Go ahead and stare... Bad Dog Theatre takes people-watching to another level with this new unscripted comedy from the creative team responsible for the acclaimed hit Toronto, I Love You. Inspired by the iconic impressionist painting by Georges Seurat, “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of la Grande Jatte”, La Grande Jatte plays with the voyeuristic pleasure of presuming the stories of strangers seen in a public setting.

“When watching theatre, we connect dots, make assumptions of logic and emotional associations - liberally borrowing from our own personal bias and points of reference. Just as we do in our everyday lives and interactions both with strangers and intimates,” says director Julie Dumais Osborne. “In an improvised theatre setting, there is no pre-written script. No pre-authored story. There is total freedom to speculate, to revise, to reinterpret the same moment from multiple angles, through multiple lenses. To indulge in voyeuristic storytelling. To assemble something resembling a cohesive narrative from a multitude of otherwise unconnected details. This is one of the things I love about impressionism: the invitation for the viewer to assemble a cohesive image as only suggested by colour unbound by defined outlines."

La Grande Jatte is produced with the support of the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council, was first workshopped with the international ensemble at the 2015 Vancouver Improv Festival and received its first Toronto staging at the Rhubarb Festival (Buddies in Bad Times) in February of 2016. Stacked with improv heavy-hitters hailing from across the country, the Canadian Comedy Award-nominated Bad Dog Repertory Players specialize in creating new unscripted show formats that showcase Toronto & the Canadian experience (including: This Canadian Life, You Are Here, 63 South and People City). Since their inception in 2012, they’ve performed in Vancouver, Regina, Montreal, Ottawa, as part of NxNE & JFL42, and they were named Best Improv Troupe in NOW Magazine’s Best of Toronto Readers’ Choice Poll in 2013, an honour for which they have been shortlisted for the past three years.

La Grande Jatte is directed by Bad Dog Artistic Director Julie Dumais Osborne and stars: Andrew Bushell (Fake Cops, Defiance), Jan Caruana (Mean Girls, Bonspeil), Colin Munch (True Blue, Theatre Brouhaha), Amy Matysio (YPT, Soulpepper), Nigel Downer (Second City, This Canadian Life), Hannah Spear (The Glass Menagerie - Howland Co., Sexy Nerd Girl), Jess Bryson (A Galaxy Far, Far Away, PushPins) and Anders Yates (Uncalled For, Helix) with live, improvised music by Nick DiGaetano (Mi Casa Theatre, Business as Usual)

La Grande Jatte

Fridays at 9:30pm | September 17 - October 14

Preview performance: Tuesday, September 13 - 9:30pm

Tickets: Students/Arts Workers $10 | Adults $15

online or in person at the box office