Brantwood
Audiences board a yellow school bus to return to Brantwood to attend their high school reunion. Set in a decommissioned school building, scenes in this large-cast, immersive, site-specific musical span ten decades from 1920 to 2020.
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Production Credits
Created, written, and directed by: Mitchell Cushman and Julie Tepperman Music & lyrics by: Bram Gielen, Anika Johnson, and Britta Johnson Produced by: Michael Rubinoff Original Music by: Christopher Thornborrow Musical Director: James Smith Sound Design by: Christopher Thornborrow Set and props by: John Grosz and Ken MacKenzie Lighting Design by: Nick Blais Costumes by: Nina Okens Choreography by: Nicola Pantin Guest Cast: Suzanne Bennet, Claire Calnan, Sadie Epstein-Fine, Ben Hayward, Dayna Miller, Mark Palinski, Ralph Small, and Andy Trithardt CMTP Cast: Nevada Banks, Scott Barker, Lea Beauvais, Greg Borris, Daniel Bowen, Ryan Burda, Eric Dahlinger, Tom Davis, Rachel Delduca, Quinn Dooley, Cameron Francis, Samantha Gaetz, JJ Gerber, Shane Gramlich, Laura Harding, Robyn Harrison, Aisha Jarvis, Alex Kelly, Laura Larson, Kabir Mahjoori, Chris Mayo, Nik Murillo, Lauran Olmstead, Lucas Popowich, Teale Poirier, Reece Rowat, Bryden Rutherford, Vanessa Sears, Colin Simmons, Melissa Torelli, Jeff Toste, Luc Trottier, Kim Truong, Amelia Welcher, and Alison Wither Brantwood was originally developed by Producer Michael Rubinoff and The Canadian Music Theatre Project, Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario, Canada |
Photo credit: John Jones. Photo source: thestar.com
Photo source: mqent.ca
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Production History
Presented with Sheridan College at Brantwood School: Oakville, ON April 2015.
Read more in PLAY: Dramaturgies of Participation: GHOSTS, CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE, ACTING, GAME OVER, PLAY AGAIN?
Brantwood Trailer from Julie & Mitchell on Vimeo.
Press
“The show unfolds with more than 10 storylines, one for each decade of the school’s history, including a 1920s teacher-student affair; 1930s anti-Semitism; 1940s gender and racial segregation; a 1950s teen pregnancy; a 1960s LSD trip; a 1970s foray into amateur porn; a 1980s film-noir narcotics thriller; a 1990s talent show and the dreams of a [transgender] student; a 2000s musical exploring a story from the school’s sordid past; a 2015 student’s attempt to save the school from developers; and a 2020 condo story centered on a young gay couple haunted by the ghosts of Brantwood’s past.” - Toronto.com
“Spectators can decide which story lines they’d like to follow as they wander through classrooms and halls. There is no ‘backstage.’ Crew members are incorporated into the show.” - Toronto.com
“Julie Tepperman and Mitchell Cushman are set to debut what’s believed to be the largest production of immersive, site-specific musical theatre in Canadian history – a show that boasts 40+ actors portraying as many as 90 characters in 200 scenes in 11 separate storylines with 15 hours of material unfolding simultaneously all over the building, meaning a person can return again and again and always experience new things" - Toronto.com
“Spectators can decide which story lines they’d like to follow as they wander through classrooms and halls. There is no ‘backstage.’ Crew members are incorporated into the show.” - Toronto.com
“Julie Tepperman and Mitchell Cushman are set to debut what’s believed to be the largest production of immersive, site-specific musical theatre in Canadian history – a show that boasts 40+ actors portraying as many as 90 characters in 200 scenes in 11 separate storylines with 15 hours of material unfolding simultaneously all over the building, meaning a person can return again and again and always experience new things" - Toronto.com
Articles
Julie Tepperman and Mitchell Cushman, “Brantwood: Canada’s Largest Experiment in Immersive Theatre,” Canadian Theatre Review 173 (Winter 2018): 9-14.
Julie Tepperman, “Immersed in Musicals,” Canadian Theatre Review 171 (Summer 2017): 76-82.
Julie Tepperman, “Immersed in Musicals,” Canadian Theatre Review 171 (Summer 2017): 76-82.
