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iPhoto caption: Jasmine Case for Intermission Magazine. Photo by Dahlia Katz.
Jasmine Case’s role in Clyde’s at Canadian Stage gives the dynamic performer plenty to chew on
“She’s a mother who has a child that deals with epilepsy,” says Case. “I grew up with epilepsy. I had a grand mal seizure as a kid. So I have a weird understanding of her relationship to her child.”
iPhoto caption: Tara Sky and Emily Anne Corcoran in 'Julie.' Photo by Sandro Pehar.
REVIEW: Eros overpowers logos in Icarus Theatre’s Julie
Director Jordan Laffrenier focuses on atmosphere, delivering a heightened production that takes more from 1990s erotic thrillers than it does from naturalistic tragedy.
iPhoto caption: Jasmine Case for Intermission Magazine. Photo by Dahlia Katz.
Jasmine Case’s role in Clyde’s at Canadian Stage gives the dynamic performer plenty to chew on
“She’s a mother who has a child that deals with epilepsy,” says Case. “I grew up with epilepsy. I had a grand mal seizure as a kid. So I have a weird understanding of her relationship to her child.”
iPhoto caption: Tara Sky and Emily Anne Corcoran in 'Julie.' Photo by Sandro Pehar.
REVIEW: Eros overpowers logos in Icarus Theatre’s Julie
Director Jordan Laffrenier focuses on atmosphere, delivering a heightened production that takes more from 1990s erotic thrillers than it does from naturalistic tragedy.
iPhoto caption: The sketch troupe Potato Potato. Photo by Elana Emer.
REVIEW: This year’s TOsketchfest paid tribute to the endless possibilities of sketch comedy
Sketch is a genre that defies genre. And luckily, in Toronto, there are so many talented people working in the form that constantly redefine it, keep it alive, and keep it relevant.
iPhoto caption: Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet). Jessica B. Hill, Praneet Akilla, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Mike Shara, Caroline Toal. Photo by Elana Emer.
Paul Gross, Cabaret, and Ann-Marie MacDonald headline Canadian Stage’s 2026-27 season
Casting highlights include Sara Farb and Allan Louis in Cabaret, Paul Gross returning to Canadian Stage in Creditors, and playwrights Keith Barker and Kate Hennig performing in their own works.
Reviews
iPhoto caption: Tara Sky and Emily Anne Corcoran in 'Julie.' Photo by Sandro Pehar.
REVIEW: Eros overpowers logos in Icarus Theatre’s Julie
Director Jordan Laffrenier focuses on atmosphere, delivering a heightened production that takes more from 1990s erotic thrillers than it does from naturalistic tragedy.
iPhoto caption: The sketch troupe Potato Potato. Photo by Elana Emer.
REVIEW: This year’s TOsketchfest paid tribute to the endless possibilities of sketch comedy
Sketch is a genre that defies genre. And luckily, in Toronto, there are so many talented people working in the form that constantly redefine it, keep it alive, and keep it relevant.
iPhoto caption: Jonelle Gunderson, Nabil Traboulsi, and Paul Smith in 'A Mirror.' Photo by Kendra Epik.
REVIEW: A Mirror is a dystopian, metatheatrical marvel
Over the course of two tense hours, A Mirror scrutinizes censorship, the responsibility of art, and the cost of insurgency.
iPhoto caption: Juliette Schroeder and the cast of 'The Drowsy Chaperone.' Photo by Taylor Long.
REVIEW: Shifting Ground Collective’s The Drowsy Chaperone is anything but a snore
Infused with infectious energy, the production is a harmony of well-crafted design elements and vivacious performances.
iPhoto caption: Clare Coulter in 'Queen Maeve.' Photo by Jae Yang.
REVIEW: Tarragon’s Queen Maeve packs one hell of an emotional wallop
The astonishing Clare Coulter manages to appear one moment as if she’d blow away in a faint breeze, another as though she’d easily cleave you in twain with a broadsword.
iPhoto caption: 'Une Traversée' puppet design by Natacha Belova et Tita Iacobelli. Photo by Pierre-Yves Jortay.
REVIEW: Montreal in March? Bring on the puppets.
The 21st annual Festival International de Casteliers featured an energizing series of Quebecois and European productions that took the medium of puppetry in surprising directions.
Spotlight
iPhoto caption: Nora McLellan for Intermission Magazine. Photo by Dahlia Katz. Styled by Sonia Lewis and Dahlia Katz. Hair by Anne May. Makeup by Katelyn O'Neil.
“It’s still always that same technicolour feeling for me," says McLellan. "That little girl and this much older person are pretty much the same. I really do all of my living on stage.”
iPhoto caption: Ma-Anne Dionisio for Intermission Magazine. Photo by Tim Nguyen.
“Art has a very significant healing aspect to it,” says Ma-Anne Dionisio. “The performance aspect, for me, always comes secondary.”
iPhoto caption: Photo by V. Tony Hauser.
“If theatre’s done well, it’s an event. And for the audience it’s very mobilizing,” says Lepage. “Whatever the subject matter is, the people go and they’re stimulated, interested, and they feel intelligent... The most beautiful spectacle is always the spectacle of intelligence.”
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Artist Perspectives
iPhoto caption: Photo of Jordan Laffrenier by Sandro Pehar.
Preparing to direct Slave Play: A travel guide to Richmond, Virginia
Since reading Slave Play, I’ve asked every romantic partner whether or not they experience a racial dynamic between us in the bedroom. No one has given the same answer. What is it that I am asking them to acknowledge in these scenarios? Who is it that I am asking them to hold? What does it mean to hold someone’s history?
iPhoto caption: 'Delirious Night' at the Festival d'Avignon. Photo by Christophe Raynaud de Lage.
At the 2025 Festival d’Avignon, politics were never far off
I’d performed and directed for festivals in Canada and elsewhere, but it wasn’t at all the same as being on the bum-in-seat side. There I was, in Avignon, rubbing shoulders with the umpteen visitors hungry for a good show. I came away feeling that here, theatre mattered. A lot. In the stony fields of Toronto, that can be easy to forget.
iPhoto caption: Set design by Camellia Koo,
Costume design by Judith Bowden,
Lighting design by Leigh Ann Vardy,
and photo by Dahlia Katz. Features Samantha Hill and Amaka Umeh.
A story with no expiry date: Adapting Fall On Your Knees
At this critical political juncture, as so many forces in the world try to mute and silence women, our Canadian stories merit our advocacy and fervent attention.
Armchairs, tattoos, and an online theatre magazine
When I started at Intermission, my world was limited to the confines of an armchair. Arts journalism was a high it felt dangerously fruitless to chase. The life stretched ahead of me was amorphous and frightening, a chasm filled with hand sanitizer and immigration concerns. It was worth crying over a spilled kombucha and scrubbing at the stain.
iPhoto caption: Production still from The Nutcracker courtesy of the National Ballet of Canada.
Why should you go to the ballet?
My childhood memories of learning to dance were front and centre for me when I attended opening night of The Nutcracker, performed by the National Ballet of Canada at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Grace Mysak.
Want to see a magic show about race? Wait, what?
You’d be forgiven for the double-take. It’s a fairly common reaction when I tell folks about my work as a magician.