Wildfire

May 28 – June 19 2022, Mainspace Theatre

#ftWildfire

Running Time: 70 minutes

Translated by Leanna Brodie
From the play Le Brasier by David Paquet
Directed by Soheil Parsa

A Factory Toronto Premiere

That’s what family is all about: saying yes even if you don’t feel like it

Claudette, Claudia, Claudine, Carol, Callum, and Caroline all have two things in common: names that start with the letter C and they’re all haunted by a family history of childhood trauma. They do what they can to survive. Sometimes by baking cookies, sometimes by playing fantasy games, and sometimes by smashing a hammer into a TV.

Wildfire is a dark comedy with a spark— highly absurd and ferociously funny, Paquet’s seemingly ordinary characters remind us that sometimes it’s the people we look right past who experience the most extraordinary fates.

COVID-19 SAFETY AT FACTORY

Wildfire is being sold at a reduced capacity to allow for social distancing, and Factory continues to require proof of vaccination and mask wearing for all audiences, artists, and staff. Full and up-to-date details on Factory’s COVID-19 safety protocols can be found at factorytheatre.ca/covid.

At Factory, we believe theatre should be accessible to all who want to participate. That is why we’ve introduced a sliding scale ticket model with a $0 option. Tickets prices for Wildfire range from $10 – $60, and include a limited number of $0 tickets for every performance. Audiences are invited to select the ticket price option that works best for them to experience theatre at Factory.

In order for patrons to be given an equal opportunity to access Factory productions at the $0 price point, a maximum of 3 tickets can be booked per patron, per performance.

If you have questions about our tickets, please visit our FAQ page or contact our Box Office at boxoffice@factorytheatre.ca.

About the Translator

Leanna Brodie

Leanna Brodie’s plays and libretti have been performed from Halifax to Vancouver, London to Auckland. The Vic, For Home and Country, The Book of Esther, and Schoolhouse are published by Talonbooks. She is also a noted translator of Québécois playwrights: recent productions include Hélène Ducharme’s Dora-winning Baobab; David Paquet’s 2019 Jessie Award-winning The Shoe (The Cherry Artspace, Ithaca NY) and Wildfire (Upstream Theater, St. Louis MO); Annie Broccoli’s Stella and the Time Machine Journey (Lune Rouge, Arlington TX); Joe Jack et John’s Violette (Espace Libre, Montréal QC); Mohsen El Gharbi’s Omi Mouna (Impact Festival Kitchener-Waterloo ON/ ON//Infinithéâtre, Montréal QC); and Rébecca Déraspe’s I Am William (Stratford Festival, ON). Three of her translations have been nominated for Tom Hendry Awards. Brodie is current co-writing Salesman in China with Jovanni Sy (a co-commission from the Stratford Festival/Banff Centre for the Arts). Upcoming productions and publications include works by Fanny Britt, Rébecca Déraspe, Sébastien Harrisson, Angela Konrad, Catherine Léger, David Paquet, Anaïs Pellin, Philippe Soldevila, and Olivier Sylvestre. She is currently an MFA candidate at the University of Calgary and spent eight wonderful years in Vancouver… but she is thrilled to return to her hometown, especially with these artists and this play. www.leannabrodie.com

About the Playwright

David Paquet

David Paquet is a graduate in playwriting from the National Theatre School of Canada (2006) and lives in Montreal. His plays Porc-épic, 2h14, Appels Entrants Illimités, Les Grands-Mères Mortes (co-writer), Le Brasier, Histoires à Plumes et à Poils (co-writer), Le Soulier, Chansons pour le Musée (co-writer), Le Poids des Fourmis, as well as his two one-man-shows of stand-up poetry, Papiers Mâchés and Le Voilier (Manifeste du Fragile), have garnered international praise and have been produced in more than 12 countries all over North America and Europe. David has been the recipient of the Governor General’s Literary Award for French-language drama, the Prix Michel-Tremblay, two Prix Sony-Labou-Tansi, two Quebec Critic’s Choice Awards for Best Play for Young Audiences, and Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui’s Audience Choice Award. He translated Hannah Moscovitch’s In This World into French and is currently working on an adaptation of Frank Wedekind’s Spring Awakening. He also teaches playwriting and acts as a dramaturg for, among others, the National Theatre School of Canada, the Centre des auteurs dramatiques, and the Conservatoire d’art dramatique de Montréal.

About the Director

Soheil Parsa

Soheil Parsa is an Iranian Canadian theatre artist based in Toronto. He is the co-founder and former artistic director of Modern Times Stage Company and has directed over forty productions for the company since its inception in 1989. Soheil’s work has been shown in Canada as well as internationally, and has been recognized with numerous awards and nominations. Selected past works include ‘Blood Wedding’ and ‘The House of Bernarda Alba’ (Modern Times Stage Company and Aluna Theatre), ‘The Chairs’, ‘The Cherry Orchard’, ‘Waiting for Godot,’ ‘Macbeth’, ‘Hamlet’, ‘Aurash’, and ‘The Death of the King’ (Modern Times Stage Company). In 2022, he received a Dora Mavor Moore award for the direction of David Paquet’s dark comedy “Wildfire” at the Factory Theatre. Soheil is delighted to return to Factory with Daniel MacIvor’s play ‘Monster’.