Annie Baker's THE ALIENS and More Slated for #SeasonFour at The Coal Mine Theatre

The Coal Mine Theatre, the rough and tumble indie theatre that began in the basement of a pizza joint, has quickly become a coveted east end destination for captivating, stimulating and provocative theatre.

For the fourth season from this award-winning, critically-acclaimed indie theatre company, Coal Mine Theatre presents two Canadian premieres, including a commissioned translation, one Toronto premiere, and the world premiere of an iconic album in concert.

Specializing in contemporary plays that look at the human condition from all points of view, Chief Engineers Diana Bentley and Ted Dykstra present the 2017-18 Coal Mine Theatre Season.

- THE ALIENS, written by Annie Baker, directed by Mitchell Cushman, and starring Max Crumpler-Haynes, Will Greenblatt and Noah Reid
- POISON, written by Lot Vekemans, translated by Rina Vergano, directed by Peter Pasyk
- Rumours by Fleetwood Mac: A COAL MINE CONCERT, conceived by Ted Dykstra
- CATEGORY E, written by Belinda Cornish, directed by Rae Ellen Bodie

Limited Season Passes are now on sale! The all-inclusive four-show season pass, valued at $170, will be available for a limited time for only $140. Last year, season passes sold-out!

Coal Mine Theatre launches the 17-18 season with Pulitzer Prize Award-winning playwright Annie Baker's THE ALIENS. Sharing the Obie Award for Best New American Play in 2010 with another Baker script, Circle Mirror Transformation, THE ALIENS, a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, premiered Off-Broadway in April 2009 and the West End in September of the same year.

Jasper (Will Greenblatt) and KJ (Noah Reid) are two misfit souls who have made the out-back of a Vermont coffee shop their private sanctuary and refuge from the real world. Here they can indulge in their dreams and delusions of being a brilliant writer and a divine healer. Seventeen-year-old Evan (Max Crumpler-Haynes) is eking out his summer working at the café and is irresistibly drawn to their world of magic mushrooms, philosophical musings and rock bands that never-were. "A gentle and extraordinarily beautiful new play" (New York Times), THE ALIENS is both a cruel and compassionate examination of a lost generation and modern-day America.

The Canadian Premiere of Euro-hit POISON by Dutch playwright Lot Vekemans, marks the first commissioned translation by Coal Mine Theatre, from British writer Rina Vergano. Vekemans' award-winning 2009 drama (Taalunie Toneelschrijfprijs Award for best new Dutch play) is widely considered one of the most successful plays to come from the Netherlands. POISON has since been translated into 15+ languages and staged across Europe, Russia, South America, China, South Africa, Mexico, and received its American premiere at the Beckett Theater in 2016. A Dutch film version, one of the many planned international film adaptations, is due in 2018.

Alone in a room for the first time in years, a couple is brought back together again after a harrowing breakup. As the play progresses, old wounds re-open, new truths surface, and the real reason behind their separation is learned. Delicate yet hard-hitting, POISON holds up a (hopeful) mirror to humanity where love and humour can still be found in the midst of so much pain.

Best. Album. Ever. Released in 1977, Fleetwood Mac's Rumours is the seventh best-selling album of all time, moving 800,000 copies per week at its height. Its success made Fleetwood Mac a cultural phenomenon and set a template for pop music with a gleaming surface that also has something complicated, desperate, and dark resonating underneath. A hand-picked cast of Toronto's best singers and musicians will perform Rumours in its entirety, as A COAL MINE CONCERT.

Belinda Cornish is an English-born, Edmonton-based, award-winning playwright, actor, improviser, and Canadian Screen Award nominee (Tiny Plastic Men). Since moving to Canada in 2000, Cornish founded the all-female company Panties Productions for which she wrote and produced several award-winning plays. CATEGORY E, which received its world premiere in Edmonton in 2015, produced by Maggie Tree Collective, garnered five Sterling Awards for New Play and Independent Production, among others.

Beckett meets Stoppard in this highly praised horror-comedy. Two individuals share a white cell. One is a half-blind paraplegic. The other might be a clinical psychopath. A third person arrives. They pass the time with solo pursuits, play Monopoly together, and try their best not to kill each other. Mysteriously matter-of-fact about their environment, CATEGORY E is a scathing indictment of the brutality and baseness that can exist in science

Coal Mine Theatre presents fearlessly challenging plays, produced, directed, designed and performed at the highest possible level. With less than 100 seats available per performance, Coal Mine is inspired by the intimacy and excitement of the off-off-Broadway experience.

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Coal Mine Theatre 2017-18 Season:
Chief Engineers Diana Bentley and Ted Dykstra
Season Passes on Sale Now!
The Coal Mine, 1454 Danforth Avenue, Toronto

The Canadian Premiere of
THE ALIENS
Written by Annie Baker
Directed by Mitchell Cushman
Starring Max Crumpler-Haynes, Will Greenblatt, Noah Reid
Set and Costume Design by Anahita Dehbonehie
Lighting Design by Nick Blais • Sound Design by Sam Sholdice
September 17 - October 8, 2017
Opening Night: Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Tuesday-Saturday @ 7:30 • Sunday Matinee @ 2pm
(Sunday preview @ 7:30pm)
All Tickets $42.50 + hst (previews $25 +hst) • SEASON PASS $140 + hst
www.brownpapertickets.com/TheCoalMine

The Canadian Premiere of
POISON
Written by Lot Vekemans
English translation by Rina Vergano
Directed by Peter Pasyk
November 12 - December 3, 2017
Opening Night: Wednesday, November 15, 2017
Tuesday-Saturday @ 7:30 • Sunday Matinee @ 2pm
(Sunday preview @ 7:30pm)
All Tickets $42.50 + hst (previews $25 +hst) • SEASON PASS $140 + hst
www.brownpapertickets.com/TheCoalMine

The World Premiere of
Rumours by Fleetwood Mac
A COAL MINE CONCERT
Conceived by Ted Dykstra
February 4-25, 2018
Opening Night: Wednesday, February 7, 2018
Tuesday-Saturday @ 7:30 • Sunday Matinee @ 2pm
(Sunday preview @ 7:30pm)
All Tickets $42.50 + hst (previews $25 +hst) • SEASON PASS $140 + hst
www.brownpapertickets.com/TheCoalMine

The Toronto Premiere of
CATEGORY E
Written by Belinda Cornish
Directed by Rae Ellen Bodie
April 8-29, 2018
Opening Night: Wednesday, April 11, 2018
Tuesday-Saturday @ 7:30 • Sunday Matinee @ 2pm
(Sunday preview @ 7:30pm)
All Tickets $42.50 + hst (previews $25 +hst) • SEASON PASS $140 + hst
www.brownpapertickets.com/TheCoalMine

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For more information, visit www.coalminetheatre.com, or follow on FB/coalminetheatre, Twitter: @coalminetheatre, and YouTube/coalminetheatre.