Monster show poster
Graphic Design by Awake Studio; Photo by Jaime Nikolaou

Monster

November 16 – December 17 2023, Studio Theatre

Running Time: 70 minutes
16+ years

Written by Daniel MacIvor
Directed by Soheil Parsa
Featuring Karl Ang

A Factory Theatre Production

Daniel MacIvor’s chilling one-person show returns featuring powerhouse performer Karl Ang.

Finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Drama, Monster peels back the psychological layers of 16 different characters to reveal the dark heart of individual experience. With a masterful blend of suspense, humor, and raw emotion, Monster invites you to confront your fears and embrace the complexities that make us human.


Also On Stage

Here Lies Henry

November 23 – December 17 2023, Mainspace Theatre

Written by Daniel MacIvor
Directed by Tawiah M’Carthy
Featuring Damien Atkins

A Factory Theatre Production

Damien Atkins steps into the iconic role of Henry in Daniel MacIvor’s seminal one-person show about a man alone in a room with a mission to tell you something you don’t already know.

Henry is nervous, a self-proclaimed liar, and compelled by some unknown force to tell us his life story. MacIvor’s spellbinding head-scratcher of a one-man play twists and turns, flips and sidesteps through Henry’s struggle to grasp the meaning of life, love, beauty, death, truth and lies.

Book tickets here.



Ticket Pricing

At Factory, we believe theatre should be accessible to all who want to participate. That is why we’ve introduced a sliding scale ticket model. Tickets prices for Monster range from $20 – $80 for every performance. All tickets are treated the same at Factory regardless of the price point they’ve been purchased at. Our sliding scale ticket model allows audiences to select whichever price point they’re comfortable with to experience theatre at Factory.

If you have questions about our tickets, please visit our FAQ page or contact our Box Office at boxoffice@factorytheatre.ca.

Masked Performances

The following performances for Monster will require all audiences members to be masked while inside the building and for the duration of the performance:

  • Tuesday November 21 at 8PM
  • Sunday November 26 at 2PM
  • Thursday December 7 at 8PM
  • Saturday December 16 at 12:30PM

Audience Advisory

  • Flashing Light effects
  • Loud noises and Music
  • Mature themes
  • Graphic descriptions of violence


About the Playwright

Daniel MacIvor

Daniel MacIvor is a playwright, performer, and filmmaker who divides his time between Toronto and Nova Scotia. He has been the recipient of a Governor General’s Literary Award, the Siminovitch Prize for Theatre, a New York Obie Award and a GLAAD Award, and from 1987 to 2007 with producer Sherrie Johnson he ran the successful international touring company da da kamera. His plays include Never Swim Alone, In On It, His Greatness and The Best Brothers and have been translated into French, German, Czech, Spanish, Japanese and Portuguese. He has worked on commissions for the Wexner Centre at the University of Ohio (A Beautiful View), the National Theatre School of Canada (You Are Here),  Mulgrave Road Theatre (Marion Bridge), the Canadian Opera Company where he wrote the libretto for Rufus Wainwright’s Hadrian, and the Stratford Festival where he continues to develop Walker Rhodes a new musical with Steven Page. Daniel’s most fruitful partnership has been with director Daniel Brooks with whom he created seven solo performances for international touring. MacIvor’s relationship with Factory Theatre began in 1992 with the original production of the first of those solo shows House, which was revived here in 2020 as an “isolation version” with actor Kevin Hanchard.  Most recently with producer Marcie Januska Daniel has been running Toronto-based reWork Productions developing new theatre and film, and he is the creative consultant for venerable queer media company Pink Triangle Press creating new media that encourages allyship and advocacy.


About the Director

Soheil Parsa

Soheil Parsa is an Iranian Canadian theatre artist based in Toronto. He is the co-founder and former artistic director of Modern Times Stage Company and has directed over forty productions for the company since its inception in 1989. Soheil’s work has been shown in Canada as well as internationally, and has been recognized with numerous awards and nominations. Selected past works include ‘Blood Wedding’ and ‘The House of Bernarda Alba’ (Modern Times Stage Company and Aluna Theatre), ‘The Chairs’, ‘The Cherry Orchard’, ‘Waiting for Godot,’ ‘Macbeth’, ‘Hamlet’, ‘Aurash’, and ‘The Death of the King’ (Modern Times Stage Company). In 2022, he received a Dora Mavor Moore award for the direction of David Paquet’s dark comedy “Wildfire” at the Factory Theatre. Soheil is delighted to return to Factory with Daniel MacIvor’s play ‘Monster’.


Cast

Karl Ang

Karl is very pleased to be together with you in a dark room.

He’s been in other dark rooms across the country and sometimes outside in the light. He has been in the room upstairs a couple of times but as different people.

Story has it that ever since childhood Karl has harboured the idea that a hateful monster lurks deep beneath the placid surface of the human face. Love to his parents, Lee and Elaine.


Creative Team

Ric Knowles

Production Dramaturge

Trevor Schwellnus

Set, Props & Lighting Designer

Thomas Ryder Payne

Sound Designer

Allie Marshall

Wardrobe Stylist

Meghan Speakman

Stage Manager


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