Stage/Theatre

What: Prophecy Fog
Where: Coal Mine Theatre, 2076 Danforth Ave.
When: Sun., Nov. 12 until Sun., Dec. 10
Why you should go: Acclaimed Jani Lauzon show reimagines the performer-spectator relationship.

THIS FALL, Coal Mine Theatre is remounting Jani Lauzon’s acclaimed theatre piece in association with Paper Canoe Projects. The stalwart Métis artist also performs in the show, which involves a journey into the Mojave Desert and a girl who roams the mountains of B.C. with a pocket full of stones.

Prophecy Fog was nominated for three Doras when it premiered in 2019 at The Theatre Centre, winning one for Melissa Joakim’s environmental scenic design. The Toronto return engagement, directed by Franco Boni (as before), comes after a 12-theatre tour that spanned from Ontario to the Yukon and beyond.

“The tour was great,” says Lauzon in an interview at the Coal Mine. “It’s just such a beautiful way to share the story with everybody. We ended the tour in Whitehorse, which was perfect since so much of the show is connected to the land. And those folks really understand that — it’s a different kind of existence up there.”

Speaking about the upcoming Coal Mine run, Lauzon expresses that she knows Prophecy Fog much deeper than before, thanks to the experience of doing it all over. “What I know more about is the importance of my relationship to the audience. How to really, really be connected in those moments.”

Lauzon goes on to share that rethinking the performer-spectator relationship is a central goal of her work, especially with Prophecy Fog. “That’s one of the boundaries I’m trying to push,” she says. “I think we’ve become accustomed to sitting in a theatre slightly removed and being entertained … I’m trying with this show to say, ‘Hey, let’s be together, let’s actually be sitting in a circle together’ … I’m asking a different engagement.”