The Year Of The Cello – Digital Stage

Why Music Picnic? A picnic, whether casual or formal, is always eclectic, joyful, whimsical, romantic, intimate and tasty, maybe even meditative – as is the musical experience we strive to create.

www.musicpicnic.com

Marjorie Chan is the Artistic Director of Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto since 2019, where she places access, community, innovation and collaboration at the forefront of the company’s approach. Born in Tkaronto (Toronto) to Hong Kong immigrants, she works variously as writer, director and dramaturge in opera and theatre as well as in the intersection of these forms and roles.

Her work has been seen and performed in the United States, Scotland, Hong Kong, Russia and across Canada. Her full-length works as a playwright include Lady Sunrise, The Madness of the Square, a nanking winter, and Tails From the City, as well as the libretti for the operas, Sanctuary Song, The Lesson of Da Ji, M’dea Undone, The Monkiest King, and upcoming The Nightingale of a Thousand Songs. Some of the companies Marjorie has directed for include: Gateway Theatre, Cahoots Theatre, Native Earth Performing Arts, Theatre Passe Muraille, Obsidian Theatre and Theatre du Pif (Hong Kong). Marjorie has been nominated for nine Dora Awards and is the recipient of four. She has also received the K.M. Hunter Artist’s Award in Theatre, the Entertainment World Award (Best New Work), a Harold Award, the Bra D’Or Award, as well as the George Luscombe Award for Mentorship. Other notable nominations include the Governor General’s Literary Award for her playwriting debut, China Doll, and the Canadian Citizen Award for her work with Crossing Gibraltar while AD at Cahoots Theatre. She has been artist-in-residence with Factory Theatre, Banff Playwrights’ Lab, Tapestry Opera, Cahoots Theatre, Theatre Centre (with 6th Man Collective), Theatre Direct Canada, SUNY (Geneseo, New York) and Theatre du Pif (Hong Kong). Upcoming works: The Year of the Cello, co-created with Njo Kong Kie and the operatic adaptation of Madeleine Thien’s Do Not Say We Have Nothing with composer Tim Brady.

Njo Kong Kie: A picnic and ping pong enthusiast, Kong Kie also enjoys composing for dance, opera and theatre. His works include the concert-theatre Picnic in the Cemetery; the song-cycle I swallowed a moon made of iron (set to poetry of Xu Lizhi); comic opera knotty together (with Anna Chatterton); and music theatre Mr. Shi and His Lover (with Wong Teng Chi). Long-serving music director of La La La Human Steps, Kong Kie has collaborated with other choreographers as well as filmmakers to provide soundtrack for their works. www.musicpicnic.com

To schedule an interview with the artist, or staff members at Theatre Passe Muraille regarding this production, please email B-Rebel Communications at ashley@b-rebelcommunications.com. We will try out best to accommodate your media requests, however they are not guaranteed.

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Implications of abuse and suicide, descriptions of disease.

The original play was commissioned by Diaspora Dialogues under the title “The Birthday Cadenza”. The creators wish to thank the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for funding various stages of development. Additionally, this work has benefitted from workshops from the Banff Centre for the Arts (Playwrights Lab), Factory Theatre (WIRED), and Cahoots Theatre (Hot House).