Thanks to a generous grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, the short film adaptation, & OTHER CONCERNS, is currently in post-production.

Awards

BEST OF FRINGE NORTH (519) 2019
Finalist for 2019 Cayle Chernin Award for Theatre Production

Reviews

“The tightly-paced and engaging An Atlas, A Necktie & Other Concerns makes you think about the life choices we make and sometimes regret.”
— Critic’s Pick, NNNN, NOW Magazine

“There’s a real tangible soul within the show and the entire cast really captures that, with each character feeling well-rounded both in writing and performance.”
—Mooney on Theatre

“A delightful play with as many twists and turns as an escape room game—Greenwood’s writing and her cast shine.”
— Deborah Smith, Artistic Director, Scripted Toronto

Read about An Atlas, A Necktie & Other Concerns on Broadway World.

Synopsis

An Atlas, A Necktie & Other Concerns is a comedic one act play about four lifelong 30-something friends, each with very different takes on how to lead the best life, locked in a strange escape room. There’s the sensible nine-to-fiver, the nonstop partier, the ambitious artiste and the peacekeeper with a potentially life-changing secret. Despite their one-of-a-kind love for one another, they can’t seem to stop holding each other back. But if they can just 4-7-8 and put their longstanding beefs aside to solve the riddles, they might just break free.

Written and directed by comedian, playwright and award-winning screenwriter Lauren Greenwood. Starring Blythe Haynes, Chantel McDonald, Myrthin Stagg & Yvonne Addai. Stage Managed by Duaa Zahra. Sound design by Tasha Schumann.

Past Performances

Scripted Toronto Festival
May 18, 2019
Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace

Toronto Fringe Festival
July 4 – 14, 2019
Tarragon Theatre Mainspace

Best of Fringe North (519)
July 19 & 20, 2019
Various locations in Orangeville, ON

Script

Buy the script at the Canadian Play Outlet.

MEET OUR CAST

Yvonne AddaiYvonne is a theatre artist from Saskatoon and currently based in Toronto. She is a graduate from the University of Saskatchewan (B.F.A Acting). Her recent credits include Monday Night (Highway 55 Production/Live 5), Overhear (Nutrien Fringe Saskatoon), Pride & Prejudice (Persephone Theatre), The Shorts Cuts festival (Hardly Art Theatre), The Woodcutter and the Lion (Sum Theatre) and Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Theatre Naught/ Live Five). Yvonne has also been involved with Greystone Theatre in the productions of Cabaret, The Golden Age, Les Belle Soeurs and Coram Boy. She is thrilled to be part of this production.

Blythe HaynesBlythe holds her BFA from the University of Alberta, but calls Toronto home, where she is an actor, award-winning voice artist and producer. She is a co-founder of Gangway! Theatre Co. with playwright KT Bryski, and together they focus on Canadian, female-based stories. Their show Six Stories, Told At Night debuted at the Toronto Fringe this past year and was short-listed for Best of Fringe. She is currently co-producing the new musical Pregnancy Pact with The Edge Productions, which opens in Toronto this spring! Find her on twitter: @HaynesBlythe or check out Gangway!’s website for more details gangwaytheatre.com

Chantel McDonaldChantel is an actor born and raised in Toronto. Select theatre credits include: playing Louise in tears of a bullet in the 2018 Toronto Fringe, Agnes in Orphaned Egret’s production of She Kills Monsters, and Tracey in Bob Del Rio’s Professionally Ethnic at Summerworks 2017. Now Magazine named Professionally Ethnic one of the outstanding ensembles of the season. She has also appeared in Kazik Radwanski’s feature film Tower, Chris Power’s Bloodslinger and Kyisha Williams and Lindsey Addawoo’s short, Queen of Hearts which premiered at the 2018 Inside Out film festival.

Myrthin StaggMyrthin is an actor, writer, and producer based in Toronto, Ontario. She is a founding member of Loose Leaf Theatre Company, with whom she helped create Me With You a critically acclaimed play about mental illness. Previous theatre credits include: better than this (Moose and Moa), Noises Off (Soulpepper Theatre), Me With You (Loose Leaf Theatre), The Hunt for Red Wille, Moonshine (Toronto Irish Players). Selected television and film credits include: Star Trek Discovery, Diggstown, Cavendish, Mr. D, Killjoys, Designated Survivor, and Reign.

MEET OUR CREW

Duaa Zahra – Stage ManagerDuaa is a third year Performance Production major at the Ryerson Theatre School, and is thrilled to be joining the team of An Atlas, A Nectktie, & Other Concerns. When not found working in the dark abyss of the backstage, Duaa can be found supporting local Toronto theatre, petting every cat and dog she can find, or avidly yelling at the TV over a hockey game. Recent works include: Stage Manager, Body Parts, Alumnae Theatre’s New Ideas Festival (2019), Technical Director, The Penelopiad, Ryerson Theatre School (2018); Stage Manager, The Ties That Bind and Gag, Toronto Fringe Festival (2018); Assistant Lighting Designer, Springworks, Ryerson Theatre School (2018).

Lauren Greenwood – Writer / DirectorLauren is a Toronto-based award-winning screenwriter, playwright and comedian. She has a passion for absurdity and human connection that is prevalent in her work. Lauren received the 2019 Telefilm Canada New Voices Award with her feature-length screenplay Gaslight. She has previously written for the Canadian comedy series Out There with Melissa DiMarco. Her first short, Red Balloon, directed by Avi Federgreen, is currently in post-production. As a standup comedian, Lauren produces and hosts Send Noobs, a bimonthly comedy show in Toronto that features new talent with a focus on women, BIPOC and LGBTQ+ performers. As an improvisor, Lauren is a graduate of the Second City Conservatory program. She also combines her love of the craft and the German language as a specialist script translator for German productions looking to attract attention on the international market. Lauren holds an honours BA in English and German, an MFA in Screenwriting, and is a proud member of the Playwrights Guild of Canada.

EXTRA SPECIAL THANKS

This production would not have been possible without the support of the following people and places:

Meaghan Denomme, Akif Greenwood Gürle, Adrian Greenwood, Susan Greenwood, Laura Bast, Christopher Greenwood, Tasha Schumann, Blaise Couturier, Vidya Persad, George Diamantouros and the entire family and staff at Sneaky Dee’s, Karine Kazan, The Imaginarium, Allie Pearse, Hoodo Hersi, Ashley Cooper, Kat Letwin, Nkasi Ogbonnah, Mel Hergott, Janelle McGuinness, Jacob Hogan, Cihang Ma, Stephen Karmazyn, Susan Eagleson, Crystal Wood, Devan Islas, Dmitry Kichenko, David Jung, Vadim Kretschmer, Sandra Kretschmer, Hilary Gibson-Wood, Shari Hollett, Evelyn Marie Anne Long, The Second City Training Center, and everyone who attended our incredible fundraiser!

Thank you all!