SEEDS

What’s really on your dinner plate? A mutant organism? Some accuse the multinational Monsanto of being a latter-day Frankenstein that has lost control of the genetically modified offspring it has let loose, mutations that end up in your local supermarket. Its response? Exert even more control. When a Saskatchewan farmer decides to fight back, a four-year court case ensues. Be thrice forewarned. One, every word spoken onstage is a verbatim quote. Two, this is more complicated than David versus Goliath. And three, one story may conceal another, much more ominous tale.

Annabel Soutar and her company Porte Parole have returned to an explosive topic first broached in an initial version of Seeds in 2005, raising questions that continue to spark debate. In conjunction with the ingenious Toronto director Chris Abraham, she is once again letting farmers, researchers, lawyers, Monsanto public relations reps and activists have their say, each one playing the role assigned him or her in the grand theatre that is the modern economy.

PRODUCED BY PORTE PAROLE + CROW’S THEATRE
DIRECTED BY CHRIS ABRAHAM
WRITTEN BY ANNABEL SOUTAR
WITH BRUCE DINSMORE + DAVID FERRY + MARIAH INGER + ALEX IVANOVICI + TANJA JACOBS + CARY LAWRENCE + LIISA REPO-MARTELL
LIGHTING DESIGN ANA CAPPELLUTO
SET AND COSTUME DESIGN JULIE FOX
SOUND DESIGN AND COMPOSERRICHARD FEREN
VIDEO PROJECTION AND MEDIA DESIGN ELYSHA POIRIER

WITH THE SUPPORT OFHEXAGRAM + PLAYWRIGHTS’ WORKSHOP MONTREAL

WRITTEN BY PAUL LEFEBVRE
TRANSLATED BY NEIL KROETSCH

PREMIERED AT YOUNG CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS, TORONTO, FEBRUARY 18, 2012