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Videographer: Taras Lavren

Birthday Cake

About the Production:

Alma Matters first full production, Birthday Cake, premiered at the 2016 Toronto Fringe Festival. Listed among Mooney on Theatre's “Most anticipated shows of Fringe 2016”, Birthday Cake performed to sold out audiences at Theatre Passe Muraille's Backspace.
 

Birthday Cake explores what happens when we pursue our obsessions–or let them pursue us. Set on her thirteenth birthday, Sarah/Lola alters from weird to whimsical as she waits for party time. Everything is ready and set to perfection; all that’s left are the invitees. Through shadow puppetry, clowning, burlesque, music, and more, Birthday Cake unwraps the subconscious in all its chaotic, theatrical, icing-filled glory.
 

While Birthday Cake is fun, grotesque, and sexy, it also engages with important issues such as mental health, eating disorders, bullying, and sexism/objectification within the arts industry. By grappling with these topics within the play, we hope that in some small way, Birthday Cake can help to diminish the stigma around mental health and eating disorders, while also pushing for a more equitable and supportive environment within the arts.
 

Originally developed as a workshop performance by Sarah Angelle during her BFA, Birthday Cake has a long rich history. Informed by practice-based research and autobiographical performance studies, Birthday Cake evolved from Angelle's Master of Arts thesis at the University of Toronto, and enjoyed a stellar run at the Festival of New and Original Theatre in February 2016.​​​​​​​

Mooney on Theatre

"It’s an utterly confounding show, not just for its content, but for how it tweaks and shatters the formula we’ve come to expect from Fringe productions of this character [..] This is genuinely like nothing else you’ve ever seen on any stage in the festival"  

Catherine Jan

"Birthday Cake is sad, hilarious, heart-wrenching, deviant and memorable" 
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Creative Team:

Performer/Creator: Sarah Angelle
Director: Simone Brodie
Stage Manager: Helena Roy Magee
Dramaturg: Matt Jones
Puppet Designer: Deniz Basar
Music by: Loji
Photographer: Andrew Johnson
Promo Video: Taras Lesiuk
Poster design by: Helena Roy Magee
Graphic Designer: Flora Brodie
Fundraising Coordinator: Sanjana Roy Magee

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