CONGRATS TO THE LUCKY WINNERS!

Thank you for your overwhelming response to our LOCKDOWN Ticket Giveaway!

... and thanks to a last minute sponsor we are able to offer TWENTY (instead of 10) pairs of tickets to Opening Night.

AND THE WINNERS ARE:

Stephanie Fung X
Seun Onireti X2
Mary Ann Hannant x2
Pennant Media Group x2
Heidi Marisol x2
Sandy MacIntyre x2
Nicole Brooks x2
Deb Wharton x2
Carol Clarke x2
George Michael x2
Bobie Taffe x2
Dan Lyon x2
Samantha Ali x2
Mac Spoonz Adams x2
Gena Sylvester x2
Charlyn Ellis x2
Lu Brezina x2
Vanessa Gervais x2
Tasha Tyrell x2
Chrystelle Robinson's parents x2

Your ticket will be available at the door under your name on Wednesday 1st July until 6.10pm (show time is 6.30).

TICKET INFORMATION:

To all who missed this opportunity - don't despair, you can still suport us by buying tickets to the shows.

Lockdown will be performed at the George Ignatieff Theatre (15 Devonshire Place, just south of Bloor) on the following dates:

Wednesday, July 1: 6:30-8:00 pm
Thursday, July 2: 8:15-9:45 pm
Friday, July 3: 1:15-2:45 pm
Monday, July 6: 10:45pm-12:15 am
Tuesday, July 7: 1-2:30 pm
Friday, July 10: 4-5:30 pm
Sunday, July 12: 8:30pm

To buy tickets for the show, there are three convenient ways to get them in advance:

On-Line @ www.fringetoronto.com
By Phone: 416-966-1062
In Person at the Advance Ticket Box Office: July 1-July 12, noon - 6pm at 292 Brunswick Avenue (The Fringe Club)
Tickets are $10 with special group rates available for those coming with a large party (see the Fringe website for more details).

Advance tickets can be purchased up to 3 hours prior to the start of a performance online, by phone or in person. Alternatively, tickets can be purchased at the door. Ticket orders are available for pickup at the performance venue one hour before showtime. There is a $2 service charge per order for online and phone orders.

Thank you again to all of those who made it out to our Launch event. We look forward to seeing everyone at the upcoming performances! See you at the Fringe!

See you there!

"LOCKDOWN" TICKET GIVEAWAY!

WE HAVE 10 pairs of FREE TICKETS
for the Opening Night of "LOCKDOWN"
Wednesday July 1st, at 6.30 pm
at George Ignatieff Theatre, Devonshire Place, Toronto.

The tickets are First Come, First Serve, so EMAIL ME NOW and win 2 tickets to Opening Night!

- PLUS -

A huge "Thank You!" to everyone who made it out to our special Launch event last Thursday night at the TOTA Lounge.

We were thrilled to share a sneak preview of the play with our guests and are so pleased with the positive feedback we received from everyone.

The energy at the event was amazing and we're stoked for the upcoming performances at the Fringe Festival.

Lockdown will be performed at the George Ignatieff Theatre (15 Devonshire Place, just south of Bloor) on the following dates:

Wednesday, July 1: 6:30-8:00 pm
Thursday, July 2: 8:15-9:45 pm
Friday, July 3: 1:15-2:45 pm
Monday, July 6: 10:45pm-12:15 am
Tuesday, July 7: 1-2:30 pm
Friday, July 10: 4-5:30 pm
Sunday, July 12: 8:30pm

To buy tickets for the show, there are three convenient ways to get them in advance:

On-Line @ www.fringetoronto.com
By Phone: 416-966-1062
In Person at the Advance Ticket Box Office: July 1-July 12, noon - 6pm at 292 Brunswick Avenue (The Fringe Club)
Tickets are $10 with special group rates available for those coming with a large party (see the Fringe website for more details).

Advance tickets can be purchased up to 3 hours prior to the start of a performance online, by phone or in person. Alternatively, tickets can be purchased at the door. Ticket orders are available for pickup at the performance venue one hour before showtime. There is a $2 service charge per order for online and phone orders.

Thank you again to all of those who made it out to our Launch event. We look forward to seeing everyone at the upcoming performances! See you at the Fringe!

Invitation to our Welcome Lunch

Dear Friends,

The 4th Annual CaribbeanTales Film Festival starts on Thursday 9th July.

The full program & schedule will be online soon!

Please join us to welcome our valued guests at a special Filmmakers' Welcome Lunch. We are very excited that this year we are hosting participants and filmmakers from many countries including Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, Antigua, Jamaica, the U.K., France, the U.S. and Canada. Along with the visitors attending from around the world, there will be a number of special invited guests, and our Guest of Honor is Mme. Euzhan Palcy.

The Lunch will take place at: WILLIAM DOO AUDITORIUM, 45 WILLCOCKS ST, TORONTO

Time: 12PM

It will be followed by our Industry Series, a stimulating afternoon of Panels and Round Table Discussions leading up to our VIP Opening Night Reception and Gala.

We hope you can all join us.

Kind Regards,
Frances-Anne

"CARMEN AND GEOFFREY" will be the Opening Night Gala at CaribbeanTales' 4th Annual Film Festival

"CARMEN AND GEOFFREY"
CaribbeanTales 4th Annual Film Festival
Opening Night: July 9th 7pm.

We are proud to announce that our Opening Night Feature is this beautiful documentary about the work of two exceptional artists, Carmen de Lavallade and Geoffrey Holder, who stepped forward in the 1950's to play a vital part in the newly energized world of American modern dance. It is also about a forty-seven year long love affair and the creative partnership that sustained their accomplishments.

“I walk through doors,” Geoffrey Holder thunders in the documentary “Carmen & Geoffrey.” “If I’m not wanted in a place, there’s something wrong with the place, not with me.” And when this 6-foot-6-inch choreographer and painter, with a big toothy grin and the oratorical style of a Caribbean James Earl Jones, thunders, the earth moves.

Mr. Holder has been a fixture in the theater and dance worlds in New York City beginning with the 1954 musical “House of Flowers.” The Carmen of the title is Carmen de Lavallade, Mr. Holder’s wife and creative partner for more than 50 years. Now in her 70s, she is still a beauty.

As the film, directed by Linda Atkinson and Nick Doob, follows Mr. Holder, he radiates the energy of a sun king. By his side is Ms. de Lavallade, the New Orleans-born dancer and choreographer who grew up in Los Angeles and met him when they appeared together in “House of Flowers”. They married in 1955.

Ms. de Lavallade, we learn, was the best friend and dancing partner of Alvin Ailey, who was brokenhearted when she married Mr. Holder. Carmen is also a gifted choreographer and actor but her solo dance career is legendary, both with Ailey as well as John Butler, Jose Limon, Donald McKayle and others.

Geoffrey Holder came from Trinidad to debut in House of Flowers, which he also co-choreographed with Herbert Ross. Later he directed and designed the costumes for The Wiz winning two Tonys in the process. Geoffrey’s world-class talent as a painter has been recognized with a Guggenheim fellowship and he is a prize-winning author and photographer. His ballet, Dougla is a permanent part of the Dance Theatre of Harlem’s repertoire, as is his work Prodigal Prince for the Ailey Company.

Mr. Holder recalls that from early childhood he knew he wanted to dance and to paint. He was 7 when he made his performing debut with the Holder Dance Company, a troupe founded by his older brother, Boscoe. By the time he was "discovered" in 1952, Geoffrey Holder was already an accomplished painter, and the canvases shown in the movie suggest the sensibility of an extroverted Gauguin steeped in Caribbean folklore.

After “House of Flowers” he formed his own dance company and was also a principal dancer with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet. He reached a pinnacle of acclaim in the mid-1970s with Tony Awards for best director and costume design for “The Wiz.” The fantastic outfits bore his artistic signatures: a brilliant palette and wildly playful and inventive imagery. His later choreography on “Timbuktu!” (a 1978 Caribbean version of “Kismet”) and “The Prodigal Prince,” a dance biography of Haitian artist and voodoo priest Hector Hyppolite, reveal work that was even bolder.

The film’s style is spontaneous, intimate and revealing, showing Carmen and Geoffrey’s natural penchant for uncommon good humor.

Above all, it provides us with models of lives boldly lived, and offers a paradigm for survival and accomplishment in one of the toughest professions to which anyone can aspire.

From: Creatively Connected Through Dance and Life By STEPHEN HOLDEN Published: March 13, 2009
This movie has been designated a Critic's Pick by the film reviewers of The Times.

Invitation to the Launch of LOCKDOWN

Dear Friends,

Please join me for a special launch event at:

TOTA Lounge: 592 Queen Street West (at Bathurst) on Thursday, June 25th @ 7:00 pm.

Guests will be treated to a sneak preview of selected scenes from my new play LOCKDOWN, followed by a Q&A with the cast.

Come meet Leonie Forbes, Michael Miller and the rest of the wonderful cast!

Hope to see you there,
Kind Regards
Frances-Anne
___________________________________________________________________
Award-winning director Frances-Anne Solomon presents the timely stage production "Lockdown" at the 2009 Toronto Fringe Festival.

Toronto – May 26, 2009

This July, CaribbeanTales in association with Leda Serene Films will stage the world premiere of award-winning director Frances-Anne Solomon’s new theatrical production Lockdown, brought to audiences for the first time ever at the 2009 Toronto Fringe Festival (July 1st to 12th).

Lockdown’s explosive fictional story traces the fortunes of a diverse group of young people held hostage during a high school lockdown. The play’s high octane script picks apart the violence that threatens to undermine their dreams. It stars Jamaican film and theatre icon Leonie Forbes (What My Mother Told Me, Lord Have Mercy, A Winter Tale) and rising Toronto star Michael Miller (A Winter Tale, Get Rich or Die Trying), alongside a talented ensemble of young actors selected from city-wide auditions held across the GTA. The script was developed over the past year, through a collaborative improvisational process with the entire team.

Lockdown deals with the all too familiar issue of school violence, by focusing on eight students in their final year of high school. The story begins with an emergency lockdown: students trapped in their classes, while parents scared and helpless wait outside, and police officers swarm the school property.

Produced with the support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation, and the Toronto Police Services Board, Lockdown's Fringe theatre performances will take place at the George Ignatieff Theatre, Trinity College, University of Toronto, 15 Devonshire Place (check Fringe schedule for times).

A special Launch event hosted by CaribbeanTales will take place at the TOTA Lounge (592 Queen Street West) on Thursday, June 25th, 2009 at 7:00 pm. Guests will be treated to a sneak preview selected scenes from the play; and will have the opportunity to personally meet and talk with the actors afterwards.

As the city's largest theatre event, the annual Toronto Fringe Festival embraces more than 100 theatre companies from Ontario, across Canada and around the world. With over 12 days of stage performances, the festival offers full accessibility to all members of the community, while enabling emerging and established artists to present their ideas regardless of content, form and style.

Lockdown follows the success of Frances-Anne Solomon’s highly acclaimed feature film A Winter Tale – an emotional story about a Black Men's Support Group that comes together in a local Toronto Caribbean take-out restaurant in the wake of gun violence that takes the life of a young child. Among many prestigious, international awards, most recently at FESPACO 2009 (Africa’s Oscars held biannually in Burkina Faso, West Africa), A Winter Tale was nominated for and won Special Mention in the Paul Robeson Diaspora Award category.

As Founder and Artistic Director of CaribbeanTales, Frances-Anne Solomon is an accomplished filmmaker, writer, director and producer whose recent projects include The CaribbeanTales Annual Film Festival (now in its fourth year), A Winter Tale (for Telefilm Canada/CHUM Television); Heart Beat - a documentary series profiling Caribbean-Canadian musical creators; Literature Alive, a many facetted multimedia project profiling Caribbean authors; and the Gemini-nominated Lord Have Mercy!, Canada's landmark multicultural sitcom, for Vision TV, Toronto1, APTN and Showcase.


CaribbeanTales is Canada's premier multimedia company that creates, markets and distributes educational films, videos, radio programs, audio books, theatre plays, web sites and events showcasing the rich heritage of Caribbean-Canadian and Caribbean-Diasporic culture worldwide. Their mandate is to foster and encourage intercultural understanding and citizen participation through the medium of film, contributing to an inclusive Canadian society.

For more information, visit www.caribbeantales.ca and www.ledaserene.ca

Show Times (@ the George Ignatieff Theatre):
Wednesday, July 1: 6:30pm to 8pm
Thursday, July 2: 8:15pm to 9:45pm
Friday, July 3: 1:15pm to 2:45pm
Monday, July 6: 10:45pm to 12:15am
Tuesday, July 7: 1pm to 2:30pm
Friday, July 10: 4pm to 5:30pm
Sunday, July 12: 8:30pm to 12pm