Divisadero: a performance

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Necessary Angel, in association with The Film Farm, is proud to announce the return of Divisadero: a performance, adapted by Michael Ondaatje from his Governor General Award-winning novel, and directed by Necessary Angel’s Artistic Director, Daniel Brooks.

The production reunites the original cast of Liane Balaban, Maggie Huculak, Tom McCamus, Amy Rutherford and Justin Rutledge – the Juno-nominated musician who created music specifically for the piece. Performances run February 8-26 (with community and media night February 9) at Theatre Passe Muraille’s Mainspace, 16 Ryerson Avenue.

Jeremy Mimnagh (Projection Design) joins the original design team of Andrea Lundy (Lighting Design), Alexander MacSween (Sound Design) and John Thompson (Set and Costume Design). Robert Harding and Liz McDermott are the Stage Management team.

Divisadero: a performance examines themes of memory, identity, love and the grip of the past on the present, and tells a story of a family that is forever changed by a single, violent event that sets fire to the rest of their lives. The production explores the intimate relationship between the speaker and the listener, and of language’s ability to weave a magical spell.

“Brooks has staged Divisadero in a direct-address, presentational mode that builds on two key   foundations: the power of Ondaatje’s words and the exquisite ways HuculakŠmakes them danceŠShe’s [Huculak] to performance what Ondaatje is to fiction and Brooks to directing.”
-Kamal Al-Solaylee, Toronto Star

“Brooks creates a new kind of memory playŠ. setting the story in the audience’s memory instead of playing it out in the playwright’sŠ. this theatrical adaptation defies most conventional theatrical definitionsŠ. Huculak scores an understated triumph, creating a perfect ‘writer’s voice’Šthat flows out of her like golden honey.” -John Coulbourn, Toronto Sun

“[An] exceptional performanceŠ. [Huculak] is superb both as actress and storyteller.”
-Robert Cushman, National Post

“She [Huculak] delivers her lines like caresses, the words like pearls strung along a delicate necklace, their sheen drawing us into the depths of the storytelling.” -Jon Kaplan, Now Magazine

Necessary Angel  in association with The Film Farm presents   Divisadero: a performance

Writer: Michael Ondaatje. Director: Daniel Brooks.

Cast: Liane Balaban, Maggie Huculak, Tom McCamus, Amy Rutherford, Justin Rutledge.

Designers: Andrea Lundy, Alexander MacSween, Jeremy Mimnagh, John Thompson.

Stage Management: Rob Harding, Elizabeth McDermott. Assistant Director: Stefan Dzeparoski.

February 8-26, 2012 at Theatre Passe Muraille’s Mainspace, 16 Ryerson Avenue

Tuesday-Saturday 8pm, Sunday 2pm

Tickets: Feb. 8 preview $10, Tues-Thurs $25, Fri $30, Sat $35, Sun Matinee – Pay-What-You-Can

For tickets and more information, visit www.necessaryangel.com/ divisadero

or call Theatre Passe Muraille Arts Box Office at 416-504-7529