Frontmezzjunkes reports: Soulpepper’s 2025/26 Season
Soulpepper announces audacious 16-show farewell season from Artistic Director Weyni Mengesha and a visionary new partnership with Crow’s Theatre;
continually guided by a mission to build a stronger, more connected Toronto through the arts
Harold Pinter’s OLD TIMES – Lucy Kirkwood’s THE WELKIN – Dave Malloy’s OCTET – KING GILGAMESH by Jesse LaVercombe, Seth Bockley, & Ahmed Moneka – THE COMEUPPPANCE by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins – NARNIA from Bad Hats – Beau Dixon’s ‘TWAS ON A NIGHT LIKE THIS – WITCH by Jen Silverman – Tennessee Williams’ SUMMER AND SMOKE – COPPERBELT by Natasha Mumba – Andrew Penner’s DETROIT: THE MUSIC OF THE MOTOR CITY – HOW TO CATCH CREATION by Christina Anderson – TIGER BRIDE by Frank Cox-O’Connell, Hailey Gillis and Andrew Penner – MEDUSA by Erin Shields – Samuel Beckett’s HAPPY DAYS – Divine Brown’s REVOLUTIONARY WOMEN IN BLUES
Wednesday, April 9, 2025 –Soulpepper Theatre proudly announces an inspiring 16-show 2025.26 season line-up, along with an innovative three-year strategic partnership with Crow’s Theatre that envisions a collaborative and energized future for theatre in Toronto.
The final season for outgoing Artistic Director Weyni Mengesha (Soulpepper’s A Streetcar Named Desire), Soulpepper’s 2025/26 programming offers a signature mix of four World Premieres from extraordinary female Canadian artists – Copperbelt by Natasha Mumba, Tiger Bride from Hailey Gillis alongside Frank Cox-O’Connell and Andrew Penner, Medusa from Erin Shields, and Revolutionary Women in Blues from Divine Brown; timeless classics by Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter and Tennessee Williams; the return of Soulpepper audience favourite, King Gilgamesh; and five highly anticipated Canadian and Toronto premieres of essential contemporary voices – Lucy Kirkwood’s The Welkin, Dave Malloy’s Octet, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ The Comeuppance, Bad Hats Theatre’s Narnia, Witch by Jen Silverman, and Christina Anderson’s How to Catch Creation.
Guided by the strategic vision, Stories for a Stronger City, which reimagines theatre’s essential civic role and is transforming Soulpepper Theatre into a nexus of community connection, the 2025.26 season unites around the fundamental and existential role of storytelling and builds upon the company’s current momentum which has seen a 45% increase in ticket sales last year, translating to over 25,000 new patrons.
“This season is a deeply personal one to me—it’s a reflection of what I’ve come to love about Soulpepper, the power of theatre itself, and everything we’ve built together over the past seven years” said Artistic Director, Weyni Mengesha.“I’ve seen firsthand how storytelling brings people together, helping us to shape the future we want to see. As my final season as Artistic Director, I wanted to create a year of theatre that embodies that spirit by bringing stories to audiences that are ambitious, deeply theatrical, and unafraid to tackle the questions of our time. Through these incredible artists and collaborators, we are celebrating theatre’s ability to give us the courage to imagine the world we want to live in—I can’t wait for audiences to take it all in.”
For nearly two decades, Weyni Mengesha has played an integral role in shaping Soulpepper’s artistic vision. From her early days as a participant in the Soulpepper Academy to becoming one of Canada’s most acclaimed theatre directors, her influence on the company has been profound. Since taking on the role of Artistic Director in 2018, she has expanded opportunities for the next generation of theatre-makers, spearheaded innovative programming, and led Soulpepper through a period of remarkable artistic and audience growth. Her leadership was particularly vital in steering the company through the challenges of the pandemic and financial uncertainty, ensuring its continued strength and resilience. By the conclusion of the 2025/26 season, her visionary leadership will have seen 16 World Premieres brought to life at Soulpepper and helped launch the careers of hundreds of emerging artists. Her vision has left an indelible mark, reinforcing Soulpepper as a vital and inclusive creative force in Toronto’s cultural landscape.
STRONGER TOGETHER – A NEW VISION FOR COLLABORATION WITH CROW’S THEATRE
Extending Soulpepper’s commitment to partnership and collaboration as a powerful means to strengthen the city’s theatre sector, the newly expanded collaboration with Crow’s Theatre brings together the creative capacities and city-building vision of two of the country’s most dynamic arts organizations. The multi-year pilot initiative will enable the companies to nurture new audiences, take bigger creative swings to deliver visionary large-scale productions, collaborate on new music programming, and jointly develop bold new works to define the next era of Canadian Theatre – all with the goal of strengthening Toronto’s theatre ecology. With both companies’ long histories of artistic excellence and innovation, this alliance allows them to share knowledge and insight in unprecedented ways, and to ignite the appetite for live theatre in the city at a time when audiences are demonstrating enthusiasm for live performance like never before.
The first year of this pilot partnership will see Soulpepper and Crow’s Theatre create a joint offer for audiences, with Crow’s and Soulpepper producing a total of 24 productions between the two venues (four of which will be co-productions between the two companies). Under the partnership, subscribers at both theatres will have the opportunity to attend productions at partner venues at reciprocal discounts, making it easier for audiences to experience more theatre and explore the full breadth of programming across both companies. Through expanded joint marketing efforts, this collaboration will also increase the visibility of Toronto’s theatre artists, helping to grow and diversify audiences for both companies and the wider not-for-profit sector.
“Soulpepper and Crow’s Theatre have long been leaders in artistic innovation, each with a unique voice yet a shared belief in the transformative power of theatre,” added Soulpepper Artistic Director Weyni Mengesha. “This partnership is more than just a collaboration—it’s a bold step toward reimagining what’s possible in Canadian theatre. We have the opportunity to not only expand our artistic ambitions, but to build a stronger, more vibrant theatre landscape in Toronto—one that welcomes more voices, fosters deeper connections, and truly reflects the richness of our city.”
“Great theatre has always thrived on collaboration, and in times of change, it’s partnerships like this that pave the way forward” said Soulpepper Executive Director Gideon Arthurs. “By working together, we are not just strengthening our institutions—we are reimagining how theatre can be made and experienced in this city. This strategic partnership isn’t just about sustaining what exists; it’s about building something greater—an artistic ecosystem where ambition and innovation can flourish. By combining our strengths, we can amplify our impact, reach new audiences, and create theatrical experiences that bring people closer together.”
In addition to the strategic partnership with Crow’s Theatre, the 2025.26 season also builds upon relationships with Creative Collaboration Initiative partners: Bad Hats Theatre, The Musical Stage Company, the Toronto Fringe Festival, and Obsidian Theatre and includes collaborations with the Howland Company, the National Arts Centre, Nightwood Theatre, and Outside the March.
Beyond the stage, Soulpepper’s newly launched engagement program Public Domain, transforms our theatre into a dynamic hub where audiences, artists, and our growing Soulpepper family can experience something new every day of the week. These programs will welcome tens of thousands of community members and create a buzzing hive of activity at Soulpepper.
THE 2025.26 SEASON
Soulpepper’s 28th season gets underway in August with the timeless classic Old Times from Harold Pinter, directed by Peter Pasyk (Stratford’s Love’s Labour’s Lost). A taut psychosexual thriller exploring memory, power, and desire, Old Times is a haunting masterpiece about a woman reconnecting with an old friend and her husband, exploring conflicting recollections and the blurred lines between the past and present, the true and the imagined.
In September, Weyni Mengesha directs the first show produced in partnership with Crow’s Theatre, additionally co-produced with The Howland Company, the Canadian Premiere of The Welkin. Written by Tony Award-winning UK playwright Lucy Kirkwood (The Children), the thrilling new play, The Welkin, follows a jury of twelve women in 1759 England who must decide whether an accused murderess is pregnant, thereby determining her fate. Premiered at The National Theatre in London in 2020, Kirkwood’s play is a powerful examination of women’s voices set against a world determined to ignore them.
On the Guloien Theatre stage at Streetcar Crowsnest, Chris Abraham (Crow’s Rosmersholm) reunites with the work of three-time Tony Award nominee Dave Malloy (Natasha, Pierre, & The Great Comet of 1812) for Octet, a Soulpepper, Crow’s Theatre, and Musical Stage Company co-production. A chamber choir musical about a technology addiction support group, Octet offers a hilarious and deeply moving exploration of human connection in the digital age. One of Malloy’s most recent offerings, the songs in Octet are rendered entirely by the naked human voice, a voice struggling to survive in battle against the monolith of the internet – one of the most fundamental battles of the 21st century.
Next, after making its Canadian Premiere at Soulpepper in 2023, Dora Award-winning audience favourite King Gilgamesh returns to the stage. This hybrid theatre-music production set between present-day Toronto and ancient Iraq features Ahmed Moneka and Jesse LaVercombe alongside the celebrated Arabic-maqam fusion band, Moneka Arabic Jazz.
Later in the fall, longtime company member Frank Cox-O’Connell (Necessary Angel Theatre Company’s Winter Solstice) directs the Toronto Premiere of Pulitzer Prize-nominated and Tony Award-winning playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ The Comeuppance, which brings together a group of old classmates for their 20th high school reunion and sends them down a path of nostalgia and memory that turns into a dark reckoning of the present cultural moment.
As always, Soulpepper will light up the holiday season in December with a new creation from partner Bad Hats Theatre – creators of Dora Award-winning Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland – a musical re-telling of C.S. Lewis’ beloved story, Narnia, produced in partnership with Bad Hats and Crow’s Theatre. Characteristically featuring a company of actor-musicians, Narnia is an unforgettable journey for the holiday season for both the young and the young at heart. Not the only musical offering for the season, Soulpepper regular Beau Dixon brings together a group of world-class performers for ‘Twas On a Night Like This, a theatrical concert of non-traditional songs that embody both the spirit and soul of the season.
To begin 2026, Soulpepper presents the Toronto Premiere of acclaimed US playwright and screenwriter Jen Silverman’s razor-sharp Witch, directed by Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster (Shaw’s The Orphan of Chao). A wickedly modern take on a Jacobean drama, in Witch, the devil himself strolls into a quiet village and ends up with more than he bargained for when he sets his sights on Elizabeth, long ostracized for being… a witch.
Next, following its debut in Ottawa at the National Arts Centre’s English Theatre, comes the World Premiere of Copperbelt, written by and starring Natasha Mumba (Factory Theatre’s acts of faith). Directed by Nina Lee Aquino, Copperbelt follows Eden, who has left her wealthy family in Zambia to build a life of her own in Toronto, but who is forced to return to ‘the copperbelt’ when her father falls ill. Unravelling the secrets and power struggles within the Kasuba family, Mumba’s world-travelling new play grapples with the tension between personal ambition and family expectations.
On the Crow’s Theatre Guloien stage in February, Crow’s and Soulpepper Theatre present a new production of Tennessee Williams’ Summer and Smoke, directed by Crow’s Theatre Associate Artistic Director Paolo Santalucia (Crow’s The Wrong Bashir). A rarely staged 20th-century masterpiece, Summer and Smoke is a blistering and rapturous story of love and longing, spirituality and repression, and one of Williams’ most tender and heart-rendering works.
March brings another signature Soulpepper concert, when company mainstays Frank Cox-O’Connell, Travis Knights, and Andrew Penner bring back Detroit: Music of the Motor City and explore the city’s history through the many musical genres the city gave birth to, from Motown to Jazz, Hip Hop, and Detroit Rock. The concert will then tour to Montreal’s Segal Center in April, following the great success of Soulpepper’s Secret Chord production last season.
In April, Soulpepper, Obsidian Theatre, and Nightwood Theatre come together for the Canadian Premiere of playwright Christina Anderson’s bold and imaginative How To Catch Creation, directed by Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu (Obsidian/CanStage/NecAngel’s Is God Is), who helmed the Dora Award-winning Three Sisters last year at Soulpepper. Following four artists in San Francisco wrestling with creativity and legacy, Anderson’s latest work explores the power of artistic expression and the lasting impact of those who dare to create, challenging audiences to reconsider who gets remembered and who gets to define the future.
Summer arrives with the World Premiere of Tiger Bride, a new musical work from beloved Soulpepper regulars Frank Cox-O’Connell, Hailey Gillis, and Andrew Penner. A rock-fueled, punk-infused reimagining of Angela Carter’s The Tiger’s Bride, this electrifying song cycle turns Beauty and the Beast inside out.
In June, Soulpepper, in collaboration with Outside the March, presents the World Premiere of acclaimed Canadian playwright Erin Shields’ furious and fearless Medusa, directed by Mitchell Cushman (Coal Mine’s The Effect). A raw and electrifying dive into female fury – the kind that’s been silenced, punished, and finally set free – Medusa is a reimagining of the classical myth pulled through time from ancient Greece to a modern-day rage room, immersing audiences in a surprising new theatrical experience.
Concluding the season in August, preeminent Canadian theatre artist Jackie Maxwell (Coal Mine Theatre’s Infinite Life) directs Soulpepper founding member Nancy Palk (Tarragon’s Withrow Park) in Samuel Beckett’s stark, unsettling, and darkly funny Happy Days, and Divine Brown brings Soulpepper audiences an exhilarating World Premiere concert experience, Revolutionary Women in Blues.
