February flew by and here we are in March already! There’s lots of great shows to see this month and I can’t wait to tell you all about them!
Trident Moon – Crow’s Theatre
Written by Anusree Roy and directed by Nina Lee Aquino with a sweeping ensemble that includes Sahiba Arora, Afroza Banu, Sehar Bhojani, Michelle Mohamed, Muhaddisah, Imali Perera, Zorana Sadiq, Mirza Sahran, Prerna Nehta, and Roy herself, TRIDENT MOON is set during the Partition of India in 1947 – one of the largest migrations in human history. Unfolding over a single night as three Muslim women have been abducted by three Hindu women, all trapped inside a transport truck as it speeds through a newly divided country, the lines between victim and perpetrator blur as the play exposes the harrowing realities of Partition. Exploring themes of identity, survival, and the enduring bonds of humanity, TRIDENT MOON spotlights the ingenuity and bravery of women caught in a crisis that threatens their bodies, faith, and dignity. Roy’s writing balances visceral emotion and delicate intimacy, creating a narrative that is both specific to its historical context and universal in its exploration of trauma, hope, and connection.
March 4 – 30
Guloien Theatre at Streetcar Crowsnest – 345 Carlaw Avenue
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee – Shifting Ground Collective
At the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, a group of passionate middle schoolers compete for the chance to prove to the world (and themselves) that the things that make them different are the things that make them winners – and maybe learn a little more about themselves along the way.
Featuring a wacky improvised Spelling Bee that includes real audience participants, and tied together by a score from the legendary William Finn (Falsettos, A New Brain), Spelling Bee will take you right back to your sixth grade classroom and remind you that there’s more to life than winning the trophy.
March 6 – 15
Aki Studio Theatre – 585 Dundas St E
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee – Shifting Ground Collective
Measure For Measure – House + Body in association with Crow’s Theatre
This playful adaptation sets Shakespeare’s 1604 drama inside a contemporary sound studio where five actors take on all twenty characters throughout a live radio stream. Shakespeare’s story, while front and centre, is experienced through the actress stepping in at the last minute to play the leading role of Isabella. With no rehearsal, she must quickly adapt to this high-pressure environment, but things get complicated when the action off-stage becomes as heated as they are onstage.
March 6 – 16
Studio Theatre at Streetcar Crowsnest – 345 Carlaw Avenue
Measure for Measure – Crow’s Theatre
Performance Review – Outside the March
On a young woman’s first day at her first job, a man tips her $15. The next day, he tips her $100. Then $150. She’s not THAT good at making cappuccinos.
So begins the first of seven stories about seven worst days at seven jobs by award-winning playwright Rosamund Small. Performance Review is a shockingly-funny and just plain shocking examination of power dynamics and sexual violence in the workplace in the style of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag and Sarah Polley’s Run Toward the Danger, “and,” says Small, “stay with me here… also with inspiration from The Communist Manifesto.”
Performance Review is told intimately and immediately by Small herself as she serves coffee to a 30-person audience in real time at Dundas West’s Morning Parade Coffee Bar. Inspired by true events, it marks her return to writing a new play after seven years working in television and as an educator—and will feature her first-ever turn as a live performer.
February 27 – March 23
Morning Parade Coffee Bar – 256 Crawford Street
Performance Review – Outside The March
Carried by the River – Red Snow Collective
Carried by the River is an original play by Diana Tso, directed by William Yong. Kai, a young Asian woman raised in Canada, discovers a life-altering truth on her birthday when her mother passes away. Drawn to the river and the memories her mother once shared, Kai embarks on a transformative journey to China. Along the way, she meets three fateful women whose lives intertwine with hers in unexpected ways and encounters spirit animals who guide her toward an enigmatic reckoning with her roots. As she navigates grief and relationships, Kai uncovers a profound understanding of life’s deeper truths. This lyrical tale intertwines myth, memory, and identity, inviting audiences into an evocative world where the lines between reality and the imagined blur.
March 8 – 23
Tarragon Theatre Extraspace – 30 Bridgman Avenue
Carried by the River – Tarragon Theatre
There is Violence and There is Righteous Violence and There is Death, or The Born Again Crow – Native Earth Performing Arts and Buddies in Bad Times Theatre
Beth wants to burn it all down: the coconut milk section, the lady razor section, the healthy snacks section. The whole damn superstore. She only makes it to the magazine rack, but her act of resistance (or “public breakdown”) gets her fired and lands her back with her mom in the suburbs—where a talking crow shows her how to harness her powerful political rage. A cul-de-sac gothic with a searing punk sensibility, The Born-Again Crow reads like an unearthed X-Files episode the suits were too afraid to air. It demands that we acknowledge our fury. Because how else can we feel real?
March 9 – 29
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre – 12 Alexander Street
TRUCK – Pressgang Theatre in association with Factory Theatre
It’s 2038 and tech-giant Edison is set to introduce a line of self-driving vehicles. The tech will make ninety-nine percent of long-haul trucking autonomous, putting thousands out of work. Tonight, you’re invited to a retirement speech for the last truck driver in America.
Written by Graham Isador (The Globe and Mail, GQ) TRUCK is a new play about technology, the value of work, and challenges of the near future. The show debuts as part of FACTORY Theatre’s spring season after a staged reading at the 2023 Summerworks festival.
March 25 – 30
Studio Theatre at Factory Theatre – 125 Bathurst Street
RED – Riot King Productions
RED, written by John Logan and directed by Kenzia Dalie, reflects on what it means to create space for contemplation. What can art teach us about finding the balance? How can we use it to process complex emotions and work through trauma? From prepping canvases and mixing pigments to their symbiotic dance of painting, Rothko and his new assistant Ken are weighted in the balance, challenging each other on art, life, and what it means to connect as human beings.
March 28 – April 6
BMO Incubator at The Theatre Centre – 1115 Queen Street W
Grave Songs – Eldritch Theatre
A concert of original morbid material and creepy covers by Carolyn Fe as she emerges from the mouldering, earthly confines of her singer’s grave.
The Great Intermission (aka pandemic lockdown) of recent past affected us in ways we could not have fathomed. For Carolyn Fe, there was a grain-of-sand-sized twinkle that dimmed into a full-blown stage fright until the singer in her gave up the ghost and died. Her albums and voice, noticed worldwide were silenced and buried deep in the worm-choked earth… until now. Accompanied by Juro Kim Feliz, Carolyn Fe’s haunting voice will rise from it’s forlorn tomb for only fleeting fleeting apparitions. See and hear familiar songs and her original material offered in a dark macabre fashion that has always stained her moribund heart.
March 28 – 30
Red Sandcastle Theatre – 922 Queen Street E
Grave Songs ‣ Eldritch Theatre
A Public Display of Affection – Studio 180 Theatre in association with Crow’s Theatre
Mixing history, comedy, and poignant reflection in equal measure, A Public Display of Affection excavates the lives, loves, and landmarks of Wilson’s life as a queer teenager in Toronto.
Deftly inhabiting a cavalcade of characters, Wilson leads us on a wry and intimate exploration of the Village he once knew, the legacy it created, and the future being forged by a new generation.
March 25 – April 20
Studio Theatre at Streetcar Crowsnest – 345 Carlaw Avenue
A PUBLIC DISPLAY OF AFFECTION – Studio 180 Theatre
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N. Bushnik, S. Fisher, B. Kinnon, D. Moyes
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Angelica and Paul, Anonymous, Adrianna, and Caitlin
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