NEWS ARCHIVES

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RESURGENCE CONGRATULATES LISA CODRINGTON
Our summer "Puck" Turns Award Winning Playwright
Resurgence extends congratulations to Lisa Codrington, whose play Cast Iron was nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Award - Drama Category.

The Juries Comments: Cash Iron - Lisa Codrington’s Cast Iron is a luminous, one-woman memory play, relating the life story of Libya Geraldine Atwell. Through the musicality of Bajan dialect, Libya embodies the many characters who shaped her history, from the cane fields of Barbados to her nursing home in Winnipeg . Codrington conveys the tragic story of Libya ’s life with rich layers of wit and contradiction.

This past winter her play Cash Iron toured in Barbados, and was published by Playwrights Canada Press this past summer. Lisa is now working on a new play called Refined which was recently read at The Playwrights Theatre Centre's New Play Festival in Vancouver in the spring of 2006. In August 2006 Lisa will participate in Tapestry New Opera Works' Librettist Laboratory.

Winners of the Governor General’s Literary Awards will be announced on November 21, 2006. Visit the Governor General’s Literary Awards website for more information.

Lisa’s performance as Robin Goodfellow/Puck in Resurgence’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream this past July, delighted audiences with energetic antics and unbridled enthusiasm. Lisa is currently a playwright in residence at Theatre Direct and Co-director of Youth Initiatives at the Nightwood Theatre. She most recently performed in b currents Rock Paper Sistahz Festival and in the Mirvish production of da kink in my hair.
November 2006

Drama draws rave reviews
Mr. Nashman has the audience hanging practically on his every word with his relaxed, but fast-talking manner. Irene Poole enters the scene as Sally Talley, her obvious anger with Mr. Friedman and loud voice seems jarring next to the good-humoured man. But as the play progresses, we begin to understand her anger and his evasion of questions about his background. When this tale of hope, disappointments and secrets ends, the audience gave the play a standing ovation.
July 22, 2006 - Article by Simone Joseph, York Region Newspaper Group

Plays for your getaway
"Seeing a play by Lanford Wilson (So Long at the Fair, Balm in Gilead) in Toronto is rare. Seeing it outside Toronto is rarer still. Actor and director David Ferry (a Wilson authority on the side) oversees this 1980 "sweet, sentimental" Pulitzer Prize winner, starring Irene Poole and Alon Nashman as a pair of two unlikely lovers. Nashman plays Matt, an accountant of German Jewish descent whose romance with Poole's Sally Talley means overcoming the bigotry of her conservative family."
July 21, 2006 - Kamal Al-Solaylee, Globe & Mail

Award Winning Artists Mount Award Winning Play - TALLEY's FOLLY
By Lanford Wilson Directed by David Ferry
Limited engagement - July 20-30, 2006
Written by one of America’s greatest living playwright’s, this gorgeous ‘dramedy’ was winner of the 1980 Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. It is only fitting that an award winning group of artists bring Talley’s Folly to the Newmarket stage. [Read the full press release]

Lusty Dreams
Set in the woods and featuring a trio of winning comic storylines, A Midsummer Night's Dream is a favourite Shakespeare for outdoor production. You may think you know the mismatched quartet of lovers, but you've never seen them as laugh-out-loud sexual as director David Ferry 's made them in the Resurgence Theatre production now running in Newmarket. [Read the article..]
July 6, 2006 - Article by Jon Kaplan and Glenn Sumi, NOW Magazine (Vol 25 No. 24)

Resurgence Theatre promises user friendly Bard
Who really and truly can say they understand Shakespeare? Well, Newmarket's Resurgence Theatre Company says it has found a way to make the Bard basic, understandable and highly entertaining. A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare plays until July 16 in Newmarket's Fairy Lake Park. "Our mission was to make it accessible and understandable. Husbands are (often) dragged along and don't understand a word," said Tedde Moore, the assistant director for the show as well as an actor and teacher.
July 3, 2006 - Article by Simone Joseph, York Region Newspaper Group

CONGRATULATIONS TO DAVID FERRY - IRENE POOLE - GLENN DAVIDSON - DORA AWARD WINNERS
The 27th Annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards for the 2005/2006 season were handed out on June 26, 2006. On behalf of the Board of Directors and staff of Resurgence Theatre, Bob Forhan, President of the Board, extends congratulations to David Ferry, winner of two Dora awards for Outstanding Direction of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, and Outstanding Lighting Design for The Last Days of Judas Iscariot; to Irene Poole, winner of two Dora awards for Outstanding Performance by a Female in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot and Outstanding Performance by a Female in a Principal Role-Play in The Leisure Society; Glenn Davidson for Outstanding Lighting Design for The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. We are privileged to have such distinguished artists as part of our 2006 York Shakespeare Festival and wish them much success in their careers.

The Canadian Dora Mavor Moore Awards are presented annually, honouring Canadian theatre, dance and opera productions in five categories: General Theatre - Independent Theatre - Dance - Opera Theatre for Young Audiences. The award was established in 1981 and is named after Dora Mavor Moore, who helped establish Canadian professional theatre. These awards are produced and presented on behalf of the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA). Visit their website for additional information - http://www.tapa.ca/doras/.

David Ferry is Resurgence's Artistic Director. He is currently directing A Midsummer Night's Dream and Talley's Folly (2006 York Shakespeare Festival) and directed Much Ado About Nothing and The Compleat Works of Wllm Shakspr (abridged) (2004 York Shakespeare Festival).

Irene Poole is currently playing the role of Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Sally Talley in Talley's Folly (2006 York Shakespeare Festival). She also starred as Dona Juanita in Much Ado About Nothing, various roles in The Compleat Works of Wllm Shakspr (abridged) (2004 York Shakespeare Festival); Lady Capulet in Romeo & Juliet and Juno in The Tempest (2002 York Shakespeare Festival).

Glenn Davidson is currently the Set & Lighting Designer for A Midsummer Night's Dream and Talley's Folley (2006 York Shakespeare Festival) and was the Set & Lighting Designer for Much Ado About Nothing and The Compleat Works of Wllm Shakspr (abridged) (2004 York Shakespeare Festival).

Outstanding Artists Take to the Stage in A Midsummer Night’s Dream
With the acting company arriving in Newmarket this Saturday, Resurgence Theatre Company prepares to open this year’s York Shakespeare Festival with A Midsummer Night’s Dream on June 22nd. After three weeks of rehearsals in Toronto, the outstanding cast of Resurgence alumni and newcomers touch down in Fairy Lake Park this Saturday for the last days of preparation before dazzling audiences with their Dream. Download and read the full press release in PDF format. []
June 15, 2006 - News Release

Take one: Summer Theatre
Don’t be fooled by Keith Fernandes’ diminutive stature. At 27, the Newmarket native and theatre aficionado will bear a heavy load as this year’s outdoor theatre season is set to begin. Profile of Keith Fernandes, Resurgence's General Manager.
June 6, 2006 - Article by Simone Joseph, York Region Newspaper Group

New plans for Resurgence Theatre
The Resurgence Theatre is back and is staging a play unrelated to Shakespeare for the first time. The theatre company performs each summer at Newmarket's Fairy Lake Park.
May 25, 2006 - Article by Simone Joseph, York Region Newspaper Group

Resurgence Theatre Company returns with Summer Dreams: York Shakespeare Festival 2006. Bolstered by new funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, to the tune of $160,000 over 3 years, Resurgence is getting ready to spring into action with a flurry of summer activity. Joining the Resurgence team is Newmarket native Keith Fernandes, cast in the new role of General Manager. A graduate of the University of Toronto, Fernandes brings a wealth of experience from such companies as Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, CanStage, and the Canadian Opera Company, and is excited to share his passion for theatre with the York Region community which raised him. Download and read the full press release in PDF format. []
May 17, 2006 News Release

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