About Us
Queen’s Players Toronto Theatre Group is a not-for-profit organization headed by a group of Toronto volunteer artists. All the proceeds of our events are donated to charity. To date we have raised over $40,000 for charities including our lead charity, the Stephen Lewis Foundation.
Our past shows have included: GREY'S ENTOURAGE (Summer 2007), THE OCSI:TORONTO (Spring 2006), COUNT CHOCULA'S BREAKFAST CLUB (Fall 2005), THE APPRENTICE BRIDE (Spring 2005) and OLD SCHOOL AND THE CITY (Fall 2004). We’ve had five shows of sold-out pop culture mash-up madness and we couldn’t have done it without all our volunteers, ticket buyers, and sponsors.
The format of our shows has its origins in a series of semi-annual cabaret style shows performed at Queen's University since the dawn of time. Famous ex-players include: Lorne Greene, Robertson Davies, The Arrogant Worms and Court TV's Ashleigh Banfield.
What Makes a Players Show
The Script
The script is a mash-up of popular themes and characters often culled from TV shows and Movies. These characters all meet up and go through some trials and tribulations usually involving a random “bad guy”. While they tell you this story, they throw in some jokes, partial nudity, local political “humour”, pop culture gags and of course music. Past titles from Queen’s include “Beverly Hillbillies 90210,” “The Young and the Wrestlers” and “Happy Independence Days.”
The Music
The music is a mix of pop, R & B, rock, soul and rap performed with some snappy dance moves, great harmonies and sex appeal. A tight band backs up our singers and rocks it out for you all night long.
The Traditions
We have a bunch of traditions that often require some audience participation. They are:
Every show contains the line “where shall we go, what shall we do?” This generally gets a big cheer.
Every show contains the line “Name of the show!” This also generally gets a big cheer.
Whenever a cast member says a song title, the entire audience shouts at them to SING!
When someone makes a noticeable mistake we often point out how “Seamless” it was.
We drink during the show. Some get hammered before the curtain call. Some get sloshed before the audience sits down. The audience should follow suit.
From time to time, someone on stage might catch your fancy... it is customary to offer this person a drink... during the show. Please feel free to do this, but please do keep in mind that the cast for the most part is human, and can only drink so much... so please, no beer bongs!
Who We Are
The 2008/2009 QPT Board of Directors
Executive:
Peter Higgins - President
Paul Levia - Vice President
Don Duval - Vice President
Members at Large:
Felicity Alexander
Dan "Banger" MacKay
Danielle Meierhenry
Laura Hopkins
Candice Gilliam
Graeme Drinkwalter
© 2008 Queen’s Players Toronto Theatre Group