegant tailoring, and personality – or rather, suppressed personality. Playing within palates of blacks, whites and greys, Moore plans to let pops of colour and silhouettes tell the story. ABOUT THE SOUND DESIGN The Last Wife marks composer/sound designer Chad Blain’s first production with Alberta Theatre Projects. Elsewhere, Blain has designed for a number of Calgary theatres including Theatre Calgary, The Shakespeare Company, Lunchbox Theatre, Storybook Theatre, and Loose Moose Theatre. He has also worked in film and television, lending his talents to such productions as Super Drycleaners, Under Pressure, Sundowners, Racer-X, Spikes At Her Elbow, Breathe, and SELFIES. You can hear more of Blain’s work this season at Lunchbox Theatre where he’ll be sound designing for Santaland Diaries, as well as Storybook Theatre’s The Outsiders and To Dream Again. Follow Chad Blain on Twitter @Sintaxerrors. ABOUT THE LIGHTING Alberta Theatre Projects’ Production Manager David Fraser is the lighting designer for The Last Wife. Fraser has designed sets and lights for many ATP productions, including sets for Buyer & Cellar, Butcher, Playing with Fire: The Theo Fleury Story, The Syringa Tree and The Goat, and lights for 1979, The Motherf**ker with the Hat, Charlie Brown, Unity 1918, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and the Enbridge playRites Festival from 2005 – 2012. He has also designed for the Edmonton Opera, Vertigo Theatre, and The Shakespeare Company. Fraser’s designs have 4 @ATPlive | AlbertaTheatreProjects been nominated for a Jessie Richardson Award, two Betty Mitchell Awards, a SAT Award, and thirteen Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Awards (winning three). He is also a member of the Associated Designers of Canada, and was the Director of Production and a lighting designer for the 2015 English Canada Exhibit Prague Quadrennial. THE CAST (Alphabetical Order) Well known for his role as Sergeant Davis Quinton on 6 seasons of International Emmy-nominated comedy Corner Gas, Lorne Cardinal has acquired close to 100 professional Film & TV credits such as Unintentional Mother, Gods Acre, Tin Star, FX’s Fargo along with feature films The Humanity Bureau and Never Steady, Never Still. Throughout his career, Lorne’s received numerous nominations and distinguished awards for his body of work and is the recipient of an honorary PhD from Thompson Rivers University. A classically trained actor, Lorne’s acted and directed Lorne Cardinal in a diverse range of theatre productions such as King Lear, on Henry Canada’s premiere A-house stage at the National Arts Centre, and Black Elk Speaks at the Denver Center. Lorne’s varied skill set also includes writing, directing for TV as well as producing the documentary Chasing Lear. And, as a sought after voice actor, Mr. Cardinal has starred in award-winning animated series, most recently as Sheriff Gordy in Sony’s Open Season: Scared Silly and he’ll reprise his beloved role of Davis in the much anticipated Corner Gas: The Animated Series.