Nightwood Theatre Presents FemCab for International Women's Day March 1

From a media release - what better way to celebrate than with these talented women?

Nightwood announces FemCab 2011 Line-Up…including Judy Rebick as the keynote speaker

FemCab 2011
Nightwood’s 28th Annual International Women’s Day Celebration
March 1, 2011 at 8:00 p.m.
Harbourfront Centre, Toronto

Toronto, ON…Nightwood Theatre, Canada’s national women’s theatre, is thrilled to announce Judy Rebick as this year’s Keynote Speaker of FemCab, Nightwood’s annual celebration of International Women’s Day. Judy Rebick is a well-known social justice activist, writer, educator and speaker. Her latest book is Transforming Power: From the Personal to the Political.  Her other books include Ten Thousand Roses: The Making of a Feminist Revolution (Penguin 2005). One of Canada’s best-known feminists, Rebick is the former President of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women.

Joining Rebick and Nightwood in will be: comedian-host Sandra Battaglini (Hard Headed Woman); award-winning playwright Judith Thompson; blues singer Shakura S’Aida; guitar queen Donna Grantis with the Electric Band; multi-genre singer Alejandra Ribera; spoken word artist Lara Bozabalian; dancer/choreographer Julia Aplin, 2010 Canadian comedy award-winner Chelsea Manders and the diva of Afro-Brazilian music Guiomar Campbell leading the evening’s House Band.

For over 31 years, Nightwood Theatre has developed, produced and toured landmark, award-winning plays by women. Since 1983, Nightwood has presented FemCab, the only cabaret in town where politics and art come together in an irreverent, humourous and shameless celebration of women’s success!

Artist Bios

Judy Rebick, Keynote Speaker
Judy Rebick is a well-known social justice activist, writer, educator and speaker. Most recently she helped to lead a fight against the intense police repression during the G20 in Toronto. Her latest book is Transforming Power: From the Personal to the Political.  Her other books include Ten Thousand Roses: The Making of a Feminist Revolution (Penguin 2005). One of Canada’s best-known feminists, Judy is the former President of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women and was a spokesperson for the Ontario Coalition for Abortion Clinics during the fight to legalize abortion. Judy recently stepped down after eight years as the CAW Gindin Chair in Social Justice and Democracy at Ryerson University.  She is the founding publisher of rabble.ca and is currently on CBC Radio Q’s media panel. During the 1990’s, Judy was the host of a two national TV shows on CBC Newsworld.

Sandra Battaglini, Host
Sandra Battaglini is a dynamic, high-energy comedic actor, stand-up comedian and cabaret performer. Her mix of song, opera, contemporary pop, originally choreographed dance and theatrical clown has distinguished her as an innovative artist on the Toronto scene. In 2005, Battaglini was nominated for a Canadian Comedy Award for her solo show, A Small Battalion of Soldiers. Battaglini's last tour de force, Hard Headed Woman premiered at the Diesel Playhouse in October 2006 to sold out houses and travelled to the LA Comedy Festival. Sandra won a Canadian Comedy Award for Hard Headed Woman in the category of best solo show. She is part of Toronto's newest sketch troupe, The Specials, and was part of the 2005 Toronto production of the Vagina Monologues with Shirley Douglas and Rachel McAdams.

Shakura S’Aida, Singer
An international artist whose involvement in the Canadian music scene has been ongoing for the past 20 years, enriching the jazz, blues and classic R&B communities with her soulful voice, enthusiastic personality and commitment to music as an art form. In 2010, her new CD, Brown Sugar, was launched internationally to great acclaim. S’Aida won for Female Vocalist of the Year and was nominated for two other 2011 Maple Blues Awards: Best Entertainer of the Year and Best Recording of the Year.

Donna Grantis Band, Music
Donna Grantis will be releasing her debut solo album this year with psychedelic rock trio the Donna Grantis Electric Band.  Rooted in blues with a jazz-fusion influence and classic rock attitude, the Electric Band is a modern day jam band, heavy on improvisation with a passion for all things vintage.  As a session musician, Grantis has performed with multi-platinum recording artist Amanda Marshall, Juno award-winning artists Kardinal Offishall, Divine Brown and Jacksoul, acoustic guitar virtuoso Tony McManus and blues legend Coco Montoya, among others.  She regularly tours, records and writes with Canada’s International Blues Artist Shakura S’Aida (pictured together at the left), as well as soul rock powerhouse Saidah Baba Talibah.

Judith Thompson, Theatre
Judith Thompson playwright, director, actor, screenwriter, professor of theatre, is the author of fifteen plays including The Crackwalker, Lion in the Streets, and Palace of the End. Her plays have been translated into many languages and are performed all over the world. She has written two feature films, Lost and Delirious and Perfect Pie, and numerous radio dramas. She is an Officer of the Order of Canada and has won two Governor General’s awards, a Dora, a Toronto Arts Award, the Jean Gascon-Thomas Award, as well as the Susan Smith Blackburn Award for best play by a woman writing in English in the World (for Palace of the End) and the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award. She lives in Toronto with her husband, five children, two dogs and three cats.

Julia Aplin, Dance
Julia Aplin (pictured right) performed with Dancemakers for 15 seasons under the Artistic Direction of Serge Bennathan.  She has also performed independently at such venues as the Sound Symposium, the AGO and the Young Centre for the Performing Arts. As a choreographer, Aplin has received commissions from companies as varied as Company Blonde to the Madawaska String Quartet. She recently premiered her work in a new opera Voice-Box with Urban Vessel at Harbourfront Centre.

Lara Bozabalian, Spoken Word
Lara Bozabalian is the author of The Cartographer’s Skin (Piquant Press). She has featured at literary festivals and universities across Canada, including the Kingston Writers Festival, Vancouver Poetry House, Harbourfront’s Canadian Voices Festival, Queen’s University, Luminato ‘New Waves’ Festival (Young Centre for the Performing Arts), the Eden Mills Writers Festival and the Words Aloud Festival.



In 2008, she was one of two Canadians invited to compete at the Individual World Poetry Slam in Charlotte, NC. As Head of English at a public high school, Lara founded and runs a spoken word festival for high school students across York Region, and is a founding member of Toronto Poetry Project, a collective dedicated to fostering social change and creative writing opportunities.

Alejandra Ribera, Music
Blending jazz, international music and alternative pop Alejandra Ribera has already been compared to Edith Piaf, Tom Waits and Joan Armatrading. Darling of CBC radio, Ribera will take you on roller coaster ride starting with Latin folk tunes to cabaret songs in French or Spanish to the unexpected jazzy moodiness to her own alternative pop songs. As Toronto.com states, she is a “top ten Toronto Artist to watch for.”

Chelsea Manders, Comedy
Chelsea Manders is a BC-born Toronto-based music comedian/writer whose credits include CBC TV/radio/web, CTV/Comedy Network, Hysteria!, Bitch Salad, As It Happens, Canadian Comedy Awards “Best of Fest”, opening for Glen ‘That Canadian Guy’ Foster, Winnipeg Comedy Festival, the occasional YMCA aquafit class, Three Takes (Slice), How To Be Indie (YTV) and the 2010 Canadian Comedy Award: Best Solo Show. 

Guiomar Campbell, House Band
Singer and percussionist Guiomar Campbell, is a native of Minas Gerais, Brazil, and has been performing in Toronto since 1978 in various Brazilian as well as Cuban, South African, and world percussion ensembles.  Guiomar leads the band Parabolica, a Toronto based musical group built on a foundation of Afro-Brazilian folk rhythms, bossa nova, samba, and jazz. Guiomar received an award for her achievement in art and culture from the Ministry of Multiculturalism, Jean Augustine and the National Ethnic Press. Guiomar was also a cast member of Da Kink in My Hair, in 2007 which ran at the Princess of Wales Theatre and recently performed and did the music composition for the play First Hand Woman.



Please join us on March 1st for our raucous salute to the extraordinary achievements of women across the globe!

FemCab Details
• DATE & TIME: Tuesday, March 1, 2011 / 8:00 p.m.
• Ticket price: $32.00
• Brigantine Room, Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay West
• Tickets are available in advance by calling Nightwood Theatre at 416.944.1740 ext. 5
• Or email hilary@nightwoodtheatre.net

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