SummerWorks and The Theatre Centre bring the fifth edition of Progress, an international festival of performance and ideas, back to Toronto from January 30 to February 15, 2020.
Progress is well known by its collectively curated program. Every year, I look forward to the festival, as it has introduced me to exciting modern works by very talented artists. Below I give you a list of the shows I’m looking forward to this year.
Toronto’s Groundling Theatre Company (The Winter’s Tale, Measure for Measure, Lear) and Crow’s Theatre, bring together a solid team of Canada’s leading classical actors to present an urgently contemporary take on Shakespeare’s iconic story of idealism, power, corruption, and violence; Julius Caesar, at Streetcar Crowsnest.
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The Next Stage Theatre Festival, returns this month for its 13th edition. Presented by the Toronto Fringe, this carefully festival will feature a showcase for bold, independent voices and a broad range of new, innovative plays.
From the list of twelve shows, I share my personal picks of what to see and experience at this year’s festival.
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Aluna Theatre, in association with Nightwood Theatre, is proud to announce the premiere of The Solitudes.
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The Ward Cabaret, a sold-out work-in-progress hit at last year’s Luminato Festival, premiered at Harbourfront Centre Theatre this past weekend.
From the 1840s until the Second World War, ‘The Ward’ was a place where Jewish, Chinese, African-American and Italian immigrants, among others, lived and struggled – an area loosely bordered by College and Queen, University and Yonge Streets – and was the seeding ground for this city’s cultural diversity. The Ward Cabaret musically and through storytelling explores how that remarkable process of mixing and imagining and sharing began, at the turn of the last century.
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In Poly Queer Love Ballad, Nina (Anais West), a polyamorous bisexual poet, meets Gabbie (Sara Vicruck), a monogamous lesbian songwriter, at an open mic night. With two microphones, a loop pedal, and an array of instruments, they struggle to reconcile their fierce mutual attraction with their opposing perspectives on love.
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Last night, I had the pleasure of attend The Musical Stage Company‘s Uncovered: Stevie Wonder And Prince — an opportunity to enjoy some of the greatest works by these two artists reimagined under Reza Jacobs‘ direction. The night included Thom Allison (Broadway), Colin Asuncion (singer & cabaret performer), Aimee Bessada (multi-instrumentalist & songwriter), Jully Black (Juno award-winner), Michelle Bouey (2018-19 Banks Prize winner), Divine Brown (Juno award-winner), Alana Hibbert (Stratford & Shaw Festivals), Lydia Persaud (singer-songwriter) Jackie Richardson (Gemini & Dora award-winner), Cary Shields (Broadway) among others. Accompanying Jacobs were Jamie Drake, Justin Gray, and Erika Nielsen.
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What if you could hire someone to pay penance for you? This is what The Apologist, the new play by Colleen Osborn aims to
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Factory Theatre opened its latest season with Carmen Aguirre’s Broken Tailbone this past Thursday. This is a co-production with Nightswimming. A rare, intimate journey into the hidden world of Latinx dance halls in Canada, Broken Tailbone explores themes of politics, culture and sexuality through Aguirre’s moving and funny personal stories.
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Aluna Theatre‘s CAMINOS 2019 returns to Toronto from October 3 – 13 at Aki Studio and Artscape Daniels Spectrum. This festival focuses on presenting new work by Pan-American, Indigenous and Latinx artists.
As there are many events vying for your attention this weekend, I’m giving you my picks of some of the shows to experience at this year’s festival.