September 15, 2024 – April 20, 2025
Various Theatres
Canadian Stage has officially unveiled its highly anticipated 2024-2025 season, promising a diverse and innovative lineup that reflects the company’s commitment to bold, boundary-pushing theatre. This season is an unmissable season with Toronto and Canadian premieres, brilliant Canadian actors and ensembles tackling major contemporary and classical works, and the next chapter of Ross Petty’s beloved holiday Panto tradition.
2024 – 2025 Season
September 15 – October 6, 2024
1939 – Toronto Premiere
Berkeley Street Theatre, Toronto
https://www.canadianstage.com/shows-events/season/1939
A Canadian Stage and Belfry Theatre joint production in association with The Stratford Festival
Anticipating a visit by King George VI, an English teacher at a fictional Residential School in Northern Ontario enlists her students in a production of All’s Well That Ends Well. But her rigid ideas of how Shakespeare should be performed are challenged as news spreads, audience expectations abound and her Indigenous students start finding parallels between themselves and the characters in the play, setting out to make Shakespeare’s bitter-sweet comedy defiantly their own.
Initially produced at the Stratford Festival in 2022, 1939 was born of both family legacy and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action and has been guided by Indigenous Elders, Survivors, and ceremony throughout its development.
October 18 – November 3, 2024
My Name is Lucy Barton – Canadian Premiere
Bluma Appel Theatre, Toronto
https://www.canadianstage.com/shows-events/season/lucy-barton
A Canadian Stage Production
Lucy Barton wakes after an operation to discover – much to her surprise – her mother at the foot of her bed. They haven’t seen each other in years. During their days-long visit, Lucy contemplates her desperate rural childhood, her adult life in New York, and the state of her relationships as both a daughter and a mother.
Starring renowned Canadian actor Maev Beaty, and directed by former Shaw Festival Artistic Director Jackie Maxwell, this striking one-woman show rings breathlessly true. This haunting adaptation of New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Strout’s beloved novel has mesmerized audiences on Broadway and in the West End.
October 26 – November 17, 2024
Playing Shylock – World Premiere
Berkeley Street Theatre, Toronto
https://www.canadianstage.com/shows-events/season/playing-shylock
A production of The Merchant of Venice is cancelled mid-performance after public outcries about the play. The actor playing Shylock delivers a candid and passionate appeal about identity, public discourse, and the theatre.
Saul Rubinek, beloved Canadian television and film veteran (Wall Street, Unforgiven, Barney’s Version, The Family Man, Frasier) began his illustrious career in Ontario. He began performing at the Stratford Festival in 1969 and, in 1972, was a key artist in the very first season of the brand-new “Toronto Free Theatre” which would later become the Canadian Stage. Saul returns to Berkeley Street with this quick-witted and poignant play about cultural fractures and a life on the stage.
December 6 – January 5, 2025
The Wizard of Oz: A Holiday Musical Panto for All – World Premiere
The Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre, Toronto
https://www.canadianstage.com/shows-events/season/wizard-of-oz
A Canadian Stage Production in association with the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres
Big news: the revival of the holiday panto extravaganza is here! Following in the illustrious footsteps of Ross Petty’s iconic 25-year tradition, Canadian Stage proudly steps up to lead the next chapter of larger-than-life holiday pantomimes for the enjoyment of Toronto audiences of all ages. Prepare yourselves for an irreverent twist on the timeless tale of The Wizard of Oz.
January 14 – February 2, 2025
Winter Solstice – English-Language Canadian Premiere
Berkeley Street Theatre, Toronto
https://www.canadianstage.com/shows-events/season/winter-solstice
A Necessary Angel Theatre Company production in association with Canadian Stage and Birdland Theatre
It’s Christmas Eve and Bettina’s mother is staying for the holidays. Tensions rise between Bettina, her husband, and her mother – heightened by the presence of a man her mother met on the train and invited around for drinks. Family dynamics, betrayal, and the inescapable shadow of the past reverberate through this rapid and razor-sharp satire on the rise of the new right.
Winter Solstice is a comedy of manners with a bite. Starring Canadian legends Diego Matamoros and Nancy Palk, this thrilling play issues a warning: beware the sincere stranger.
January 18 – February 2, 2025
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Bluma Appel Theatre, Toronto
https://www.canadianstage.com/shows-events/season/virginia-woolf
A Canadian Stage Production
Late one night, after a university faculty soirée, George and Martha welcome a younger couple into their home. As the alcohol flows and dawn approaches, the young couple are drawn into George and Martha’s toxic games until the evening reaches its climax in a moment of devastating truth-telling.
Directed by Artistic Director Brendan Healy, this is an unmissable revival with an ensemble of Canada’s best: real-life acting couples Paul Gross & Martha Burns and Mac Fyfe & Hailey Gillis take the stage together in this bruising, no-holds-barred drama.
February 15 – March 9, 2025
Fat Ham – Canadian Premiere
Berkeley Street Theatre, Toronto
https://www.canadianstage.com/shows-events/season/fat-ham
A Canadian Stage Production
After a ghostly visit from his recently deceased father, Juicy must throw a cookout to celebrate his mother’s remarriage to his late father’s brother. Striking an eerie resemblance to that classic tale, Juicy must grapple with familial tensions, a quest for justice, and his own identity as he determines his next move. Fat Ham infuses Shakespeare’s Hamlet with laugh-out-loud humour, heart, and a soundtrack that will have everyone moving.
April 8 – 19, 2025
Mahabharata Part One: Karma: The Life We Inherit – Toronto Premiere
Bluma Appel Theatre, Toronto
https://www.canadianstage.com/shows-events/season/mahabharata-part1
A Why Not Theatre Production presented by Canadian Stage with Why Not Theatre
Mahabharata is a contemporary take on a Sanskrit epic that is more than four thousand years old and foundational to South Asian culture. This gripping story of a family feud is an exploration of profound philosophical and spiritual ideas. A visually stunning spectacle presented in two parts, Mahabharata takes audiences on a journey through the past in order to write a thrilling new future.
April 11 – 20, 2025
Mahabharata Part Two: Dharma: The Life We Choose – Toronto Premiere
Bluma Appel Theatre, Toronto
https://www.canadianstage.com/shows-events/season/mahabharata-part2
A Why Not Theatre Production presented by Canadian Stage with Why Not Theatre
Continuing the story from Part 1 and interrogating themes of justice and revenge, Part 2 includes a 15-minute Sanskrit opera adaptation of the Bhagavad Gita (The Song of God), which is the most famous chapter of the Mahabharata epic
In addition to its mainstage productions, Canadian Stage is also expanding its community outreach and educational programs for the 2024-2025 season. The company will host a series of artist talks, workshops, and interactive events designed to engage audiences in deeper conversations about the themes and ideas explored in the performances. This season also marks the return of the popular *Shakespeare in High Park* series, which will bring accessible, outdoor theatre to Toronto’s parks, making live performances available to a broader audience. With its rich and varied offerings, the 2024-2025 season at Canadian Stage is set to be a dynamic and unforgettable celebration of the performing arts.
