Mitchell Cushman

Outside the March and Soulpepper Theatre present A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney

Two of Toronto’s leading theatre companies Outside the March (Jerusalem, The Flick) and Soulpepper (Sizwe Banzi is Dead, The Seagull) are teaming up for A Public Reading of An Unproduced Screenplay about the Death of Walt Disney, by Obie Award-winning playwright Lucas Hnath (Dana H., A Doll’s House Part 2).

It’s been a strong year for Toronto theatre. I saw 145 shows this year in Toronto and beyond, and am happy to report that theatre is alive and well. I’ve laughed, sobbed, coughed (discreetly into a mask), and cheered my way through our stages in 2023. Here are some local highlights.

In asking the persistent questions of how much of what we consider love, the personality, and even the soul is of our own making, and how much is just chemical, Mitchell Cushman’s searing production immediately gets under your skin, and it’s no placebo.

Outside the March brings another innovative and interactive theatrical experience to Toronto audiences with No Save Points, playing at the Lighthouse ArtScape. Writer and creator Sébastien Heins had a rough time growing up with an ailing mother who suffered from a rare genetic disease that could have passed on to him.

Concluding COAL MINE THEATRE’s buzzy first season in their new home at 2076 Danforth Avenue – award-winning director Mitchell Cushman returns to the east end to direct the Canadian premiere of UK writer Lucy Prebble’s Critics Circle award-winning THE EFFECT – on stage July 9 – 30 (Media night: July 13).

At a press conference held at Meridian Hall, the Toronto Alliance for the  Performing Arts (TAPA) announced 228 nominations for the 43rd Annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards, which recognize excellence in professional theatre, dance and opera in Toronto for the 2022-2023 season. Also announced at the press conference was the recipient of the Province of Ontario’s Pauline McGibbon Award. 

This June, creator/performer Sébastien Heins invites Toronto to a joyous, high-octane, deeply personal adventure story, all experienced at the touch of a button. Video games, theatre and memoir collide as Heins places the control(er) in the hands of the audience, entrusting them to pilot his performance using state-of-the-art motion capture and haptic technology.

Artistic Director Michael Torontow has announced further programming plans for a concurrent fall/winter 2022/23 season in Barrie and in Argentina.

Artistic Director Michael Torontow has announced further programming plans for a concurrent fall/winter 2022/23 season in Barrie and in Argentina.

The 42nd Annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards were handed out in front of an enthusiastic audience tonight at The Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre in the Elgin Theatre. Hosted by award-winning actor and director, Sabryn Rock, the gala ceremony celebrated excellence in Toronto theatre, dance and opera. The ceremony, which unfolded with characteristic razzle-dazzle, caps one of the most tumultuous periods in the history of Toronto performing arts.

With great sadness, COAL MINE THEATRE is announcing the cancellation of the much anticipated production of Jani Lauzon's acclaimed PROPHECY FOG, due to the recent fire at their venue.

At a press conference held at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) announced 235 nominations for the 42nd Annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards, which recognize excellence in professional theatre, dance and opera in Toronto.

As the company celebrates the conclusion of another sold-out, critically-acclaimed season, Toronto's beloved Off-Off Broadview stage - COAL MINE THEATRE – has announced an exhilarating four-show line-up for 22.23.

Today, Crow's Theatre Artistic Director Chris Abraham and Executive Director Sherrie Johnson unveiled a 12-show season that spans the classics, contemporary work, CanLit adaptations, musical theatre, dance, and music.

Talk Is Free Theatre Producer and CEO Arkady Spivak announced that their highly anticipated production of “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” will be arriving in Toronto this June.

La Jolla Playhouse has announced several initial projects for its 2022 Without Walls (WOW) Festival. The WOW Festival will take place April 21 – 24 at ARTS DISTRICT Liberty Station, home of the Playhouse’s 2019 WOW Festival and the Pop-Up WOW event in August 2021.

Today, TIFT Artistic Director Michael Torontow and CEO Arkady Spivak announced details of the company's upcoming Winter Season of eclectic in-person, online and hybrid theatrical experiences. The winter programming invites audiences to engage with fresh perspectives on a variety of divisive subjects faced today.   

The new programming venture will showcase nine conceptual adaptations of multi-character works, in which all roles will be played by a single actor, and in two cases by two actors, using in-person, virtual or hybrid platforms. Works will premiere gradually over the next two seasons, alongside TIFT’s regular scope of programming.

Today Artistic Producer Arkady Spivak announced that Talk Is Free Theatre will present a lineup of intimate live performances this September that exemplify the resilience, fortitude, and determination of the human spirit during these times.