Soulpepper Unveils Their 2010 Season

Albert Schultz, Founding Artistic Director of Soulpepper Theatre Company, today announced the company's 2010 season. Comprised of 12 productions, the season includes eight new stagings and a return of four of Soulpepper's celebrated productions: Eric Peterson and John Gray's Billy Bishop Goes to War, David Mamet's Glengarry GLen Ross, Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun and Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

Schultz establishes two new initiatives in Soulpepper's 2010 season, including the introduction of a laboratory series as well as a deepened commitment to presenting outstanding Canadian plays.

In 2010, Soulpepper will launch a lab series to expand the aesthetic palette of the company and to engender a spirit of exploration and discovery amongst the company's artists. The establishment of the Garland Schultz Artistic Development Fund in 2007 has made this initiative possible. Details on the lab series will be announced at a later date.

Soulpepper presents four Canadian theatre classics in the company's 2010 season: Peterson and Gray's Billy Bishop Goes to War, Sharon Pollock's Doc, David French's Jitters and John Murrell's Waiting for the Parade.

"On the heels of the tremendous successes of John Gray and Eric Peterson's Billy Bishop Goes to War and David French's Mercer trilogy, Soulpepper will intensify its commitment to the inclusion of seminal Canadian works in our ongoing mission to present vital Canadian interpretations of history's great plays," said Albert Schultz. "Joining the remount of Billy Bishop Goes to War in Soulpepper's 2010 season, we have programmed three Canadian playwrights, from various regions of the country, whose work has been instrumental in the establishment of a Canadian canon over the last 35 years."

Soulpepper's 2010 Season

BILLY BISHOP GOES TO WAR
John Gray & Eric Peterson (JANUARY 22 - FEBRUARY 27)

Eric Peterson and John Gray make a return flight to Soulpepper where their last run was 100% sold out!

- "Thirty years on, Billy Bishop still soars" The Globe and Mail

- "Billy Bishop Goes to War changed my life...Ted Dykstra's production is perfection" NOW Magazine

OH WHAT A LOVELY WAR
Joan Littlewood, THEATRE WORKSHOP & Charles Chilton (MARCH 11 - APRIL 10)
"Pack up your troubles in the old kitbag... It's a long way to Tipperary... Keep the homefires burning..." These were the songs that provided a soundtrack to the loss of millions of young lives during the "war to end all wars." This seminal musical celebrates the spirit of a generation while skewering the absurdity and futility of war.

GLENGARRY GLen Ross
David Mamet (APRIL 22 -JUNE 5)
The return engagement of the hit of 2009.

- "So funny, so scary, so convincing" National Post

- "This Glengarry GLen Ross is electric" The Globe and Mail

FAITH HEALER
Brian Friel (APRIL 29 - JUNE 4)
One of the masterworks of twentieth-century Irish drama by the author of Translations (Soulpepper 2004). Three fascinating characters - a faith healer, his companion and his promoter - tell conflicting versions of the same story in this disturbing and humorous meditation on relationships and the truth/lies that bind them together.

WAITING FOR THE PARADE
JOHN MURRELL (APRIL 29 - MAY 29)
In one of our country's most enduring and best-loved plays, we look deep into the lives and loves of five Canadian women on the home-front during WWII. With humour and pathos, Murrell reveals a delicious slice of Canadian spirit, fortitude and poignancy.

JITTERS
David French (JUNE 24 - JULY 24)
For those of us who have enjoyed French's masterful Mercer Trilogy (Leaving Home - 2007, Of the Fields, Lately - 2009 and Salt-Water Moon - 2008), Jitters is a very special and deeply funny inside look. In one of the greatest of all "back-stage" comedies, French takes inspiration from the nerves and screw-ups of his own harrowing opening nights.

A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY
IVAN TURGENEV (JULY 6 - AUGUST 7)
Hungarian master László Marton (The Guardsman - 2009, Uncle Vanya - 2008, 2002, 2001, Three Sisters - 2007, The Play's the Thing - 2003, Platonov - 2000) returns to Soulpepper to direct one of the masterpieces of Russian literature. In this richly textured, love-filled comedy, the magic of a summer holiday turns several hearts upside-down.

WHAT THE BUTLER SAW
Joe Orton (AUGUST 19 - SEPTEMBER 18)
With his trademark blend of wit and irreverence, Joe Orton (Loot - 2009) blends sexual indiscretion and bureaucratic incompetence to create a seditious farcical romp.

DOC
SHARON POLLOCK (AUGUST 19 - SEPTEMBER 18)
Winner of both the Chalmers Canadian Play Award and the Governor General's Award for drama, Doc is a powerful and very personal play by one of Canada's most celebrated playwrights. With generosity and forgiveness, Pollock examines the scars and redemption of a daughter's relationship with her parents and her younger self.

A RAISIN IN THE SUN
Lorraine Hansberry (OCTOBER 15 - NOVEMBER 13)
Weyni Mengesha's award-winning production of this deeply moving and uplifting play returns with the original cast. Three generations of a black American family discover love, dignity, courage, and hope amidst the tribulations of racial intolerance. - "Blazingly good work" Toronto Star

DEATH OF A SALESMAN
Arthur Miller (OCTOBER 16 - NOVEMBER 13)
One of the undisputed masterpieces of Western Theatre.

Real-life couple and Soulpepper founders Joseph Ziegler and Nancy Palk play Willy and Linda Loman in this homage to those disappointed by the promise of the American Dream. - "Attention must be paid" Linda Loman

A CHRISTMAS CAROL
Charles Dickens, IN AN ADAPTATION BY MICHAEL SHAMATA (DECEMBER 6 - 30)
Soulpepper's perennial holiday family classic returns with Joseph Ziegler in his triumphant performance as Ebenezer Scrooge.

- "Couldn't possibly be better" Toronto Star

Current Soulpepper subscribers can renew their subscriptions now. New subscriptions are available as of November 3, 2009, and single tickets are available as of November 10, 2009, by calling the Young Centre for the Performing Arts Box Office at 416.866.8666 or visiting soulpepper.ca.

2010 Soulpepper Lead Sponsors are: Sun Life Financial, Scotiabank Group and TELUS. Soulpepper gratefully acknowledges annual operating support from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council.

Soulpepper Theatre Company is an artist-founded, classical repertory theatre company with a three-tiered mandate: to present the world's greatest stories in vital Canadian interpretations; to train a new generation of theatre artists; and to inspire and enrich youth through mentorship and access programs.