Theatre Calgary Announces 2021-22 Season of Plays

Theatre Calgary's Artistic Director Stafford Arima has announced their 2021-22 season of plays. The Max Bell Theatre stage will welcome their audiences home for the first time since March 2020, and their new mini-season of four plays includes a world premiere, the return of a holiday classic, a heartwarming story about community and women, and a rock 'n' roll show that will make you want to dance in the aisles.

"Returning to our stage is a huge undertaking," says Arima. "The focus of this season is about re-igniting the stage, and I can't think of a more exciting group of productions that will energize and entertain our audiences. Not only is this abridged season lineup filled with recognizable stories that celebrate the theme of 'home,' but we will begin the important process of ensuring that health and safety policies are enacted to keep Theatre Calgary safe for every person in our community, which will increase the confidence in our audiences and our artists to return to our home."

"This season that Stafford has chosen is a celebration of family, friendship, and coming back together in this wonderfully resilient and creative city we live in," says Theatre Calgary Executive Director Maya Choldin. "To ensure this season is both enjoyable and successful, all of us at Theatre Calgary are committed to making our patrons, artists, and crew feel safe, and at home, as they join us back in the Max Bell Theatre." Returning to the Max Bell will see a number of comfort and safety measures in place. There will be a reduced audience capacity limit and spaced seating to their first productions, along with masking, and a newly-installed air filtration system throughout the theatre. Theatre Calgary is also working with other arts groups in the development of a vaccination policy for the theatre. More details on these protocols will be released in the coming weeks.

Theatre Calgary's 2021-22 season starts off on October 19th with the world premiere of Rick Miller's BOOM YZ. In this all-new show, Miller plays more than a hundred characters from Generations Y and Z, including his own daughter, to reflect on the aspirations and anxieties of young people today, and brings his multi-generational BOOM trilogy to a compelling close. Theatre Calgary audiences will remember their 2019 world premiere of BOOM X, and now with BOOM YZ, they return to their stage with the spectacle of music, personal stories and multimedia that Miller is famous for.

Next, Theatre Calgary celebrates 35 years of spirited tradition in their city with A Christmas Carol. In 2020, they reimagined Geoffrey Simon Brown's adaptation the beloved holiday classic with a three-person cast for a filmed production, so that this annual Calgary tradition could not be missed. For 2021, Theatre Calgary will present this three-person cast production live on their stage. Patrons will also have the opportunity to choose to watch Stafford Arima's extended directors cut of the online filmed version of A Christmas Carol, which they can watch from the comfort of their home.

In March of 2022, their stage will be filled with women sharing their stories, laughs and tears, as they present Robert Harling's Steel Magnolias. This is the much-loved hit play featuring six amazing women who draw upon their strength and love to meet the challenges of life. Part comedy of manners, part heartfelt tearjerker, and featuring non-stop banter and wisecracks, this play about friendship, community, and the power of the human spirit is what we all need right now. The show will feature a local cast and will be directed by Valerie Planche.

To close their 2021-22 season, April will see the much-anticipated Million Dollar Quartet rock their stage with music from Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley. Originally scheduled to be the closing show of their 2019-20 season, they are thrilled to be able to finally share Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux's electrifying production of four rock n' roll legends who are brought together in Memphis, Tennessee at Sun Record Studios for an impromptu jam session. Making his Theatre Calgary directorial debut will be Thom Allison, whose performances in Cabaret, Evita, and The Louder We Get have made him a Theatre Calgary audience-favourite.

In addition to their four mainstage shows, 2021-22 will see several other exciting projects, including their Page to Stage Festival, return. More details on these will be announced over the course of the season.

2021-22 SEASON OF PLAYS

BOOM YZ

October 19 to November 7, 2021 (Opening Night - 22, 2021)

Presented by Kidoons and WYRD Productions in Association with Theatre Calgary and The 20K Collective

Written, Directed, and Performed by Rick Miller

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

LIVE: November 30 to December 24, 2021 (Opening Night for Live show - Dec. 3, 2021)

ONLINE: December 2 to 31, 2021

By Charles Dickens Abridged Adaptation by Geoffrey Simon Brown

Directed by Stafford Arima

Casting TBA

This production is made possible by the generous support of The Cal Wenzel Family Foundation

STEEL MAGNOLIAS

March 8 to April 3, 2022 (Opening Night - March 11, 2022)

By Robert Harling

Directed by Valerie Planche

Casting TBA

MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET

April 26 to May 22, 2022 (Opening Night - April 29, 2022)

By Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux

Original concept and direction by Floyd Mutrux

Inspired by Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins

Directed by Thom Allison

Casting TBA

This production is made possible by the generous support of The Al Osten & Buddy Victor Legacy Fund

Calgary's first professional theatrical company, Theatre Calgary's mission is to stimulate, provoke, and delight through ambitious programming created to ignite local, national, and international engagement. For more information, visit them at theatrecalgary.com and follow them on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

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