OH, ANNE! a Carter-Ryan Theatre production opening the season at Theatre Network. Artwork by Jason Carter
By Liz Nicholls,
Jenna Rodgers, Theatre Network’s new artistic director
Theatre Network turns 52, with a new artistic director (the first change in artistic leadership at the company in 27 years) and a new season.
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Jenna Rodgers, Edmonton-born director/ dramaturg/ artistic director/ theatre activist, arrives at TN from two years as artistic director of Concrete Theatre. She inherits the top job at a storied company with a national profile in contemporary Canadian theatre, as a successor to Bradley Moss, who left the company last December after three decades to resume his career as a director (“his life as an individual artist” as he put it at the time).
Rodgers, a U of A theatre grad originally who spent much of her career in Calgary, has dubbed her first, three-production, season lineup at TN ‘The Roxy Remixed’, in honour of TN’s distinguished history and its home, the beautiful theatre on 124th St. that rose in 2022, literally from the ashes (and on the very footprint) of the company’s old ex-cinema digs, razed by fire in 2015.
“I’m acutely aware that some of the (upcoming season of) programming may feel like a deviation from Bradley Moss,” she says, pointing to a legacy of “the beautiful and rigorous work he’s done for the last 27 years.” But ‘remix’ “is meant to signal that the values and intention of the theatre are still very much alive and well!” She adds that “part of the work ahead is to figure out how to activate the beautiful building we have, how to activate subscribers. And once we see a swell in the audiences, to figure out how does that support new programming and positive growth.”
It is an acknowledgment that the theatre enters its new chapter cash-strapped, a situation Moss pointed out in his farewell comments: the Roxy is a beautiful achievement, yes, and also financially demanding to sustain and run. In her inaugural season, Rodgers has assembled three productions on a presentational and partnership model, none of them Theatre Network productions. “We are really curious to see what people respond to,” she says. “In the next couple of seasons, hopefully next year, there will be Theatre Network-originated productions.”
The mainstage season opens (Sept. 15 to Oct. 18) with a “co-presentation” of OH ANNE!, a high-speed four-actor musical adaptation of the evergreen Canadian classic Anne of Green Gables by, and directed by, Bridget Ryan. It’s an original: the Carter-Ryan Theatre production, designed by the Indigenous artist Jason Carter, premiered at the company’s gallery-by-day/ theatre-by-night home base in Canmore last year and sold every ticket. The revival plays in August in Canmore, then arrives at Theatre Network to be the season opener, “an homage,” as Rodgers puts it, “to the wonderful Ryan family (Bridget, sister Kate, mother Maralyn) and the work they continue to do in this theatre community.” Ryan’s production itself, “fun and sweet, with four early-career artists” (Abby McDougall, Jordan Empson, Jorja Polischuk, Emma Reynolds), is “certainly the most family-friendly show” in recent Theatre Network history.
And there’s a big plus: “getting the Jason Carter sculpture show to run in tandem with OH, ANNE! in TN’s Miller Gallery…. A wonderful way to activate the Lorne Cardinal space,” says Rodgers of TN’s the smaller second theatre downstairs at the Roxy. “And to showcase a wonderful Indigenous artist.”
Jack & The Beanstalk, a Theatre Yes production at Theatre Network. Artwork by Mina Esk.
It’s followed (Nov. 29 to Dec. 20) by a new holiday show: Theatre Yes’s premiere production of Jack and the Beanstalk. “Canada’s first rock-and-roll panto” as billed is an original, devised by Ruth Alexander and Nikki Hulowski, and featuring a 22-hit song list, and a cast who play all the characters and trade off multiple instruments — simultaneously.
With Jack and the Beanstalk, Edmonton is revisited by a kooky and raucous Brit holiday tradition provided here long ago, and for decades, by Walterdale. As per panto tradition, it will be crammed with local references and audience intervention in an adventure led by matriarch Dame Beverly Heights and an alluring panto cow, Milky White.
“There are lots of interesting and cool things that can be done with a panto,” says Rodgers. “It can be savvy and subversive and still pretty accessible!” And there’s this: “people do love a holiday show that can become a tradition. I’m curious to see if there’s an appetite for it in Edmonton,” says Rogers, citing the continuing successes of the East Van panto and others across the country…. This year we’re a presenter, but if we’re going to continue with the relationship, what would it look like for us to be a co-producer?”
Bella Luz by Alexandra Lainfiesta, a SkirtsAfire Fest/ Ruby Slippers co-production presented in association with Theatre Network. Image by Brianne Jang.
The third of the trio of productions, Bella Luz (March 4 to 14, 2027), is the work of the Guatamalan-Canadian actor/playwright Alexandra Lainfiesta, who’s recently made her home in Edmonton. It’s a co-production between the SkirtsAfire Festival and Ruby Slippers Productions, “in association with Theatre Network.” And a five-actor cast is directed, at the invitation of the playwright, by Rodgers.
“A beautiful play, with a lot of heart,” she says, “that takes place in three settings, here in Canada, in Guatamala, and in a psychedelic game show land, with a competition for permanent residency,” the crux of the story. In the quest for that elusive goal, the protagonist is trying to switch careers, “from choreographer to stunt woman,” to fast-track her chances, and care for an aging grandparent, by finding something more “specialized” for her pitch.
“I’m thrilled to partner with SkirtsAfire,” says Rodgers. “They’ve been gaining incredible momentum the last few years”
“What you’re seeing , all of these (shows) are ‘presentations’ or ‘in association with’…. This is me trying to leverage partnerships and create connections, and relationships, and have some funding in place we can use to have the biggest impact. That’s one of the things I bring to the table,” says Rodgers, well-connected in both indie and mainstage theatre, with a career archive dotted with multiple leadership initiatives across the country in addition to directing credits. “Programming is always a conversation.”
The idea is “to offer audiences a variety of theatre, to see what they respond to…. Learn learn learn. I feel like I’m on a many-year journey of learning.” And “community” and “conversation” figure prominently in her lexicon.
She expects to “figure out a couple of different models for bringing shows” to the Roxy stages “before it’s really clear what Jenna’s sense of Theatre Network really is. Starting a dialogue with the audience…. What’s missing in the Edmonton theatre ecology and how Theatre Network can support that, and fill that gap.”
Moss’s dual jobs of artistic director and executive director have been divided between Rodgers and David Cheoros. “Making the space more active with rentals, as another possible revenue stream, and being strategic about what those rentals are,” is a Rodgers priority. “There are lots of opportunities to grow.” But she points to a need to exercise curatorial skill and ensure that those ways “aren’t antithetical to what Theatre Network is.”
The Phoenix Series will continue, a “shared risk” model with more show announcements to come in the fall. At the moment, the distinction between the largely presentational mainstage season and the Phoenix offerings, in which Theatre Network hosts and supports indie companies and artists, is a bit blurry, she acknowledges. Clarity will come, she promises, along with Theatre Network-originated productions.
Meanwhile, there’s a varied new season. And it’s followed, as usual, by Nextfest. The 31st edition of the festival of emerging artists runs at the Roxy June 3 to 13 2027.
Season subscriptions are now on sale at theatrenetwork.ca. And early-bird subscribers will get a signed limited-edition Jason Carter print.
