Mitchell Cushman News

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.

At an online media announcement - pre-taped in front of Meridian Hall with physically distanced protocols in place - streamed June 8 on the Dora Awards YouTube channel, the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) announced 243 nominations for the 41st annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards.

This fall, Crow's Theatre raises the curtain on their biggest season to date, presenting an unmissable pairing of shows produced in partnership with two of the city's most enterprising independent theatre companies. As the pace of life accelerates and our day-to-day interactions, our lives, even art itself is moved into the ephemeral digital realm, Crow's Theatre's season-opening shows invite audiences to slow down, gather in the dark, and enjoy two distinct productions that celebrate the live experience.

Set in one of the last American cinemas with a 35mm projection system, THE FLICK examines the lives of three employees who are struggling with romantic relationships, finances, family, and themselves. It's a bleak look at life that suggests some interesting perspectives, although a lengthy runtime makes for a long, sometimes uncomfortable watch.

At a press conference held May 28 in the Davies Takacs Lobby of the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre, the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) announced 282 nominations for the 40th Anniversary Dora Mavor Moore Awards, which recognize excellence in professional theatre, dance and opera in Toronto. On Tuesday, June 25 at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, 49 Dora Mavor Moore Awards, the Silver Ticket Award and the Jon Kaplan Audience Choice Award will be presented.

All hell is breaking loose at Coal Mine Theatre for the Toronto premiere of HAND TO GOD, a blasphemous puppet show written by Robert Askins, directed by Mitchell Cushman and starring Frank Cox-O'Connell, Ted Dykstra, Amy Keating, Francis Melling, and Nicole Underhay, April 21 - May 12, 2019.

On the heels of a triumphant premiere in London, UK, Talk Is Free Theatre's The Curious Voyage, the innovative audience-specific immersive theatrical experience, will transfer to Toronto in spring 2020. The upcoming version of The Curious Voyage will offer two-day and one-day experience options created especially and uniquely for each individual patron, whereby who they are or what they each bring to the journey will influence the artistic outcome.   

Mitchell Cushman is coming out of directing a secret production of Sweeney Todd in an abandoned building as part of the bigger international immersive project The Curious Voyage. He's also directing Haley McGee's autobiographical play The Ex-Boyfriend Yard Sale, which is running at Camden People's Theatre from the end of November. We met up to discuss site-specific shows, the importance of contemporising older shows, and the cost of love.

THE WONDER PAGEANT, this year's Coal Mine Theatre commission, is a hilarious world premiere every night.

Live verbatim documentary chronicles the enthusiastic launch and ultimate failure of the Target Canada chain of department stores performed by The Passionate Players in and around Toronto's Historic Regent Cinema.

Londoners may have seen a resurgence in immersive theatrical experiences recently, but Talk Is Free Theatre brings the concept to a whole new level with The Curious Voyage. The intercontinental three-day journey starts in Barrie, Canada and lands in London, where the audience is taken on a quest to explore their darkest secrets.

DR. SILVER: A CELEBRATION OF LIFE is setting a new standard for Canadian musical theatre. From the moment you arrive at the venue, you're faced with a mass of Dr. Silver's followers - they're friendly, but it's unsettling to watch the room slowly fill with mini cups of blue water.

Coal Mine Theatre and Studio 180 Theatre join forces to produce Jennifer Haley's electric and groundbreaking play THE NETHER, directed by Coal Mine alumni Peter Pasyk (Killer Joe, Poison), October 7 - November 4, 2018.

After the thunderous success of LIFE AFTER, musical theatre power duo Anika Johnson and Britta Johnson are back with the world premiere of their new musical, DR. SILVER: A CELEBRATION OF LIFE. BroadwayWorld has exclusive photos from the first day of rehearsal!

The critically acclaimed and award-winning Coal Mine Theatre, Toronto's Off-Off Broadview theatre, returns with another explosive season of plays that continue to prioritize excellence while offering a highly entertaining experience in their intimate eighty-seat theatre.

The 39th Annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards for the 2017-2018 season were handed out in a star-studded ceremony in Toronto on the evening of Monday, June 25 at the Winter Garden Theatre of the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre, hosted by acclaimed actor Astrid Van Wieren, currently starring on Broadway in the award-winning Canadian musical Come From Away.

Once a year, indie theatre (barely) gets its shit together and gives out some goddamn awards. This is a once-a-year, one-night-only party where we come together to honour and heckle hustlers in Toronto's independent theatre community.

At a press conference held May 31 in the lobby of the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) announced 237 nominations for the 39th Annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards, which recognize excellence in the performing arts in Toronto.