Ottawa’s GCTC reveals 50th anniversary season
iPhoto caption: Posters by Jesús Rivera Zavala
The Great Canadian Theatre Company (GCTC) has revealed its 50th anniversary season, featuring joyful comedy, big ideas, and a local world premiere.
“Our 2024-25 Season is a celebration of how far GCTC has come in the last 50 years, and a chance to look to the future,” said artistic director Sarah Kitz in a press release.
“The season offers a range of productions – from a classic Canadian comedy, to the high-wire act of an improvised musical, to a coming-of-age story: all brought to life by talented local and regional artists. We couldn’t be happier to share this season of performance with you.”
In a new subscription offer, fans of the theatre are invited to become a GCTC ambassador. This five-play subscription includes a ticket to each of the mainstage shows, as well as to the FemmeVox music series. It also includes discounted tickets to any of the other exciting events at GCTC, plus a guest ticket to a show of the ambassador’s choosing (other than FLOP!).
Further information about the coming season, including the season’s artwork by Jesús Rivera Zavala, is available on GCTC’s website.
The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine
Written by Robert Morgan, Martha Ross, and Leah Cherniak
Directed by Geoff McBride
Starring Maryse Fernandes and Drew Moore
September 24 – October 6, 2024
Ernest and Ernestine are in puppy love. Then they move into a tiny basement apartment together. Can their love sustain cohabitation? A hometown team of Ottawa’s finest take on this Canadian comedy classic.
Beowulf in Afghanistan
Written by Laurie Fyffe
Directed by Kate Smith
World premiere
November 12-24, 2024
A Canadian soldier harnesses the medieval Anglo-Saxon text of Beowulf as a life raft through the clash of battle, and after. Supported by GCTC’s Tributary Project.
FLOP! An Improvised Musical Fiasco
Created by Ron Pederson and Alan Kliffer
Directed by Alan Kliffer
Starring Rob Baker, Jan Caruana, and Ron Pederson
A Klif Entertainment production
December 10-22, 2024
The playwright quit, there’s no sheet music, the choreographer was cancelled, and the director went into rehab. World-class performers scramble to create a miraculous new musical in this high-wire act of skill, comedy, and desperation.
Why It’s Impossible to Raise a Girl
Co-created by Sophia Fabiilli, Sarah Kitz, and Zoë Sweet
Written by Sophia Fabiilli
Directed by Evalyn Parry
Starring Zoë Sweet
A SweetnFab Collective production
January 21 – February 2, 2025
Beth is struggling to stay afloat as a single parent, a working professional, and the 45-year-old resident of her mother’s basement. A show about the complex relationship between mother and child, life’s transitions, and parenting in precarious times.
Vierge
Written by Rachel Mutombo
Directed by Dian Marie Bridge
A co-production with Black Theatre Workshop
March 18-30, 2025
Sixteen-year-old Divine’s only real friend is Jesus. When her family joins a new church she learns that the world around her is not as it seems. With heart and humour, Vierge follows four Congolese-Canadian girls as they navigate Christianity, virginity, and teenage hormones.
Liam Donovan
Liam is Intermission’s senior editor. He lives in Toronto. His Substack newsletter is available at loamdonovan.substack.com.
LEARN MORE
iPhoto caption: Christian Van Horn and Karen Cargill in 'Bluebeard's Castle.'
REVIEW: COC’s Bluebeard’s Castle/Erwartung is a hypnotic exploration of light
Rather than retread the ground of an overall analysis, I’d like to zoom in on an element that particularly interested me: Simonovitch Prize-winning designer Robert Thomson’s expressionistic lighting for Bluebeard’s Castle, which nicely enriches the opera’s ambiguous psychological landscape.
iPhoto caption: Gabriella Sundar Singh in 'Through the Eyes of God.' Photo by Jae Yang.
Through the Eyes of God makes noise at the 2026 Toronto Theatre Critics’ Awards
The jury of the Toronto Theatre Critics’ Awards (TTCAs) has announced its 2026 results — 26 winners across 20 categories, plus a special citation.
iPhoto caption: Meilie Ng, Wai Yin Kwok, and Sophie Gee in 'Bonnes Bonnes.' Photo by
Eden Graham.
REVIEW: Nervous Hunter’s Bonnes Bonnes combines laid-back ingredients to flavourful effect
Bonnes Bonnes is a nice reminder that productions can think, play, chill — and chili — all at once.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Lynda J Watson.
Anita La Selva’s interdisciplinary 12 Litres 8800 Steps frames caregiving as an emotional odyssey
“I really wanted to tell the story of the people who are affected by their loved ones’ addictions. Because I don't think that that is a story that we see very often,” says the creator-performer ahead of the show’s premiere at the Factory Theatre Mainspace.
iPhoto caption: Tracey Nepinak and Teneil Whiskeyjack in 'Strife.' Photo by Jae Yang.
REVIEW: Punctuate! Theatre’s Strife opens up perspectives on grief, activism, and the oil industry
Playwright Matthew MacKenzie and director Yvette Nolan have crafted a drama in which every character is worth hearing. What follows is my attempt to listen — perspective by perspective.
iPhoto caption: Shira Leuchter in 'The Haunting' at Tarragon's Greenhouse Festival in 2024. Photo by Matt Hertendy.
REVIEW: One-on-one play considers the hidden meanings behind ghost stories
Shira Leuchter’s The Haunting feels less like attending a seance and more like flipping through the encyclopedia of a self.
Comments