Announcing Stones, on stage May 25 – June 10

April 18, 2018

Aluna Theatre and The Stones Project present the premiere of

STONES

Director Anita La Selva and an ensemble of women respond to the history of stoning, a global practice that continues to this day

Featuring Nickeshia Garrick, Roshanak Jaberi, Lilia Leon, Sarah Murphy-Dyson, Anoshinie Muhundarajah, Roula Said and Waleed Abdulhamid

On stage at Geary Lane Studios May 25th – June 10th, 2018
360 Geary Ave, Toronto

Aluna Theatre is thrilled to announce today that, following an initial development presentation in the 2015 CAMINOS Festival and further work in residency, Anita La Selva’s provocative multimedia performance work, STONES, will premiere at Geary Lane Studios from May 25 – June 10, 2018.

The continuum of violence against women is an ancient story of throwing stones, a practice that continues to this day in many parts of the world. Women from around the globe who have lost their lives are given a voice through haunting songs, kinetic dance, and immersive imagery. Created by a diverse cast of some of Toronto’s most fierce and gifted artists, and led by director Anita La Selva, STONES considers the spectrum and history of violence against women by focusing on one of its most extreme iterations.
Integrating physical theatre, journalistic text and digital media, STONES shifts from abstract images and movement into testimonial. Bold, brave and imagistic, this new work examines stoning from historical, mythical and contemporary perspectives, in consideration of a global issue at the forefront of women’s rights today.

“As we find ourselves in this moment – in which women are simply saying that it all must stop – I think it is important to look at the whole story of what women are dealing with, not just in North America but around the world,” says director/creator La Selva. “Stoning is a barbaric practice that amazingly persists. What we have sought to do with this piece is to explore the full spectrum of violence against women, which does include extreme examples. We need to include these as part of the examination of what women have had to bear.”

The seeds of La Selva’s project date back to a 2011 production of the Jacobean play The Witch of Edmonton that she directed at York University. At the time, she was drawn to the play for its ongoing relevancy to issues of shaming and scapegoating women, centuries after it was penned.

In La Selva’s research for the production she discovered the story of Du’A Khalil Aswad, who was stoned to death in the streets of Iraq in 2007, the victim of an honour killing, and whose story was exposed when phone video footage appeared online. La Selva and her ensemble have taken Khalil Aswad’s story as a point of inspiration while creating this original piece.

STONES gathers a diverse, multidisciplinary group of performers from an array of cultural backgrounds, to create an imagistic theatre piece that responds to the impact of extreme violence, while also including space for the beauty of hope and perseverance.

“I always strive in my work to juxtapose the brutal with the beautiful of human experience, and where we can find beauty in this particular exploration is in the strength of women,” says La Selva. “In women coming together in community, we are revealing that in knowledge, there can be hope.”

The STONES cast includes Nickeshia Garrick, Roshanak Jaberi, Lilia Leon, Anoshinie Muhundarajah, Sarah Murphy-Dyson, Roula Said and Waleed Abdulhamid. Backstage, La Selva is joined by scenographer Trevor Schwellnus, costume designer Jackie Chau, sound designer Maddie Bautista, stage manager Cristina Cicko, production manager Remington North, and production dramaturge Soheil Parsa.

STONES is on stage at Geary Lane, 360 Geary Avenue, from May 25 – June 10 (Media / Opening night: May 30) with performances Wednesday – Saturday at 8:00pm and 2:30 matinees on Sundays. Tickets are available from $15-$20 at www.alunatheatre.ca/the-stones-project.

Media contacts:
Suzanne Cheriton, RedEye Media, suzanne@redeyemedia.ca, 416-805-6744
Jenn Perras, RedEye Media, jenn@redeyemedia.ca, 416-525-7625

About STONES
A co-production by Aluna Theatre and The Stones Project on stage at Geary Lane Studios, 360 Geary Ave., May 25 – June 10

Lead Creator and Director: Anita La Selva
Co-Created with the Ensemble and performed by
Nickeshia Garrick, Roshanak Jaberi, Lilia Leon, Anoshinie Muhundarajah, Sarah Murphy-Dyson, Roula Said and Waleed Abdulhamid.
Trevor Schwellnus: Scenography
Jackie Chau: Costume Design
Maddie Bautista: Sound Design
Christina Cicko: Stage Manager
Remington North: Production Manager
Soheil Parsa: Production Dramaturge

Anita La Selva is a Toronto-based actor, director, theatre maker and teacher. She has worked in all aspects of theatre ranging from devised interdisciplinary creations to the classics. Her production of Look Back In Anger (Fevergraph Theatre) won two awards for Best Independent/Regional Director and Best Production (My Entertainment World Theatre Awards) and she has been nominated for the Pauline McGibbon Award for Emerging Director. She recently directed Perdida – Prevailing Voices (Danceworks/Co-Works), The Mill on The Floss (Graduating class at Sheridan/UofT Mississauga), an all-female Glengarry Glen Ross (Jet Girls Productions) and Memento Mori (Soulo Theatre/Toronto Fringe). Anita holds an MFA in Directing from York university and teaches in the York University and Seneca College acting programs. She is passionate about creating theatre that centers around the lives of women.

Aluna Theatre was founded in 2001 as a response to the misrepresentation and under-representation of cultural diversity on our stages. Aluna aims to form a new and distinct language of theatrical presentation and strives to shift the scales of imbalance by bringing social justice, equality and human rights to the forefront of all productions. www.alunatheatre.ca

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