The Rise and Fall of Target Canada
Dramatized by Thirty Community Members
A BENEFIT PRODUCTION for Outside the March and Convergence Theatre
November 29th – December 2nd
Regent Theatre (551 Mount Pleasant Rd, Toronto, ON)
The Passionate Players – a community theatre fundraising initiative from two of Canada’s leading immersive theatre companies – returns Nov. 29th to Dec. 2nd for their fifth production, this time the World Premiere of A COMMUNITY TARGET. Written and compiled by emerging Canadian playwright Robert Motum, the play is directly lifted from interviews with scores of former Target Canada customers and employees, from cashiers all the way to the CEO and everyone in between.
On January 15, 2015, less than two years after they opened their first Canadian stores, Target announced that they would be discontinuing operations in Canada. At the time, the story was analyzed by every business critic and financial pundit on television; they spoke about numbers, shareholders, and stocks. What was strikingly absent from this conversation, however, were the voices of the 17,600 Canadians who had just lost their jobs and had their lives upheaved. A COMMUNITY TARGET shares these stories in an intimate, personal and communal way.
True to the people at the heart of its story, A Community Target will feature a cast of thirty community members – non-professional performers who are participants in the The Passionate Players Program. Now in its fifth year, The Passionate Players is a benefit endeavour from Outside the March and Convergence Theatre. The program offers community members interested in gaining hands-on experience in theatre the opportunity to train and participate in a full-fledged production. All proceeds from the production go to supporting the not-for-profit creative endeavours of both companies.
CREATIVE TEAM
Directors: Mitchell Cushman*, Aaron Willis*, & Griffin McInnes
Producer: Colin Simmons
Assistant Producer: Claire Boudreau
Stage Manager: Karen Franklin
Production Consultant: Katherine Devlin Rosenfeld
CAST
Barbara Aufgang
Barbara Haber
Brent Vickar
Carolyn Tanner
Dorothy Pestell
Dorothy Rusoff
Doug Croker
Heather Johnston
Holly Kirkconnell
Janet Lewis
Jeanette Cairns
Judy Franklin
Marg Sellers
Marilyn Tate
Mike Phillips
Nancy Stewart
Neil Naft
Pamela Parris
Pat Cochrane
Patricia Golubev
Paul Bilodeau
Peter Sevitt
Richard Ellen
Ruth Greey
Saul Kaufman
Shery Leeder
Susan Ginsberg
Susanne Egier
Tobi Kaufman
Virginia Thomson
Learn More About The Passionate Players
*The participation of these Artists is arranged by permission of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association under the provisions of the Dance Opera Theatre Policy.
- November 29 – December 2, 2018
The Regent Theatre – 551 Mount Pleasant Rd, Toronto, ON