Download Theatre Smash and ARC present the Canadian

“(A) searingly topical show… Watching the play
is like being slapped awake.”
– The Washington Post
“The total package for a night out at the
theater: playfulness, politics, personality, and
power, all wrapped up in one.” – DC Theatre
Scene
“The Chilean-born writer and director Guillermo Calderón is an authentic genius of the theatre….you
can’t say you’ve heard or seen any of it before, which may make you want to hear and see it again.” –
The New Yorker
Theatre Smash and ARC present the Canadian premiere of
KISS by Guillermo Calderón
In partnership with Canadian Stage
On stage March 28 – April 16 at the Berkeley Street Upstairs Theatre
Toronto, March 9, 2017 –Theatre Smash, ARC and Canadian Stage are proud to join forces to present the Canadian
premiere of KISS by internationally-acclaimed Chilean playwright Guillermo Calderón (screenwriter, Neruda).
Directed by Ashlie Corcoran (Artistic Director, Theatre Smash) with Associate Director Christopher Stanton (Artistic
Producer, ARC), KISS will be on stage from March 28 to April 16 at the intimate Berkeley Street Upstairs Theatre. A
Theatre Smash and ARC production in partnership with Canadian Stage.
“I am driven by questions of authenticity, interpretation and accessibility when bringing international work to
Canada,” said director and Theatre Smash Artistic Producer Ashlie Corcoran, who has introduced such acclaimed
international works as Das Ding (The Thing), The Ugly One and Durango to Toronto audiences. “In KISS, Calderón
examines how we grapple with our limitations as artists when exploring a situation that is culturally removed from
us, while concurrently arguing for the emotional strength of theatre.”
“Kiss is an essential play, a necessary play. It is a rare opportunity to delve into experiences of sameness and
difference and examine the ever-transient world we live in today,” said Canadian Stage Artistic and General Director
Matthew Jocelyn. “We are delighted to be collaborating with Theatre Smash in its second year of residency, and
with partner-company ARC, to share this deeply thoughtful and highly unexpected portrait of creation in troubled
times.”
Two couples meet for dinner to take their minds off the war raging around them. A secret profession of love, an
untimely proposal, and one kiss later, one of the foursome lies dead on the floor. What sets out as a Syrian
melodrama quickly takes an unexpected turn –is anything really what it appears to be? Intersecting the personal,
political and theatrical, KISS breaks open cultural barriers, challenging us to confront the limits of our own
understanding.
Commissioned by the Düsseldorfer (Schauspielhaus) in 2014, KISS held its North American premiere at Washington
DC’s Wooly Mammoth Theatre in 2016, where it was hailed for its provocative meta-theatrical innovation and
timely exploration of cultural boundaries in the wake of the ongoing Syrian conflict: “Calderón uses the prism of
theater to turn Syria from ubiquitous headline into something more urgent and human,” (Metro Weekly), “(Tackles)
the Syrian civil war and its refugee crisis… in a way that also addressed the struggles of presenting real-life crises in
art… go with an open mind and hang on” (Broadway World).
War and political upheaval have deeply informed the award-winning work of New York-based Chilean
playwright/director/screenwriter Guillermo Calderón, hailed as “Chile’s most acclaimed playwright-director of the
last two-decades” by the LA Times. Born in 1971 at the height of Salvador Allende's left-wing Popular Unity alliance,
Calderón came of age under the brutal dictatorial regime of Augusto Pinochet (Calderón’s uncle was killed by
Pinochet’s security police). Reaching far beyond the borders of his homeland, his plays (written in both English and
Spanish) have been presented in over 25 countries – most notably at London’s Royal Court Theatre and New York’s
Public Theater (Diciembre, Neva, and Escuela – Under the Radar). Most recently, Calderón penned the screenplay
for Pablo Larrain’s 2016 film biopic Neruda, starring Gael García Bernal.
The Canadian premiere of KISS is helmed by Dora Award-winning director Ashlie Corcoran (Artistic Producer,
Theatre Smash & Thousand Islands Playhouse) with the support of Associate Director Christopher Stanton (Artistic
Producer, ARC). Enacting this multi-layered narrative is a stellar ensemble cast made up of both Theatre Smash
alumni and ARC company members: Dalal Badr, Liza Balkan, Greg Gale, Carlos González-Vio, Naomi Wright and
Bahareh Yaraghi. Jung-Hye Kim (Set Design), Jackie Chau (Costume Design), Rebecca Picherack (Lighting Design)
and Alex Williams (Projection Design) round off the creative team.
KISS will be on stage at the Berkeley Street Upstairs Theatre (26 Berkeley Street) from March 28 to April 16
(Media night: March 30). Performances run Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 8 pm, Fridays at 7pm, and
with matinees on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 1pm beginning April 1. Tickets from $39 to $59 are
available online, by phone at 416.368.3110, or in person at the Berkeley Street box office. For details visit
www.canadianstage.com/online/KISS
Facebook: Theatre Smash, ARC, Canadian Stage
Twitter: @TheatreSmash @ARCstage @CanadianStage
Twitter Hashtag: #KissTO
For more information or interview requests, please contact:
Andrea Elalouf, Associate Director of Communications, Canadian Stage, 416. 367.8243 x 250,
[email protected]
About KISS
March 28 – April 16 (Media night: March 30 – 8pm)
A Theatre Smash and ARC production, in partnership with Canadian Stage
Playwright
Director
Associate Director
Set Design
Projection Design
Costume Design
Lighting design
Arabic Translation/ Coach
Stage Manager
Apprentice Stage Manager
Producer (Theatre Smash)
Associate Producer
Production Manager
Guillermo Calderón
Ashlie Corcoran
Christopher Stanton
Jung-Hye Kim
Alex Williams
Jackie Chau
Rebecca Picherack
Salma Al Atassi
Natasha Bean-Smith
Lucy McPhee
Stacey Norton
Cody McCallum
Peter Eaton
Featuring
Liza Balkan
Dalad Badr
Translator
Bana
Greg Gale
Carlos González-Vio
Naomi Wright
Bahareh Yaraghi
Youssif
Ahmed
Hadeel
Woman
About Theatre Smash
Theatre Smash, a Toronto based independent theatre company was founded in 2005. We develop and produce
contemporary theatrical work with a global twist and introduce international writers and methods of work to
Canadian audiences and artists. We are excited by texts that examine social, political or economic systems and are
captivated by non-naturalistic writing where form and content share equal dramaturgical importance. Theatre
Smash has been nominated for 12 Dora Mora Mavor Moore Awards, winning two. Theatre Smash productions have
been listed in many "Best Of" lists. Through our more-than-decade-long history, we have partnered and coproduced with innovative institutions of all sizes, including the Goethe-Institut, Theatre Passe Muraille, Tarragon
Theatre, fu-GEN Asian Canadian Theatre Company, Buddies in Bad Times, Canadian Stage, the Thousand Islands
Playhouse and now ARC. Theatre Smash is run by Artistic Producer, Ashlie Corcoran and General Manager, Stacey
Norton. www.theatresmash.com
About ARC
ARC is a diverse company of resident theatre artists dedicated to three central pursuits: presenting contemporary
international works that have rarely – if ever – been staged in Canada; taking a rigourous, energetic, and innovative
approach to re-imagining world theatre classics; and mining international literature to devise original theatrical
work. Since 1998, ARC has been nominated for twelve Dora Awards and won two. Their 2014 show, Deirdre
Kinahan’s MOMENT — staged on two floors of a converted commercial space in Leslieville — was nominated six
times. Last year, Alistair McDowall’s dark and dystopian mystery POMONA was a critical and popular darling, finding
a place on numerous year-end Best Of Stage lists. www.arcstage.com
About Canadian Stage
Founded in 1987, Canadian Stage is one of the country’s leading not-for-profit contemporary performing arts
companies, sharing new, innovative stage work from Canada and around the world. Led by Artistic & General
Director Matthew Jocelyn and Managing Director Su Hutchinson, Canadian Stage produces and presents a new
hybrid of multidisciplinary performance that pushes the boundaries of form and style, integrating theatre, dance,
music, multimedia and more. Canadian Stage is dedicated to reinforcing the presence of Canadian art and artists
within an international cultural dialogue, by acting as a home, incubator and exporter of leading Canadian and
global performance. The company stages an annual season at three historic locations: the Bluma Appel Theatre; the
Berkeley Street Theatre; and the High Park Amphitheatre, home to Shakespeare in High Park. Offering a range of
education, artist training and community outreach programs, Canadian Stage is committed to cultivating
tomorrow’s artistic innovators and audiences. For more information, visit www.canadianstage.com.