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Soulo Theatre
Soulo Theatre is a theatre company dedicated to the development and presentation of one-person stage performances through educational courses, panels and workshops and through presentations of both professional and amateur one-person shows. The spelling of Soulo reflects a strong focus on autobiographical work, "stories told from the heart and soul".

Developed in 2002 by theatre artist Tracey Erin Smith at Toronto’s Ryerson University’s ACT II Studio, Soulo Theatre courses help people use personal history and experience to create, write, direct and perform a one-person show. Although some students are professional actors, most have no acting background.

Smith says, “I’ve taught people from 18 to 92. I tell my students in the first class that what they create may well be therapeutic, but it’s not therapy. I want them to allow for personal emotion in their writing, but using that emotion has to be about whether and how it serves the piece. The result can be empowering and transformational,” she says. “I think of it as coming out of the closet as a human being, sharing what might have been previously hidden, even from the creator.”

Graduates have gone on to perform full-length solo shows across North America, in New York City and at the Edinburgh Festival.

Smith has written and performed three full-length solo works (The Burning Bush!, Two In The Bush! > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rGdwqymdE0 and snug harbor). http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2012/02/20/left-behind-documentary/  Smith is the only solo performer to be selected for Best of Fringe (Toronto) two years in row. http://fringetoronto.com/fringe-festival/best-of/

“My graduation exercise from Vancouver’s Studio 58 was to do my own solo show, and the first production I was cast in after school was a one-woman piece that dealt with HIV,” she recalls. “Since then, I’ve written all my own material. Having tasted the feeling of being alone onstage, holding that space and talking about something important and real, I knew what I wanted to do as an artist.”

In The Burning Bush!, (2009) a female rabbinical student becomes a stripper who talks about the religious experience. http://www.jewishtribune.ca/arts-and-culture/2012/11/15/from-stripping-rabbi-to-shuls-artist-in-residence http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/the-heat-is-on-the-burning-bush/article4216230/ http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/culture/story.html?id=6fd5d512-651b-4621-8b72-18e237058251&k=43011

When Smith brought her one-person story of her father's suicide, snug harbor, to The Toronto Fringe 2012, she held talkbacks at the end of every performance to address audience issues with suicide and depression.

Soulo Theatre held its inaugural Festival in May 2013 to showcase the work of other professionals. http://www.cjnews.com/arts/soulotheatre-presents-festival-one-person-shows Among the performers were Chris Gibbs (Antoine Feval), Precious Chong (debuting Precious, Like The Adjective, about her multiracial family) and Alex Dallas (Goddess). Also on the roster are Daniel Stolfi (Cancer Can’t Dance Like This), Diane L. Johnstone (Desperate Church Wives), Sarah Murphy-Dyson (Naked Ballerina) and American actor Charlie Bethel (performing either Beowulf or Gilgamesh, based on audience choice).

In July 2013, Tracey co-founded the SOULO Theatre Festival in Totnes, England.

SOULO Theatre Festival 2014 will run from May 22-25 at the Red Sandcastle Theatre in Toronto.