Body So Fluorescent - Digital Programme

BODY SO FLUORESCENT

BY AMANDA CORDNER + DAVID DI GIOVANNI

Buddies in Bad Times TheaTre is siTuaTed on The lands of The haudenosaunee, The anishinaaBe, and The WendaT, and The TreaTy TerriTory of The mississaugas of The CrediT. We aCknoWledge Them and any oTher naTions Who Care for The land (aCknoWledged and unaCknoWledged, reCorded and unreCorded) as The pasT, presenT and fuTure CareTakers of This land, referred To as TkaronTo (“Where The Trees meeT The WaTer”; “The gaThering plaCe”). Buddies is honoured To Be a home for queer, Trans and 2-spiriT arTisTs on These sToried and saCred lands ThaT have Been sTeWarded By Indigenous peoples for Thousands of years Before The arrival of Colonial seTTlers.

Cover design by Awake Studio

Photography by Dylan Mitro

noTes

Writing together is as easy as breathing. Our creation process is smooth, deranged, and transformative. We would be hanging out anyway so why not hang out and create art?

We spend so much time talking that the words eventually spill on to the page creating our stories. Then we turn around and are like, “Ooh baby, there it is, we made that. Woah. What were we thinking?”

Body So Fluorescent is the fruit of an old friendship: one that began in a high school drama class between two outsiders. When it came to pick a post-secondary path, we parted ways: one in Toronto, one in Montreal.

After eight years, we were reunited. When we finally reconnected, we looked at each other, gave a knowing nod, and began to play.

The power behind this piece comes from the shared fusing of two minds, two energies, two experiences. We believe it’s a play where multiple truths co-exist.

We are incredibly grateful for all who have supported this project from its twenty-five minute premiere at the Rhubarb Festival in 2016, to its national tour, to its short film iteration, to its publishing. It’s been a long time coming, but Body So Fluorescent feels like it’s arriving home with its mainstage debut at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. We feel so unbelievably lucky to have our first collaboration bloom into a life of its own.

– Amanda Cordner + David di Giovanni

CreaTive + produCTion Team

Amanda Cordner // playwright + performer

David di Giovanni // playwright + director

Rebecca Vandevelde // scenic + lighting design

Steven Bowa // composition + sound design

Lisa Sciannella // stage manager

Sanjina Dabish Queen + Kenya Rami // drag performers

madonnanera w/ Rachel Forbes // costume design

Rebecca Vandevelde // production manager

Conrad McLaren // technical director

Kit Norman + Van Ward // head technicians

Matty Armour, Mike Dowdall, Elio Legault, Lindsay McDonald, River Oliveira, El Patey, Amber Pattison, Rachel Shaen, Leighton Smith, Diamond Srey, Yusuke Takase, Van Ward // crew

AMANDA CORDNER DAVID DI GIOVANNI

REBECCA VANDEVELDE

STEVEN BOWA

LISA SCIANNELLA

SANJINA DABISH QUEEN KENYA RAMI

AMANDA CORDNER (she/they) // playwright + performer

2023: A theatre journey for Amanda… Snow White with YPT (her and co-star Ken Hall play all 14 characters). Her second show with madonnanera, WRING THE ROSES premiered in Calgary at the High Performance Rodeo. And now she’s thrilled to be back in TO at BIBT with Body So Fluorescent. Named one of Canada’s Rising Screen Stars by NOW Magazine in April 2022, Amanda has garnered enthusiastic reviews for her breakthrough performance as 7ven in the hit CBC/ HBOMax television series SORT OF (ACTRA Nomination for Outstanding Performance). Other credits: Slo Pitch, The Expanse, The Baroness von Sketch Show.

Headshot by Dahlia Katz.

DAVID DI GIOVANNI (he/him) // playwright + director

David di Giovanni is a theatre director and creator currently living in Toronto. He holds an M.F.A. in Theatre Directing from York University. In 2017, he co-founded Madonnanera, a rich creative collaboration with Amanda Cordner that is invested in making outrageous and intersectional theatre work. He has won awards for Outstanding Direction, Outstanding Play, and Outstanding Production (NOW Magazine’s Best of SummerWorks) and Emerging Canadian Artist (Inside Out) for Body So Fluorescent and was nominated for Outstanding Ensemble (Dora Mavor Moore Awards) for Wring the Roses.

REBECCA VANDEVELDE (they/she) // scenic + lighting design

Rebecca Vandevelde is an arts worker focused on production and design. Rebecca builds and curates spaces, events, and experiments - like Flip the Table and Blanket Fort - with Art is Hard; and works as a freelance designer and production manager. They are currently the Production Manager at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. Most recently: set design for Tarragon My Sister’s Rage, lighting/touring for Pandemic x Rumble x Theatre Passe Muraille Take D Milk, Nah?, lighting for Madonnanera Wring The Roses, PM/Producer for Theatre Centre Residency Project Here Are The Fragments., PM for Soundstreams x Signal Two Odysseys, lighting for Aluna Solitudes

Headshot by Sarah Bodri.

STEVEN BOWA (he/him) // composition + sound design

Steven (Chabala Chezche) Bowa is a multidisciplinary artist and performer. He focuses on using sound of varying modalities and genres to craft stories and evoke emotion. Having previously worked on BSF the short film, he is thrilled to be a part of bringing this show back to life on stage again.

Headshot by Jason Hatcher.

LISA SCIANNELLA (she/her) // stage manager

Lisa is a visual artist that fell in love with the theatre at an early age. She graduated with honours from Humber’s Theatre School (production). She has enjoyed stage managing a variety of different projects like the workshop of Sister Warriors with Suitcase In Point (2022), Shakespeare in Hospitals (2016-2021) and Articus Productions Weird (2015-2020)( Best of Venue Award Hamilton Fringe Festival 2018, The Cutting Edge Award Toronto Fringe Festival 2016, Best of Fest Award Ottawa Fringe Festival 2015). Coming this summer, she will be in Hamilton to work with Red Beti Theatre and Port Stanley for the Port Stanley Festival.

SANJINA DABISH QUEEN (she/her) // drag performer

Sanjina is Toronto’s Bollyhood remix with an attitude unlike any other. She is a trans Fijian icon of toronto who dances with an unmatched energy that brings a spicy flavour to any show. She turns the party and will put everybody in a trance! She is also the sweetheart of her season on OUTTv Call Me Mother!

KENYA RAMI (they/them) // drag performer

Kenya Rami is a drag artist and youth rights advocate whose drag journey began in Thunder Bay, Ontario almost 5 years ago. Kenya’s drag focuses on black, trans and woman empowerment. They often perform upbeat pop and rap numbers with comedic twists, getting the crowd pumped up and always giving an amazing show.

speCIal Thanks

from madonnanera:

Mel Hague, Charles Netto, Laura Nanni, Eda Holmes, Guy de Carteret, Thea Fitz-James, Dave Mott, Catherine Hernandez, Evalyn Parry, Sadie Berlin, Farheen Khan, Daniel Carter and the Buddies in Bad Times Team, Marcel Stewart and the b current team, Rachel Forbes, Wayne Burns, Eric Rich, the Toronto Arts Council, the Ontario Arts Council, Playwright Canada Press, Barry and Angie Cordner, Ettorino and Silvana Di Giovanni, Bilal Baig, Simon Asselin, everyone who has played some part in supporting this show over the last seven years

from b current:

Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, TD Ready Commitment, Toronto Foundation, R. Howard Webster Foundation. As well as our individual supporters and sponsors.

Thank you all for your support

aBouT The CompanIes

madonnanera

madonnanera is an artistic collaboration invested in creating outrageous and intersectional new work. First developed as a 25 minute piece for the Rhubarb Festival in 2016, Body So Fluorescent has gone on to tour in Calgary, Stratford, and North Carolina. Body So Fluorescent was produced at the SummerWorks Festival in 2018, and received Now Magazine’s Best of the Fest in Outstanding play, direction, production, performance. Body So Fluorescent has since been turned into a short film, and premiered at the 2020 InsideOut LGBT Film Festival, and won Outstanding Canadian Artist. madonnanera’s second show WRING THE ROSES played as part of Why Not Theatre’s RISER Project in 2019, and was nominated for Outstanding Ensemble at the Dora Mavor Moore Awards.

IG: @madonnanera.performance

Buddies in Bad Times Theatre

Established in 1979, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is Toronto’s leading destination for artistically rigorous alternative theatre and a world leader in developing queer voices and stories for the stage. Buddies offers a year-round program that includes a full season of queer theatre, new works festivals, artist residencies, and intergenerational training and education initiatives. In its 40-year history, Buddies has welcomed more than a million people into its home in the heart of Toronto’s queer village and has premiered more than 1,000 new works for the stage, making it the largest and longest-running queer theatre company in the world.

buddiesinbadtimes.com // @buddiesTO

b current Performing Arts

b current Performing Arts is a hotbed for culturally-rooted theatre development in Toronto. Originally founded as a place for Black artists to create, nurture, and present their new works, our company has grown to support artists from all diasporas. Over three decades, b current has created space for intersectional voices to be heard, always with a focus on engaging the communities from which their stories emerge. As a result, these communities trust the company and respect the work that it does. Whether audiences identify with the work through ethnic experience, social values, or political awareness, these groups are loyal to the programming because they recognize the high level of cultural authenticity and integrity fostered in its artists and their works.

bcurrent.ca // @bcurrentlive

BuddIes In Bad TImes

TheaTre

Managing Director

DANIEL CARTER

Director of Special Projects

JACQUELINE COSTA

Rhubarb Festival Director

CLAYTON LEE

Technical Director

CONRAD MCLAREN

Production Manager

REBECCA VANDEVELDE

Rental + Events Manager

STEPH RAPOSO

Communications + Development Manager

AIDAN MORISHITA-MIKI

Box Office + Front-of-House Manager

JULIA LEWIS

Manager of Touring

CHRIS REYNOLDS

Artistic Producing Intern

JULIE PHAN 潘家雯

Emerging Creators Unit Director

ERUM KHAN

Youth/Elders Programming Coordinators

LEZLIE LEE KAM + USMAN KHAN

Facility Manager

PAUL THERRIEN

Marketing Associate

NATASHA RAMONDINO

Events + Stewardship Associate

CHASE HIEBERT

Finance Manager

CYNTHIA MURDY

Box Office + Front-of-House Lead

JAKE RAMOS

Box Office + Front-of-House Representatives

IFETAYO ALABI, YIMING CAI, SKY FFRENCH, BRAWK HESSEL, CAITLIN KELLY, CAMILLE

MANKUMAH, SASKIA MULLER, NETA ROSE, SARAH ROWE

Bar Personnel

RICHARD BELL, CHARLEE BOYES, ANDREW DESABRAIS, VISHMAYAA JEYAMOORTHY, RONNIE LÉGÈRE, DANIEL ROJAS, NETA ROSE

Board of Directors

CHRISTINA CICKO, ALEXANDER

HUTCHISON, MICHAEL MAN, BRENDAN MCMURTRY HOWLETT, ANU RADHA VERMA

NURTURING CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT CONNECTING COMMUNITIES MAKING SPACE FOR CELEBRATION

Support the largest and longest-running queer theatre in the world, and join our incredible community of supporters.

As we approach our 45th anniversary season and continue to reimagine what this vital queer theatre can be for our communities, your support is more important than ever.

Since 1979, Buddies has presented over 1000 new works, and empowered new voices and forms of expression, giving queer artists and audiences a place to call home. Our impact also reaches beyond our historic Alexander Street home with internationally-touring productions, artists presented from across the country, and virtual theatre and programming offerings.

For as little as $5 a month, you can play an instrumental role in bringing vital queer arts and community programming to our city and beyond; supporting programs like our Queer Emerging Artists Awards, intergenerational speed history events, and Residency and Seeding Work programs.

Speak to a member of our box office staff, give us a call at 416-975-9130, or visit buddiesinbadtimes.com/support to learn more about supporting queer theatre in Toronto and beyond.

our CommuniTy of donors

LEGACY CIRCLE

Ed Cabell & Roy Forrester

John Alan Lee

Russell Mathew & Scott Ferguson

Richard McLellan

Adam Morrison & James Owen

Jim Robertson & Jim Scott

VISIONARIES ($5000+)

Aqueduct Foundation

House of Beida Inc.

HEROES ($2500+)

Gordon/Smith Charitable Giving Fund

Martha LA McCain

LEADERS ($1000+)

Altas Corporation

Lawrence Bennett

Ed Cabell & Roy Forrester

Entertainment Partners Canada Inc

Andrew Gillespie Green Shield

Paul Hartwick

William Hodge & Robert Wylie

Stephen McGregor & Tony De Franco

NIgE Gough Shine On Foundation

Jason Oord

Brian Sambourne

The Bulmash-Siegel Private Foundation

Peter Taylor

ADVOCATES ($500+)

The Charlie and Lulu Franklin Fund at the Calgary Foundation

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Tucker Gordon

George Grant

Montana Kimel

Richard McLellan

Michael David Trent

PARTNERS ($250+)

Mark Aikman & Gustavo

Cerquera Benjumea

Cole Alvis - in Honour of René Highway

D. Arcand + A. Karmali

Mark Brodsky

Lawrence Campbell

Russell Connelly

Robert G. Coates

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Alan Dingle

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Pearse Murray

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MONTHLY DONORS

Mark Aikman & Gustavo

Cerquera Benjumea

Cole Alvis - in Honour of René

Highway

Michel Beauvais

Allen Braude

Mark Brodsky

Ed Cabell & Roy Forrester

Herng Yi Cheng

Russell Connelly

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Robin Gordon

Tucker Gordon

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Jaigris Hodson

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Carlo Isola

Tom Keogh & Paul McClure

Montana Kimel

Chanti Zoelene Laliberte

Kristina Lemieux

Dr. Ben Louie

Jonathan MacArthur

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Richard McLellan

Aidan Morishita-Miki

Bernadette and Gene Morishita-Miki

Thompson Nguyen

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Andrea Ridgley

Mitsuko Sada

Peter Taylor

Lionel Tona

Ayse Turak

Allison Vanek

Anu Radha Verma

Cathrin Winkelmann

Arielle Zamora

PHOTO

“WHAT I HAVE NOT ALL THAT

“WHAT I HAVE DONE IS NOT ALL THAT I AM.”

Great performances live here.

We are proud to support Body So Fluorescent and the artists that are captivating audiences with exciting, innovative, and entertaining productions. BMO is the 2022/23 season sponsor of the Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.