Paolo Santalucia News

IDEAS AT CROW’S THEATRE to be recorded at Crow’s Theatre from January to June 2024, inspired by five plays in the Theatre’s 40th anniversary season.

Award-winning theatre artist Gregory Prest makes his playwriting debut this fall with the world premiere of Bremen Town. Bremen Town will premiere as part of the Next Stage Festival with six performances from October 19 to 29, 2023. Learn more about the play and how to purchase tickets here!

This summer, Canadian Stage celebrates 40 magical years of Dream in High Park by bringing back one of Shakespeare's most beloved plays, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM.  The first play ever presented in the High Park amphitheatre in 1983, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM has long been associated with the time-held tradition of Shakespeare under the stars.

At a press conference held at Meridian Hall, the Toronto Alliance for the  Performing Arts (TAPA) announced 228 nominations for the 43rd Annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards, which recognize excellence in professional theatre, dance and opera in Toronto for the 2022-2023 season. Also announced at the press conference was the recipient of the Province of Ontario’s Pauline McGibbon Award. 

Factory Theatre will present the world premiere of the provocative and unabashedly feminist new play Armadillos by Governor General’s Literary Award winner Colleen Wagner and directed by multi-award winning artist Jani Lauzon. Armadillos will be presented at Factory Theatre from June 3rd to 24th, 2023. 

Artistic Director Chris Abraham and Executive Director Sherrie Johnson unveiled Crow's Theatre's 12-show 40th anniversary season, the largest and most ambitious season in the company's history. Learn more about the lineup here!

A story of unrequited love, creative jealousy, guns and vodka. This spring, Soulpepper Theatre Company brings Anton Chekhov's timeless tragicomedy The Seagull to the stage as part of Act I of their 2023 season.

What did our critic think of PRODIGAL at Streetcar Crowsnest? PRODIGAL, written and directed by The Howland Company's Paolo Santalucia and now playing at Crow's Theatre, takes place entirely in the kitchen of the wealthy Clark family over a weekend where the past comes home to roost. Patriarch Rowan Clark (Rick Roberts) finds out that he is about to come into a powerful political position, as his son Henry (Cameron Laurie) and daughter-in-law to be Sadie (Veronica Hortiguela) celebrate their engagement in the other room. Unfortunately for him, his prodigal son chooses that evening to return, mostly because he finds he's been cut off from the family funding to preserve their clean image under the added scrutiny politics will require.

The Howland Company marks the return of their iconic comedic play ENTRANCES AND EXITS, with their HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS special, created by Ruth Goodwin and Elizabeth Johnston.

The Howland Company and Hart House Theatre have announced a contemporary adaptation of Chekhov's THREE SISTERS, a co-production appearing this fall on the Hart House stage. THREE SISTERS will have its world premiere run from October 26 to November 12, 2022 at Hart House Theatre, 7 Hart House Cir, Toronto, ON. Opening night is November 2, 2022.

Banishment, unassailable friendships, brotherly hate, love at first sight, philosophy, a magical forest, and a witty young woman in disguise. These classic Shakespearean elements and more await audiences of Canadian Stage's Dream in High Park production of AS YOU LIKE IT, in bloom at the High Park Amphitheatre until September 4.

After a two-year hiatus, Canadian Stage will bring Shakespeare back to High Park this summer with a new and visually thrilling production of AS YOU LIKE IT, on stage July 28th – September 4th as part of the 2022 Dream In High Park.  

Today, Crow's Theatre Artistic Director Chris Abraham and Executive Director Sherrie Johnson unveiled a 12-show season that spans the classics, contemporary work, CanLit adaptations, musical theatre, dance, and music.

In the summer of 2021, as live performance slowly began again after a long hiatus, Canadian Stage brought the beloved High Park Amphitheatre back to life with a robust program of live theatre, music, dance, and film presented in collaboration with nineteen partner organizations and including twenty-one productions and events, engaging over 150 artists, and welcoming over 13,000 audience members – all re-connecting communities around the dream of live performance.

Full casting was released today for the Canadian premiere of Gloria by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, produced by ARC in association with Crow's Theatre. Gloria will be presented on stage, at 50 per cent capacity and in strict compliance with provincial health orders, from March 1 to 20 at Streetcar Crowsnest.

At an online media announcement - pre-taped in front of Meridian Hall with physically distanced protocols in place - streamed June 8 on the Dora Awards YouTube channel, the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) announced 243 nominations for the 41st annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards.

End of the Century was the album that skyrocketed the Ramones into the public eye, and in FOUR CHORDS AND A GUN writer John Ross Bowie delves into the strain and tension that came with its recording sessions. The collaboration between the Queens, New York band and infamous producer Phil Spector examines how The Ramones were torn apart by their own habits and Spector's divisive management.

Renowned theatre director and critic Richard Ouzounian returned to the Toronto arts scene once again this month with his production of FOUR CHORDS AND A GUN, a fictionalized account of what happened during the collaboration between the Ramones and infamous producer Phil Spector. The play investigates the dynamic between the band members, Spector's control over the musicians, and a love triangle between lead singer Joey, guitarist Johnny, and the fiery Linda.

Mark Crawford's BED AND BREAKFAST is a two-man show stuffed to the brim with vibrant, interesting characters, that takes place after Brett (Gregory Prest) inherits a family home in some Ontario small-town and packs up his life in Toronto with his partner Drew (Paolo Santalucia) to open a bed and breakfast.

2017 marks the 50th anniversary of the 1967 premiere of John Herbert's groundbreaking play, Fortune and Men's Eyes. In celebration, Herbert's tour de force will be brought to life with a dramatic reading by an all-star cast featuring COLTON CURTIS, GEORGE KRISSA, GRAHAM PARKHURST, PAOLO SANTALUCIA and Dora Award winner, BRUCE DOW.