NECESSARY ANGEL ANNOUNCES
ITS BIGGEST SEASON EVER

September 18, 2006 – Necessary Angel Theatre Company is excited to announce the details of its 2006/07 season—its largest ever! With two shows touring across Canada, another travelling internationally, presentations of two works and four others in development, Necessary Angel is proving itself as one of the most important theatre companies in Canada.

The season kicks off in October with the much-celebrated play, Insomnia by Necessary Angel’s Artistic Director Daniel Brooks with Guillermo Verdecchia. First presented in 1998, Insomnia has remained one of the most critically lauded triumphs in recent Canadian theatre history. This Dora Award-winning show returns with almost all of its original cast and creative team and is directed by Chris Abraham, Necessary Angel’s Associate Artist. Insomnia is presented in co-production with Theatre Junction and is playing at Calgary’s Grand Theatre October 6 to 21, before an engagement in Toronto at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre November 7 to 26.

The start of the new year sees Necessary Angel’s renowned and critically-lauded triumph, Half Life by John Mighton, embark upon a cross-country tour to three of Canada’s largest theatre companies, in all likelihood making it the most highly-attended play of the 2006/07 Canadian season. Presented first in Toronto by CanStage at the Bluma Appel Theatre from January 8 to February 3, 2007, it then travels to Winnipeg and is presented by Manitoba Theatre Centre from February 7 to March 3. The tour finishes in Vancouver, presented by The Arts Club Theatre Company at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage from March 8 to April 8. Half Life was winner of the 2005 Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama and the Dora Award for Outstanding New Play. In the fall of 2005, it travelled on a month-long two-city tour of Scotland, where it played to audience and critical success alike, and received a four-and-a-half stars (out of five) rating from The Times of London.

Necessary Angel presents its newest play, The Eco Show (working title) by Daniel Brooks, at Toronto’s Theatre Passe Muraille for a limited engagement April 18 to 26. First presented as a workshop production at The Theatre Centre in the spring of 2006, The Eco Show examines how the ecology of a family is affected by the ecology of the world.

The extremely successful Bigger Than Jesus, by Daniel Brooks and Rick Miller, presented by WYRD productions with Necessary Angel, continues to tour across Canada and internationally. Its ever-expanding schedule currently includes dates in Florence, Italy as well as Miami, FL; Pomona, NJ; Kirkland, WA; Vancouver and Victoria, BC; London, ON and Whitehorse, YT.

Necessary Angel’s development activities continue in full force this season. With four projects currently in the works, Necessary Angel anticipates a new crop of engaging and provocative theatre for its future seasons. Chris Abraham and Anton Piatigorsky’s collaboration, An Untitled Work in Progress, will receive two performances at Theatre Passe Muraille February 17 and 18. This new work explores the heart, mind and soul of friendship, an obsession with Moby Dick and the drama of collaboration. Daniel Brooks and Rick Miller continue work on their new piece, Hard Sell, which is an exploration of the commodification of everything (including our theatre company by this press release). Morwyn Brebner continues work on The Musical project, while Daniel MacIvor and Daniel Brooks are developing a lecture piece and John Mighton is in the earliest stages of writing a new work.

Visit www.necessaryangel.com for updates throughout the season.