This year is off to a fabulous start! I’ve been very busy with plenty of incredible theatrical productions along with lots of fun interviews to share as well! March is certainly going to be no exception to this! There’s lots of exciting things going on in the GTA, so here’s a list of what you can expect to see me writing about this month!

Three Fingers Back – Tarragon Theatre and 54ology

54ology contains multitudes – this epic series of 54 works from Donna-Michelle St. Bernard offers a piece looking at each country in Africa – and from it comes this double bill of two plays, Give It Up and The Smell of Horses. These two pieces come together in 3 Fingers Back to offer different vantage points of the same world, diving into the dark side of war as experienced from the perspectives of interrogator and interrogated.

In this politically charged but deeply human performance, Toronto audiences are brought into a story they perhaps haven’t seen before; a story about life during war and the human rights atrocities that have become a reality for many – and yet are easily ignored by others. Two stories, from two different sides of a prison cell door, fuse together to show a story about the darkness of humanity, what people will abide and withstand in the name of solidarity, and human strength and resilience.

February 27 – March 24
Tarragon Theatre Extraspace – 30 Bridgman Ave
3 Fingers Back – Tarragon Theatre

Dead Elephants – Good Old Neon

With three performers playing a dozen characters across four timelines, Dead Elephants is a virtuosic, harrowing, and poignant meditation on mourning, animals, and technology. In 1870, during a food shortage brought about by the siege of Paris, a pair of French soldiers plot to kill and eat the elephants in the city zoo. In 1885, P.T. Barnum’s famous elephant Jumbo is struck by a train in St. Thomas, Ontario. In 1903, a circus elephant in Coney Island is publicly electrocuted in what becomes the earliest recorded footage of the passage of a creature from life into death. In Dead Elephants, these three stories are braided around the contemporary struggle of a young couple in the midst of grieving the loss of their infant child. At turns larger-than-life and deeply intimate, Dead Elephants is both political and moving, heartfelt and bitterly funny.

March 7 – 17
Aki Studio Theatre – 585 Dundas St E #250
Dead Elephants – Native Earth Performing Arts

Women at Play(s) 6 – Women at Play(s)

WOMEN AT PLAY(S) is a festival of short one act plays written, directed, and acted by
women playwrights, directors, and actors. This sixth edition has 6 one act plays, 10 to
20 minutes in length, ranging from ageism, domestic violence, femicide, sisterhood,
women empowerment, and physical theatre. Women At Play(s) is meant to inspire
artistic achievements in theatrical production for people who identify as women of all
diversities: LGBTQIA2S+ and disability inclusive, from Gen Z to Silver Foxes for an
audience who want to experience a variety of great theatre.

March 1 – 3, 7 – 10
Red Sandcastle Theatre – 922 Queen St East
http://www.ticketscene.ca/series/1169/

Dana H. – Crow’s Theatre
The critically acclaimed and celebrated play DANA H. arrives at Crow’s Theatre following a triumphant Broadway run and subsequent tour. This riveting, cutting-edge drama follows the harrowing true story of Dana Higginbotham, a chaplain in a psychiatric ward, who was abducted by one of the patients and held captive in a series of Florida motel rooms for five months.
Her son, acclaimed playwright Lucas Hnath (A Doll’s House, Part 2), has created a powerful drama for the stage with his mother’s own voice and courageous words. The show’s dialogue is audio culled from days of recorded interviews. Performed with precision by Jordan Baker, she lip-syncs every word, both channelling and paying tribute to Dana Higginbotham.
Winner of the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Solo Show, two Tony Awards (Best Performance, Best Sound Design), and The New York Times Critic’s Pick, DANA H. shatters conventions and delivers a chilling and unforgettable exploration of survival and storytelling.

March 12 – April 7
Factory Theatre – 125 Bathurst Street

https://www.crowstheatre.com/whats-on/view-all/danahhttps://www.crowstheatre.com/whats-on/view-all/danah

NO ONE’S SPECIAL AT THE HOT DOG CART – Theatre Passe Muraille

From award winning playwright, author, and spoken word performer Charlie Petch (they/he), NO ONE’S SPECIAL AT THE HOT DOG CART shares their personal accounts of working at hot dog stands around downtown Toronto in the early 90’s, where they began to learn de-escalation techniques which they now teach. Through spoken word, musical storytelling and by sharing the de-escalation techniques they have honed over the years, Petch regales audiences with tales of survival and kindness, as a witness to life on the street.

March 14 – 23
Theatre Passe Muraille – 16 Ryerson Avenue
https://www.passemuraille.ca/hotdog/

The Inheritance Part I & II – Canadian Stage

The sweeping story unfolds over two parts, immersing audiences in the intersecting lives of a group of young men navigating love, friendship, and loss as they try to make it in present-day New York City. Playwright Matthew López draws inspiration from E.M. Forster’s novel Howard’s End masterfully interweaving past and present, creating an unforgettable exploration of generational loss, resilience, and legacy against the backdrop of the AIDS epidemic and its aftermath. This new production features a distinguished cast of some of Canada’s most beloved actors, including Qasim Khan, Stephen Jackman-Torkoff, Antoine Yared, and Daniel MacIvor with Salvatore Antonio, Aldrin Bundoc, Hollywood Jade, Breton Lalama, Jim Mezon, Landon Nesbitt, Ben Page, Louise Pitre, and Gregory Prest.

Part 1 – March 22 – April 13
Part 2 – March 24 – April 14
Bluma Appel Theatre – 27 Front Street East
https://www.canadianstage.com/shows-events/the-inheritance