No one’s special at the hot dog cart

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“Everything I needed to know about emergency response, I learned as a teenage hot dog vendor in downtown Toronto” Charlie Petch (performer/writer).

Award winning playwright, author, and spoken word performer Charlie Petch (They/He) tells true stories from their past as a 911 operator, hospital bed allocator, emergency room clerk, and street worker. “No one’s special at the hot dog cart” is filled with busking performance, novelty instruments, clown, tragicomedy, lessons in de-escalation technique, and a deep appreciation of street communities.

Reviews from No one’s special at the hot dog cart‘s Toronto run:

The Toronto Star: Who sees Toronto’s joys and foibles most clearly? It may be the people behind the hot dog carts 

Intermission Magazine: No One’s Special at the Hot Dog Cart is a heartfelt slice of autobiography

Opera Ramblings: No One’s Special at the Hot Dog Cart – Review

My Gay Toronto: No One’s Special at the Hot Dog Cart: delicious de-escalation

Broadway World: Review: NO ONE’S SPECIAL AT THE HOT DOG CART

The Greek Press: No One’s Special at the Hot Dog Cart – Review of New Play

Workshop: De-Escalation Technique From A Former Hot Dog Vendor

Saturday April 27th, 1:00pm-3:00pm at the Theatre on King

Full details here

Artist Biographies:

Charlie Petch | Playwright & Performer

Charlie Petch (they/them, he/him) is a disabled/queer/transmasculine multidisciplinary artist who resides in Tkaronto/Toronto. A poet, playwright, librettist, musician, lighting designer, and host, Petch was the 2017 Poet of Honour for the speakNORTH national festival, winner of the Golden Beret lifetime achievement in spoken word with The League of Canadian Poets (2020), and founder of Hot Damn it’s a Queer Slam. Petch is a touring performer, as well as a mentor and workshop facilitator. Their debut poetry collection, Why I Was Late (Brick Books), won the 2022 ReLit Award, and was named “Best of 2021” by The Walrus. Their film with Opera QTO, Medusa’s Children, premièred 2022.  They have been featured on the CBC’s Q, are the current Writer In Residence for Berton House (2023), were long-listed for the CBC Poetry Prize in 2021, and will be debuting their solo show “No one’s special at the hot dog cart” in 2024 at Theatre Passe Muraille.

Autumn Smith | Director: 

Autumn is a director/creator and arts activist. She is the Artistic and Executive Director of TimberBeast Productions – an immersive/site-specific company based in Muskoka. Autumn also is a Professor of Theatre at U of T and Centennial College and is the External Examiner of Drama for the Sharjah Academy of Performing Arts in the UAE. Upcoming – Autumn will be directing the world premiere of Onion Skins and Peach Fuzz for 4th Line Theatre and Souls of the Shield for TimberBeast Productions.

Donna-Michelle St. Bernard | Dramaturge

Donna-Michelle St. Bernard aka Belladonna the Blest is an emcee, playwright and agitator. Her playwriting is focused in the 54ology: The First Stone, Diggers, Give It Up, The Smell of Horses, Just Now, Click Click, Cake, Sound of the Beast, A Man A Fish, Salome’s Clothes, Dark Love and Gas Girls. Other offerings include theatre for young audiences, opera libretti, collaborative works and weird reflections. As director, she has worked on The F Word (Cheesman/Miranda), Our Fathers, Sons, Lover and Little Brothers (Simamba), Job’s Wife (Nolan), Oops! (Feld). DM is currently an associate artist at lemonTree Creations, artistic director of New Harlem Productions and coordinator of the AD HOC Assembly.

Flávia F. Martin | Stage Manager

Flávia F. Martin (she/her) is a Portuguese Stage and Assistant Stage Manager based in Tkaronto. Recent credits include On The Other Side Of The Sea (Aluna Theatre), A Carnival of Munch (George Brown College), Comedy of Errors and Million Dollar Quartet (The Grove Theatre), New (Necessary Angel), Rubble (co-production between Aluna Theatre and Theatre Passe Muraille), Two Sided Mirror (Mixed Company Theatre), Beautiful Renegades (Peggy Baker’s Dance Projects), Cacao| A Venezuelan Lament (Victoria Mata Productions), Light: A Tribute to Toni Morrison (Luminato Festival), The House of Bernarda Alba (Modern Times and Aluna Theatre), Songs for a New World (Randolph College For the Performing Arts), and Lätt Lûtf (Teatro de Creación Remota).

Joel Richardson | Set and Projections Designer

Joel Richardson is a Canadian Production Designer, accomplished artist, and a multi-platform storyteller. He is also a co-founder of the METIPSO PORTAL experimental media lab and an award-winning member of the Director’s Guild of Canada. Throughout his career, Joel has showcased his art globally, with exhibitions in New York City, Miami, Moscow, Paris, Kenya, and various locations across Canada. Driven by a relentless pursuit of creative challenges, Joel recently transitioned from his role as an Art Director to embrace the role of Production Designer. His approach to Production Design is imbued with his unique artistic vision, and he thrives in the collaborative and creative atmosphere that the world of filmmaking offers. Joel‘s journey into the realm of Production Design commenced with season two of Steven Soderberg‘s “The Girlfriend Experience.” In 2022, he embarked on a remarkable two-month journey to Kenya, where he applied his creative prowess as a Production Designer for his first feature screenplay, “KIPKEMBOI,” which received a greenlight from Telefilm Canada and the CBC. Noteworthy recent projects include Production Designing the BBC-partnered series “Popularity Papers” and an episode of the NBC Universal show “One of Us Is Lying.”

Steph Raposo | Lighting Designer

Steph Raposo (they/them) is a toronto-based theatre designer whose work centres around sound composition and lighting design. as a trans artist they have a deep interest in learning about and presenting queer histories, uplifting queer communities, and celebrating queer joy through their work and within their life. past credits include: Sound Designer, Sugar Plum (Workshop, Nightwood Theatre, 2023); Festival Lighting Designer and Technical Director (Caminos Festival, Aluna Theatre, 2023); Sound Designer, This Inescapable City (Audio Play, Probably Theatre Collective, 2021); Technical Director, Here Are The Fragments. (The Theatre Centre, 2019); Video Designer, Four Sisters (Paradigm Theatre, The Theatre Centre, 2019); Festival Lighting Designer and Design Lab Facilitator (The Paprika Festival, 2020 – 2021); Sound Designer, Ga Ting (Next Stage Festival, 2019); Sound Designer, IMP (epigraph collective, Tarragon Theatre, 2017), Lighting Designer, Rhubarb Festival 2024 (Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, February 2024). upcoming credits: Technical Director, Women of the Fur Trade (Native Earth Performing Arts, April 2024).

FLAUTIE | Sound Designer

A fresh new punk sound creator and the soundtrack to the threesome of your dreams.

Jaideep Gray | Deaf Interpreter

Growing up as a Deaf Indian/Canadian, Jaideep Goray always has a passion for acting & performance. He believes you don’t have to be hearing to enjoy the surroundings of dialogue theater – acting is already within you, it is the natural facial expression, body language and rhythm of our being.

His family often encouraged him from childhood in acting and was introduced to theater by his school principal. As an artist, he has worked with some hearing performers creating accessible performance, recently alongside Christopher Corsini of MDL CHLD and done stage performance under Deaf Spectrum and Buddies in Bad Time Theater, Indian Folk tales in ASL narrator and performed as Indian folk dance culture festival with Mona Jean of ASL Carabert, LA; and has been
involved with different theaters for 3 years including Monsieur Richard Firmin as actor for Phantom of the Opera play with the well-known Deaf director Jules Dameron from LA. He joined the artist of Gaitrie Persaud’s experimental project “Spitting the lens” with another two Deaf actors and three hearing actors, Deaf Interpreter for Lillies or the revival of a romantic drama
and ASL drag performer at Buddies In Bad Time Theater. He also worked with Buddies. He has worked as Deaf Interpreter for the artist theater events under Soul Pepper, Sketch, Benthway theater AGO- Picasso, and Deaf Consulate for Deaf Interpreter for Faith of Act
Factory Theater and interpreted for hearing main role actor of Ladies and Gentlemen and boys and girls at Roseneath Theater . He also acted as CP for Sivert Das‘s play. Recently, he narrated the ASL story of the life of Lord Ganesh as part of Hindu culture festival with the Luminato Theater Festival.

He has joined a team with Gaitrie Persaud, a founder of Phoenix The Fire – theater hub for QTIBPOC Deaf artists. Jaideep has joined advocates for the QTIBPOC Deaf community with her to bridge the gap between Deaf actors and hearing actors in the artistic world.

Aneesa Mustafa | ASL-English Interpreter

Aneesa graduated with her Bachelors of Interpretation (ASL-English) from George Brown University. She speaks 5 languages and in her free time you can find her on an airplane or with her nose in a book (or both!).