Galileo
Tracy Wright passed away June 22, 2010. A letter Don wrote can be read here.
We miss you Tracy, and am thankful you were in our lives.
download the PDF of the POSTER – 11×17 to hang up places
or the FLIER to cut out and hand to your friends
or the EFLIER to email your friends
or even a little version for your Facebook PROFILE IMAGE
Small Wooden Shoe reads
A new translation of Bertolt Brecht’s
Life of Galileo
7pm – Sunday, May 30th – Convocation Hall
By donation to The Actors’ Fund of Canada
Tickets will be available at the door starting at 6pm
Doors open by 6:30pm
A staged reading of a great play in a great hall with a great cast and with the humblest of thanks.
35 or so of Toronto’s theatre, music and film community come together to read a new translation of Brecht’s Life of Galileo – an ever-relevant story about the complicated relationships between power, history, individuals and freedom of thought.
This night, this reading, is thanks to Tracy Wright. In more way than I can express, she is what makes it possible – what brings us together to do this crazy thing. And people who make crazy things possible are always in need of thanks. Tracy has made many crazy, beautiful things possible.
This one’s for her.
Fiona Highet will read the part of Galileo.
Joining her in this landmark event are Andrea Davis, Andrea Donaldson, Ann-Marie MacDonald, BrendanGall, Cara Gee, Caroline Gillis, Clinton Walker, Daniel MacIvor, Darren O’Donnell, David Fox, Earl Pastko, Elley -Ray Hennessy, Erin Shields, Evan Webber, Frank Cox-O’Connell, Gregory Prest, Guillermo Verdecchia, Kirsten Johnson, Lyon Smith, Matt Baram, Michelle Polak, Nadia Ross, Naomi Sniekus, Ravi Jain, Richard Alan Campbell, Robin Fulford, Sky Gilbert, Tony Nappo and more. This group of collaborators spans several generations of great Toronto independent and contemporary theatre makers coming together for one night only.
Toronto musicians Laura Barrett and Matt Murphy provide the live soundtrack to this momentous event.
We thank you for your support and hope to see you on the 30th
- Jacob Zimmer
Brecht’s play pushes beyond the story of Galileo that we all know – that of a great scientist prosecuted by the ignorant Church and nobly recanting in order to write his ‘world-changing masterwork’ in secret – to question the legend that has emerged around this controversial figure. Completed after the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Brecht’s Life of Galileo lays bare the notion of scientific research and progress ‘for its own sake’. It proposes a social and ethical responsibility for scientists and intellectuals that remains radical in these days of venture capital science and economic justifications. Forcefully asking what the role of the intellectual and thinker is in relation to power and the status quo, Life of Galileo stands as a vitally important drama.
“In these times, it’s easy to back away from big plays and big ideas,” says Jacob Zimmer, Artistic Director of Small Wooden Shoe. “Through the presentation of this new translation, with this truly remarkable cast and the incomparable Tracy Wright, we grapple with and re-imagine our theatrical and scientific traditions, and approach Brecht and Galileo for what they might tell us now, about our lives today.” In this new translation by Zimmer with Birgit Schreyer Duarte and directed by Zimmer with Associate Artist (and Buddies in Bad Times Theatre Artistic Director) Brendan Healy, Life of Galileo thrills and excites with its examination, reflection and provocation on contemporary issues of authority.
Life of Galileo
Directed by Jacob Zimmer with Brendan Healy
Translated by Birgit Schreyer Duarte with Jacob Zimmer
16mm film: Mark Loeser
Artistic Producer: Erika Hennebury
Associate Producer: Leora Morris
Stage Managed by Maria Popoff
Photograph of Tracy Wright: Guntar Kravis
Portrait of Tracy Wright as Galileo: Kirsten Johnson
Lots of help: Naomi Campbell, Richard Feren, Jennifer Jimenez, Sherrie Johnson, Chris Lorway, Maureen O’Donnell, JP Robichaud, Trevor Schwellnus
Cast in order of appearance and subject to variation:
Fiona Highet as GALILEO GALILEI
Frank Cox-O’Connell as ANDREA SARTI
Andrea Davis as MRS SARTI, Galileo’s housekeeper
Brendan Gall as LUDIVICO MARSILI, a rich young man
Tony Nappo as THE CURATOR of the University
Caroline Gillis as SAGREDO, Galileo’s friend
Andrea Donaldson as VIRGINIA, Galileo’s daughter
David Yee as FEDERZONI and A FRONTIER GUARD
Earl Pastko as THE DOGE and THE CARDINAL INQUISITOR
Robin Fulford as FIRST SENATOR
Sky Gilbert as SECOND SENATOR
Cara Gee as COSIMO DE MEDICI, Grand Duke of Florence and SECOND CHILD
Lyon Smith as THE COURT CHAMBERLAIN, SECOND CLERK and A CLERK
Naomi Snieckus as THE PHILOSOPHER
Matt Baram as THE MATHEMATICIAN
Ann-Marie McDonald as THE OLDER COURT LADY, FIRST MONK and THE VOICE OF ANNOUNCER
Richard Alan Campbell as A FAT PRELATE and FILIPPO MUCIUS, a middle aged scholar
Nadia Ross as FIRST SCHOLAR and VANNI, an ironfounder
Michelle Polak as SECOND SCHOLAR and FIRST CLERK
Ravi Jain as SECOND MONK and A MONK
Elley -Ray Hennessy FIRST ASTRONOMER and A HIGH OFFICIAL
Erin Shields as GAFFONE, SECOND ASTRONOMER and FIRST CHILD
Guillermo Verdecchia as A VERY THIN MONK
David Fox as THE VERY OLD CARDINAL
Darren O’Donnell as FATHER CHRISTOPHER CLAVIUS
Evan Webber as THE LITTLE MONK
Daniel MacIvor as CARDINAL BARBERINI, later POPE URBAN VIII
Clinton Walker as CARDINAL BELLARMIN
Matt Murphy as THE BALLAD SINGER
Laura Barrett as THE BALLAD SINGER’s WIFE
Kirsten Johnson as AN OFFICIAL
Gregory Prest as AN INDIVIDUAL and A FARMER
Miranda Calderon reading the stage directions
All proceeds will go to The Actors’ Fund of Canada. With over 10,000 professional members, The Actors’ Fund provides emergency financial aid to assist cultural workers in recovering from an illness, injury or other circumstances causing severe economic and personal hardship.
Made possible with the support of the Toronto Arts Council and the Ontario Arts Council
And the assistance of Canadian Stage’s Festival of Ideas and Creation and Buddies in Bad Times Theatre