Eastern Front Theatre‘s SuperNova Theatre Festival is reaching its 19th year, the classic year to get wild and crazy. Running from May 9 to 20, they’ve got The Whimsy State or the Principality of Outer Baldonia by Alberta’s Lunchbox Theatre, where an island off the coast of Nova Scotia is declared a new nation and declares war on the Soviets… based on a true story (!); Justin Carver brings us Sons of Africville, a performance about Carver’s life and reunion with his mother; KAZAN CO-OP presents I, Animal, the world premiere of a tale of love, loss and what it’s like to be human; Fishing, the world premiere of Off the Leash’s Jeremy Webb‘s performance based on the world of online dating; Linda Moore directs Going On, the story of Elizabeth Richardson as a young actor and Buddhist; PKF Productions puts on This is Cancer, a performance by one of the few legally blind professional actors, Bruce Horak, who finds laughter in the dreaded disease, of which Horak himself is a survivor; Spelling 2-5-5, about a teenager, his autistic brother and a spelling contest that stands to divide them further, is presented by Carousel Players; and from the Halifax Theatre for Young People comes In this World, a view into the lives of two urban girls in high school, and the issues they face everyday.
SuperNova also has a 10-minute play contest for high school students, a panel discussion on Theatre for Young People, a drama workshop for those ages 8-11, a stage fight workshop for ages 13-17 (I took stage fighting at Dramafest years ago, and recommend it highly), and an adult workshop for theatre as a teaching tool.
Tickets are $25 for adults, $20 for seniors, DND (Department of Defense, not Dungeons and Dragons) employees and art workers, $15 for students, and $10 for the 10-Minute play contest. Going to multiple productions on the same day? Prepare to save money, as tickets are half price for consecutive performances. (1593 Argyle Street, 429-7070, easternfronttheatre.com)
This article appears in Apr 19-25, 2012.