Intermission Magazine Home
Playwright-performer Coleen Shirin MacPherson refers to herself as “colonized upon arrival,” born in Canada yet shaped by migrations and erasures that predate her birth. “I don’t have an ancient song or a lullaby that connects us across generations,” she tells her child. That absence — of song, language, and unbroken tradition — propels the Cahoots Theatre production.
Q&A: Hybrid conference explores the potential of VR theatre in Canada
Single Thread Theatre’s Performance and Extended Realities Conference features a mix of live performances, interactive digital presentations, and technical deep dives, as well as virtual and in-person installations.
Playwright-performer Coleen Shirin MacPherson refers to herself as “colonized upon arrival,” born in Canada yet shaped by migrations and erasures that predate her birth. “I don’t have an ancient song or a lullaby that connects us across generations,” she tells her child. That absence — of song, language, and unbroken tradition — propels the Cahoots Theatre production.
Q&A: Hybrid conference explores the potential of VR theatre in Canada
Single Thread Theatre’s Performance and Extended Realities Conference features a mix of live performances, interactive digital presentations, and technical deep dives, as well as virtual and in-person installations.
The Grand Theatre’s music-infused Piaf/Dietrich considers fame, friendship, and desire
“The extremes of both characters gives us a lot to consider and experience for how to live," says director Rachel Peake. "Should we lead with passion or precision? It’s sort of a no-brainer that happiness lies somewhere in the middle."
Copperbelt’s creative team crossed continents to do Natasha Mumba’s debut play justice
Zambian dialect coach Chiluba Katongo Nosfu worked with the cast, and also provided translation support for Mumba’s script: Copperbelt’s characters regularly interject words and phrases from Bemba — one of over 70 languages spoken in Zambia — into their English dialogue.
Review of MJ: The Musical among winners at the 2025 Nathan Cohen Awards
REVIEW: Tennessee Williams deep cut Summer and Smoke warms up Crow’s Theatre
REVIEW: Inventive choreography powers delightful Some Like It Hot at Mirvish
REVIEW: Anusree Roy’s Through the Eyes of God is a fast-paced, one-woman thriller
David Leyshon named interim artistic producer at Lighthouse Festival
REVIEW: Soulpepper’s Witch is thematically alluring but dramatically thin
Reviews
Playwright-performer Coleen Shirin MacPherson refers to herself as “colonized upon arrival,” born in Canada yet shaped by migrations and erasures that predate her birth. “I don’t have an ancient song or a lullaby that connects us across generations,” she tells her child. That absence — of song, language, and unbroken tradition — propels the Cahoots Theatre production.
REVIEW: Tennessee Williams deep cut Summer and Smoke warms up Crow’s Theatre
I wondered if further following the directive to push upward instead of outward, balancing the corporeal dark with a little more spiritual lightness, might have made this ambitious and heartfelt production spark just a little bit hotter.
REVIEW: Inventive choreography powers delightful Some Like It Hot at Mirvish
The gears of Casey Nicholaw’s production are well-oiled. Despite Art Deco set design and plenty of era-appropriate choreography, the show moves with contemporary fluidity.
REVIEW: Anusree Roy’s Through the Eyes of God is a fast-paced, one-woman thriller
This sequel to Pyaasa revisits the themes of motherhood and sacrifice in present-day India through the experience of Chaya, a lower caste Bengali woman.
REVIEW: Soulpepper’s Witch is thematically alluring but dramatically thin
Jen Silverman’s play aspires to communicate something substantive about the human condition — touching on loneliness, ostracization, misogyny, ageism, yearning, and ego — yet it never quite settles on a cohesive or definitive thesis. Lancaster’s production commits to heady visuals and clever idiosyncrasies to fill the gap, with mixed results.
REVIEW: Coal Mine’s Eureka Day offers a nuanced portrayal of medical mistrust
What could possibly urge people to deny experts, doctors, and researchers at the risk of their own life — and the lives of their children? These thoughts swirled through my brain as I entered Coal Mine Theatre to watch the compelling piece of art that is Eureka Day.
Spotlight
“If theatre’s done well, it’s an event. And for the audience it’s very mobilizing,” says Lepage. “Whatever the subject matter is, the people go and they’re stimulated, interested, and they feel intelligent... The most beautiful spectacle is always the spectacle of intelligence.”
“I’ve learned how truth is revealed in translation, and I feel like that’s my job as a director,” says Farsi. “I have to translate the piece from the page to the stage, and all the meanings that can be derived from that process of translation.”
The 40-year career of Alanis King began much the same way that so many careers in theatre do: in front of very small audiences. “The show must go on if you have the same amount of audience members as in the cast,” was King’s motto in the early days. But today, the multihyphenate Odawa artist has no difficulty finding people interested in her work.
Donate
Since you’re here, we have a small favour to ask.
Donate NowWe have big plans to grow and are committed to being a reliable platform for the performing arts in Canada. But to help us get there, we need support. Please consider donating so we can keep working hard to give you the performing arts journalism that is needed and wanted across Canada.
Artist Perspectives
Preparing to direct Slave Play: A travel guide to Richmond, Virginia
Since reading Slave Play, I’ve asked every romantic partner whether or not they experience a racial dynamic between us in the bedroom. No one has given the same answer. What is it that I am asking them to acknowledge in these scenarios? Who is it that I am asking them to hold? What does it mean to hold someone’s history?
At the 2025 Festival d’Avignon, politics were never far off
I’d performed and directed for festivals in Canada and elsewhere, but it wasn’t at all the same as being on the bum-in-seat side. There I was, in Avignon, rubbing shoulders with the umpteen visitors hungry for a good show. I came away feeling that here, theatre mattered. A lot. In the stony fields of Toronto, that can be easy to forget.
iPhoto caption: Set design by Camellia Koo,
Costume design by Judith Bowden,
Lighting design by Leigh Ann Vardy,
and photo by Dahlia Katz. Features Samantha Hill and Amaka Umeh.
A story with no expiry date: Adapting Fall On Your Knees
At this critical political juncture, as so many forces in the world try to mute and silence women, our Canadian stories merit our advocacy and fervent attention.
Armchairs, tattoos, and an online theatre magazine
When I started at Intermission, my world was limited to the confines of an armchair. Arts journalism was a high it felt dangerously fruitless to chase. The life stretched ahead of me was amorphous and frightening, a chasm filled with hand sanitizer and immigration concerns. It was worth crying over a spilled kombucha and scrubbing at the stain.
Why should you go to the ballet?
My childhood memories of learning to dance were front and centre for me when I attended opening night of The Nutcracker, performed by the National Ballet of Canada at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.
Want to see a magic show about race? Wait, what?
You’d be forgiven for the double-take. It’s a fairly common reaction when I tell folks about my work as a magician.