Caroline Azar

Caroline Azar is a Canadian director, actor, and playwright. As well, she was the lead singer, keyboardist and co-lyricist of the band Fifth Column.

This experimental all-women punk band began in the mid 1980s in Toronto, Ontario. The band released three albums, several cassettes, a number of appearances on various compilations, and three singles, the best known being "All Women Are Bitches, Repeat!", released on the independent record label K Records. Despite the controversy surrounding the song, it was named 'Single of the Week' in the UK music magazine Melody Maker. The song was also included on the bands' last full-length recording, "36-C". Their previous albums were "To Sir With Hate" and "All-Time Queen Of The World", put out by the band themselves. Their most recent release was the song "Imbecile", which appeared on the "Fields and Streams" compilation in 2002 on the Kill Rock Stars label.

Along with G.B. Jones, Jena von Brucker, Johnny Noxzema, Rex, and others, Caroline Azar was one of the editors of "Double Bill", a zine that was sometimes referred to as an "anti-zine" and provoked much commentary from its inception in 1991 until 2001, when it ceased publication.

Caroline has also recorded with several other bands including Kickstand from New York , Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet , Greek Buck, and The Hidden Cameras from Toronto.

She has directed over 20 plays and acted in a number of films and stage productions, such as the performance of "Cut" by Kevin Killian, "The Molly Murders" by Anthony Furey and "Phae" by Julian Doucet. As well as being a story editor and dramaturg for other writers, Azar has also written several plays, including "Satan's Mistress", "The Surreal Detective vs John Nothing" and "Man-O-Rexic". "Man-O-Rexic" featured songs written in collaboration with Fifth Column alumni G. B. Jones and Beverly Breckenridge along with Joel Gibb of The Hidden Cameras.

Films

*"Fifth Column at the Funnel" directed by John Porter (1985)
*"The Troublemakers" directed by G.B. Jones (1990)
*"No Skin Off My Ass" directed by Bruce LaBruce (1991)
*"The Yo-Yo Gang" directed by G.B. Jones (1992)
*"Evelyn Be My Valentine " directed by Virginia Rankin (1995)
*"She's Real, Worse Than Queer" directed by Lucy Thane (1997)
*"Touch" directed by Jeremy Podeswa (2001)

Plays

*"Satan's Mistress", 1996
*"The Surreal Detective", 1998
*"Man-O-Rexic", 2005

External links

* [http://torontotheater.blogspot.com/2005/07/molly-murders.html Review of the Molly Murders with Caroline Azar's response]
* [http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/17/23/Ent/misc.html Caroline Azar talks about the play "The Surreal Detective"]
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0044106 Caroline Azar] at Internet Movie Database