benu – Watah Theatre and The Theatre Centre
In the second play, benu, Sekesu Sankofa, Mudgu’s offspring, battles postpartum depression while navigating the alienation, invisibility and abuse Black womyn experience in the healthcare system.
September 30 – October 5, also October 11 and 12 (Marathon Weekend)
Franco Boni Theatre at The Theatre Centre – 1115 Queen Street W
https://theatrecentre.org/event/sankofatrilogy/
Blackbird – Talk Is Free Theatre
Ray has a new identity and has made a new life for himself. Una, upon seeing a photo of Ray in a magazine, has arrived unannounced at his office. Guilt, rage, and raw emotions run high as they recollect the passionate relationship they had fifteen years ago, when she was twelve and he was forty.
October 1 – 18
Hope United Church – 2550 Danforth Ave
https://www.tift.ca/shows/blackbird
Slave Play – Canadian Stage
One of the most talked about new plays of the 21st century, Jeremy O. Harris’ internationally acclaimed and electrifying SLAVE PLAY is a daring, seductive, and razor-sharp satire of love, race, sex, and the impact of history on our most intimate relationships. Provocative and wildly entertaining, SLAVE PLAY follows three interracial couples taking part in a controversial therapeutic retreat on a former plantation in the American South. The treatment –meant to help the couples resolve sexual and emotional struggles– quickly reveals even deeper psychological wounds affecting their relationships. As the couples undergo the “therapy,” tensions build, ultimately revealing the extent to which their personal histories and social realities are intertwined, and taking audiences on a journey to the meeting ground between pleasure and legacy.
September 27 – October 26
Berkeley Street Theatre – 26 Berkeley Street
https://www.canadianstage.com/shows-events/season/slave-play
word! sound! powah! – Watah Theatre and The Theatre Centre
And in the final play, word! sound! powah!, set amidst the socio-political upheaval based on Jamaica’s 1980 election, Benu Sankofa (Mudgu’s grandchild) joins a collective of radical poets, and together they use dub poetry to challenge systemic injustice, wielding words as weapons against the political corruption that they witness every day.
October 7 – 10
Franco Boni Theatre at The Theatre Centre – 1115 Queen St W
https://theatrecentre.org/event/sankofatrilogy/
Hokus Pokus Live! – Fruit Wine Productions, AEG Presents and Producer Entertainment Group (PEG)
Hokus Pokus Live! is a true love letter to the classic film, inspired by Bette Midler encouraging Ginger on the set of “Hocus Pocus 2.” As Ginger recalls, Midler told her, “I just really love the way that you do me. I would like to see you take this and run with it and turn it into something.” This enchanting new narrative production promises an evening of raucous laughter, unparalleled talent, stunning vocals, spellbinding performances, jaw-dropping drag artistry, and unforgettable entertainment as these queens and king bring their unique brand of sorcery to stages across North America.
Ginger said previously, “We are incredibly excited to bring Hokus Pokus Live! to audiences everywhere. This tour brings together an extraordinary lineup of talent, each a master of their craft. It’s more than just a drag show; it’s a magical theatrical experience that will leave audiences spellbound.”
This marks the third iteration of Hokus Pokus Live! but don’t expect to see the same show you’ve seen before. Ginger’s masterful work as a writer will showcase new songs that connect with the characters of the story we all know and love, and adds in the magic of each new cast member that only they can bring, while still staying true to the heart of the original film.
October 9
Queen Elizabeth Theatre – 190 Princes’ Blvd
https://www.hokuspokuslive.com/
Bremen Town – Tarragon Theatre
After forty-five years of hard work and dedication, Frau Esel, the longest serving housekeeper of Völksenhaus, has been fired and sent out to pasture. In a rage, she sets out on a winding journey to Bremen to live with her estranged son.
Gregory Prest brings Bremen Town, a rural folk tragicomedy, to Tarragon Theatre.
Featuring Nancy Palk as Frau Esel, Oliver Dennis, William Webster, Sheila McCarthy, and an exceptional ensemble cast, Bremen Town brings music and storytelling together in this award-winning production!
September 30 – October 26
Tarragon Theatre – 30 Bridgman Ave
https://tarragontheatre.com/plays/2025-2026/bremen-town/
What Brings You In – A Leslie Ting Production in Partnership with Theatre Passe Muraille
Theatre Passe Muraille is proud to bring to the stage What Brings You In, a genre-defying confessional concert experience created and performed by violinist Leslie Ting, onstage October 17 – 25, 2025. A partnership between Leslie Ting Production and Theatre Passe Muraille, this work blurs the lines between concert, therapy, and theatre, inviting the audience’s listening to become a transformative act.
Based on interview research and personal experiences with talk therapy, hypnotherapy, dreamwork, sandplay, somatics, and Reiki, What Brings You In explores when and where our truest selves emerge through sound. The words “what brings you in” are treated both as a question and as an offering: what brings us into a performance venue or communal space, and what brings us inward to discover more about ourselves through listening?
October 17 – 25
Theatre Passe Muraille – 16 Ryerson Ave
https://www.passemuraille.ca/what-brings-you-in/
Doubt: A Parable – Wren Theatre
In this brilliant and powerful drama set in 1964, Sister Aloysius, a Bronx school principal, takes matters into her own hands when she suspects the young Father Flynn of improper relations with one of the male students. As she navigates this moral landscape, the boundaries of certainty and doubt blur, inviting deep reflection on the nature of truth.
October 17 – 25
Annex Theatre – 730 Bathurst
https://www.wrentheatre.com/doubt-a-parable
CHILD-ish – Tarragon Theatre in association the CHILD-ish Collective
Forty whip-smart and brutally honest children are asked about love, life, and the world. From their fresh perspectives four adult actors speak their exact words and make them their own!
Using the words of a younger generation, new ideas and experiences come to life through the voices of adults. Hilarious, profound, and surprising, CHILD-ish is an intergenerational new twist on ‘verbatim theatre’ from a creative team that spans ages 6-77.
October 21 – November 16
Tarragon Theatre – 30 Bidgman Ave
https://tarragontheatre.com/plays/2025-2026/child-ish/
Doc Wuthergloom’s Little Lib’ary of the Damned
On the fearsome eve of All Hallows, the red door opens at the haunted Red Sandcastle Theatre to reveal the world premiere of Doc Wuthergloom’s Little Lib’ary of the Damned, running October 30-November 9, 2025. Armed with a caravan of creepy puppets and dark parlour magic, Toronto’s favourite itinerant exorcist returns to warn of the horrific dangers that lurk within the ancient forbidden books that line the shelves of his Little Lib’ary. Each tale is a fearful warning from the Goblin Universe, wrapped in impossible feats of magic that will warp your very sense of reality! But never fear! Doc Wuthergloom can save you, if only you purchase his Dread Grimoire Digest! Performed and created by Dr. Pretorious Wuthergloom with the assistance of Eric Woolfe, join us for fresh tales from Doc Wuthergloom’s worm-eaten tomes.
October 30 – November 9
Red Sandcastle Theatre – 922 Queen Street E
https://eldritchtheatre.ca/docwuthergloom/
Thank you to my Patrons:
N. Bushnik, S. Fisher, B. Kinnon, D. Moyes, E. O’Brien
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Angelica and Paul, Anonymous, Adrianna, Caitlin, Jonathan, Jada, and Courtney
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A View from the Box 