Operation SUNshine
Operation SUNshine: 179 Women Rescued From Dungeon Lair!
Operation SUNshine is a solo dark comedy and coming-of-age story about the time playwright Jennifer McKinley rescued 179 SUNshine Girls from the dank basement of her childhood home. As a child, McKinley watched as ‘Wild’ Bill, her father’s basement boarder, wallpapered his bathroom with SUNshine Girls, cutouts of models who posed for the tabloid newspaper, the Toronto SUN. After her father’s death, McKinley cleaned out the family home. From the removal process of this DIY wallpaper came the impetus for Operation SUNshine.
Found material, images of SUNshine Girls and the news stories on their reverse sides, provides entry to a foreboding world that spirals downward as personal and collective revelations increase in intensity. The show puts a feminist spin on the media’s representation of women, toxic masculinity, sites of danger and children in peril.
Operation SUNshine premiered at the 2017 Toronto Fringe Festival. It began as a short story and morphed into a full-length theatrical performance. It was first presented at CRAPSHOOT! (After Hours at Theatre Passe Muraille) and further developed for its return to the same cabaret stage one month later. Additional stories were written and performed at Artscape Gibraltar Point during the 2016 Feminist Art Conference residency. One of those stories, ‘Benji Hayward’, was recorded for Expect Theatre’s PlayME podcast. A rehearsal script was completed during a series of corporeal workshops with director Clara McBride and dramaturge Carolyn Zapf, with support from the Toronto Arts Council’s Playwrights Program. Operation SUNshine would not exist in its current form without the opportunities for collaboration provided by the Alumnae Theatre Company.
Operation SUNshine has received enthusiastic reviews. Katharine dos Santos from Mooney On Theatre calls Operation SUNshine “an arresting dark comedy.” Jennifer McKinley is “a phenomenal storyteller and expert wordsmith … [her] prose is full of sensory details and captivating descriptions … “ Operation SUNshine was featured in an interview with She Does The City and Radio Regent’s The Women’s Hour.
Jennifer McKinley is the writer and performer of Operation SUNshine. She was one of the artistic directors of Alumnae Theatre’s New Ideas Festival (2014-2017) and is a lead coordinator of the Feminist Art Collective. Jennifer has performed at clown, sketch comedy and storytelling events throughout Toronto and beyond. In 2014 she produced Jacqueries, Part 1 (Jacob Niedzwiecki/SummerWorks), which received the Buddies In Bad Times Vanguard Award For Risk And Innovation.
Director Clara McBride worked as a theatre and film artist in Paris for 17 years, where she specialized in Mask, Physical Theatre and Improvisation. Since returning to Canada, she has directed for the Alumnae Theatre’s New Ideas Festival and for Ovation! Performing Arts. She is currently guest faculty at the Ryerson School of Performance and co-producer of their New Voices Festival. Clara teaches at the Second City Training Centre and performs regularly in French with the Improbables at Bad Dog Theatre. She debuted at the Toronto Fringe Festival in 2015 as a storyteller in The Dinner Table (Fail Better Theatre).
This April, catch a glimpse of Toronto in the 1980s and 1990s from the perspective of a young girl with a warped imagination.
Jennifer McKinley
in association with The Storefront Theatre’s Feminist Fuck It Festival presents
Operation SUNshine
Written and performed by Jennifer McKinley
Directed by Clara McBride
Set and lighting design by Joe Pagnan
Stage managed by Liz Currie
Performances:
Thursday April 12, 9pm
Saturday April 21, 2pm
GEARY LANE
360 Geary Avenue
Tickets:
Geary Lane is located at 360 Geary Avenue, north of Dupont, west of Dufferin. Tickets are $15-$50, pay what you can afford.
Purchase online: brownpapertickets.com
In Person: At the venue box office at Geary Lane (cash or credit).
For more information about the show, visit operationsunshine.ca
Storefront Theatre Public Relations: Christina Bryson, christina.bryson@gmail.com
Media Rep Contact: Ilene Sova
Media Rep Phone: 647-919-7336
Media Rep Email: mail@ilenesova.com
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