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 former senior editor and the theatre reporter for the Globe and Mail. 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.
LEARN MORE
iPhoto caption: A stock image of Lighthouse Festival Theatre in Port Dover.
Lighthouse Festival unveils casting for 2025 summer season
The Lighthouse Festival has announced casting details for its 2025 summer season. A mix of returning favourites and new faces will appear in five productions across its two venues in Port Dover and Port Colborne.
iPhoto caption: The 'Octet' company. Photos by Dahlia Katz.
Crow’s Theatre announces packed 2025-26 season, including major partnership with Soulpepper
Next season, Crow’s Theatre will stage work by Michael Healey, Dave Malloy, Eboni Booth, Erin Shields, and Tennessee Williams, among others. The company is also launching a three-year partnership with Soulpepper Theatre, which will involve four large-scale 2025-26 co-productions.
iPhoto caption: Photo courtesy of Canadian Stage.
Canadian Stage reveals 2025-26 programming
World premieres from local playwrights Erin Shields and Kanika Ambrose feature in Canadian Stage’s 2025-26 season, announced this morning. The lineup also includes a Robert Lepage remount and a pair of Tony Award-nominated dramas.
iPhoto caption: Production image of The Livrarian. Photo by Anita Murphy.
Inaugural Bealtaine Theatre Festival brings contemporary Irish theatre to Toronto
Toronto audiences will experience a diverse selection of Irish theatre, music, and storytelling as the Bealtaine Theatre Festival debuts from April 25 to May 25.
iPhoto caption: Farren Timoteo in Made in Italy. Photo by Trudie Lee.
Theatre Calgary announces 2025–26 season
The 2025-26 season at Theatre Calgary features six productions, including a world premiere musical, a contemporary Canadian classic, and the return of a sold-out comedy.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Andree Lanthier.
GCTC to close out season with Rachel Mutombo’s Vierge
Co-produced by Montreal’s Black Theatre Workshop and directed by Dian Marie Bridge, Vierge will run from March 18 to 30 at the Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre in Ottawa.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Aisling Murphy.
In the darkest months of Yukon winter, it’s all about the Sun Room
I’m here for a week in January as a guest of Nakai Theatre, a hub for theatrical experimentation and outside-the-box programming in Canada’s westernmost territory.
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.
iPhoto caption: Liz Appel headshot courtesy of Liz Appel.
Five questions with Wights playwright Liz Appel
Intermission spoke with Appel over email for a brief Q&A about Wights, now playing at Crow’s Theatre until February 9.
Call for applications: Publishing and editorial assistant
Intermission Magazine is seeking a dynamic and collaborative individual to join our team.
iPhoto caption: What Writing Can Do: The 2025 Musical Theatre Critics Lab
Announcing What Writing Can Do: The 2025 Musical Theatre Critics Lab
What Writing Can Do is timed to coincide with the Grand and Theatre Aquarius’ co-production of Waitress, which will serve as a jumping-off point for discussions throughout the Lab.
iPhoto caption: A Christmas Story production still by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: A Christmas Story feels fresh at Theatre Aquarius
If you want to catch A Christmas Story before it closes, good luck — the show is close to sold out, and with the talent on that stage, it’s not hard to see why.
Comments