Sign Our Yearbook: Shotgun Wedding @Toronto Fringe

For once, I don’t really have anything to write.  (I’m a little speechless, so I’m asking YOU.)

My friends: Richie, Jeff, Belinda, Mickey, Tony and Arlene.

 If you loved Shotgun Wedding: The Musical, please tell us on this blog.  If you didn’t get to see it, tell us you want another chance!  

We want to hear from you!

Shotgun Wedding: The Musical — July 6-17, at the Toronto Fringe.

FOR TICKETS
Phone: 416 966 1062
Online: www.fringetoronto.com
In Person: At the Door starting at 7PM on
performance nights. Cash Only.
No Latecomers. No Exceptions. Arrive On Time!

You’re all invited to celebrate Veronica Mendoza’s (Belinda Corpuz) 18th debutante birthday party!  Edsel (Mickey Rodriguez) pursues his long time best friend Veronica, a Mississauga Filipino beauty queen, who shares a secret with her Scarborough boyfriend Jerome (Tony Ofori). The boys, JP and Noel (Richie Guzman and Jeff Yung) have been practising their two-step under the direction of choreographer Kate (Arlene Paculan) in this diverse coming of age story with a twist of 90s flare.

Written by spoken word poet Leonard Cervantes of FLIP TV (OMNI 2) and original music composed by Kierscey Rand, formerly the keyboardist for Down with Webster, and currently guitar player and background vocalist for Toronto artist K’Naan. Dora Nominated playwright Catherine Hernandez (Singkil, Future Folk & Eating with Lola) is at the helm making her directorial debut .  Jodinand Aguillon of Kensington Market’s Pretty Freedom rounds out the creative team with the set & costume designs.

Shotgun Wedding was originally created through Carlos Bulosan Theatre’s Play Creation Unit and later went onto further development through fu-GEN Theatre Company’s Playwrights’ Kitchen.

Guests are welcome to wear their favourite clothes from the 1990s to celebrate the chaos that will ensue.

Girls dig up your darkest lipstick. Guys shine up your pointiest dress shoes.

This is our debut.

#1 Weak – SWV (SHOTGUN WEDDING’S TOP TEN 1993 SONGS)

Shotgun Wedding begins THIS WEEK.

The Toronto Fringe Festival begins on Wednesday night and  Opening Night Pre-Sale Tickets are SOLD OUT (you can still rush though or come another night).

If you’re getting into the groove and coming in your cotillion-best, you’re probably steaming that ruffly dress with the satin and tulle or lint-rolling the dust off that teal microfibre double-breasted suit you’re wearing with the paisley rayon shirt. It’s the biggest night of your life (again) so why not take a second to put some music on your tape deck.

Very slowly, we’ve been counting down the Top 10 Songs that would make up the ultimate ‘Shotgun Wedding’ Mixtape… and now

We’ve come to NUMBER ONE.

An Un-Official Shotgun Wedding Mixtape

(I’m unearthing this awesome post by my homey Manny… because it’s so awesome. This post was originally written in June 2010.   – Len)

Back in ‘94 during (Catholic School) Confirmation Classes (grade eight) I made a mixtape for a girl from one of the other schools and wrote a stupid letter in the liner notes.  This mixtape didn’t even have music on it.  I gave her a blank tape as an excuse to write to her†.  She’s kept it ever since and though I hardly see her nowadays, she never lets me live it down.  She’s keeping the tape, but she made me a photo-copy for a going away present.

#2 **TIE** Can We Talk – Tevin Campbell/Saving Forever For You – Shanice (SHOTGUN WEDDING TOP 10 of ’93)

We’re getting really close to #1 in the Shotgun Wedding Top 10 Countdown! For now…

#2 is a TIE:

‘Can We Talk’ – Tevin Campbell
‘Saving Forever For You’ – Shanice

As teenagers in 1993, we might have wanted sex but what we wanted more was LOVE. We thought about it in class. We wrote about it in our private journals, wrote hints about it in yearbook messages and wrote to express it on 3-hole punched binder paper folded into cute origami and wedged between locker doors during 3rd period spare.

The truth is that in high school, being in love HURT.

#3 Flex (Time To Have Sex) – Mad Cobra (Shotgun Wedding’s 1993 TOP TEN Countdown)

LAAAAAWWWD… GYAL FLEX

Dark school gym corners. Red-lit basements. Rented church halls. You remember them. These were the places were teenagers became adults. Well, at least did adult things. Sort of.

In 1993 Mississauga, there was one place in particular where there were no parents, no chaperones and no teachers imposing 1ft restraining orders around our gyrating teenage hips — STREETSVILLE CHURCH.

#4 Whatta Man – Salt n’ Pepa feat. En Vogue (1993’s Shotgun Wedding TOP TEN Countdown)

“You SO CRAZY….”

If 1993 seemed like it was all about the ladies, well… it probably was, as far as music goes anyway. At our high school, it was all about guys singing to girls, guys asking girls out, guys asking girls to the prom — whatever. That’s a lot of pressure! If you want to know where adult gender role expectations originated, it was probably high school.

You SO CRAZY.... ____(fill in the blank)_____!!!

At least Salt ‘n’ Pepa thought of the GUYS for just a second when they did ‘Whatta Man’.

Where Are They Now?: Keith Sweat (& Candy Grams)

I remember getting a really weird note from a girl when I was in Grade 12.

Ever write a love letter? Ever get one?

For me, the year was  1991.  Of course, this was before Facebook or email existed, even before any of us had cell phones or even pagers with voicemail.  Back in Grade 12, there was only one effective way to send someone a message was to write them a note.  So, you either wrote it on paper and had a friend pass it to them, or shove it in their locker or leave it in a textbook.

Or… you sent them a CANDY GRAM.  

Shotgun Wedding’s Original Music by Kierscey Rand

(SCROLL DOWN for Show and Ticket Information!)

courtesy http://www.kierscey.com

By now you already know that Shotgun Wedding is a Musical and that features many of your favourite songs from the 90s. You may not know that Shotgun Wedding: The Musical features original music also. That music is by Kierscey Rand. And its about time you met him.

#5 Follow Me – Aly-Us (Shotgun Wedding’s 1993 TOP TEN Countdown)

(SCROLL DOWN for Showtimes and Ticket Info!)

I’m hoping… to see a day.

Don’t lie. You KNOW the moves to this one. Even if you want to act like you don’t, your feet give you away. This is part of your heritage and this blood is coarsing through your veins. Try as you may — you end up doing THE ELECTRIC SLIDE when the DJ plays ‘Follow Me’ by Aly-Us.

You could be at a 18th birthday Debut, a semi-formal, a prom or a (shotgun) wedding but regardless the venue, the moves are the same. Four steps to the right, four steps to the left, four steps back and then rock back two times and dip two times… aaaaand repeat. Throw in some spins and a few floor kicks and you’re looking MINT. In 1993, if you didn’t know The Electric Slide you probably didn’t get invited to the party.