Direct Flight Theatre Presents Therac 25

by Adam Pettle

Directed by Hume Baugh

BREAD AND CIRCUS, Kensington Market

February 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21

Opening Night: February 13, 2009

Therac 25 is a play about two young people who meet and embark on a relationship in the cancer ward of Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto. The first question one must ask is why would anyone choose such a bleak setting to present a love story? For Adam Pettle the script was a survival mechanism to preoccupy himself during radiation therapy after a stay in the hospital in 1995. Extremely well developed characters suffering from two forms of cancer are what navigate Therac 25. Alan's is less serious while Moira's is inoperable. Drawing empathy for them doesn't appear to be a great challenge. The obstacle at hand is immersing theatregoers in deep seeded fear and allowing them to ache for hope. Alan and Moira meet while undergoing cancer treatment. Their companionship and humour help them struggle against isolation and fear, even while their personal boundaries and Moira's worsening condition strain their bond. Adam Pettle's Therac 25 reveals how friendships form under the most difficult circumstances.

Amber Mills (Moira/Artistic Producer) is a Toronto based theatre artist. Most recently, Amber was in Edmonton, playing Helena in Theatre Prospero's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Other recent credits include: Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing and the Nurse in Romeo & Juliet, also for Theatre Prospero, Maria in DreamNorth Theatre Company's production of Twelfth Night, which ran in Toronto and then toured to Whitehorse, Yukon, Shelby in Steel Magnolias for the Stirling Festival Theatre, Don John in Much Ado About Nothing with DreamNorth Theatre Company, All's Well That Ends Well with Alchemy Theatre, the workshop production of Fireweeds with Scriptlab, and The Beggar's Opera and Anne of Green Gables, both with the Thousand Islands Playhouse. She is the proud co-founder of The Patient Logmen, an ensemble of six actors that come together on a weekly basis to work on Shakespeare. Amber is a graduate of the theatre program at Queen's University.

Michael Rode (Alan/Artistic Producer) is an actor and composer living in Toronto. He is a graduate of the drama program at Queen's University. Selected credits: Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo and Juliet (Theatre Prospero). Bertram in Alls Well That Ends Well (Alchemy Theatre); Brutus in Julius Caesar, Othello Single Thread Theatre; The Winters Tale, The Oresteia for Theatre Kingston; Volpone at the Rotunda Theatre, Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream for both the Flower City Festival directed by Peter van Wart, and in Edmonton for Theatre Prospero. Film and TV credits include Keith Moon in Final 24: Keith Moon, David Milgaard in Cold Blood (NF Productions). He is a co-founder of the Kingston based Single Thread Theatre Company and a member of the Shakespeare ensemble The Patient Logmen. Upcoming work includes a two-actor adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. He is the newly minted co-artistic producer of Direct Flight Theatre with his wife, Amber Mills.

Director Hume Baugh trained at LAMDA and has been an actor for 27 years. He has appeared at the Stratford and Shaw Festivals, Canadian Stage, Tarragon, Factory, Theatre Passe Muraille, Buddies in Bad Times, Threshold Theatre, Platform 9, and Shakespeare in the Rough, among many others. Directing credits include All's Well That Ends Well at Alchemy Theatre, La Duchesse de Langeais for the Orlando Fringe, and Child Hood for Summerworks. He is the author of two plays: The Girl in the Picture Tries to Hang Up the Phone, a one-person show which he has performed in Toronto, Ottawa, Windsor and Montreal, and Crush, which was presented by Optic Heart Theatre at Summerworks in 2008. Teaching experience includes George Brown College, Fraser Studios, Theatre Rusticle, and Tarragon Theatre. He has published prose and poetry in Queen's Quarterly and This Magazine, and has a piece appearing in the Spring 2010 issue of The New Quarterly. Upcoming, as an actor: Birnam Wood for Theatre Rusticle at Theatre Passe Muraille.

Therac 25 , Adam Pettle's first play, premiered in Halifax at the Atlantic Festival in 1995 and then in Toronto at the Tarragon, Extra Space in 1997. In 2001 Therac 25 was nominated for Best New Play at the Toronto theatre awards.

Alan asks, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"Alive" Moira responds

Amber Mills, Michael Rode,

Hume Baugh, Director, Sarah Bustard, Stage Manager,

Devon Bhim, designer, Adam Burgess Musician

Equity Co-op * All profits from this first production to, REBECCA'S HOPE, (www.rebeccashope.com) a cancer research charity that Amber and Michael are personally connected to.

THERAC 25

by Adam Pettle

Directed by Hume Baugh

BREAD AND CIRCUS, 299 Augusta Ave
Ticket Prices: by donation, suggested donation: $20

February 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21

Opening Night: February 13, 2009
Time: Feb. 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20 at 8:00pm

Feb 14 & 21st at 6:00pm (Sundays)

Tickets can be purchased through Bread and Circus: http://www.breadandcircus.ca/

or by emailing: tickets@directflighttheatre.com