Matthew Jocelyn News

Helen Lawrence, a highly anticipated new Canadian production at the frontier of new media use in performance art, marked its world premiere on March 19 in Vancouver before launching an international tour. The mixed-media project, produced by Canadian Stage with co-producers Arts Club Theatre Company (Vancouver) and The Banff Centre (Alberta), will travel across Canada and Europe in 2014 with stops in Montreal, Munich, Edinburgh and Toronto.

Canadian Stage today announced additional details for the 2014.2015 theatre season, including a third run of the phenomenally popular Venus in Fur at the company's intimate Berkeley Street Theatre in December 2014 and directors for two Shakespeare in High Park productions presented under the stars. Venus in Fur is back - again!

Canadian Stage presents the Canadian premiere of Tribes, the sharp, daring and jarringly emotional play by Nina Raine recognized by the 2012 Drama Desk and New York Theatre Critics Circle Awards. Tribes is directed by Daryl Cloran and features Stephen Drabicki, Patricia Fagan, Holly Lewis, Nancy Palk, Dylan Trowbridge and Joseph Ziegler on stage at the Berkeley Street Theatre (26 Berkeley Street) fromFeb. 2 to Mar. 2, 2014.

Canadian Stage brings England's London Road to Toronto with North American premiere of 5-star musical documentary Written by Alecky Blythe and Tony Award-winning composer Adam Cork; directed by Jackie Maxwell at the Bluma Appel Theatre January 19 to February 9, 2014 Toronto, ON - Canadian Stage presents the North American premiere of London Road, the captivating 5-star hit from the UK created by playwright Alecky Blythe and set to music Tony Award-winning composer Adam Cork. Part musical, part documentary, the new Canadian production is directed by the Shaw Festival's artistic director Jackie Maxwell with music direction by Reza Jacobs. Featuring a stellar ensemble cast (Sean Arbuckle, Damien Atkins, Ben Carlson, Michelle Fisk, Deborah Hay, George Masswohl, Julain Molnar, Glynis Ranney, Fiona Reid, Steve Ross and Shawn Wright) London Road transforms the stage at the Bluma Appel Theatre (27 Front St. E) from January 19 to February 9, 2014.

Highlights include new work from Canadian artists Stan Douglas, Chris Haddock and Jennifer Tarver; remount of Robert Lepage's sold-out Needles and Opium; Spotlight South Africa festival; great theatre, dance, circus and music Toronto, ON - Canadian Stage today announced the 14 productions and collaborations featured in the 2014.2015 season. Artistic & General Director Matthew Jocelyn continues to make Canadian Stage a home for innovative live performance from Canada and around the world with a genre-defying line-up that celebrates the company's mandate to share daring work guided by a strong directorial vision. In addition to featuring acclaimed artists and productions from around the world, the upcoming season will share newly commissioned Canadian work with an international audience. Transfixing theatre, dance, circus, and music with a particular focus on multimedia performance will span Canadian Stage's three venues: the Bluma Appel Theatre, the Berkeley Street Theatre and the High Park Amphitheatre.

Canadian Stage's Venus in Fur is back, just in time to heat things up for the holidays. The company today announced a remount of the hit production fromDecember 13 to 29 at the Berkeley Street Theatre (26 Berkeley St.). Directed by Jennifer Tarver with Rick Miller and Carly Street reprising their unforgettable roles as Thomas and Vanda, the production (initially staged at the Bluma Appel Theatre) will feature a reworked set design in the intimate 244-seat Berkeley Downstairs Theatre space. During a season dominated by sugar plum fairies and mice kings, the show called "sexy, sophisticated and side-splittingly funny" (Toronto Star) will be billed as 'the other nutcracker'.

20 years after its first production, Canadian visionary Robert Lepage revisits his breakout show, Needles and Opium, creating a new production that will receive its English-language premiere with Canadian Stage from November 22 to December 1 at the Bluma Appel Theatre (27 Front St. E). Starring Marc Labreche reprising his leading role, with Wellesley Robertson III joining him on stage bringing a second character to life, the production features new scenography with original images combined through highly visual staging that is as much magic as it is theatre. 'Needles and Opium was one of the first productions to set Robert Lepage on the world scene with his unparalleled capacity to use the most ingenious of theatrical technologies to deepen the emotional voyage played out on stage,' said Matthew Jocelyn, artistic and general director, Canadian Stage. 'Taking advantage of more sophisticated projection and technological savoir-faire, Lepage has chosen this piece above all others as the work he wants to revisit for today's audiences. After the success of 2010's The Andersen Project, we couldn't be more excited to bring Lepage and Ex Machina back to Canadian Stage.'

Canadian Stage presents the North American premiere of the Olivier Award-winning dance production DESH with a limited three performance run. Featuring masterful choreographer and performer Akram Khan in a full-length solo performance, the production is on stage at the Bluma Appel Theatre (27 Front St. E) from October 31 to November 2. Collaborating with Oscar-winning visual artist Tim Yip, lighting designer Michael Hulls, writer and poet Karthika Nair and composer Jocelyn Pook, Khan has created a theatrical dance experience that is at once intimate and epic.

Yukonstyle, the second of two plays by Quebecois playwright Sarah Berthiaume presented by Canadian Stage this season, marks its English-language premiere at the Berkeley Street Theatre from October 13 to 27. The production featuresKate Corbett, Ryan Cunningham, Francois Klanfer and Grace Lynn Kung, and is directed by Ted Witzel, one of the inaugural graduates of York University's MFA Program in Theatre - Stage Direction in Collaboration with Canadian Stage.

For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2013, Canadian Stage announced a surplus of $114,532, marking the second year in a row the company has ended the theatre season in the black, following a surplus of $30,880 for the 2012 fiscal year. Under the leadership of Artistic & General Director Matthew Jocelyn, Managing Director Su Hutchinson and board chair Ron Lalonde, the not-for-profit company continues to support its artistic mandate as a home for innovative live performance from Canada and around the world by reducing the organization's accumulated deficit by seven per cent in fiscal year 2013 from fiscal year 2012.

This fall Canadian Stage turns up the heat with an original Canadian production of David Ives' smart and sexy play Venus in Fur, starring Dora Award-winner Rick Miller (MacHomer, Just for Laughs, Lipsynch) as Thomas and Carly Street(The Good Wife, Broadway, The Stratford Festival) as Vanda. Directed by Jennifer Tarver (The Stratford Festival, Necessary Angel), the production is on stage at the Bluma Appel Theatre (27 Front St. E) from September 29 to October 27.

Canadian Stage opens the 2013.2014 theatre season at the Berkeley Street Theatre with two plays by Quebecois playwright Sarah Berthiaume, directed by the inaugural graduates of York University's MFA Program in Theatre - Stage Direction in Collaboration with Canadian Stage, Ker Wells and Ted Witzel. The Flood Thereafter, a twisted fairytale helmed by Wells (who recently directed the company's popular production of Macbeth as part of Shakespeare in High Park), is on stage tonight, September 22 to October 6. Set in a small fishing community and featuring Oliver Becker, Maggie Huculak, Courtney Ch'ng Lancaster, Kevin MacDonald, W. Joseph Matheson and Patricia Marceau, the play is a timeless fable, stretching from the historic roots of ancient Greece to a small village in Quebec today. Yukonstyle (directed by Witzel) begins previews October 13.

Canadian Stage opens the 2013.2014 theatre season at the Berkeley Street Theatre with two plays by Quebecois playwright Sarah Berthiaume, directed by the inaugural graduates of York University's MFA Program in Theatre - Stage Direction in Collaboration with Canadian Stage, Ker Wells and Ted Witzel. The Flood Thereafter, a twisted fairytale helmed by Wells (who recently directed the company's popular production of Macbeth as part of Shakespeare in High Park), is on stage September 22 to October 6. Set in a small fishing community and featuring Oliver Becker, Maggie Huculak, Courtney Ch'ng Lancaster, Kevin MacDonald, W. Joseph Matheson andPatricia Marceau, the play is a timeless fable, stretching from the historic roots of ancient Greece to a small village in Quebec today. Yukonstyle (directed by Witzel) begins previews October 13.

For the second summer in a row, Canadian Stage's popular Shakespeare in High Park has set an all-time high attendance record with more than 32,000 audience members enjoying theatre under the stars at the High Park Amphitheatre. The double-bill featuring Shakespeare's powerful tragedy, Macbeth, and controversial comedy, The Taming of the Shrew, was on stage from June 28 to September 1.

For the first time in more than 20 years, Canadian Stage presents two Shakespearean productions at the High Park Amphitheatre (1873 Bloor St. W.), pairing Shakespeare's powerful tragedy, Macbeth, and one of his earliest comedies, The Taming of the Shrew. Performances run on alternate nights from today, June 26 to September 1.