April once again proved to be an exceptionally busy month, and May is likewise shaping up to be full of fabulous things to see! With a long weekend in the mix, there’s even more time to get out and see some theatre!
Wicked Nix – Young People’s Theatre
In the world of the fairies, Nix is the most troublesome. With the Faerie Queen away, he is tasked with safeguarding their forest from a most dangerous enemy – humans. When one such foe settles into a cottage in the woods on the eve of the Queen’s return, Nix conjures a few wicked tricks to drive him away. When his efforts fail, Nix is faced with difficult choices and an even more dangerous truth.
April 28 – May 15
Young People’s Theatre – 165 Front Street East
WICKED NIX | Young People’s Theatre
THE ROOF IS LEAKING ਛੱਤ ਚੋਂਦੀ ਹੈ – Pleiades Theatre
Marathe and Malhi call The Roof is Leaking ਛੱਤ ਚੋਂਦੀ ਹੈ “a love letter to South Asian mothers,”exploring the quiet endurance and unspoken sacrifices of Punjabi/South Asian women that hold their families together. The characters in the story grapple with duty, love, the weight of tradition, and what it means to truly see your family.
The Roof is Leaking ਛੱਤ ਚੋਂਦੀ ਹੈ opens in the home of a middle-class Canadian-Punjabi family in Brampton, Ontario. When their father’s death brings the family to its knees, the mother of the household attempts to divorce her dead husband to recapture her personal freedom.
May 2 – 19
Berkeley Street Upstairs Theatre – 26 Berkeley Street
Pleiades Theatre | Toronto | The Roof is Leaking
Job – Coal Mine Theatre
A tightly wound 80-minute roller-coaster ride, in JOB, an employee at the big tech company (you know the one), has been placed on leave after becoming the subject of a viral video. She arrives in the office of a crisis therapist determined to be reinstated to the job that gives her life meaning. A propulsive psychological thriller, JOB zooms in on two careerists of different generations, genders and political paradigms to examine what it means to be a citizen of the internet and our obligation to help the people who need it most.
April 24 – May 18
The Coal Mine Theatre – 2076 Danforth Ave
A Strange Loop – The Musical Stage Company, Soulpepper Theatre Company, Crow’s Theatre, and TO Live
Created by Michael R. Jackson, A Strange Loop is a sharp, hilarious, and profoundly moving exploration of identity, self-doubt, and creativity. Following the journey of Usher, a young Black queer writer working as an usher at The Lion King, this provocative, groundbreaking musical brilliantly blends humour and heart as Usher battles the swirling voices in his head—personified as “Thoughts”—while writing a musical about his own life.
“Furiously entertaining” (Variety) and “a dazzling ride” (The New York Times), A Strange Loop masterfully tackles themes of race, sexuality, familial expectations, and personal authenticity with unmatched wit and honesty. With its bold storytelling and unforgettable music, this production is a must-see event for anyone who has ever wrestled with who they are and who they want to be.
April 22 – June 1
Young Centre for the Performing Arts, The Marilyn and Charles Baillie Theatre – 50 Tank House Lane
Soulpepper Theatre – Plays, Concerts & Musicals
The Cunning Linguist – TCL Collective and Aluna Theatre in association with Factory Theatre
The Cunning Linguist follows Monica, a young Mexican woman who realizes that God made her queer. What Monica sees as an honour, the culture around her condemns as wrong. Thanks to a TV show, Monica decides to move to Toronto. With God (Diosito) as her unlikely sidekick, she begins to learn more about loving herself, freedom and sex. Don’t miss this new Lesiban one-woman show that will make you laugh and feel glorious feelings of being alive.
April 16 – May 11
Studio Theatre at Factory Theatre – 125 Bathurst Street
The Cunning Linguist — Factory Theatre
The Threepenny Opera – Unbridled Theatre Collective
Originally Based on John Gay’s 18th century ballad opera The Beggar’s Opera, The Threepenny Opera has long excited audiences with its unfiltered, confrontational narrative as well as its social commentary. Written in 1928, Brecht’s cutting satirical critique of capitalism takes us through Victorian London’s Soho where we are plunged into the seedy underbelly of the Savoy Hotel, Grape Lane Brothel, and Peachum’s Emporium for Beggars. Timely and prophetic, Brecht deftly blurs the lines between a hypocritical bourgeois society, with its wealthy, corrupt power brokers, and the criminal underworld of cut-throats, thieves and whores.
It is here that we meet our seductive anti-hero Macheath, slashing his way through London, shamelessly ruining the lives of the women who love him; criminal entrepreneur JJ Peachum, a man with his own perverse solution to the poverty and homelessness crisis (that of course makes him a profit along the way. Sound familiar?); and his daughter Polly Peachum – the picture of goodness who shows us in the end that money and greed remain as alluring as ever.
May 8 – 17
VideoCabaret – 10 Busy Street
Search results for threepenny opera
Sanctuary Song – Tapestry Opera
Based on a true story, Sanctuary Song explores the story of Sydney, an elephant whose remarkable journey culminates in her release into a sanctuary.
Sydney, a Sumatran elephant poached from the jungles of Indonesia at a young age, recalls her remarkable life in captivity, far from home, as her keeper of 22 years leads her on a journey toward sanctuary in the hills of Tennessee. A dynamic weaving of opera and dance unearths friendships lost and found and restores stolen freedom. The power of memory and the wonder of communication in the human and natural worlds resonate in this moving new production that audiences will never forget. Among the reveries Sydney shares from her past is the incident where she broke a front leg trying to escape the circus boat which caught fire in the Halifax harbour.
The accident ended her circus career, so she came to the Louisiana Zoo, where the opera begins. As he prepares to lead Sydney onto the railway car, her keeper makes a heart-rending covenant with her: “I was not the first to put a chain on you, but I promise, I promise, I will be the last.”
This one-hour performance is an “opera for all ages” and the perfect evening out for the whole family.
May 9 – 25
Nancy & Ed Jackman Performance Centre – 877 Yonge Street
Sanctuary Song – Tapestry Opera
Comfort Food – Crow’s Theatre
From writer and performer Zorana Sadiq and directed by Mitchell Cushman, COMFORT FOOD tells the story of Bette, a popular cooking show host whose young-mom persona is about to expire – both on tv and in real life. As she faces the reality that her long-running TV series may be on its last legs, Bette is also grappling with her only son’s creeping withdrawal from the safety of their relationship into the deep space of the internet. Whereas cooking was once a shared love language between them, Bette’s son is now increasingly fixated on concerns about the climate crisis. As Bette looks towards the next chapter of her life, she can’t shake the feeling that everything she defines herself by is about to go up in flames. A play brimming with humour, warmth, and empathy, at its heart COMFORT FOOD explores the widening gap between a mother and son and what happens when analog parenting collides with a digital childhood.
May 13 – June 8
Studio Theatre at Streetcar Crowsnest – 345 Carlaw Ave
Genrefuck. – Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in partnership with Fu-Gen Theatre, PNSNV, and Pencil Kit Productions
Augusto Bitter’s Reina envisions the many lives of the anonymous woman depicted on a bag of Harina P.A.N. corn flour. A movement-centric hybrid between theatre, dance, and performance art that resists categorization, it invokes and celebrates personal femininity through a collection of poems, sculptures, and choreographies in conversation with music by Y Josephine.
Julie Phan’s Never Walk Alone uses pole dance to navigate alienation, projection, and inertia within different relational spheres. It’s a heartwarming Christmas tale in the only way Julie Phan knows how. It’s Christmas Eve, and Honey is starting her shift at the strip club when her long-estranged mother calls. Can she hold on tight enough to avoid spinning into the depths of memory and grief?
May 21 – 31
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre – 12 Alexander Street
Genrefuck. — Buddies in Bad Times Theatre
Tales of an Urban Indian – Talk Is Free Theatre
Tales of an Urban Indian is the story of Simon Douglas, a contemporary Indigenous man who grew up on both the reserve and in the “big city”. This dark comedy conjures up many characters that appear in Simon’s life, all played by one actor.
TIFT’s production of Tales of An Urban Indian has been touring internationally since it premiered in 2009, having played in cities and smaller communities across Canada, the US, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, Suriname, and Japan.
May 22 – 31
Hope United Church – 2550 Danforth Ave
Dangerous Liaisons – Wren Theatre
In 18th-century France, two aristocrats engage in a dangerous game of manipulation and seduction. As they target unsuspecting victims, their twisted desires lead to devastating consequences, exposing the depths of their immorality and leaving them morally bankrupt. “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” is a cautionary tale that explores the destructive power of manipulation and the fragile line between desire and morality.
May 27 – June 7
The Annex Theatre – 730 Bathurst St.
Dangerous Liaisons in Toronto – Checkout
I’ve Never Met Anyone Quite Like You Before – quitelikeyou Productions
Dave is on the quest to find answers, acceptance and love for his queer heart. Come dance, pray, mourn and unleash as we join him in his search to uncover these truths.
May 28 and 29
Red Sandcastle Theatre – 922 Queen St. E
I’ve Never Met Anyone Quite Like You Before – May 28 – 29, 2025
Stick Around – Here for Now Theatre
Rachel is about to turn 46 and is not happy about it. Whose face is that in the mirror? Whose butt? Whose boobs? Rachel would love to complain to her mother about all this. But she can’t. Can she?
Stick Around is a moving comedy about a mother, a daughter, and an eight-week goodbye. It’s also living proof that yes, cancer sucks. But some families crack the code: the only way to handle it is to laugh as long and loud as possible.
A world premiere by Rebecca Northan (whose hilarious co-creation Goblin: Macbeth has been wowing audiences across the country), Stick Around is a mildly fictionalized account of Rebecca’s last eight weeks with her mom following a diagnosis of terminal cancer.
May 30 – June 8
HFN Performance Space – 24 St. Andrew St. Stratford
Stick-around — Here For Now Theatre
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