The Cure for Everything November 10, 2010

“Maja Ardal returns to Theatre Passe Muraile with her beloved Elsa, the precocious star of her tour de force one-woman show You Fancy Yourself. Maja captured people’s hearts with her portrayal of the six year old Icelandic girl transplanted to 1950s Edinburgh. The show was a smash hit from Victoria to PEI and in England and Scotland and winning Maja the Dora Award for Outstanding Performance. And now Maja brings Elsa back in to the stage in the world premiere of The Cure for Everything.

This time Elsa is well on her way to being a grown-up, or at least she thinks she is. In The Cure for Everything, Elsa is approaching 15 and at the dawn of her sexuality. As she is flung into a world of sex, drugs, rock n’ roll and the supposed female liberation that comes with free love, Elsa tries to solve not only her problems, but also those of the world. The Cure for Everything asks the audience, “How much has changed?”

As Richard Ouzounian points out in the Toronto Star, “Maja Ardal dazzled us all with her portrait of the young child Elsa growing up in poverty in post-war Scotland in You Fancy Yourself. Now Elsa is a teenager and sex is on the agenda. Be very afraid.”

Maja Ardal is one of Canada’s most respected theatre artists – she was Artistic Director of the Young People’s Theatre, trained under George Luscombe in his physical theatre style and starred as Mrs. Potts in “The Road to Avonlea.” Maja teaches or has taught at the National Theatre School, Humber College and Fanshawe College.

About Maja Ardal:
A theatre professional since 1970, Maja was trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Glasgow.
Writer and performer of You Fancy Yourself, published by Playwrights Canada Press, Maja and You Fancy Yourself won Toronto’s 2009 Dora Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female. You Fancy Yourself was nominated for three Dora Awards in total: Outstanding Direction (Mary Francis Moore) and Outstanding Production (Contrary Compnay). Maja is also the recipient of the 2002 George Luscombe Award for Mentorship in the Theatre.

Maja continues to tour You Fancy Yourself in Canada and the UK. Highlights are: Edinburgh Fringe 2009, and Southern England with Farnham Maltings, September 2009.

 In 2008 Maja completed a year as Interim Artistic Director at Nightwood Theatre (Canada’s national women’s theatre).

In January 2009 You Fancy Yourself was produced in association with Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto and a near-sold-out run to enthusiastic audiences and notices. A remount happened in January 2010 in Theate Passe Muraille’s Main Stage.

Maja is a director, theatre instructor and former Artistic Director of Young People’s Theatre (now Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People). Her production of Whale received the 1992 Dora Award for Outstanding Production and toured to Washington D.C.

She began her career performing at Toronto Workshop Productions under the guidance of her mentor, the late George Luscombe. Maja returned to her native Iceland in 2001 to direct her play Midnight Sun, which was also co-produced by Tarragon Theatre, Toronto, and the National Arts Centre, Ottawa, as well as Gloucester Playhouse, Massachusetts. 

Maja wrote the book for the musical Joy, (music by Joey Miller), produced by the Workman Theatre, Toronto, 2002. 

Presently Maja is writing the stage adaptation of Marina Nemat’s autobiography The Prisoner of Tehran.

Maja has directed at The Shaw Festival, The Grand Theatre, Alberta Theatre Projects, Nightwood Theatre (at Factory Theatre), and Great Canadian Theatre Company. In the 2004 season, she directed Stones in His Pockets at Alberta Theatre Projects (which received the Betty Mitchell Award nomination for Outstanding Direction) and The Foursome at The Grand Theatre, London. 
In March 2006, she directed Stones in His Pockets at The Grand Theatre. In November 2007, she directed Nightwood Theatre’s production of Linda Griffiths’ Age of Arousal at Factory Theatre.



Acting highlights:
Kilt by Jonathan Wilson at Tarragon Theatre (nominated for Dora Award for Outstanding Performance),
Dusa Fish Stas and Vi (directed by Pam Brighton),
St. Joan of the Stockyards (directed by Pam Brighton)
The Club (directed by Pam Brighton).



Maja is the Artisitc Director of Contrary Company.

TV highlights:
”The Road to Avonlea” ~ CBC/Disney ~ role Mrs Clara Potts.

Maja trains professional and emerging actors in physical theatre, solo performance, and collective creation.

The Cure for Everything is produced by Theatre Passe Muraille and directed by Mary Francis Moore. The show runs from November 10 to December 4, 2010 at Theatre Passe Muraille, 16 Ryerson Ave. Tickets: $25 to $30 at 416-504-7529 or www.artsboxoffice.ca.

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To schedule interviews with Maja Ardal please contact Kim Blackwell at 416-346-4709 or blackwellcommunications@gmail.com.