X by Sunny Drake
September 16 – 20th, 2014 at 8pm
Matinee on Saturday September 20th at 2pm
Motel in the EPCOR CENTRE for the Performing Arts
Ever seen a drunk puppet? Sex. Booze. Facebook. Carbs, Fess Up: what’s your guilty pleasure? Stunning stop motion animation, whimsical puppets, and sharp live performance meld in this fast-paced one-man show. X is a magical, imaginative and honest look at addiction, particularly struggles with alcohol, as well as sex and pop star obsession. The work is grounded in but not limited to LGBTQ experiences and is partially informed by over forty interviews with community members. Sold out shows in San Francisco. Rave reviews in Australia. Festival award winner in Toronto.
Social Media Links
@sunny_drake @ThirdStTheare #ThirdStreetX
www.sunnydrake.com
Selected Press Reviews
“Xtraordinary” Scene Australia
“vividly realized… the puppet elements, set and animation are astonishingly effective, and Drake’s look at substance abuse in marginalized communities is unsentimental and urgent.” – Glenn Sumi, NOW Magazine
“Drake – who is a remarkable special effect all on his own… animates the puppets, the puppets meld into the animated projections, and all unite to create one very spellbinding and heavily populated one-man-show. The puppets are… remarkable – Drake manages to say more, and get more laughs, simply using his expressive hands and elegantly long fingers, than most dancers. – Drew Rowsome
“Sunny Drake…is a force of nature. A real-life cartoon. He bounds, jumps, fizzes and cranks his way across the stage, full of pluck and charisma–and we can’t look away.” Mike Anderson, Mooney on Theatre
“Off-beat and unique, X, with its technical strength and design, really does mark the spot.” – Jason Booker, The Charlebois Post
“astounding multimedia and projection design… vibrant and imaginative independent theatre at its absolute best…” Actors Greenroom Australia
Show History
- Metro Arts Independents season (Brisbane, AUS 2012)
- USA National Queer Arts Festival (2012)
- Every Body conference, University of Guelph (2013)
- SummerWorks Performance Festival (Toronto 2013)
- Rainbow Health Ontario conference (Toronto 2014)
Vancouver Queer Arts Festival (2014)
Creative Team (Australian artists)
Written, Created & Performed by Sunny Drake
Director & Dramaturg / Therese Collie
Animator/ Ingrid K Brooker
2D Animator / Taylor Wilson
Designer/ Georgina Greenhill
Puppets / Penny Everingham
Lighting Design / Andrew Meadows
Sound Design / Brett Collery
Creative Consultants / Brian Lucas & Candy Bowers
Multimedia / Pamela Hauff
SUNNY DRAKE
Theatre Artist // Educator// Facilitator
37 years in the making, human critter Sunny Drake is a writer, performer, independent producer and a complex piece of art. He lives his creative escapades, is usually in the middle of an art in life experiment, and airs his embarrassing and tender internal world on stage. Sunny is largely self taught and has created his own unique style of multi-genre theatre, which he has been evolving since he was a teenage girl. Sunny has performed in theatres, festivals, living-rooms, streets, work places, deserts, schools, universities, basements, backyards & conferences in Australia, the USA, Canada and Europe. He recently won the Arts Professional Award in the SummerWorks Performance Festival (2013) as well as being named by NOW Magazine for “Outstanding Performance” and “Outstanding Design”. Festival highlights include: San Francisco International Arts Festival (2010), NACL Festival (New York, 2010), three shows in the USA National Queer Arts Festival (2008, 2010, 2012), plus numerous Australian festivals including New Mardi Gras (Sydney 2009 & 2010), Midsumma (Melbourne 2009 & 2010), Metro Arts Independents 2012, the Brisbane Festivals UNDER THE RADAR (2009) and Feast (Adelaide 2009 & 2010). Now a permanent resident of Canada based in Toronto, Sunny was born and grown on Indigenous Jaggera-Turrabul land (Brisbane, Australia) and comes from English and Irish ancestry.
