“‘I love going to Modern Times shows because I know I will see something marvellous.
I will see a distinctive aesthetic, an eloquent hybrid of non-naturalist techniques drawn from many sources. I will be offered a spectacle created from the most fundamental of theatrical resources and I will experience something both delightful and profound. I will see a production that emphasizes the human figure and foregrounds the actor’s skill, strength, and grace, while often challenging expectations (an Asian Lucky? a Caucasian Hallaj?), because Modern Times AD Soheil Parsa is deeply interested in human potentiality. His mise-en-scenes arise out of his convictions about humanity and the theatre’s role in the world. Modern Times reminds me that there is room for mystery, poetry, and philosophy in the theatre.”
Director, actor, playwright and university professor, Guillermo Verdecchia is one of Canada’s foremost theatre artists. He has just finished work on his latest play with Adam Lazarus, ‘The Art of Building a Bunker’ at the Factory Theatre. Verdecchia received the 1993 Governor-General’s Award for Drama for his play Fronteras Americanas. He is a four-time winner of the Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award, and a recipient of various other awards for acting as well as sundry film festival awards for Crucero/Crossroads, the short film, made with Ramiro Puerta, based on Fronteras Americanas. He has also published Citizen Suarez a collection of short stories. Verdecchia studied theatre at Ryerson Polytechnic in Toronto, and a Master’s Degree in English and Theatre Studies from the University of Guelph, and is a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto’s Centre for Drama Theatre and Performance Studies.
His play ‘bloom’ was produced by Modern Times in 2006.