Upcoming Shows

4 Minutes 12 Seconds

Written by James Fritz
April 20, 2023 - May 12, 2024
Extraspace

Di and David have devoted their lives to giving their son, Jack, every opportunity they never had. But a startling incident outside the school grounds threatens to ruin everything they’re striving for.

As events begin to accelerate, Di and David begin to question whether they can trust Jack, his closest friends, or even themselves.

Studio 180 Theatre (The Chinese Lady, Indecent, Oslo, You Will Remember Me) returns to Tarragon with the Canadian premiere of James Fritz’s taut darkly comic, and deeply provocative Olivier Award-nominated drama. A thrilling exploration of issues of consent, privilege and the insidious opportunities new technology offers.

UP TO 30% OFF FOR TARRAGON SUBSCRIBERS!

Spring Soiree

Written by Artists in Residence
Directed by Artists in Residence
June 1, 2023 - January 31, 2024
Mainspace

Greenhouse Festival

Written by Artists in Residence
Directed by Artists in Residence
June 1, 2023 - January 31, 2024
Mainspace

The Last Epistle of Tightrope Time

Written by Walter Borden
Directed by Peter Hinton-Davis
September 19, 2023 - October 15, 2023
Mainspace

From legendary Canadian artist Walter Border, The Last Epistle of Tightrope Time is a deeply personal reflection on Walter’s journey of life.

An invigorating autobiographical performance Walter re-visits the show, initially written and performed in 1986 as Tightrope Time Ain’t Nuthin’ More Than Some Itty Bitty Madness Between Your Twilight & Your Dawn. Through a solo performance featuring 10 characters, Walter explores homosexuality from a Black perspective and offers an experience of the resiliency of the human spirit.

A Poem for Rabia

Written by Nikki Shaffeeullah
Directed by Clare Pruess, Donna Michelle St. Bernard
October 17, 2023 - November 12, 2023
Mainspace

An epic journey across time, oceans, and tectonic shifts in political history.

A Poem for Rabia weaves the stories of three queer women from the same bloodline: Zahra, a disillusioned activist in 2053, navigating a Canada that has just abolished prisons; Betty, in 1953 British Guiana, caught between her new secretarial job at the Governor’s office and the growing national independence movement; and Rabia, an Indian domestic worker in 1853, abducted by colonial ‘recruiters’ and sent sailing from Calcutta to the Caribbean on an indentured labour ship.

Withrow Park

Written by Morris Panych
Directed by Jackie Maxwell
November 7, 2023 - December 3, 2023
Mainspace

Three people gaze out their living room window as the days pass. Across the street in Withrow Park life goes on – or is it a dream?

Then a knock at the door. Time has found them, hiding in plain sight. Or possibly it’s just a man in a wrinkled suit. But they must act, now, or forever be devoured by their own indifference. Logan Avenue awaits, and beyond it, heaven, perhaps. They can no longer live on the periphery of their own lives. They must invite the young man to dinner.

With direction from Jackie Maxwell, and from the mind of Morris Panych, Withrow Park asks what we see in the darkness, and who is watching us from the light.

Guilt (A Love Story)

Written by Diane Flack
Directed by Alisa Palmer
February 6, 2024 - March 4, 2024
Mainspace

An all-new play about pathos; the “unshakable monster that is guilt,” and the things we’re not supposed to talk about.

Guilt (A Love Story) is a deep dive into a complex, uncomfortable, and highly human feeling. A state of being that most of us, especially parents, wrestle with inelegantly. Focusing on Flacks’ personal odyssey Guilt brings the perspective of a self-sacrificing Jewish mother who becomes the instigator of a family’s dissolution. Societal effects, causes and casualties and the feeling that we have when we’ve profoundly hurt others. This exploration may not pull punches, but don’t worry, it’s accompanied by laughs – because how else do we get through anything?

Diane Flack’s returns to Tarragon Theatre with GUILT (A Love Story) her 5th one-woman show.

3 Fingers Back

Written by Donna-Michelle St. Bernard
Directed by Cole Alvis, Yvette Nolan
February 27, 2024 - March 24, 2024
Mainspace

Where stakes are high and kindness is in short supply.

3 Fingers Back is a double bill with a panoramic view of how we choose to treat each other: the captive, their captors and those who bear witness.

When we run out of options, we find out who we really are. In Give It Up, two women strategize to survive interrogation, and the cost of freedom. In The Smell of Horses, three soldiers plot to extract information through their humanity and the confines of duty.

From celebrated artist Donna-Michelle St. Bernards this double bill of plays from her 54ology occupies different vantages on the same world.

El Terremoto

Written by Christine Quintana
Directed by Christine Quintana
March 26, 2024 - April 21, 2024
Mainspace

Twenty years have passed since the three Jurado sisters lost their parents, and life just seems to continue on in their East Vancouver home.

A birthday party, a failed proposal, and a missed connection fill the days and months until an earthquake nearly destroys the city, and brings forward a shocking turn of events that splits their world wide open.

From Dora-Award winning playwright Christine Quintana El Terremoto is a dramatic comedy about how nothing matters, so everything matters.

Past Shows

Cockroach

Written by Ho Ka Kei (Jeff Ho)
Directed by Mike Payette
September 13, 2022 - October 9, 2022
Mainspace

A cockroach smoking catnip. A bard lamenting over immortality. A boy stuck in a sticky situation. Three splinters caught in a collision of language, longing, and lobsters (who sometimes burst, and who sometimes burp).

From Toronto Theatre Critics award-winning playwright
Ho Ka Kei (Jeff Ho), Cockroach is a coming-of-age play about the stories we tell ourselves to comfort, to survive, to resist, to overcome, and to be.

My Sister's Rage

Written by Yolanda Bonnell
Directed by Yolanda Bonnell
October 11, 2022 - November 6, 2022
Extraspace

When their Matriarch ends up in a coma, a ma’iingan-wolf clan family gathers together to work through their collective grief and begin to heal from an incident in the past. While the Aunties camp out in the hospital room, the younger cousins spend their time at the Grandmother’s house by the backyard firepit; all while being circled by a cackling crow jokester.

As the veil between the ancestral plane and the earthly realm gets thinner, tensions and emotions are high and vulnerabilities are exposed, revealing the true strength and resilience of the ma’iingan kwe.

Yolanda Bonnell’s My Sister’s Rage is a story about the nuances of holding trauma and joy at the same time and how laughter is medicine.

Post-Democracy

Written by Hannah Moscovitch
Directed by Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu
November 8, 2022 - December 4, 2022
Mainspace

Welcome to the world of the 1%, the corporate elite, the
“C-suite” – the “king-makers” whose influence flows through every aspect of our lives virtually unnoticed. When a CEO and his top executives are on a business trip for a major deal, a damaging sex scandal at the company is unearthed back home. As the pressure to complete the deal mounts, more secrets come to the surface, endangering the CEO’s company, his family, and his legacy. What happens to morality when human beings have limitless power?

Biting and unabashedly oozing with the condition of greed, Post-Democracy asks what is the price of silence envisioned through the remarkable lens of Director Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu.

The Sally Stavro Family Series

Written by Audrey Dwyer
Directed by Mike Payette
May 14, 2023 - June 11, 2023
Mainspace

When John Hall is confronted by his ancestors, he is forced to revisit his entire life.

Worlds collide as he travels back through time rediscovering life as a
husband, father, son, war scout and freedom fighter. As he relives his dangerous past,
John must decide – continue life as the oldest man, abandon everything and serve
those on the earthly plane or exist in the Unknown.

Based on true events, Come Home – The Legend of Daddy Hall is told through poetic text, music and song.

A play about the afterlife, love, legacy and being legendary. Come Home asks where we come from, where we’re headed and what we may be asked to do when we get there.

Come Home: The Legend of Daddy Hall

Written by Audrey Dwyer
Directed by Mike Payette
May 14, 2023 - June 11, 2023
Mainspace

When John Hall is confronted by his ancestors, he is forced to revisit his entire life.

Worlds collide as he travels back through time rediscovering life as a
husband, father, son, war scout and freedom fighter. As he relives his dangerous past,
John must decide – continue life as the oldest man, abandon everything and serve
those on the earthly plane or exist in the Unknown.

Based on true events, Come Home – The Legend of Daddy Hall is told through poetic text, music and song.

A play about the afterlife, love, legacy and being legendary. Come Home asks where we come from, where we’re headed and what we may be asked to do when we get there.

She’s Not Special

Written by Fatuma Adar
Directed by Fatuma Adar and Graham Isador
May 24, 2023 - May 28, 2023
Mainspace

“Leave expectations at the door. We are not putting on a play, we are throwing a party. This is a concert, comedy show, and confessional all in one. Come celebrate your mediocrity with us!“

Tarragon Theatre and Nightwood Theatre are thrilled to present the live stage premiere of Fatuma Adar’s unforgettable show She’s Not Special.

Co-directed by Adar (Playback’s Artist to Watch) and Graham Isador (The Beaverton, VICE), She’s Not Special combines musical theatre and comedic storytelling to explore the pressures of Black Excellence.

As a Black Muslim Woman (a triple threat!) Fatuma is on a mission to free you from the clutches of exceptionalism and teach you how to relish in the joys of mediocrity. After a critically acclaimed digital run at the Next Stage Theatre Festival, She’s Not Special returns to the stage LIVE! (Still, Adar hopes that you come with only moderate expectations… thanks.)