THEATRE
OASIS TIME TRAVEL / SILVER DREAMS PROJECT
Oasis Time Travel / Silver Dream Project is both a serialized immersive, site-specific experience and a transmedia story project that invites the audience to explore the post-apocalyptic present while also escaping back to the divine year of 1979. Performed over the course of several months at various venues (primarily the iconic 3 Dollar Bill), the audience is invited to engage in both the cyber world and the 'real' world of Silver Dream while also experiencing a cabaret of various artists and installations. The seven sisters who run Oasis Time Travel Agency guide the audience through a myriad of experiences- everything from purchasing a travel package, to traveling to the past through tasting a top secret elixir, to roller skating and disco dancing, to searching for missing fathers and daughters, to finding the future.
Creative Director: Andrew Wehnke
Talent Manager: Liza Kissel
Marketing Director: Natalia Yandyagovana
Technical Director: Kris Anton
Travel Agents: Allie Shapiro, Emerald Toller, Marisa LaRuffa, Emma Callahan, Georgia Morgan, Rachel Gatewood, Lindsay Wolgel
Performers: Jason Greene (Freckle), Pixel Witch, Junior Mint, Tucker Bryan, J'royce Jata, Cat Widdifield, WeiWei, Macabre Americana, Medea, Danielle Cardona, Felix and Future, Thee Suburbia
PRESS
"Going to one of their events feels as if Instagram has opened up like a magic wardrobe, pulling you into a world where every super-saturated filter is real. Their projects put audience members in an intersectional land of dance, acceptance, and rhizomatic art. That’s the sort of vibe Silver Dream Projects throws, and ‘Oasis Time Travel’ vibes hard."
- Zay Amsbury,"Oasis Time Travel’ Turns the Line Between Party and Theatre into Its Own Medium (Review)", NO PROSCENIUM
MACBETH
Macbeth is the great classic tragedy about the perils of ambition and the nature of evil. William Shakespeare's harrowing tale takes place in Montreal's most intimate theatre, and will give audiences the up close and personal experience that King James I of England might have had when the play was first presented at the royal court - with the city's finest new classical ensemble and a live soundtrack played on medieval instruments. Directed by Matt Enos and produced by Raise the Stakes Theatre Company.
Director: Matt Enos
Performers: Anton Golikov, Allie Shapiro, Max Paradis, Jillian Harris, Stephen Maclean Rogers, Ben Walsh, Christian Daoust, Chelsea Morgane, Maxine Segalowitz, Amena Ahmad, Simon Chavarie, Vinny Dow, Rob Brown, Adalia Claire, Skyler Clark, Nick Farah, Michael Vidde, Dan Lister, James Daponte, Mish Siemienski, Adrian Saldanha and Simon Côté.
Production Design: Marie-Michelle Castonguay
Lighting: Darah McCarthy
Music: Gideon Yellin, Jocelyne Patenaude on the hurdy-gurdy, Alex Lepanto on drums
Fight Choreography: Ben Walsh
Stage Manager: Alex Smith
AWARDS
Macbeth is awarded sixth best play in the Best of MTL 2016: Film & Arts category: Cult Montreal
PRESS
"However, the production of Macbeth that I attended at Theatre Ste. Catherine, was not grand; at least, the presentation was minimal. The performance, however, was grand in the truest sense of the word. The quality of the actors’ craft and commitment to the work was captivating to watch."
"Standout performances were those of Anton Golikov and Allie Shapiro as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Mesmerizing singly and electrifying together, their dramatic strength and onstage chemistry pulled the audience in."
- Angela Beaupre, "Macbeth: Minimally Presented, Maximally Performed", Montreal Rampage
"He is well balanced by Concordia grad Allie Shapiro as the designing Lady Macbeth." - Byron Toben, "Macbeth doth Trump the Donald", Westmount Mag
PLAYGROUND LESSONS
Created and directed by Mackian Bauman and Abi Lieff, this piece was performed at Alchemical Theatre Laboratory as well as Dixon Place. PLAYGROUND LESSONS, a dance-theatre piece, focuses on risk-taking on stage as both performer and observer explore the common experiences of envy, pain and shame through a queer lens. As a group of queer artists in a time of severe cultural and political division, we long for self-expression in the face of societal pressures to be ‘normal.’ The show aims to answer the question: how far can we take that expression without alienating the very people we need to lift us up? Is simply being a queer person in 2018 an act of rebellion—and if it is, how can we do that while remaining unified with everyone else around us?
Creators/Directors: Mackian Bauman and Abi Lieff
Ensemble: Mackian Bauman, Buchanan Highhouse, Haleyna Kociuk-Garza, Ashil Lee, Abi Lieff, Margaret Remboski, Allie Shapiro, Nate Shinners, Chris Tse, Taylor Turner
Stage Manager: Sydney Badway
Music and Sounds: Chris Tse, Tallie Gabriel, Ramanique Ahluwalia and NAKAYA
5 LESBIANS EATING A QUICHE
It’s 1956 and the Susan B. Anthony Society for the Sisters of Gertrude Stein are having their annual quiche breakfast. Will they be able to keep their cool when Communists threaten their idyllic town? In this black comedy, audiences get an opportunity to sit in on a meeting of a 1950s women’s organization whose motto — No Men, No Meat, All Manners — suggests they have more in common than just savoury pastry. EGGspectations are high! Featuring an EGGsemplary local cast of 5 talented Lady Sisters. The theme; the irony of Fundamentalism. Quebec premier cooked up by Village Scene Productions for the 25th edition of The St-Ambroise Montreal Fringe Festival. EGGceptional cheesy fun - but hold the sausage.
Directed by: Davyn Ryall
Cast: Tina Mancini, Allie Shapiro, Victoria Barkoff, Kathy Slamen, and Laura Flynn
Set design by: Caroline Swift
Light design by : Davyn Ryall
Sound FX design by: Matthew Segal
Costumes conception by: Davyn Ryall & The Lady Sisters
Promo-Photography by: Kathy Slamen
Promo-Graphics by: Davyn Ryall & Kathy Slamen
VSP Web management by: Ricky Smith
PRESS
“Allie Shapiro also does her role credit as the youngest and seemingly most naive of the group, Dale, who has a few secrets of her own.”
-Marilla Steuter-Martin, "FRINGE 2015: FIVE LESBIANS EATING A QUICHE WILL LEAVE YOU WANTING MORE", 1690 AM CJLO
"Les cinq personnages ont pris vie et ont su convaincre l’auditoire grâce au talent des comédiennes.”/
"The five characters came to life and convinced the audience thanks to the talent of the actresses."
-Chloe Leduc Bélanger, FRINGE: “5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche”, An Eggsquisite Show", Les Meconnus
5 Lesbians Eating A Quiche makes the top 12 shows at the 2015 Montreal Fringe Fest!- Richard Burnett, "Pop Tart: Top 12 shows at 2015 Montreal Fringe Festival" Montreal Gazette
DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE
The iconic story by novelist, Robert Louis Stevenson about the duality of man, gets a fresh face in this recent adaptation. Beautifully haunting, stylized, and passionate, this version pulls no punches as Jekyll fights for control of his future, while his sinister second half, Mr. Hyde becomes stronger and stronger. What happens when the beast doesn't need permission to come out to play? A distinct and shocking adaptation, featuring and ensemble cast taking turns portraying the enigmatic Mr. Hyde.
Director: Christopher Moore
Assistant Director: Emily Schon
Cast: Alex Goldrich, Allie Shapiro, Lucas Chartier-Dessert, Martin Law, James Harrington, and Vanessa Carter
Costumes: Melanie Michaud
Lighting: Beecher Pinet
Stage Manager: Morgandy McKinnell
AWARDS
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is nominated in the category of Outstanding Ensemble for the Montreal English Theatre Awards (METAs) 2015
- Montreal English Theatre Awards 2015 Nominee List
PRESS
“His Hyde is a representation of the many moods of Jekyll’s repressed id, one of them (James Harrington) even quite noble. Here we get Hyde in love, as he falls for Allie Shapiro’s spirited chambermaid Elizabeth.”
- Jim Burke, "Theatre review: Decorum wins out over wanton wickedness in Persephone’s Jekyll and Hyde", Montreal Gazette
"Shapiro is the romantic interest of the doppelgangers and finds herself in the midst of their clashes, as they literally sweep her off her feet. She’s the one character who truly sees past how Jekyll perceives Hyde. Jekyll sees good and evil as black and white, but she and Hyde are living examples that it’s not always the case. Humans are complex,” she says.”
- Heather Soloman, "PLAY EXPLORES OPPOSING POLES OF HUMAN NATURE", The Canadian Jewish News
Montreal Main ARTery interviews Allie Shapiro on her role of Elizabeth in the upcoming production of Dr, Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Found here.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ranks in the Seven Days, Seven Nights column in the Montreal Gazette.
ROSE QUARTZ
Premiere production run of Michael Martini's original play Rose Quartz performed at the Mainline Theatre. It was the kind of play done in a seedy black box, encroached by wafts of rye bread from the downstairs deli, a charade of spitfire wisecracks and thrifty stage-paint that thrilled its unsuspecting spectators like none other. For in the abyss of primetime television and dank paperbacks, murder had become child’s play. Rose Quartz- a cheap imitation corrupted by horror. What’s so fun about murder, after all? Miss Quartz’s fiancé is missing, and he isn’t just any fiancé- he’s Clayton Chalcedony, formerly famed mystery writer who let his prolific career die off in favour of blockbuster screenwriting. Miss Quartz has just the man for the job, Inspector Jasper Jett, fresh off his fifteen minutes of fame from the cinematic adaptation of his notorious previous case. Miss Quartz has invited Jasper Jett to her study to go over clues in her husband’s disappearance, but a chemistry straight out of the movies is out to distract them. Everything should go swimmingly- depending on which whodunit fanatic gets to write the ending.
Written by: Michael Martini
Directed by: Anthony Kennedy
Cast: Allie Shapiro, Jillian Harris, Gabriel Schultz, and Greg Walker
Video: Julia Milz
Sound: Devon Bate
Designer: Clara Gonzalez and Sophie El-Assaad
Stage Manager: Peter Shaw
PRESS
Photographs of the rehearsal period shot by Phil Carpenter from the Montreal Gazette.
Pat Donnelly promotes the production of Rose Quartz in the Montreal Gazette.
ISLANDS OF LOVE
Adapted and directed by Cristina Iovita, Marivaux's plays exemplify a quintessence of the comic theatre of 18th century, built on illusion in order to reveal the secret makings of reality. Staged for the first time as a trilogy, the one act plays composing The Islands of Love - The Dispute, The Colony and The Slaves' Island - propose a complete tour of the philosophical, political and artistic landscape of the Enlightenment era. The great disputes over natural education, gender equality, social justice find their echoes in the burlesque confrontations between the traditional commedia dell'arte characters and the new worlds they encounter, each island becoming an arena where the old order confronts the new.
Director: Cristina Iovita
Assistant Director: Mitchell Cohen
Stage Manager: Helena Roy Magee
Assistant Stage Manager: Kate MacMullin
Set Designer: Bruno Pierre Houle
Costume Designer: Chanele Casaubon
Props Designer: Sophie El-Assaad
Lighting Designer: Zoe Roux-McKean
Music Composition: Tristan Henry
Choreography: Michael Santiago
Cast: Michael Santiago, Sarah Marchand, Maritza Gregoire, Greg Walker, Alex Petrachuk, Cooper McGinnis, Emily Tognet, Graham Berlin, Tyson Houseman, Veronica Baron, Matt Xhignesse, Allie Shapiro, Edward Le Vasseur, Oliver Price, Daniel Chichagov, Samantha Bitonti, France Maurice, Roxane Loumède, Manouchka Elinor, Tristan Henry