Help us test new designs and pick up some cool shirts while you’re at it all while supporting the indie film community. We’re always looking for new things to offer and we figured the best way to find out what you want is to just ask.
Limited Edition Concept T-Shirts – available now! And while you’re looking good, know that you’re supporting the indie film community with your t-shirt purchase. so it’s guilt-free! We have a lot of productions coming up that we’ll be lending our hands to and you can help make those happen.
You can’t get these in stores – these are Bony Fiddle originals
Each one of these Limited Edition Concept T-Shirts is designed by our own Blair Mueller and Sam Willison for your amusement and wearing pleasure.
Campaigns are running 10 days only per design, so don’t delay. Popular designs will be re-run for anyone who’s interested and may have missed the first run.
We’re working on a variety of new shirt designs in several of our (and your) favourite themes like zombies and vampires. Check back often for the latest designs to come off the Bony Fiddle drawing board.
Head on over to the Bony Fiddle t-shirt campaigns with our friends at Fabrily and don’t miss your chance to pick yourself up one of our limited edition concept t-shirts today!
While development of the corporate website for Bony Fiddle Entertainment continues, we’re pleased to announce the new blog is up and running – yay!
About bloody time, right?
Old articles have been successfully migrated off the old blog platform without any damage. Some have even been given a facelift and we’ve been sure to include lots of media in others. There were quite a few things we have so far not been able to share with everyone due to editing and access limitations with the old platform, but those days are gone. We’ll continue to populate the new blog, so there’s lots of interesting things for you to view and read about.
The ever-talented Blair Mueller tackled a reboot of the company logo which now appears as the blog banner you see up top there – pretty cool, eh? He incorporated the new skull icon into it (even cooler) that he created from an image taken of the actual sculpted Bony Fiddle skull made by… you guessed it, Blair Mueller. Honestly? It’s sickening how multi-talented he is some days. I can barely stand him.
Love you, dude!
While we’re continuing with the reorganisation, can’t promise you there’ll be a tonne of blog posts just yet. Don’t worry, we’re working up to it. Anything comes up? We’ll let you know. Thanks for hanging in there!
The motivation behind creating the Nightingales acoustic music show was simple.
John Salib
We’d heard from local performers we knew that musical artists have a difficult time finding gigs that allow them to do original music and not covers. There really aren’t a lot of places around willing to take a chance on an unproven vocal artist, never mind allow them to perform something no one has ever heard.
The idea for our show grew after a night out where Blair saw John Salib perform in the Song Book Series at Theatre Passe Muraille. It was the night they did their Les Miserable cover night. Pretty cool as a theme night to see and a great show that left a definite impression. And it sparked something. All of us love music and we’re very much interested in supporting local emerging talent in any form. So it got us thinking.
Chris Tsujiuchi
Blair ran with it. It was a simple concept – all you need to do is find a venue, gather some musicians and plan the night. There’s little prep, no rehearsal time needed since everyone would know their own music, and seemed something very uncomplicated to produce. I mean, it wasn’t a film or a theatre production which are often fraught with a vast array of complexities just to get in motion and take months to bring to fruition. Definitely seemed doable. And it would help a lot of performers out with getting their music out there in front of an audience.
Again, similar to putting on a theatre production when we’d never done that before, either, this was something far outside our film experience. But so what? We never let a little thing like not having done something before stop us. We got educated. Fast.
For the first show, we were grateful for help from the multi-talented John Salib and his close ties to the Toronto music scene. Through his personal network, we ended up with 5 amazing performers for that first show on January 9, 2015 where John was also our evening’s host.
Jeremy Panda
The performers sent in videos of themselves performing for us to preview and we were blown away by the calibre of these music artists who were just at the start of their careers. Headlining the show was the wonderful Maccie Paquette and while not an emerging artist at this point, in keeping with the purpose of the evening, a performer independent in drive and spirit and like a glimpse ahead for the others into what can be achieved by an artist’s perseverance. Rounding out the music line-up for the evening was Chris Tsujiuchi who wrote a song specifically for the show, Shayne Stolz, Katie Pereira and John himself as we took over the Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.
For the second show, we had a much better idea what we were doing and what we wanted out of the evening and so aimed even higher. We solicited videos ahead of time, so we could choose the performers ourselves. Based on the experience from the previous show, our expectations were high. There was never any doubt we would hear a lot of quality music and we weren’t disappointed. Even better, we were pleasantly surprised by the amount of videos we received from those who were eager for the experience and exposure.
Shannon Doherty and Peter Chadwick
With so many more fabulous performers to choose from, this time we made choices based on music type and attempted to create a nice flow for the evening with the line-up and it worked out very well. In addition, we put together door prizes and a couple of gift basket give-aways and even a sweets table for those who attended. We had one performer cancel very last minute due to unforeseen circumstances. Despite that, we were able to fill the vacancy and round out the line-up of Jeremy Panda (who had provided the entertainment at our opening party for the double bill show A Man of Two Minds/Lost Refuge), Edward Sayer, Kevin Myles Wilson and Shannon Doherty (who Blair has known since high school where they were in theatre together), with Peter Chadwick.
Have we become music promoters? No, not at all, we’re film makers at the core. Was it worthwhile? Absolutely. It was a great learning experience for Bony Fiddle in terms of production and promotion and a great experience for the performers. We love the music, it was fun, and anything we can create as a platform for local emerging talent we consider worth our time.
It was a warm reception for opening night of the the Bony Fiddle double bill theatre production A Man for Two Minds/Lost Refuge at the Tranzac Club. We couldn’t be happier.
Our first attempt at pulling off a theatre production, there were definitely some opening night jitters, but the energy of the cast and crew was high. The pre-show was a blast where the very talented Jeremy Panda provided musical entertainment that began when the doors opened at 6:30pm at the Tranzac Club. Catered desserts by Chi’s Cakes added a touch of elegance and macabre with themed desserts, hand-crafted to reflect our love of horror while also delicious.
The pre-show launch party ended with some speech-making by Blair where he made a point to thank every, single person involved… except Ryan Bower (who later cried up in the sound booth). And then it was on with the first of our double bill show, A Man of Two Minds.
A Man of Two Minds
Being a comedy, you always hope the audience will get the jokes and we were relieved when the audience responded. Didn’t take long for them to catch onto the silliness and they spent most of the next 45 minutes laughing. Fantastic. Couldn’t have asked for a better audience reaction.
Zombie Contest Winner Phalyna
The major hitch of the evening (there’s always one, right?) came when the start of the second show was delayed. Luckily, we had some time to play with as we ran our “Best Zombie Impression” contest during intermission to an initially shy crowd. After a bit of coaxing, they warmed up to the idea and we had some brave participants willing to be goofy along with us and shuffle around like zombies on stage
All the participants were great and we chose two winners who won tickets to Halloween Haunt at Canada’s Wonderland and Screemers, Toronto Canada’s #1 Indoor Haunted Screem Park. The fifteen minute intermission was extended with some further speech-making by Blair as we transitioned from comedy to drama. At the conclusion of the lengthened break, the curtain opened on our second one-act play, Lost Refuge.
Sound Tech Ryan Bower, Stage Manager Samantha Willison
After opening with the comedy, the second performance was quite a change that appeared to catch the audience off-guard. That story dark and brooding and emotional, it was more complex and included technical FX and a full set; a contrast to the sparse lightness of the first show
Toward its conclusion when our zombie horde swarmed through the audience on its way to the stage, it appeared everyone’s attention was caught right up to the jarring conclusion. Again, we couldn’t have asked for a better audience reaction. How else should one react to a horde of zombies streaming through the crowd?
Cast of Lost RefugeReece Presley
Both plays written and directed by Blair Mueller, the divergent subject matter of the two one-act plays in juxtaposition was intended to make for an impactful and interesting evening for everyone.
Based on the reaction of the crowd opening night? I’d say, mission accomplished. Fingers crossed for the rest of the run!
A Man of Two Minds/Lost Refuge is currently running at the Tranzac Club located at 292 Brunswick Ave, Toronto, ON M5S 1Y2 from Sept 11-13, 2014. Tickets available at the door.
Additional Information
Opening night: 11 September 2014
Running through until: 13 September 2014
Advisory:
A Man of Two Minds/Lost Refuge contains partial nudity, mature themes and horror special FX make-up
Genre:
A Man of Two Minds - Comedy
Lost Refuge - Drama
Run time:
One hour and 45 minutes total; each one act play runs 45 minutes with a 15 minute intermission between
Playing Casey’s overprotective Mother in A Man of Two Minds is Shobha Hatte.
Shobha Hatte
Never disappointing us with her energy and drive, Shobha brings the right mixture of crazy and concerned together into Casey’s mother. She seems just as happy to be jumping around on stage waving her cane above her head as she is to sit and have a heart-to-heart with Casey.
Shobha’s introduction to theatre began when a friend requested that she be part of a theatre production that she had written and directed. She found the experience so enthralling, that she decided to pursue it full-time.
“In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family, but I am very excited to be part of A Man of Two Minds.”
Shobha has performed in various multi-lingual community theatre productions, the Summer Works Festival, the Fringe Festival and the Inspirato festival. She has also been a part of the Wild Sound staged readings at the National Film Board of Canada.
Nessya Dayan plays the Waitress in Bony Fiddle’s first theatre production A Man of Two Minds, and comes back from the dead as Vivian in Lost Refuge.
Nessya Dayan
Nessya has a professional approach to her acting, but isn’t afraid to laugh at herself, either. We love that she took the initiative to be in both shows, and has continued to show us how much she enjoys being part of both casts.
Nessya trained at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, and studied drama at the William Esper Studio in New York. Since returning to Canada, she’s had roles in several short films such as “Blindfold” and “Saints City”.
“I am looking forward to being a part of Bony Fiddle’s first production of A Man of Two Minds as well as Lost Refuge.”
Her recent theatre credits include “The Vagina Monologues”, “Salome” and “Kate and I”. She was also part of the 2014 Inspirato festival in “Day Care”.
Samantha Levine stars in Lost Refuge as the supporting character, Rebecca, opposite the powerful Reece Preseley.
Samantha Levine
She blew us away with her audition. Samantha brings a level of confidence to her character that is needed to stand up against the strong lead in this theatre production. And she does an awesome job where she much more than holds her own.
After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre at Concordia University in Montreal one year ago, Samantha moved to Toronto to begin her acting career.
Since her arrival in Toronto, she has participated in several independent film projects around the city, but nothing quite like our show.
“These zombies aren’t kidding around…you better watch your back!”
The female lead Veronica in the Bony Fiddle theatre production of A Man of Two Minds is played by Nathalie Babis.
Nathalie Babis
Adding an Italian accent into the mix, Nathalie caught our attention as the perfect “girl next door” for Casey. She brings the right attitude to Veronica–a mix of flirty and irritable–and her knowledge of yoga makes her character that much more impressive.
She was born in Lugano, Switzerland and has been involved in the arts since the age of 6, where she started studying and performing in the local theatre in Lugano, Pulci & Cicale, after school.
“I’m honored to be part of such a talented cast and crew! I love playing Veronica because she is quirky, funny and bubbly, but isn’t afraid to tell people what she wants and she’s willing to fight for it!”
At the age of 19, Nathalie moved to New York City to further her theatre studies where she attended The Barrow Group Acting School. After her year in the States, she attended the Vancouver Acting School for Film and TV Intensive Program here in Canada. Nathalie is a dual citizen of Switzerland and Germany and speaks fluent Italian, German and English. Nathalie currently lives in Toronto where she is successfully pursuing her acting career.
Andrew stars opposite Ben and Nathalie as Jared in Bony Fiddle’s theatre production of A Man of Two Minds.
He was born and raised in Mississauga, Ontario, and has always been attracted to the performing arts. His laid-back personality compliments his role as Jared, and he seems to fit right in with the rest of cast. Easy to work with and quick to make us laugh, Andrew is a great addition to our theatre show.
“I am so proud to be a part of A Man of Two Minds. This cast and crew have been a delight to work with. Jared is a laid-back, no worries kind of guy and it is this mixed with a little desperation that leads to hilarity. Can’t wait.”
Andrew is a Graduate of the Humber Theatre Performance Program, and it is through his training that he has found a hidden passion for playwriting.
His acting highlights at Humber College include Jacques Bossuet (And the King Dances), Dudakov (Summerfolk), Sir Toby (Twelfth Night), Samuel (Tulip), and Gregor Samsa (Metamorphosis). His recent professional credits include, Alex (One Shade Less of Happiness), Frankie (Broken Earth), and Glasscock (Film School).
Playing the lead role of Richard in the Bony Fiddle theatre production of Lost Refuge, we have Reece Presley.
About two minutes into his audition we knew we had found our Richard. And it was no contest. Reece brings an intensity to the character that is needed to carry this story. All the emotion, all the drama, all the internal struggle plays out from this single character and it’s easy to see Reece digging deep and making it believable, even during rehearsals.
Reece Presley
“It’s been said many times, but great story-telling is the foundation on which great theatre can be achieved. Blair has created two very different, but no less compelling stories, and his team of talented professionals have addressed every detail in brining them to life. That makes my job as an actor, so simple and so thrilling. I am very excited to be working with Bony Fiddle on their debut show.”
Reece graduated from Queen’s University with a major in Economics, and recently made the move to Toronto to pursue a career in acting. He has listings on IMDB and CastCaller. He is currently working on a film entitled Holy Hell which is scheduled for completion in early 2015.
Reece’s previous theatre credits include: Stanley in “A Streetcar Named Desire”, Ben in “Night of the Living Dead”, Benedick in “Much Ado about Nothing”, and Tybalt in “Romeo and Juliet”.
