Autumn means it’s back to school for cultural institutions on the very large campus that is Canada. But this year, it also marks the beginning of Page Turn, a professional development network for emerging arts writers.
As part of this two-year, nationwide program, a cohort of 10 writers will contribute writing to Intermission (among other publications). To kick things off and hear what’s exciting them in their communities, we invited them to answer one question: “What performing arts event(s) are you looking forward to during the fourth quarter of 2025?”
Here are the responses we received.
Abi Akinlade (Toronto)
This quarter, I’m very much looking forward to being immersed in the world of Jeremy O. Harris’ renowned Slave Play, running at Canadian Stage until November 2. What I’ve gathered from early buzz is that it’s better to go in with zero expectations, so I’ve largely avoided reading extensive summaries or reviews. I do, however, know to anticipate provocative, searing analysis of race relations, sex, and relationships. I would have loved to see the production on its Black Out Night — a term Harris coined — but that particular performance did, predictably, sell out within days.
Narnia, a new musical co-production between Soulpepper Theatre, Bad Hats Theatre, and Crow’s Theatre, has also caught my eye — Amaka Umeh (playing the Witch) is one of my favourite performers in the city, and although I’ve never read or seen The Chronicles of Narnia, its inherent whimsicality and the costume design in the cast photos makes me excited to see how the more fantastical elements will be brought to the stage.
Melissa Avalos (Toronto)
I’m excited to see The Comeuppance, running from October 30 to November 23 at Soulpepper Theatre.
American playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins usually stirs up an interesting response within my friend group, and whether or not the reaction is positive, I almost always expect an intelligent discussion to occur post-show. His work’s dense dialogue and complex themes often leave me with strong, but introspective, emotions.
I first experienced his work through ARC’s 2022 production of Gloria at Crow’s Theatre. After my first watch, I hated the show. But the second time I saw it, my opinion changed completely — I loved it. To this day, I try to watch a production twice before I make a hard judgement on the piece. I’m hoping director Frank Cox-O’Connell’s take on The Comeuppance, a drama about the millennial experience, provides a similar experience to other Jacobs-Jenkins plays: compelling, complicated, and thoughtful.
Eve Beauchamp (Calgary)
As a zealous celebrator of all things Halloween, I am thrilled about the first production in Alberta Theatre Projects’ “Season of Legends” — The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, running from October 22 to November 9 in the Martha Cohen Theatre. Luring us into the eerie (and real!) titular American village, the show is a world premiere adaptation of Washington Irving’s gothic classic and features writing and design from Calgary’s own Old Trout Puppet Workshop. If this teaser video of the Trout’s Headless Horseman design is anything to go by, I foresee that this show will be flush with chilling puppet theatre magic sure to appeal to any fans of the uncanny and the Burton-esque.
What’s more, Alberta Theatre Projects is hosting a once-in-this-lifetime Hallow’s Eve showing of the production on October 31 at 9 p.m. that includes a pre-performance costume contest, haunted lobby experience, and more. Given I’m a touch too old for trick-or-treating, I’m looking forward to spending the holiday catching some otherworldly fun.
Anthony Bryan (Fredericton)
I’m thrilled that Bear Grease has found its way to Fredericton and the Maritimes. An all-Indigenous musical parody created by hip-hop duo Lightning Cloud, it goes up at the Fredericton Playhouse on October 10 and the Imperial Theatre in Saint John on October 11. Bear Grease looks to be a compassionate rewrite that makes a space for Indigenous culture and storytelling to ask more of the rose-tinted musical romance that inspired it.
I see value in the disruption of nostalgia, for theatre-makers to shake the framework of the familiar to find what’s missing. My truest hope is that this punctures the status quo so that we see more Indigenous-led stories and revisionist theatre in the Maritimes. What happens to our modest theatre scene when an original musical comes through to inspire the storytellers looking to write love letters to classics? Keep talking, woah, keep talking.
Liuba de Armas (Montreal)
In a bustling fall season, the following productions stand out for their innovative approaches to engaging theatre-goers.
A dark workplace comedy, Teesri Duniya’s White Lion, Brown Tiger, running from October 11 to 23, sees tensions escalate between two Sri Lankan retail workers. In a nod to the story’s thrift shop setting, the production has partnered with Collective 4891 to offer a pre-show mending workshop on October 18.
Touted as an immersive multimedia solo show, Imago Theatre’s Cult Play, running from October 22 to November 2, explores desire, manipulation, and complicity through optional audience participation. With the public enlisted as both witness and accomplice, no two performances will be the same.
And to complement its new production of Kanika Ambrose’s our place, running from November 19 to 30, a story of two Caribbean women negotiating pathways to immigration, Black Theatre Workshop is hosting a Dating While Black Dinner & Pre-Show Talk on November 22. This event will feature a candid conversation with psychotherapist Shirlette Wint and catering by local favourite Lloydie’s.
Sania Hameed (Toronto)
Toronto was recently blessed with a gripping solo show involving lawyers and curses, and I’m already excited to see another one. Part of the off-Mirvish season, The Woman in Black offers a deliciously terrifying ghost story, bringing chills and thrills. This touring production from London, England might only be here for a month — December 4 to January 4, at the CAA Theatre — but it has the potential to haunt me for some time.
And a show I still think about is Michael Healey’s The Master Plan; a sharp, hilariously Toronto story drenched in painfully familiar bureaucracy, I enjoyed it so much that I went twice. So I was instantly sold on Healey’s latest play Rogers v. Rogers. When it comes to corporate drama, I don’t know if anything can top the high of experiencing Michael Ross Albert’s The Huns at Toronto Fringe 2019, but this Crow’s Theatre production, running December 2 to 28, feels promising.
Megan Hunt (Montreal)
These last few months of the year always seem to pass by too quickly, so I try to look for shows that can slow me down or even stop me in my tracks. Centaur Theatre’s Kisses Deep and Stone and Bone Spectacular seem like solid offerings from one of the city’s most reliable English-language theatre institutions, as does Black Theatre Workshop’s our place at the Segal Centre.
But I’m most excited to see Imago Theatre’s Cult Play, a world premiere solo show promising multimedia storytelling, explorations of queer desire, and hopefully, some disturbing insights into cult dynamics. The vagueness of the show’s marketing is admittedly one of the aspects that excites me about this play: I don’t quite know what to expect in terms of genre, allowing me to hold out hope that this show, opening in late October, will lean into the Halloween season and deliver some horror elements.
Nirris Nagendrarajah (Toronto)
This summer, at the Stratford Festival, I waited to be moved. Despite early critical consensus, it was the cinematic production design of Macbeth, directed by Robert Lepage, that dazzled me from its opening credits onwards, casting the familiar into a visually enthralling and cerebrally engaging experience.
I was ashamed not to have known of Lepage’s work or reputation before, which I quickly wished to amend, and I was delighted to learn a remount of The Far Side of the Moon, featuring music by Laurie Anderson, will be playing at Canadian Stage from November 1 to 16 at the Bluma Appel Theatre.
In Robert Lepage’s Original Stage Productions, Karen Fricker, Intermission’s editorial director, parses through interpretations of the Far Side’s ending, whose success, she writes, “rests in part in its evocative but indeterminate nature… It all depends on how you look at it, and the choice is yours.” I need to see it for myself, then offer you my two cents.
A professional development network for emerging arts writers, Page Turn is funded by the Canada Council for the Arts and administered by Neworld Theatre.
WRITTEN BY
Page Turn
A professional development network for emerging arts writers in Canada.
LEARN MORE
