TORONTO STAR PLAYWRIGHT
MAKES NOVA SCOTIA DEBUT

Highland Arts Theatre brings Kat Sandler’s “PUNCH UP” to Cape Breton

Feb. 2, 2015. Sydney, NS. Highland Arts Theatre continues its 2015 Season with the Nova Scotia debut of “Theatre Brouhaha’s PUNCH UP” by Kat Sandler. Since the debut of her first play “LOVESEXMONEY”, Sandler and her company, Theatre Brouhaha, have taken the Toronto theatre scene by storm. Her next play won the Toronto Fringe “Best New Play Contest” and went on to have a sold out run and win a host of awards including “Best of Fringe”. Her latest play, “Retreat” was included in the Toronto Star’s “Top 10 Plays of 2014”.

    “The Most Pathetic Man Ever kidnaps the Funniest Man Alive to make the Saddest Girl in the World laugh… sounds like the beginning of a great joke.”

“Punch Up” is a hilarious dark comedy that follows Duncan, a recluse who kidnaps his favourite comedian to make a girl laugh. What follows is a comedic romp that touches on the origins of comedy and love while trampling through every comic trope from slapstick to knock knock jokes.

The play debuted in last year’s Toronto Fringe Festival where it was met with yet another sold out run for Sandler and was hailed as her “best play yet”, winning every award imaginable including “Best of Fringe”, “Patron’s Pick”, and “Outstanding Production, New Play, Ensemble, and Direction” awards from NOW Magazine. “When I saw this play, I knew I had to bring it to Sydney” said Artistic Director, Wesley J. Colford. “I’ve never laughed so hard or so often.”

Colford returns to the stage as Duncan, The Most Pathetic Man Ever, in this new Sydney production. Having trained as an actor in Toronto, he has thus far stayed behind the scenes at HAT, working as director, writer, or producer for recent productions. Rounding out the cast is
Hilary Scott, last seen at the HAT as the Ghost of Christmas Past in A Christmas Carol. Pat Wallace, the Funniest Man Alive, is played by HAT newcomer Nicholas Porteous. The play is directed by Kristen Gregor, who recently directed “The Leiutenant of Inishmore” to great success.

The play will continue a “HAT” tradition of featuring a different local band or solo musician after every performance. Musicians for this production include Carmen Townsend, Danny MacNeil, Colette Deveaux, The Novemberists, The Jaynes, Redmond MacDougall, and John Gill.

Theatre Brouhaha:

Theatre Brouhaha creates theatre for the HBO generation. They combine the primacy of story with the rapid pace of the information age to create entertaining and relevant live performances. Helmed by Kat Sandler's distinct brand of pitch black comedy, they draw people from their Netflix bingeing for a night out that is arousing, energizing, confusing, and hopefully making you want to instatweetbook about it after the show. In short, their shows are what the Brouhaha's all about. @theatrebrouhaha and www.theatrebrouhaha.com.

Kat Sandler is a writer/director born and raised in Toronto. She is the Artistic Director of Theatre Brouhaha,  dedicated to creating theatre for a new generation of audiences, the 'HBO generation'. She has staged nine of her original plays with Brouhaha, including LOVESEXMONEY (Next Stage Festival), Help Yourself (Best of Fringe, winner of the Fringe New Play Contest), Punch Up (Best of Fringe), Delicacy (Summerworks Spotlight Award), and Cockfight and Retreat (Storefront Theatre), and directed for the Playwright's Project. As an actor she has appeared onstage with Theatre Gargantua in the world premieres of FiBBer and Imprints. She was a member of the 2014 Tarragon Playwrights Unit, and a graduate of the Queen's University Drama Program.

SPECIAL THANKS

Todd Hiscock, Diana Furlong-MacKinnon, Boardmore Playhouse, Chris Walzak, Thomas Colford, John Gill, Sarah Blanchard, Rachael Rossiter, Thom Fitzgerald, The Atlantic Fringe Festival,

Nathanial Bryan, Tom McGee, Dean Johnson, & Kim Roper.

highland arts theatre presents

Theatre Brouhaha’s

PUNCH UP
 

  WRITTEN BY                                    Kat Sandler

  DIRECTED BY                                 Kristen Gregor

  PAT WALLACE                               Nicholas Porteous

  BRENDA                                         Hilary Scott

  DUNCAN                                       Wesley J. Colford   

  STAGE MANAGER                          Mary-Jean Doyle                                                     

  LIGHTING DESIGN                          Matt Downey

  SOUND TECHNICIAN                     Mary-Jean Doyle

   PROMOTION DESIGN                    Hilary Scott

  PROMO PHOTOGRAPHY              Chris Walzak

  TRAILER BY                                      Nicholas Porteous

  PRODUCER                                     Wesley J. Colford
  EXECUTIVE PRODUCER                   Kevin Colford