

2015 IGNITE! Festival of Emerging Artists Lineup

Beard, by David van Belle

Four voices unite in a tour de force solo performance from Natalie Gauthier to tell a story about a secret and a choice. Directed by Lara Schmitz, Beard is an intimate play about changing your world and having your world changed for you. The IGNITE! Festival commissioned David van Belle to write the play to allow an emerging actor-and-director team to develop their craft from the strong foundation provided by an established playwright such as van Belle.





Polonius and His Children, by Anna MacAlpine

Hamlet is one of Shakespeareâ€™s most famous theatrical worksâ€”famous for killing off most of its cast. In this intelligent, funny and touching play, the noble Polonius and his childrenâ€”Ophelia and Laertesâ€”reunite in the afterlife to compare notes on how they ended up there. Alongside this family of literary lore, the audience explores what one would expect from any family, what each member expect in return, and what we're all willing to forgive along the way.





Major Matt Mason Collective and the Wildfire National Playwriting Competition

MMMC presents the Wildfire National Playwriting Competition for playwrights 30 years of age or under. The only criteriaâ€”besides ageâ€”to qualify for the National Playwriting Competition was that the script must embrace risk, grit and evocation.MMMC's talented team will present two scripts chosen from among 120 submissions from across Canada and give these talented young playwrights a chance to have their work presented to the public. The chosen scripts will also be workshopped by MMMC to provide these emerging playwrights with critical feedback that will help them develop their scripts and their playwriting skills. (Stay tuned for more details!)





Theatre Transit presents The Josephine Knot, by Meg Braem

Calgary-based playwright Meg Braemâ€™s The Josephine Knot was first produced at the 2009 IGNITE! Festival; this year,Theatre Transit offers a deeper perspective into Braemâ€™s characters and story. As past IGNITE! Festival artists and longtime friends of Sage Theatre, Meg Braem and Theatre Transit are delighted to collaborate on this thoughtful and challenging piece about 25-year-old Samantha and her father travelling home to attend the wake of Samanthaâ€™s grandmother, Baba. Samantha and her father dig through a lifetime of memories. Often considered the perfect knot, the Josephine knot joins two ropes together as one as Samantha and her father dig through a lifetime of memories.





The IGNITE! Dance Series

I for an Eye plays with sensation and, with what happens when this sense is suddenly lost; choreographed and performed byJanelle Schiffner.



Dis/Connected is about the ragged edge between "who I am and how I want to be seen." It is a diary entry, an elegy, a battle-cry, and a prayer choreographed and performed by Melissa Tupin.



The IGNITE! Music Series

The Left Behinds are a folk rock trio who frequented basement party jam circles and local open mics in Lehthbridge, Alberta. But the love of music grew so strong between Kathryn, Greg and Ryan that they have decided to unleash their upbeat indie rock riffs on the world (well, mostly Calgary). Their songs cross the spectrum of old fashioned rock 'n roll to more mellow "folksy" numbers. The trio typically features a drummer and two guitarists, though they switch up the intruments every once in a while to include acoustic guitars, banjo, bass, harmonica and bongos.