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lighthouse festival theatre iPhoto caption: The cast and creative team of Cinderella at Lighthouse Festival Theatre. Photo courtesy of Lighthouse Festival Theatre.

Lighthouse Festival’s holiday pantomime returns for a second year of family-friendly fun

As per panto tradition, Cinderella will feature audience call-and-response, topical zingers, and loving nods to the local community, framed by an irreverent retelling of a classic fairytale. Playwright Ken MacDougall will once again pen the script for the show.

By Nathaniel Hanula-James / Nov 6, 2024
dead broke iPhoto caption: Dead Broke production still by Calvin Petersen.

REVIEW: Comedy-horror hybrid Dead Broke successfully spooks

While the non-horror aspects of the show lean towards the more amateur, the scares are incredibly successful. This show pulls off the theatrical horror with seeming ease: That’s reason enough to check it out for yourself.

By Andrea Perez / Nov 5, 2024
lighthouse festival theatre iPhoto caption: The cast and creative team of Cinderella at Lighthouse Festival Theatre. Photo courtesy of Lighthouse Festival Theatre.

Lighthouse Festival’s holiday pantomime returns for a second year of family-friendly fun

As per panto tradition, Cinderella will feature audience call-and-response, topical zingers, and loving nods to the local community, framed by an irreverent retelling of a classic fairytale. Playwright Ken MacDougall will once again pen the script for the show.

By Nathaniel Hanula-James / Nov 6, 2024
dead broke iPhoto caption: Dead Broke production still by Calvin Petersen.

REVIEW: Comedy-horror hybrid Dead Broke successfully spooks

While the non-horror aspects of the show lean towards the more amateur, the scares are incredibly successful. This show pulls off the theatrical horror with seeming ease: That’s reason enough to check it out for yourself.

By Andrea Perez / Nov 5, 2024
what the constitution means to me iPhoto caption: What the Constitution Means to Me production still by Dahlia Katz.

REVIEW: What the Constitution Means to Me froths with urgency

Despite the surprisingly intimate nature of the material, I found myself more impressed than moved by this show. It’s one of those pieces that slowly reveals itself as theatrical premises strip away, and perhaps it’s the extra layers of distance and biography that for me kept the material at an emotional distance.

By Karen Fricker / Nov 5, 2024
annemieke wade iPhoto caption: Photo of Annemieke Wade courtesy of TAPA.

TAPA appoints Annemieke Wade as new executive director

Wade steps into the position with an extensive background in theatre, with past roles including executive director of Roseneath Theatre and Theatre Direct and company manager of Tarragon Theatre.

By Aisling Murphy / Nov 5, 2024

Reviews

dead broke iPhoto caption: Dead Broke production still by Calvin Petersen.

REVIEW: Comedy-horror hybrid Dead Broke successfully spooks

While the non-horror aspects of the show lean towards the more amateur, the scares are incredibly successful. This show pulls off the theatrical horror with seeming ease: That’s reason enough to check it out for yourself.

By Andrea Perez
what the constitution means to me iPhoto caption: What the Constitution Means to Me production still by Dahlia Katz.

REVIEW: What the Constitution Means to Me froths with urgency

Despite the surprisingly intimate nature of the material, I found myself more impressed than moved by this show. It’s one of those pieces that slowly reveals itself as theatrical premises strip away, and perhaps it’s the extra layers of distance and biography that for me kept the material at an emotional distance.

By Karen Fricker
playing shylock iPhoto caption: Playing Shylock production still by Dahlia Katz.

REVIEW: In Playing Shylock, Saul Rubinek asks: ‘Am I Jewish enough yet?’

Theatre is consistently poised on a precipice where we worry that things will shut down because people care too little, or things will shut down because people care too much. In the nexus between those two states sits Saul Rubinek, espousing the fervent hope that theatre will, instead, teach us to care for each other.

By Ilana Lucas
snow in midsummer iPhoto caption: Snow in Midsummer production still by David Cooper.

REVIEW: Snow in Midsummer is a timeless, brilliant tragedy 

Directed by NAC English Theatre artistic director Nina Lee Aquino, the gorgeous details of the production allow audiences to feel the gravitas of every character.

By Amira Benjamin
my name is lucy barton iPhoto caption: My Name Is Lucy Barton production still by Dahlia Katz.

REVIEW: Maev Beaty sparkles at the centre of a sparse My Name Is Lucy Barton

In Rona Munro’s adaptation, My Name Is Lucy Barton loses some bite; it’s debatable how well the idea works as a piece of theatre. That said, Beaty gleams in a rousing solo performance that showcases her range and emotional depth.

By Aisling Murphy
into the woods iPhoto caption: Into the Woods production still by Curtis Perry.

REVIEW: Into the Woods signals a promising way forward for musical theatre in Ottawa

It’s wonderful to have companies like Ovation Productions bring in strong talent as well as highlight the great artists already living in our midst.

By Luke Brown

Spotlight

iPhoto caption: Norm Foster in an undated headshot.

Spotlight: Norm Foster

“I'm really proud that people want to see my work and want to see my new stuff,” says Foster, whose new play "Lakefront" plays at Lighthouse Festival Theatre through the end of the summer. “That makes me want to keep writing. Whenever I think, ‘Oh, maybe I’ve written my last play,’ I go, ‘No, I think I've got a few more in me. Let's keep going.’”

By Michael Ross Albert
actor vanessa sears stands on a waterfall in a sparkly blue evening dress. iPhoto caption: Vanessa Sears for Intermission Magazine. Photo by Dahlia Katz.

Spotlight: Vanessa Sears

“If I want to be the most expansive, detailed, versatile artist I can be, the only way to do that is to keep learning, questioning, exploring, and working,” says Sears, currently starring as Juliet in the Stratford Festival’s production of Romeo and Juliet. “If that’s not where the open doors are, then I will go elsewhere.”

Written by Fiona Raye Clarke, Photography by Dahlia Katz
iPhoto caption: Philip Akin at home. Photo by Dahlia Katz.

Spotlight: Philip Akin

“I don't know why it is being placed on Black people to change minds,” says Akin. “I ain't here to pick your intellectual cotton.”

Written by Fiona Raye Clarke, Photography by Dahlia Katz
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Artist Perspectives

Cake, commuting, and conversation: Here’s what Canadian audiences value when they go to the theatre

This past spring, we invited a group of scholars, artists, and students to gather at the University of Toronto Mississauga to figure out what Canadian audiences want and need from their hosts.

By Signy Lynch, , Kelsey Jacobson

George Bernard Shaw, Dungeons & Dragons, and me

I love George Bernard Shaw. This is my 11th season as an actor at his namesake festival. I think so much of what Shaw wrote could have been written yesterday. But some people aren’t interested in hearing what Shaw has to say to them 74 years after his death.

By Travis Seetoo
kailin brown iPhoto caption: Kailin Brown in the Broadway National Tour of Chicago. Photo by Jeremy Daniel.

I’m not a woman, I just play one

“As a performer, my job is to play a character, and if that character is right for me it doesn’t matter what gender they are,” writes non-binary actor Kailin Brown. “What matters is that I can make a difference in someone’s life who can relate to the character, or to me as the actor.”

By Kailin Brown
A photo of Uoft's University College. iPhoto caption: Photo by Robert Motum

Why would anyone do a PhD in theatre?

In an industry where stagnant government funding and tuition freezes have contributed to increasingly rigorous competition for fewer full-time positions, I’ve found myself reflecting: why do a PhD in theatre today?

By Robert Motum

Will female stories ever have a place in Canadian theatre?

A season of less than 50 per cent female playwrights, directors, and actors means the female-identifying population is not being fully represented. Programming becomes a question of this play or that play, as opposed to this and that, resulting in some narratives receiving short shrift. 

By Lezlie Wade

The spectacle of suffering: Toronto theatre’s addiction to trauma porn

Trauma is everywhere in Toronto — on the streets, subway, and stage — and maybe that’s why I’m so bored by it.

By Stephanie Fung