From a couple of one-act plays to a full production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and just about everything in between, the NAGs have been a force to reckon with since 1976! Click here for a brief history of the group.
The committee is made up of three executive positions and eight production positions. All positions are elected each May at the Annual General Meeting. Click here for a list of the current committee.
All our performances, auditions and rehearsals are held at the Tranzac Club, at 292 Brunswick Avenue in Toronto. By TTC, take the Bloor Danforth subway or the 510 Spadina streetcar to Spadina station, walk three blocks west to Brunswick and then a half-block south to Tranzac. If you're driving, there is a large municipal parking lot two blocks west of Brunswick off Lippincott Street. There is also street parking (as available) on side streets around the Club, free until midnight. For a detailed map, or for driving directions, click on the map below.
The NAGs are one of the few community theatre groups in Toronto to present traditional pantomime. Panto is a tradition in England, typically performed around the Christmas holidays. We put ours on in February (don't ask why--even we don't know!).
Pantomime is traditionally based on nursery rhymes, and most of ours are, too. While it's typically for children, there's always enough sophisticated humour to appeal to the grown-ups, too. Well, OK, some of the humour isn't that sophisticated... but it's guaranteed to entertain!
In general, the plot follows the plot of the nursery rhyme. But we always add in the bad guys (if there weren't enough to start with), a man dressed up as a woman, some questionable singing, a bit of slapstick, and we end up with a great, entertaining show every time!
Check out the article, written by our own Dan Corcoran for our 20th anniversary, on the history of pantomime: Oh Yes I Can!. And have a look at some of our anecdotes from over the years.
For some more references, check out The Pantomime Pages, and for a detailed history, try The Old English Pantomime.