Tom McCamus (10/09, 1/12 Divisadero/When My Name Was Anna)
Excerpt from Brandon Sun 10/30/09: Tom McCamus | Picture on CBC
Sneak preview planned for stage adaptation of Ondaatje's 'Divisadero'
Friday, October 30th, 2009
TORONTO - Theatregoers will soon get a sneak preview of a stage adaptation of acclaimed Toronto author Michael Ondaatje's novel "Divisadero." Necessary Angel Theatre Company, which is producing the play called "When My Name Was Anna," will offer three work-in-progress presentations to the public in Toronto from Nov. 6 to Nov. 8. Based on the book about a farming family rocked by violence, the preview shows will star Toronto native Liane Balaban and feature the music of Juno-nominated artist Justin Rutledge. He'll also perform the tunes live during the show, staged by Necessary Angel's artistic director Daniel Brooks and co-starring Maggie Huculak, Tom McCamus and Amy Rutherford. The venue is Theatre Passe Muraille's Mainspace. The theatre company says the actors in the work-in-progress shows will not necessarily be a part of the full production, which is planned for 2010/2011.
© Brandon Sun
Excerpt from Necessary Angel 11/09: Tom McCamus
When My Name Was Anna: acclaimed novelist Michael Ontaatje's first full-length work for the stage in over two decades
By Michael Ondaatje
Directed by Daniel Brooks
Lighting Design by Andrea Lundy
Set & Costume Design by John Thompson
Music & Sound Design by Alexander MacSween
Stage Managed by Matthew Byrne
Featuring Liane Balaban, Maggie Huculak, Tom McCamus, Amy Rutherford & songs written and performed by Justin Rutledge
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Toronto WORKSHOP WITH PUBLIC PRESENTATION
NOVEMBER 6-8, 2009 Friday & Saturday 8pm; Sunday 2pm
THEATRE PASSE MURAILLE (16 Ryerson Avenue)
Produced in association with The Film Farm
© Necessary Angel
Excerpt from Aisle Say 4/10: Tom McCamus
DIVISADERO
Reviewed by Robin Breon
Having said all this, there were some very affecting moments provided by Huculak and her cast mates Liane Balaban, Justin John Rutledge and Tom McCamus. McCamus, in particular, as a wannabe card shark, explaining to us in an extended monologue the finer points of winning at Texas Hold 'Em, had all the earmarks of an actor who got to the table early in the rehearsal process so that by the time opening night arrived he was ready to cut the deck and deal.
© Aisle Say
Excerpt from Exclaim 4/30/10: Tom McCamus
Justin Rutledge Finds the Joy of Company with Michael Ondaatje
By Kerry Doole Published Apr 30, 2010
As previously reported, Ondaatje and Rutledge have also been working together on a theatre project, When My Name Was Anna, an adaptation of Ondaatje's novel Divisadero. "We are planning on staging it in February 2011," says Rutledge. "In November, we did three weeks of rehearsals and we staged three workshop shows at Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto. Daniel Brooks will direct, and he's fantastic. The cast will include [Canadian actors] Tom McCamus and Maggie Huculak, and I'm acting in it too. It is not necessarily a play, more a dramatic reading. Michael asked me to write songs based on this one character, and he incorporated a couple of my older songs into the script."
© Exclaim
Excerpt from Bread and Roses 10/29/10: Tom McCamus
NECESSARY ANGEL ANNOUNCES AMBITIOUS 2010-2011 SEASON
Friday, October 29, 2010
THE 2010-2011 NECESSARY ANGEL SEASON
Divisadero: a performance
Text: Michael Ondaatje
Direction: Daniel Brooks, Necessary Angel Artistic Director
Performers: Liane Balaban, Maggie Huculak, Tom McCamus, Amy Rutherford and Justin Rutledge
Songs: Justin Rutledge
Produced in association with The Film Farm
February 8-20, 2011, opening date to be determined
Theatre Passe Muraille’s Mainspace, 16 Ryerson Avenue, Toronto.
For tickets, call 416-504-7529
Michael Ondaatje’s adaptation of his novel Divisadero marks the author’s return to Necessary Angel after a lengthy absence. Following sold-out workshop presentations last fall (with the working title When My Name Was Anna), Ondaatje teams with director Daniel Brooks for Divisadero: a performance. Ondaatje’s story explores themes of memory, identity, love and the grip of the past on the present; and tells of how a single event powerfully shapes the lives of two sisters. The production features original music written for the piece and performed by singer/songwriter Justin Rutledge. The ensemble cast also features Liane Balaban, Maggie Huculak, Tom McCamus and Amy Rutherford. Divisadero: a performance is designed by Andrea Lundy, Alexander MacSween, and John Thompson, and is stage managed by Crystal Salverda.
© Bread and Roses
Excerpt from Now Toronto 1/6/11: Tom McCamus
Get your tickets now...
By Jon Kaplan January 6-13, 2011 | VOL 30 NO 19
DIVISADERO
Award-winning novelist Michael Ondaatje adapts his novel for this show directed by Necessary Angel’s Daniel Brooks. Sounds like a must-see, especially with a starry cast that includes Liane Balaban, Maggie Huculak, Tom McCamus, Amy Rutherford and musician Justin Rutledge. The story of a family irrevocably changed by a violent event focuses on storytelling and music to investigate the intimacy between teller and listener, and the narrator’s ability to cast a magical spell. February 8 to 20 at Theatre Passe Muraille. 416-504-7529.
© Now Toronto
Broadway World 1/26/11: Tom McCamus
Necessary Angel Presents Divisadero: A Performance
Wednesday, January 26, 2011; Posted: 12:01 PM - by BWW News Desk
Necessary Angel, in association with The Film Farm, presents Divisadero: a performance from the Governor General's Award-winning novel by Michael Ondaatje; adapted by the author, Daniel Brooks, Liane Balaban, Maggie Huculak, Tom McCamus, Aviva Philipp-Muller, Amy Rutherford, Justin Rutledge and the company. Performances run February 8-20 at Theatre Passe Muraille's Mainspace, 16 Ryerson Avenue.
Divisadero: a performance is directed by Necessary Angel's Artistic Director Daniel Brooks. Lighting design is by Andrea Lundy, sound design is by Alexander MacSween and set and costume design is by John Thompson.
Performing in Divisadero: a performance are Liane Balaban, Maggie Huculak, Tom McCamus, Aviva Philipp-Muller, Amy Rutherford and Justin Rutledge - the Juno-nominated musician who has created music specifically for the piece.
Divisadero: a performance tells a story of a family that is forever changed by a single, violent event and examines themes of memory, identity, love and the grip of the past on the present. The production combines music, performance and storytelling, exploring the intimacy between the speaker and the listener, and language's ability to weave a magical spell.
Necessary Angel welcomes Ondaatje's return to the stage with his first full-length work in over two decades since he co-adapted his novel Coming Through Slaughter with the company for its presentation at the Silver Dollar Tavern in 1989. Divisadero: a performance was performed last fall in a series of sold-out workshop presentations under the working title When My Name Was Anna.
Necessary Angel in association with The Film Farm presents Divisadero: a performance
Writer: Michael Ondaatje. Director: Daniel Brooks. Assistant Director: Stefan Dzeparoski. Cast: Liane Balaban, Maggie Huculak, Tom McCamus, Aviva Philipp-Muller, Amy Rutherford, Justin Rutledge. Designers: Andrea Lundy, Alexander MacSween, John Thompson. Stage Management: Elizabeth McDermott, Crystal Salverda.
Performances February 8-20, 2011 at Theatre Passe Muraille's Mainspace, 16 Ryerson Avenue
Tuesday-Saturday 8pm, Sunday 2pm
Tickets: Tuesday - Thursday $25, Friday $30, Saturday $35, Sunday Matinee - PWYC
For tickets and more information, visit www.necessaryangel.com/ or call Theatre Passe Muraille Arts Box Office at 416-504-7529
© Broadway World
Excerpt from The Globe and Mail 2/4/11: Tom McCamus
How Michael Ondaatje and Daniel Brooks made 'Divisadero' into a play
KATE TAYLOR Published Friday, Feb. 04 2011, 4:30 PM EST
Tom McCamus took the role of the veteran gambler Mancini, a very minor character in the book but now a mouthpiece for monologues about gambling that help piece together Coop's story. Magician David Ben came into rehearsals to teach McCamus how to handle the cards. His explanations of transitions - how you get in and out of a card game - became part of Ondaatje's text.
© The Globe and Mail
Excerpt from CBC 2/4/11: Tom McCamus
Ondaatje's Divisadero set for stage debut
$by Posted: Feb 04, 2011 2:27 PM ET
They met and staged informal readings over a few months with Maggie Huculak and Tom McCamus, two of the actors who will star in the production of Divisadero opening in Toronto on Feb. 8.
© CBC
Excerpt from National Post 2/7/11: Tom McCamus
Divisadero: Adapting for the stage
Ben Kaplan February 7, 2011 - 6:00 pm
The other week in Toronto the cast of Divisadero was busy rehearsing at the Theatre Passe Muraille when they paused to take stock of the unusual project. “It’s hard to act Ondaatje because the text is so dense,” said Tom McManus [sic], the Stratford Festival veteran who carries himself through the piece with a used car salesman’s oily charm. “It’s not something that comes terrifically easy, but Daniel, our fearless director, has guided our ship with an unusually steady hand.”
“Daniel” is Dora award-winning writer-director Daniel Brooks, who was approached by Michael Ondaatje to adapt his sprawling 2007 novel about a family’s attempt at surviving a horror.
© National Post
Excerpt from Toronto Life 2/7/11: Tom McCamus
A Fine Bromance: Michael Ondaatje returns to the stage after more than 20 years, in a collaboration with an untested star
By Nicholas Hune-Brown February 7, 2011 at 4:15 pm
Divisadero: A Performance is produced by the ambitious company Necessary Angel, directed by Daniel Brooks, and stars film actor Liane Balaban and the excellent Tom McCamus and Maggie Huculak.
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When Brooks and the actors began workshopping the play, Rutledge became more involved. Originally, McCamus was playing all the male parts while Rutledge sang. “At one point,” says Rutledge, “Daniel turned to me and said, ‘I wish we had another male actor.’ ” After agreeing to an informal audition, Rutledge suddenly found himself playing Coop.
© Toronto Life
Excerpt from Globe and Mail 2/9/11: Tom McCamus
Divisadero: Dramatic hybrid ranges from spellbinding to murky
J. KELLY NESTRUCK Last updated Wednesday, Feb. 09, 2011 4:55PM EST
After violent tragedy intervenes in this Gothic country setting, Divisadero's scene shifts to Lake Tahoe: Gravel-voiced actor Tom McCamus, who had momentarily popped up earlier as Anna's father, is the sole narrator for the next chapter about Coop, now moving with a pack of gamblers. Playing one of those shabby card sharks, McCamus is nothing if not charming, but he rattles off his non-dialogue with too much haste as if he has somewhere else to be. As with the earlier part of the play - and the parts yet to come - no matter what character is narrating, the voice remains Ondaatje's with his poetic observations and precise choice of words.
© The Globe and Mail
Excerpt from Mondo Magazine 2/10/11: Tom McCamus
Review: Divisadero: A Performance
Posted by art On February - 10 - 2011
Anna is born to a farmer (Tom McCamus) whose wife dies days after giving birth. In addition to raising Anna, the Farmer adopts the more rough and tumble Claire (Liane Balaban), a girl who is an orphan from the same town. The girls are brought up as sisters; they develop into adults with all the little jealousies and rivalries sisters have. Coop (Justin Rutledge), the final addition to this mixed family, is the neighbour’s boy who, at the age of four, lost his parents to murderous hands before his eyes. He works on the farmer’s farm, acting as older brother to the two girls. In addition to their difference in closeness to their father, their mutual love of the farmboy divides the two girls as they enter into young adulthood. Claire, her heart broken, realizes that her love for Coop is unrequited, as he is in love with her sister. Tragedy occurs when the farmer finds his daughter Anna in the arms of Coop. There’s a violent three-way fight: the farmer feels betrayed by the boy he has trusted to act as an older brother to his daughters. Anna, in a fit of anger, defends her first love against the violence of the older man and stabs her father.
© Mondo Magazine
Excerpt from Toronto Star 2/10/11: Tom McCamus
Ondaatje’s Divisadero comes to life onstage
By: Kamal Al-Solaylee Special to the Star, Published on Thu Feb 10 2011
All three lives are forever changed when the father (Tom McCamus) discovers the sexual relationship between Anna and Coop.
....
When Coop is reincarnated as a card shark in Lake Tahoe at the top of Act 2 - after a masterful but meandering set piece by McCamus as career gambler Mancini - he’s guitar-free but still plagued with tragic love.
© Toronto Star
Excerpt from Torontoist 2/10/11: Tom McCamus
Divisadero, a Tricky Jump from Page to Stage
By Carly Maga February 10, 2011 at 11:30 am
And finally, complete with an impressive cast of Rutledge, Liane Balaban, Maggie Huculak, Tom McCamus, and Amy Rutherford, Divisadero: a performance saw its first public performance at Theatre Passe Muraille on February 8.
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The amount of talent in the show is undeniable. First-time stage actors Balaban (from the filmsOne Week and New Waterford Girl) and Rutledge (whose latest album The Early Widows is nominated for the best Roots & Traditional Album of the Year: Solo Juno Award) are charming, Huculak and McCamus (as Coop’s card-shark buddy) show their expertise amid the heavy text, and Rutherford smokes as the Coop’s love interest, Bridget (and delivers an unexpectedly moving rendition of “London Calling,” too).
© Torontoist
Excerpt from National Post 2/11/11: Tom McCamus
Divisadero has literary limitations, but Maggie Huculak still shines
Robert Cushman, National Post · Friday, Feb. 11, 2011
Just when all the highly wrought lyricism threatens to become too much, Daniel Brooks’s Necessary Angel production invigoratingly changes pace. Lights brighten, mics disappear, a vestigial supply of furniture gets shifted, and Tom McCamus rolls on, wry and rambunctious, as a gambler (“born in Rochester - for my sins”) to tell us how he used to hang out at Lake Tahoe with a gang of cronies including the Dauphin (so named because he was once caught reading a French novel) and Coop. Coop, we learn, had matured into a champion card-shark who had to leave town - again - after outsmarting an unforgiving evangelical. McCamus, unlike his narrating predecessors, gets to move around while talking, and his intricate depictions of an endless series of poker games are virtuoso feats of delivery, not to mention of memory. It’s a juicy turn, flanked by two other performances from the same actor in sterner, plainer mode. We’ve already seen him, briefly, as the vengeful father by whom Coop was beaten up; we will next see him, again briefly, as a Nevada operator by whom Coop is also beaten up, worse.
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With all that she, McCamus, Rutherford and the others can do for them, none of the characters here are more than the sum of their words.
© National Post
Excerpt from Now Toronto 2/17/11: Tom McCamus
Divisadero: A Performance Poetic precision
By Jon Kaplan
Michael Ondaatje’s novels operate in that fashion, and in staging his latest book, Divisadero, Ondaatje, director Daniel Brooks and the company create a glowing tapestry using the writer’s words. The story is anchored in the relationship of four characters: a California rancher (Tom McCamus), his daughters Anna (briefly, as a young girl, Aviva Philipp-Muller, and later Maggie Huculak) and Claire (Liane Balaban) and hired hand Coop (Justin John Rutledge).
....
Taking on three roles, McCamus offers a bravura turn as the card-playing Mancini. The actor’s always powerful onstage, even when lurking in the background. Amy Rutherford is mesmerizing as Bridget, who entwines herself in Coop’s reclusive life.
© Now Toronto
Broadway World 1/10/12: Tom McCamus
Necessary Angel and the Film Farm Present DIVISADERO: A PERFORMANCE 2/8-26
Tuesday, January 10, 2012; Posted: 02:01 PM - by BWW News Desk
Necessary Angel, in association with The Film Farm, is proud to announce the return of DIVISADERO: A PERFORMANCE, adapted by Michael Ondaatje from his Governor General Award-winning novel, and directed by Necessary Angel's Artistic Director, Daniel Brooks. The production reunites the original cast of Liane Balaban, Maggie Huculak, Tom McCamus, Amy Rutherford and Justin Rutledge - the Juno-nominated musician who created music specifically for the piece. Performances run February 8-26 (with community and media night February 9) at Theatre Passe Muraille's Mainspace, 16 Ryerson Avenue.
DIVISADERO: A PERFORMANCE is written by Michael Ondaatje, directed by Daniel Brooks, and assistant directed Stefan Dzeparoskiwith. The designers are Andrea Lundy, Alexander MacSween, Jeremy Mimnagh, John Thompson. Rob Harding, Elizabeth McDermott round out the crew as the stage managers. The production plays February 8-26, 2012 on Tuesday-Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 2pm at Theatre Passe Muraille's Mainspace, 16 Ryerson Avenue.
Tickets are as follows: Feb. 8 preview $10, Tues-Thurs $25, Fri $30, Sat $35, Sun Matinee is Pay-What-You-Can.
© Broadway World
Excerpt from Stage Door 1/10/12: Tom McCamus
Toronto: Necessary Angel announces the return of Michael Ondaatje’s “Divisadero: a performance” in February
2012-01-10
Toronto, January 10, 2012 - Necessary Angel, in association with The Film Farm, is proud to announce the return of Divisadero: a performance, adapted by Michael Ondaatje from his Governor General Award-winning novel, and directed by Necessary Angel's Artistic Director, Daniel Brooks. The production reunites the original cast of Liane Balaban, Maggie Huculak, Tom McCamus, Amy Rutherford and Justin Rutledge - the Juno-nominated musician who created music specifically for the piece. Performances run February 8-26 (with community and media night February 9) at Theatre Passe Muraille's Mainspace, 16 Ryerson Avenue.
© Stage Door
Excerpt from Broadway World 2/6/12: Tom McCamus
Necessary Angel Presents Divisadero: A Performance 2/8-20
Monday, February 6, 2012; 01:02 PM - by BWW News Desk
Necessary Angel, in association with The Film Farm, will present Divisadero: a performance from the Governor General's Award-winning novel by Michael Ondaatje; adapted by the author, Daniel Brooks, Liane Balaban, Maggie Huculak, Tom McCamus, Aviva Philipp-Muller, Amy Rutherford, Justin Rutledge and the company. Performances run February 8-20 at Theatre Passe Muraille's Mainspace, 16 Ryerson Avenue.
....
Divisadero: a performance was performed last fall in a series of sold-out workshop presentations under the Working Title When My Name Was Anna.
Tuesday-Saturday 8pm, Sunday 2pm
Tickets: Tuesday - Thursday $25, Friday $30, Saturday $35, Sunday Matinee - PWYC
For tickets and more information, visit www.necessaryangel.com/ or call Theatre Passe Muraille Arts Box Office at 416-504-7529
....
TOM McCAMUS | The Father/Mancini/Gil
For Necessary Angel: It's All True, Hamlet (workshop), When My Name Was Anna (workshop, now titled Divisadero)
Other: Thom Paine (Tarragon Theatre), Mathilde (Nightwood Theatre), Hedda Gabler (Volcano), Innocent Eye Test (Royal Alex). Eight seasons with the Stratford Festival, roles include: Captain Hook in Peter Pan, Valmont in Dangerous Liaisons, MacHeath, Richard III, Brutus, Vladimir in Waiting for Godot, Coriolanus, King Arthur, Edmund in Long Day's Journey into Night. Four seasons with Theatre Plus Toronto. Eight seasons with the Shaw Festival. Film & TV: Cairo Time, Shake Hands with the Devil, Waking up Wally: the Walter Gretzky Story - Gemini/Actra Award, Possible Worlds, Long Day's Journey into Night, The Sweet Hereafter, I Love a Man in Uniform - Genie Award.
© Broadway World
Excerpt from Toronto.com 2/9/12: Tom McCamus
The many acts of Ondaatje
By Richard Ouzounian Feb 09, 2012
There’s a trick with a knife that Michael Ondaatje is still learning to do.
....
“That’s also why I love being part of theatre. Watching (director) Daniel Brooks work with people like Maggie Huculak and Tom McCamus in Divisadero inspires me. Stage is so strict. One gesture wrong, one line reading off beat and the scene is destroyed. It’s much looser in prose. At least in my prose,” he laughs.
© Toronto.com
Excerpt from Toronto.com 2/15/12: Tom McCamus
Critic’s choice: Feb. 16 to 22
By: Richard Ouzounian Posted: February 15, 2012
• Fans of great writing and equally fine acting should pay a visit to Theatre Passe Muraille’s Mainspace between now and Feb. 26, where Michael Ondaatje’s hypnotic 2007 novel Divisadero has been brought to the stage by Necessary Angel in a revival of its finely honed 2011 production by Daniel Brooks. It’s worth the price of admission to hear artists like Maggie Huculak and Tom McCamus use their voices to give three-dimensional life to some extraordinary writing. Add Justin Rutledge performing his own music and there’s no reason to miss this. (Theatre Passe Muraille, 16 Ryerson Ave. Tickets $25-35 at 416-504-7529 or www.artsboxoffice.ca)
© Toronto.com