Media Release - Feb 16, 2011
“Something cool happened today,” says Falling Open's creator/performer Luna Allison. “It all happened through Facebook. I was reaching out to friends, telling them about the show and happened to mention that there were survivors of sexual abuse living here in Ottawa who wanted to see it but couldn’t afford a ticket. Over the next few hours, a number of feminists in Ottawa and Toronto and London (England) decided to purchase tickets to Falling Open and make them available to people who couldn't otherwise afford to attend the show. Their generosity and support is amazing.”
Falling Open - playing at CGCT's undercurrents festival this weekend - is the story of one family’s experience of sexual abuse told through the eyes of a living doll. It premiered at the 2011 Fringe Festival and won the 2012 Outstanding Original Work award. On the opening night of the undercurrents run, more people saw Falling Open than in the entire run of the Ottawa Fringe Festival, which took place in the creator's home.
"The visibility of this issue couldn't be more important. Once we understand childhood sexual abuse and how it functions in society, we can stop it. This show will help you do that, and the undercurrents crew had the foresight to bring it to a bigger stage so more people can walk away with the information they need to confront sexual abuse,” adds Luna.
Luna Allison says the feedback from undercurrents audience members has been overwhelmingly positive. One woman was even inspired to confront her abuser after seeing the show on opening night - something she didn't have the confidence to do until seeing Falling Open. Luna says, "The donors of these tickets hope that the recipients will similarly benefit."
Falling Open - an Emergence Productions (Ottawa, ON) production. Written, conceived and performed by Luna Allison; co-created by Luna Allison & Lib Spry, Directed by Lib Spry.
If your childhood doll could talk, what would she say? What stories would she share, and what secrets would she keep? In Falling Open, a one-woman show that is narrated by a living doll who is part oracle and part witness, we are invited into the story of one family’s experience of sexual abuse in which the categories of good and evil are set aside and, instead, we find out what happens when abuser and abused each tell their side of the story.
GCTC's undercurrents: theatre below the mainstream
Show times: Productions run approximately one hour and are presented five times throughout the 10 day festival. Weekday performances - 7:00 and 9:00 PM. Saturday/Sunday - 2:00, 4:00, 7:00 and 9:00 http://www.gctc.ca/plays/undercurrents-0
Tickets: $15.00 for single tickets, $40 for 3-show Flexpass, $60 for 6-show Flexpass
GCTC Box Office - 613-236-5196 - 1233 Wellington Street West, at Holland Avenue
http://www.gctc.ca
The Fritzi Gallery located on the second floor of the Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre (GCTC) is exhibiting paintings by six local artists. Each of the artist’s works was inspired by an undercurrents production:
Beth Levin - And Then It Happens
Peter Monet - WeeTube 5400
Reid McLachlan - Live From the Belly of A Whale
Karina Kraenzle - Blue Box
Mahshid Farhoudi - Falling Open
Marc-André Brzustowski - Highway 63 - The Fort Mac Show
The gallery offers the public a unique dialogue between two artistic disciplines – theatre and fine art. The work you see on the gallery walls reflects the artist’s impressions and emotional response to a script.
About GCTC: “To foster, produce and promote excellent theatre that provokes examination of Canadian life and our place in the world." GCTC is committed to the production of new Canadian work and artist development. We continue to commission and workshop new plays by emerging and established playwrights. We mentor emerging companies and artists through our undercurrents festival, master classes, and internships.
Media Contact - Sheilagh D'Arcy McGee - media@gctc.ca
Twitter: @GCTCLive
