June is always the calm before the storm in the theatre world; the major companies are wrapping up their seasons, and we all get prepped for the Fringe Festival in July. I’ve still been able to catch some incredible shows this month and I can’t wait to share them all with you!
After the Rain – Tarragon Theatre & The Musical Stage Company
Her parents are famous. Her boyfriend is stupid. And Suzie is a mess.
When she accepts a mature piano student obsessed with mastering only one song, Erik Satie’s “Gymnopedie No. 1”, struggling songwriter Suzie’s life takes an unforeseen turn. Full of family turmoil, life’s complexities, and centred around a devastating discovery, After the Rain is a musical based on a true story about the healing power of music.
May 27 – June 22
Tarragon Theatre Mainspace – 30 Bridgman Ave
After The Rain – Tarragon Theatre
True West – Elkabong Theatre Productions
This dark comedy follows two estranged brothers — one a screenwriter on the verge of a massive Hollywood deal, the other a drifter with ambitions of his own. Their explosive reunion threatens to unravel their lives.
June 4 – 15
East End Arts: St. Matthew’s Clubhouse – 450 Broadview Ave
TRUE WEST @ EAST END ARTS Tickets, Multiple Dates | Eventbrite
Leaving Home – Matchstick Theatre
Set in 1950s Toronto on the eve of a shotgun wedding, LEAVING HOMEis a play about love, loss, and intergenerational conflict. More than 50 years after its legendary debut at Tarragon Theatre, David French’s moving and personal depiction of the fraught relationship between parents and their children continues to speak to what it means to be part of a family. Staged in the round for a limited audience, Matchstick Theatre’s award-winning production (2025 Theatre Nova Scotia Robert Merritt awards for Outstanding Production and Direction, seven additional nominations for performance and design) in Toronto’s celebrated Coal Mine Theatre (2076 Danforth Avenue) is a rare opportunity to experience one of Canada’s most celebrated and iconic dramas.
June 10 – 22
The Coal Mine Theatre – 2076 Danforth Ave.
Clowns Reading Shakespeare – Panoply Theatre Collective
What can clowns teach us about the themes of love, power, fate, free will, and ambition? Laugh along with our clowns as they work together to explore three of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies – Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet, and Hamlet (to the best of their ability)!
June 19 – 29
Memorial Park (22 Little Avenue) and Kew Gardens (2075 Queen St. East)
Clowns Reading Shakespeare — Panoply Collective
Forget About Tomorrow – Here For Now Theatre
Jane has a demanding low-wage job, two adult kids who can’t manage their own lives, a best friend who can’t keep it in her pants, and a husband who’s distant and forgetful. Somehow she keeps it all together. But then a handsome stranger wanders into her life, and things get really complicated.
Packed with unforgettable characters and gut-wrenching plot twists, this finely drawn family drama reminds us how lucky we are to have each other, and that tomorrow is never a sure thing.
June 18 – 29
24 St. Andrew Street, Stratford
ForgetAboutTomorrow — Here For Now Theatre
The Wind Coming Over the Sea – Blyth Festival
From internationally acclaimed, best-selling author Emma Donoghue and directed by Blyth Festival Artistic Director Gil Garratt, THE WIND COMING OVER THE SEA is a folk musical incorporating traditional Irish and British ballads, telling the true story of Henry and Jane Johnson who emigrated from the town of Antrim in Northern Ireland to Southwestern Ontario during the Great Famine of the 1840’s. A deeply moving tale of love and perseverance that interweaves music with text from archival letters exchanged by the Johnsons, Donoghue’s play takes an unflinching look at a fundamental and ongoing piece of the story of Canada – the promise and peril of emigration – carrying the stories of a young couple filled with hope across the sea and time. The World Premiere production features Landon Doak as Henry Johnson and Shelayna Christante as Jane Johnson alongside Geoffrey Armour, Masae Day, and Festival veteran Michelle Fisk.
June 26 – August 12
Margaret Stephens Stage – Blyth Memorial Hall – 431 Queen St., Blyth
The Wind Coming Over the Sea – Blyth Festival Theatre
Thank you to my Patrons:
N. Bushnik, S. Fisher, B. Kinnon, D. Moyes
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Angelica and Paul, Anonymous, Adrianna, Caitlin, Jonathan, and Jada
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