Stage/Theatre

Creator-performer daniel jelani ellis has been working on this solo show for over 10 years. Now, his multidisciplinary mash-up of dance, poetry and pantomime is getting a full production at the same theatre where it was first developed. Produced in association with Obsidian Theatre and inspired by experiences of growing up queer in Jamaica before finding a home in Canada, the show is directed by the prolific d’bi.young anitafrika. “Let’s get into the dancehall of it all,” says ellis online. Click here for more information.

One Four One Collective is a company of an increasingly rare breed in Toronto: it’s truly indie, truly scrappy and truly dedicated to presenting carefully conceived, full-scale productions. Its latest, a solo show by British writer Simon Stephens, is about a young photographer vacationing in the south of France. The production, from Bright Young Things and Quiet Things Creative, arrives fresh from a critically acclaimed run at the Edmonton Fringe. Belinda Cornish will direct, Jamie Cavanagh will act. Click here for more information.

After a fire, a move down the Danforth and some delayed shows, Coal Mine is getting back into the start-of-season groove with a production directed by its co-artistic director Ted Dykstra. (“A plague, a fire … things have been Biblical around here,” he said in a speech after their excellent July production of The Effect.) The play is by popular American playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, last seen in Toronto via ARC Stage’s punchy 2022 production of Gloria. Though the venue is small, there’s a large team, including an eight-person cast of faces, new and old. Click here for more information.

This packed festival at Factory Theatre will showcase 15 works-in-process from 21 different groups over five days. The offerings span the range of dance, musical theatre, installation, performance art and theatre. Tickets are on a per-night basis, so you’ll always get to see at least three shows. One of them, DOUBLE, played at this year’s SummerWorks Performance Festival: it’s a dance-theatre piece with beautiful experimental video projections by Alejandra Higuera. Click here for more information.

This lovely Queen Street West performance venue has two very digital shows coming up. Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim’s asses.masses is an interactive video-game experience that lasts seven hours and has four intermissions, with food provided. Meanwhile, British writer-director Nathan Ellis’s work.txt unpacks contemporary notions of labour and work, especially as they play out in capitalist metropolitan cities. It, too, is interactive: to discover insights about work, audience members themselves must work. See either and then stroll over to Parkdale for momos. Click here for more information.

Most Mirvish musicals are imported tours starring Americans, but every so often the company showcases local talent. SIX, the fast-paced pop musical hit about Henry VIII’s six wives, is case and point. Most of the cast is Canadian, and many are making their Mirvish debuts. Jaz Robinson, from Whitby, plays Catherine of Aragon; Julia Pulo, from Mississauga, plays Anne Boleyn; and Maggie Lacasse, from Montreal, plays Jane Seymour. Elysia Cruz, who’s taking on the role of Katherine Howard, is even a fresh graduate of Sheridan College. Expect a pop-concert vibe and mountains of energy. Click here for more information.

Over four days, this stalwart feminist theatre company will premiere six new plays by emerging and established writers; they’re readings, but cheaply priced. The full-length scripts are by Yolanda Bonnell, Poonam Dhir, Whitney French, Jan Alicia Jennings, Lara Lewis, and Maezy Reign — but on some nights, there will be short excerpts by other writers before the main event. It’s all going down at the Aki Studio, across from Regent Park. Click here for more information.

Another American script? ’Tis the season, I suppose. But this one, by playwright and filmmaker Will Arbery, might be the buzziest of any on offer. The Pulitzer-nominated play is recent, having premiered in New York to plenty of raves and awards just before the pandemic. The show offers a look at a community of Christian conservatives in Wyoming and is directed by the wonderful Philip Akin in the intimate Crow’s Theatre studio space. Click here for more information.

This new Kat Sandler play, about three women navigating the 16th century French court of King Henry II, would pair well with a visit to the queens of SIX. Sandler, also the director, has put together a great five-person cast: Rosemary Dunsmore, Dan Mousseau, Rose Napoli, Tony Ofori and Gabriella Sundar Singh. Click here for more information.

Cliff Cardinal’s previous play, William Shakespeare’s As You Like It, A Radical Retelling, went as viral as a solo show can. After its 2021 Toronto premiere, it toured the country before returning home for a Mirvish engagement. Cardinal’s latest, produced in association with Crow’s Theatre, will premiere at VideoCabaret’s Deanne Taylor Theatre, a somewhat under-used black box in the east end. Karin Randoja will direct the reportedly apocalyptic play. Click here for more information.

Last year’s Tarragon season was stuffed with exciting, divisive work that genuinely took risks. So, Nikki Shaffeeullah’s new play looks appropriately ambitious: it weaves together the stories of three queer women from the same bloodline living 100 years apart. The show is produced in association with Nightwood Theatre and Undercurrent Creations and will be co-directed by Clare Preuss and Donna-Michelle St. Bernard. Click here for more information.

This smaller, curated fest from the folks behind the Toronto Fringe used to happen in January; from now on, it’ll be an October moment. This year, there’ll be six shows, all performed at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. The offerings range from a puppetry-infused solo show (Something in the Water), to sketch comedy about grief (Dead Parents Society), to a modern retelling of the myth of Echo and Narcissus (ECHO). And no — we’re not just recommending the festival because of its name. Click here for more information.

Devised theatre? In this economy? The only company that consistently dares it is Gargantua, and it’s been at it for three decades. The company develops shows over two years, going from broad concepts to final productions involving interesting tech and live music. Its newest collective creation, directed by Jacquie P.A. Thomas, is about water. Perhaps it’ll make waves! Click here for more information.

If you’re looking for a Halloween-themed show, here it is. Eldritch Theatre, the Red Sandcastle’s house company, is all about scares, frights and creeps. This particular show, created by artistic director Eric Woolfe, is billed as a “ghoulishly giddy series of tales about the monsters, cryptids, and weird creatures that haunt our mortal realm.” Expect fanciful design from Melanie McNeill, along with clever stagecraft. Click here for more information.

This music-infused production, recommended for kids ages five through eight, is by Vancouver’s Axis Theatre. Directed by Chris McGregor at YPT’s 433-seat mainspace, masks will feature in playwright Joseph A. Dandurand’s telling of a Kwantlen First Nations legend about a cheese-stealing mouse, a hungry ogress and other animal pals. Click here for more information.