A June week on E-town stages: two festivals, a multi-character solo show, a drag queen extravaganza, a Pride party …, Theater News

By Liz Nicholls,

A June week in Edmonton theatre: for starters, two festivals, a virtuoso solo show in which one extremely agile actor plays 40 (!) characters, an evening with local drag royalty, a big Pride block party.

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•The supple actor with the lunatic multi-character assignment is lanky Andrew MacDonald-Smith. Fully Committed is a Teatro Live! production. And at that artist-run company MacDonald-Smith is a leading man, and a former artistic director. In Becky Mode’s comedy, opening Friday on the Varscona stage, he’s directed by the current Teatro artistic director Farren Timoteo, who’s a dexterous actor/ playwright and knows how to pull off these multi-character tours de force himself (Made In Italy). In Fully Committed MacDonald-Smith plays a harried out-of-work actor whose paid gig is at the reservation desk of the hottest Manhattan restaurant, juggling non-stop calls from the desperate, the demanding, the entitled, all wanting a prime-time table. Sam’s other gig is … his complicated life, and his thesp career, both of which seem to be on hold. So, the guy is, you know, crazy busy. It runs Friday through June 21. Tickets: teatrolive.com.    

Nextfest 2026. Poster image supplied.

Nextfest is back at Theatre Network, starting Thursday, for 11 days and nights of multi-disciplinary creations, experiments, inspirations from the new generation of emerging artists (500-plus of them in 40-plus shows and events and experiences). Check out the survey of the 31st annual edition (hey, I got to talk to fest director Ellen Chorley) here. Tickets, show descriptions, a full colour-coded schedule: theatrenetwork.ca.

The  Citadel’s Collider Festival, devoted to developing new plays for Size Large stages here, across the country, and beyond, is back this weekend, Friday through Sunday. Five new plays get read, some in whole some in part. And there’s even a new musical-in-progress from Mhairi Berg (Morningside Road) and Steven Greenfield inspired by a quintessentially Canadian true crime story: The Great Maple Syrup Heist: the great Canadian musical. 12night surveys the lineup (with Citadel associate artistic director Mieko Ouchi) here. Play readings are free. Tickets and a full schedule: citadeltheatre.com.

Drag queen Pepper. Photo supplied.

•Workshop West collaborates with Guys in Disguise in a big, starry drag fund-raiser bash Friday at the Gateway Theatre (8529 Gateway Blvd.). Darrin Hagen hosts a line-up of drag artistes, including local legends Pepper, Twiggy, and Vanity Fair. And there’s a meet-the-queens Q&A afterward, too. Tickets (all pay-what-you-will, as usual at Workshop West) are at workshopwest.org.

•Grindstone Theatre invades 81 Ave. in Strathcona (i.e. their front yard) 11 a..m. to 11 p.,m. Saturday for Fruit Loops’ annual Pride Block Party, in support of Rainbow Refuge. The Drag Brunch, Drag Story Time, and non-stop action after that: live music, DJs, performances, food vendors, drinks, artisans. All-ages, and it’s free (but feel free to tip the entertainers).