You could feel the love last night at the Appel Salon at the Toronto Reference Library, as 250 people came together to celebrate the 40th season of Tarragon Theatre.
Toronto Star theatre critic Richard Ouzonian moderated a panel of playwrights with a shared Tarragon history — Diane Flacks, Michael Healey, Hannah Moscovitch and Judith Thompson –and the conversation was smart, furious, and very funny. (There were a few friendly digs at the art of theatre reviewing as well, with Ouzonian managing to hold his own.)
There were great stories told about former Tarragon heads Bill Glassco and Urjo Kareda, and current head Richard Rose who was there last night.
The evening ended with a shout out to David French, who couldn’t attend due to ill health. Ouzonian said we should all go home and reread the opening monologue of French’s play, Of the Fields Lately. I did (well, I watched it on YouTube) and it made me cry.