Ottawa’s GCTC Unveils 2023-2024 Season
iPhoto caption: Show posters by Trish Lindstrom
The Great Canadian Theatre Company has announced a full subscription season for 2023-2024 with five new mainstage productions, through which five Canadian playwrights share their humourous, heartfelt, provocative, and playful visions of how we relate, what we mean to each other, and how much we need to be together. This will be GCTC’s 49th season.
“Our ’23-’24 season is all about relationships,” says GCTC’s artistic director Sarah Kitz. “All of our programming this year, mainstage and ancillary, is based around the idea of gathering; to share, strategize, seek guidance, and celebrate – because we are better together.”
This year GCTC will introduce a new subscription model. Through the new Community Subscription program, subscribers make monthly contributions to the theatre, receive tickets to all five subscription series shows, and help the theatre impact as many people as possible through accessible tickets. The new subscription program creates a predictable, steady income stream year-round which will allow GCTC to offer more single tickets at a reduced rate to those who need them, as well as free education programming, bringing more people into the experience of theatre.
You can find out more about GCTC’s access programming and accessibility initiatives here.
Here’s what to expect on the GCTC Mainstage this year.
The Supine Cobbler – September 26 – October 8, 2023
by Jill Connell
Directed by Emily Pearlman
The Doctor introduces the gang: The Cobbler (Wanted: name redacted), The Lover, The Dancer, and The Kid. A story about falling off the map of decency and becoming an outlaw. A contemporary female Western. A hero myth for girls.
Benevolence – December 5 – 17, 2023
by Fanny Britt
translated by Leanna Brodie
Directed by Eric Coates
This is Gilles Jean. This is his mother. Those are his brothers. That is his friend, and his friend’s wife. This is the distance between Gilles and goodness.
What will Gilles do for love?
Women of the Fur Trade – January 17 – 27, 2024 at NAC
by Frances Koncan
Directed by Renae Morriseau
A co-production with National Arts Centre Indigenous Theatre & Native Earth Performing Arts
Eighteen hundred and something something. A room in a fort on the banks of a Reddish River. This important history is brought to you by Marie-Angelique (a Métis Taurus), Cecilia (a British Virgo), Eugenia (an Ojibwe Sagittarius), Thomas Scott (an Irish Capricorn), and Louis Riel (a Métis Libra), under the influence of Suri Cruise and Shiloh Jolie-Pitt.
The Waltz – February 13 – 25, 2024
by Marie Beath Badian
A Factory Theatre Production
Directed by Nina Lee Aquino
It’s the ’90s and this is a romcom.
Two Filipino Canadian teenagers — strangers to each other, but with a shared history — spend one evening with a boombox under the big Saskatchewan sky.
be careful with each other (so you can be dangerous together) – April 9 – 21, 2024
a world premiere by Daniel Sarah Karasik
Directed by Sarah Kitz
Father and child.
Aggressor and aggressed.
Conflicted lovers.
A care worker.
As identity, power and desires shift, how can love transform us?
Complementing GCTC’s five mainstage shows will be a curated selection of limited-engagement programming. Some shows are still in development, and audiences can look forward to shows for all ages.
Dragonfly of Chicoutimi – October 17 – 29, 2023
by Larry Tremblay
Directed by Lisa L’Heureux
A Fâcheux Théâtre Production
After years of silence, francophone Gaston Talbot can finally speak again. The only problem is all his words are coming out in the wrong language. Written in French but with English words; a show that questions whether language brings us closer to the truth—or further from it?
A 100 Watt Production – May 1 – 4, 2024
Featuring The Youth Ensemble
Directed by Kristina Watt Villegas
These are teenagers. These are their experiences, their longings, their questions. Theatre of anarchy, theatre of innocence, theatre from the hearts of youth for audiences of all ages.
100 Watt Youth Ensemble member Sophie Dean created artwork to represent their piece, which can be downloaded here.
Tiny Treasures – February 27 to March 3, 2024
By Kevin Dyer
Directed by Hugh Neilson
A play for young audiences and their families.
Here is James, a thirteen year old boy. Here he is feeding his fish. Here he is trying to do his homework. Here he is preparing his younger sister’s lunch… and getting her to school. And here he is reminding his mom to take her medication and eat. This is James, a thirteen year old boy. This is James, caring for his family.
Untitled – a new creation
By Mary Ellen MacLean
Mary Ellen’s unique style of performance creation bridges physicality, voice, text, environments and objects. From her background in physical theatre, acting and directing, to her prowess on the dance floor, her curiosity, rigour, and love of the craft drive her to create new adventures in storytelling.
Aisling Murphy
Aisling is Intermission's senior editor and an award-winning arts journalist with bylines including the New York Times, Toronto Star, Globe & Mail, CBC Arts, and Maclean's. She likes British playwright Sarah Kane, most songs by Taylor Swift, and her cats, Fig and June. She was a 2024 fellow at the National Critics Institute in Waterford, CT.
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