jsquared.theatre

Hangman at the Tarragon Theatre

2011-10-19T21:45:00.000-07:00

My new play Hangman is going to be read at the Tarragon Theatre on Thursday, November 17th, starting at 8pm, as part of the Tarragon Playwrights Unit, new play reading week! Information below:

Hangman
Written by Jason Maghanoy
Directed by Richard Rose

Event Details
Thursday, November 17, 2011
8pm
Tarragon Theatre
30 Bridgman Avenue

NOW Magazine Fringe Wrap-Up

2011-07-21T11:29:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the cast and crew of Swoon! Not only was the play selected as a Patrons Pick at this year's Fringe, it was also selected as an Outstanding New Play, Outstanding Production and Outstanding Ensemble in the Fringe Festival Wrap-up Issue of NOW Magazine!

Playwright-In-Residence, Theatre Passe Muraille

2011-06-22T14:14:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to Jason Maghanoy who will be the new playwright-in-residence at Theatre Passe Muraille this fall! Jason will be writing and developing a hip-hop musical called Cypher, working with Artistic Director Andy McKim, as well as some of the most exciting local hip-hop/r&b artists in the city. Congratulations to Jason from the rest of the jsquared.theatre team.

Swoon!

2011-05-29T17:15:00.000-07:00

To swoon is to faint. To become enraptured. To enter a state of hysterical ecstasy. How can it happen? Through a fire-alarm romance. Sending tapes to a former lover. Trying to hold on to your wife. The Nation of Brohams, in association with jsquared.theatre are proud to present Swoon!, a brash, highly theatrical and wondrous look at young people, desire and the absolute moments of our lives. Featuring new work from some of the city's most exciting theatre-makers, including Jordan Tannahill, Jessica Moss, Jason Maghanoy, Chris Mitchell, Ryan Griffith, Paul Robinson, Haley McGee and Alisa Palmer, Swoon! is a play about how we meet, how we stay together, how we fall apart... and how we meet again.

Part of the 2011 Toronto Fringe Festival!

Nothing by Mouth

2011-05-29T17:08:00.001-07:00

Five portraits of voices silenced by the state: an ex-gang leader, a dictator's wife, an activist, a disabled patient, a Canadian youth... each in their final, all-too-human moment. A piece that explores the ways we collectively punish with, and permit, death.

Being developed through a residency at Theatre Passe Muraille.

Staged reading at Theatre Passe Muraille's Buzz
April 20th @ 7:30pm, Theatre Passe Muraille, 16 Ryerson Ave. Toronto

Written by Jason Maghanoy, Jordan Tannahill, Erin Shields, Andrew Moodie and Judith Thompson. Directed by Alisa Palmer.

Pipeline

2010-11-30T18:15:00.000-08:00

Hangman was selected as the winner of the Write-On-Q Playwriting Contest in Montreal, and will be presented as part of Infinitheatre's Pipeline Reading Series on Sunday, December 12th, starting at 2pm. For more information please check out the official invite (above).

Also: a very special thank you to Montreal-based artist Sophie Jodoin for the remarkable artwork (Collage, 2010, 24 x 19 cm).

TPM

2010-10-29T13:01:00.000-07:00

jsquared.theatre and Suburban Beast will be in-residence at Theatre Passe Muraille, starting this fall as part of TPM's 2010/2011 season! We will be developing a new work tentatively titled Ketchup and Biscuit, about death row inmates and their last meals. Jordan Tannahill (Artistic Director of Suburban Beast) and Jason Maghanoy will be co-writing the piece with some of the best playwrights in the country: Judith Thompson, Erin Shields, Andrew Moodie, dramaturged and directed by Alisa Palmer.

Playwriting Contests

2010-10-22T21:06:00.000-07:00

Some great news this week:

Throat won 2nd place in The Uprising National Playwriting Competition: Peace, Politics and Society, and Hangman won 1st place in Infinitheatre's annual Write-On-Q Playwriting Contest! Congratulations to playwright Jason Maghanoy from the jsquared.theatre team.

NTS and Playwrights Workshop Montreal

2010-10-12T20:30:00.000-07:00

Jason Maghanoy will be giving a Biz Seminar at NTS and will be a playwright-in-residence at Playwrights Workshop Montreal from November 1st-7th. Congratulations to Jason from the jsquared team!

Buzz

2010-09-30T21:24:00.001-07:00

30 minutes of Throat will be fully staged as part of Buzz on Thursday, October 14th, starting at 7:30pm at Theatre Passe Muraille (16 Ryerson Avenue). The event is pay-what-you-can.

It would be outstanding if you could come out and see the work.

Jason

PS
And a very special thanks to Sophie Jodoin for providing us with the amazing artwork for the e-vite (From the Series Small Dramas & Little Nothings, 2008-09 Conté and collage on Mylar).

Tarragon Playwrights Unit

2010-08-06T07:40:00.001-07:00

Jason Maghanoy was invited to be a member of the 2010/2011 Tarragon Playwrights Unit, working on his new play Hangman. Congratulations to Jason from the rest of the jsquared.theatre team!

Hangman Reading

2010-07-19T12:09:00.000-07:00

An excerpt of Hangman is going to be read as part of Kultura, this Saturday, July 24th, starting at 7pm at the Kapisanan Centre (167 Augusta Ave. in Kensington Market).

The reading will feature: Richard Zeppieri, Andrew Craig, Kevin Walker and Andrew Church, and the night will also feature some exciting new work from other great artists.

Hope to see you there!

J

PS
Just wanted to give a very special thank you to Sophie Jodoin for providing the incredible artwork for the reading's e-vite (Hood #7, Black gesso & Conté on Mylar, 2008).

Publication!

2010-06-13T21:08:00.000-07:00

A monologue Throat will be published this fall as part of Refractions Solo, an anthology of monologues for Playwrights Canada Press. For more information on Playwrights Canada Press please visit:

http://www.playwrightscanada.com/index.html

Throat

2010-03-24T13:08:00.000-07:00

Throat
Written by Jason Maghanoy
Directed by Nina Lee Aquino

Featuring
Noah Reid
Audrey Dwyer
Sean Baek
Richard Zeppieri
Sharon Lewis

A life-changing storm. A displaced community. Throat follows three friends who start a business cleaning up the government sanctioned trailer park they live in. Their goal: to raise money to buy back their old lives... or live a better one.

Read as part of the 2010 CrossCurrents New Play Festival at the Factory Theatre (125 Bathurst Street, corner of Bathurst and Adelaide).

Show Date: Sunday April 25th, starting at 2pm

www.cahoots.ca
http://www.factorytheatre.ca/PFcrosscurrents.htm

Publication!

2010-03-16T14:54:00.000-07:00

Some great news: Gas and Dust are slated for publication in a single volume, this fall by Scirocco Press, edited by Glenda MacFarlane. Congratulations to Jason from the jsquared.theatre team!

Gas Reviews

2010-01-13T10:55:00.000-08:00

"The script, full of language both heightened and coarse, is gruesome and gripping. Maghanoy directs it himself with violent precision... The cast works at the top of their abilities with Kevin Walker creepy and compelling as a redneck soldier with his own unorthodox set of ethics."
The Globe and Mail

"Anchored by a remarkably assured, powerful script, Gas tells the story of five U.S. soldiers fighting the war in Iraq and the war raging within each of them."
The Toronto Star - Highly Recommended

"The young cast devour their characters with the relish of new recruits, especially Sabryn Rock as the sole female holding her own in a desert of machismo. Filled with dread, this is riveting, troubling theatre where hope is as grim as despair."
EYE Weekly - 4 Stars

Release

2009-12-03T08:32:00.000-08:00

For Immediate Release:

It’s a busy time of year for jsquared.theatre, with two (2) productions (both plays about Iraq) opening in the same week, in two (2) different cities! jsquared.theatre’s dust opens January 7th as part of the Wildside Festival, at the Centaur Theatre, Montreal, while its play gas, opens January 8th as part of the Next Stage Theatre Festival at the Factory Theatre! For more information on dust please visit: http://www.centaurtheatre.com/wildside_festival.html

December 4, 2009 - The 343 Co-op and jsquared.theatre are proud to present the Toronto premiere of gas, written and directed by Jason Maghanoy and starring Kevin Walker, Andrew Church, Sabryn Rock, Prince Amponsah and Marc Senior. Stage management by Kat Chin, Lighting Design by Alaina Perttula.

When gas premiered in 2007 (produced by Montreal’s Infinitheatre and directed by Canadian Theatre great Guy Sprung), it was hailed as “an achievement” (Pierre Landry - CBC Montreal), as well as a “fast-paced, character-driven Middle East misadventure” striking “an impeccable balance between intimacy and claustrophobia” (Brett Hooton - Hour). The Montreal Mirror concluded that gas "tells a specific story about one conflict that becomes a universal comment on the nature of war... Do not miss this show” (Amy Barrett - Montreal Mirror). In short, gas was one of the theatrical events of Montreal’s 07/08 theatre season; a vibrant and important play that sought to challenge and provoke its audience.

A highly theatrical, violent and ultimately moving examination of the young men and women currently fighting in Iraq, gas follows two American soldiers who kill two Iraqis and dump their bodies in a bombed out building. This story is inter-cut with that of Rocky, a young soldier who goes AWOL after refusing to escort a tanker full of contaminated diesel to another military base. This play examines the collision of these two stories, the tragic aftermath.

The Toronto premiere will be radically different from its world premiere (which featured the actors in full army fatigues, performing in a pool filled with sand). Not only will Toronto see a brand-new version of the script, but location and feel will be created by minimal costume elements, creative and dynamic lighting design and by the performers, moving and creating in space, physically working together as a chorus.

“gas is about these young soldiers struggling to endure” says playwright and director Jason Maghanoy. “They are doing all that they can to survive in the darkest of times... and sometimes this involves becoming a part of the darkness.”

Stay tuned: after its Toronto premiere, gas will be produced in-translation in Japan, at the People’s Theatre, Tokyo, opening on May 24, 2010.

Get your tickets now!

http://www.fringetoronto.com/nstf/nstf_tickets.html

Tokyo

2009-10-09T08:17:00.000-07:00

gas will be produced in translation at the People's Theatre, Tokyo Japan, opening on May 24th 2010. Congratulations to Jason from the rest of the jsquared.theatre team!

Upcoming: Next Stage and Wildside

2009-07-29T11:49:00.000-07:00

gas was selected as part of the 2010 Next Stage Theatre Festival at the Factory Theatre this January! For more information on the festival please visit http://fringetoronto.com/nstf/index.html

In other good news, dust was selected as part of the 2010 Wildside Theatre Festival at the Centaur Theatre in Montreal this January! For more information on the festival please visit http://www.centaurtheatre.com/wildsidefestival.html

Congratulations to the jsquared.theatre team!

J

Cahoots Theatre Projects

2009-07-06T13:15:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Jason Maghanoy, who has received an Ontario Arts Council grant to become a playwright-in-residence at Cahoots Theatre Projects next season!

The News

2009-03-04T06:46:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to playwright Jason Maghanoy who was one of two (2) playwrights commissioned by the Playwrights Theatre Centre, The News Program! He will be in Vancouver from June 8-12 to present the new play, tentatively titled Tear, as part of PTC's New Play Festival!

Congrats to Jason from the JSquared Team!

Buzz

2009-02-17T07:14:00.000-08:00

Theatre Passe Muraille introduces:

BUZZ
be the first to catch the buzz

Theatre Passe Muraille invites you to become a part of the next wave of new play creation.

Challenging the existing relationship between audience and story, BUZZ presents work in its infancy and asks audiences to contribute to the development of the piece: by answering questions, by asking questions or by simply being engaged. Rather than theatre being created in isolation, BUZZ provides a forum where audiences and plays develop together from the ground up.

BUZZ takes place on Monday, March 9th – Thursday, March 12th, 2009 and includes new work by:

The Big Win Collective (Maja Ardal, Sally Han, Mary Francis Moore, Sedina Fiati, Bea Pizano, Edda Kristinsson & Anusree Roy) Catherine Hernandez, Dave Bidini & Ted Dykstra, Maja Ardal, Ravi Jain, Diane Flacks & Beverly Cooper, Donna Michelle St. Bernard, Madd Harold, Allyson McMackon, Simon Heath, Jason Maghanoy, Greg Thomas, Anusree Roy, Eda Holmes, Naomi Snieckus, Kelly McIntosh & David Ferry and Thomas Morgan Jones.

Canadian Theatre Review

2008-10-07T12:16:00.000-07:00

In other good news, dust and The Corner, will be published in the Spring 2009 issue of the Canadian Theatre Review!

MECCA

2008-10-02T14:43:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the creative team of "Gas," which was nominated for three Montreal English Critics Circle Awards: Best Ensemble, Best Set-Design and Best Sound Design. Winners will be announced Oct. 20 at the 2007–2008 MECCA Awards in Montreal, at the Theatre Sainte-Catherine!

See you there!

J

Best of the Fest!

2008-08-21T10:37:00.001-07:00

NOW Magazine released their Best of the Fest for SummerWorks, and dust was selected as one of the Outstanding New Plays and Outstanding Productions. Brandon Coffey and Jessica Moss were selected in the Outstanding Performances category!

Congratulations to the JSquared Team!

http://www.nowtoronto.com/stage/story.cfm?content=164549

Reviews

2008-08-13T06:40:00.000-07:00

From NOW Magazine

Dust
Company: Jsquared Productions
Rating: NNNN
Venue: Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace

Show times:
Friday Aug 08/2008 - 04:00 PM
Saturday Aug 09/2008 - 06:00 PM
Sunday Aug 10/2008 - 10:00 PM
Wednesday Aug 13/2008 - 06:00 PM
Thursday Aug 14/2008 - 08:00 PM
Friday Aug 15/2008 - 10:00 PM
Saturday Aug 16/2008 - 04:00 PM

Reviewed by: Jon Kaplan

Two American soldiers meet and fall in love in Abu Ghraib prison. What's surprising about Jason Maghanoy's play is the tenderness of their relationship, mixed with the atrocities they commit against their prisoners. Under the playwright's direction, Brandon Coffey and Jessica Moss create a nuanced couple, sweet and touching one minute and insensitively right-wing the next.

-

Another review from Megan Mooney, BlogTO contributor and author of Mooney on Theatre

Dust
A love story set in Abu Ghraib prison, only, really, so much more than a love story. The two actors brought this intimate space and essentially bare stage to life. The show is really bloody good. I would even say excellent. The actors were bang-on, the script was interesting, the directing was good.

The show weaves a set of complex and conflicting emotions which are fascinating to watch develop through the nuances of the story and the acting. John (my show-partner) pointed out that the actors not only had the emotional aspects down, but they also nailed the technical parts of acting, things like keeping your cues tight, really listening to the other person talking, things like that. It was very impressive to watch. It's nice to watch actors and end up forgetting that they're actors.

This is definitely one to check out - with the caveat that it's not an 'easy' play. It's great to watch, but sometimes it's hard to hear the words and think about the content. There are laughs, but this show isn't a comedy.

Dust continues at the Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace on with shows on Aug 14 (8:00PM), August 15 (10:00PM), and August 16 (4:00PM). For more info, visit the Summerworks website.

http://www.blogto.com/theatre/2008/08/thursday_theatre_review_summerworks/

Dust: A Romance

2008-07-22T18:34:00.000-07:00

"Jason Maghanoy is forging a reputation as a writer of strong and provocative work."
Scena Magazine

"With Jason Maghanoy’s play, directed by Guy Sprung, Infini has got its mojo back. This is the best thing they’ve done since The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios… Do not miss this show."
Montreal Mirror

"Between the language of the text (poetic, funny and very real) and the purposefully ambiguous ending, Maghanoy keeps you transfixed."
NOW Magazine

__

JSquared Theatre, with the generous assistance of fu-GEN Asian Canadian Theatre Company presents:

dust
written and directed by
Jason Maghanoy

Abu Ghraib Prison. Jenny works in the office. Jonathan is a prison guard. They meet. They fall in love. Written and directed by National Theatre School of Canada graduate Jason Maghanoy, and featuring some of the most outstanding young actors in the city of Toronto, dust is a chilling, and ultimately moving examination of torture, decency and the limits of hope.

dust was first presented as a solo show at the National Theatre School of Canada. This production was directed by Leah Cherniak and featured the playwright. It was subsequently presented by the Carlos Bulosan Theatre as part of Jeepney and Other Stories. This production was directed by Brett Christopher and featured Nicco Lorenzo Garcia.

dust was presented as a two-hander as part of the 2006 CrossCurrents Festival at the Factory Theatre. This workshop presentation was directed and dramaturged by Philip Akin and featured Byron Abalos and Jennifer Villaverde.

dust was presented as part of the ReCurrents Program: The Directors Cut at the 2008 CrossCurrents Festival at the Factory Theatre. This workshop was directed by Michael Murphy and featured Noa Mae Dorn and Ted Neal.

The Corner

2008-07-04T12:35:00.000-07:00

Corner coup
THE NEXT STAGE @ Factory Studio
By Debbie Fein-Goldbach - NOW Magazine

THE CORNER written and directed by Jason Maghanoy (JSquared). Jan 11 and 13 at 7:15 pm, Jan 12 at 5:15 pm.
Rating: NNNN

Inspired by the real-life police shooting of 17-year-old Jeffrey Reodica, writer/director Jason Maghanoy takes a powerful look at teens and violence. The young cast, especially Byron Abalos and Andrea Mapili as love interests, serve Maghanoy’s script skilfully with their honest and often tender portrayals. The private-school uniform costumes instantly establish the characters, the hiphop soundtrack smooths transitions between scenes, and the ambient lighting intensifies the drama. Between the language of the text (poetic, funny and very real) and the purposefully ambiguous ending, Maghanoy keeps you transfixed.

stage@nowtoronto.com

THE NEXT STAGE a festival of new works and remounts. Presented by the Fringe of Toronto at Factory Theatre (125 Bathurst). To January 13. $12-$15, passes $48 and $88. 416-966-1062, www.nextstagefestival.com.

Gas

2008-07-04T12:25:00.000-07:00

Universal soldiers
Gas explores the horror and banality of the Iraq war
by Amy Barrett - The Montreal Mirror

The morning after seeing Infinitheatre’s Gas, a new play about the war in Iraq, I read a news story about a Canadian soldier going on trial for killing another Canadian soldier in Afghanistan. The latter seemed to confirm the timeliness and importance of the former. With Jason Maghanoy’s play, directed by Guy Sprung, Infini has got its mojo back. This is the best thing they’ve done since The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios.

Maghanoy, a National Theatre School playwriting graduate, has wisely not tackled Iraq or American foreign policy in general, but has created a snapshot of five soldiers whose mission is all about gasoline: delivering it to other units or selling it to Iraqis.

Brandon Coffey plays Josh, a good ol’ boy who joined up because he wanted to be part of something important. And because they give you a gun. When he’s not wielding a weapon, he’s stalking his comrades with a camera trying to catch them “being heroic” for a video he plans to send home to Mom.

Southern white boy Josh has formed an unlikely friendship with Private Zarrin Cole, a black woman from New York. Cole spends most of her free time lifting weights, partly to gain the respect of her male counterparts, and partly to defend herself against the ever-present possibility of sexual violence. Lucinda Davis, who is small in stature and a bit of a girly-girl, has undergone an astonishing transformation for this role. Cole is buff and tough and steely in her determination to survive her tour of duty and go to med school back home on the army’s dime. Karl Graboshas plays Andy, a reservist who, despite the uniform, still looks more like the accountant he is back home. He is just hanging on until he can go back to his wife and baby. Omari Newton’s character, Rocky, realizing that a mission his unit is being sent on will almost certainly end in their deaths, tries to convince his friend Trevor (Ralph Prosper) to bail. The moral dilemma is reminiscent of the one in To the Green Fields Beyond, a play set in World War I.

The production begins with stock footage from the mean streets of Baghdad being projected onto three screens. Other elements of the staging—the live feed from Josh’s camera, the entrances and exits through the audience, help create the sense that we are in the middle of the hell that is war. Credit also goes to the authentic looking costumes, as well as evocative sound and lighting.

Maghanoy’s script is at its best when it portrays the boredom of daily life in camp offset by the constant threat of danger. These are young people who’ve seen buildings, vehicles and people blown up just a few feet away. Like trapped animals, they are in pure survival mode.

In the storyline involving Newton’s character, Maghanoy goes too far, not because there is any horror you can’t imagine happening in this context, but because there are horrors that can’t be portrayed convincingly on stage. Certain incidents might actually be more chilling if they were only described.

With Gas, Maghanoy has given us a play that tells a specific story about one conflict that becomes a universal comment on the nature of war. Do not miss this show.

Gas, to Nov. 18 at Bain St-Michel
(5300 st-dominique), $20/$15,
(514) 987-1774, ext. 104, or
box-office@infinitheatre.com