The Canada Council for the Arts gave Susanna Fournier $108,000 and she used it to build an Empire by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

Fournier was beginning to feel her trilogy of plays about a fictional imperial civilization was ‘unstageable,’ but a New Chapter grant helped kick-start a project that includes The Scave…

Dear Evan Hansen cast announced by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

We Are Not Alone is one man’s UFO obsession turned deftly into comedy by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

Damien Atkins’ one-man show brings a lot of low-budget creativity to framing his colourful tales, though there’s no clear resolution to the mystery here.

After the Fire pays off with a darkly funny ending, but we have to dig to get there by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

Matthew MacKenzie’s followup to the award-winning Bears gives us a sometimes alienating journey, as two couples cope with the aftermath of the Fort McMurray fire, writes Carly Maga.

Anonymity allows for an honest portrayal in Grace by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

It’s not even clear that the writer of Nightwood Theatre’s production of Grace at Streetcar Crowsnest, directed by Andrea Donaldson, was present at Thursday’s opening night, since no o…

Eight years after Sleep No More hit New York, theatre is still immersed in the site-specific trend by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

Immersive theatre has been arguably the biggest stage movement of the last decade, but its purveyors worry the word is starting to lose its meaning, writes Carly Maga.

Kiviuq Returns: This myth is a hit by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

Cycle of stories brings unusual choices and structures to Tarragon stage, to solid effect.

Indigenous filmmaker Kim O’Bomsawin stands by her criticism of Robert Lepage’s Kanata by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

The controversial play, which opened in Paris last week, ‘would have been better with us’ in it, says the maker of the documentary Ce silence qui tue.

Robert Lepage’s Kanata —Épisode 1 — La Controverse misses the mark by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

Cancelled and then resurrected by the Théâtre du Soleil, the play seems well-intentioned but presents a simplistic view of Canadian Indigenous inequality and the steps needed to address it…

A Toronto Star theatre critic attends the School of Rock by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

How hard can it be to play a musical instrument? Carly Maga got a lesson on the bass from 11-year-old Leanne Parks, a cast member in the musical now onstage at the Ed Mirvish Theatre.

Cirque du Soleil’s Corteo puts the ‘fun’ in funeral — but it’s not perfect by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

It’s full of warm nostalgia but a flawed story and a whiff of tokenism hold back show at Scotiabank Arena.

The Philosopher’s Wife interrogates the danger in valuing one belief system over another by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

The play is the first in Susanna Fournier’s Empire Trilogy and evidence of a journey worth completing, writes Carly Maga.

Going for woke pays off in The Wizard of Oz, Ross Petty’s latest panto by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

Alice the Magnet isn’t a smash but it keeps the audience off-balance by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

Deepening, twisting story of self-help entrepreneur is closing soon, and theatre fans looking to be made uncomfortable should check it out.

Acclaimed clown troupe brings show to Toronto to spread joy — and repair buffoons’ image by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

Slava’s cause is coming to clown: the veteran performer Slava Polunin makes the case for the spirit his Academy of Fools company brings to Bluma Appel Theatre this month with Slava’s Sno…

Every Brilliant Thing is feel-good theatre that doesn’t always feel genuine by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

As charming as the concept is, playwright Duncan Macmillan’s focus on a list of brilliant things skirts over the nitty gritty of his own story, and having audience members read off cue car…

Buddies in Bad Times co-founder Sky Gilbert severs ties with theatre company by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

Gilbert claims company is no longer a gay and lesbian theatre, but Carly Maga writes that the controversy isn’t really about Gilbert, it’s about addressing systemic inequality and deeply…

In Dividing Lines, Beatriz Pizano shares a story about family and death by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

Pizano treats both her own history and her parents’ as well as the emotionally complicated issue of euthanasia with softness and humour, writes Carly Maga.

Ellie Moon’s new play proves she’s a theatrical force by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

With her sophomore effort, the young playwright show she has lots to say, and she’s going to say it loud and fast.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is extra sweet, rarely bitter by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

The touring version of the new musical doesn’t always work, but the Oompah Loompahs are a treat, writes Carly Maga.

A theatre critic and her mom go to Like Mother, Like Daughter and then have their own Q&A by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

In Like Mother, Like Daughter, real-life moms and daughters ask each other sometimes deep questions. Themes like the sacrifices that moms make rang true for Carly Maga’s mother.

Monica Esteves joins Canadian Stage as executive director by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

Longtime Toronto arts manager leaves Crow’s Theatre, where she helped spearhead the campaign to build Streetcar Crowsnest.

Space Opera Zero is more delightfully absurd than it has any right to be by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

Take the 17th-century story The Changeling, add melodrama, interplanetary warfare and lasers, and an esthetic debt to Star Trek and you have this Eldritch Theatre soap opera in space, writes…

In We Keep Coming Back, real-life mother and son explore how trauma ripples through generations by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

We Keep Coming Back is part therapy session, part ethnography study, part storytelling, and part high-tech analysis of the many ways trauma embeds itself into family, national, and personal …

Caryl Churchill gives us a terrifying, absurd and funny view of the end of the world in Escaped Alone by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

The gravity of Clare Coulter’s performance begs the audience to lean in and listen closer, which is exactly what you want in a mysterious, ethereal messenger, writes Carly Maga.

Will You Be My Friend gets the audience to laugh and squirm for the answer by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

At Theatre Passe Muraille, Janice Jo Lee inverts the ‘identity play’ in a sly new solo musical, writes Carly Maga.

Caryl Churchill wrote Escaped Alone when she was 79. Four local actresses over 60 welcome its point of view by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

Clare Coulter, Maria Vacratsis, Brenda Robins and Kyra Harper, now onstage at the Young Centre, have about 15 decades of stage and screen experience between them.

Plays like The Wolves, Dry Land and School Girls provide a new platform for teenage girls’ stories by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

The characters in these plays, written by women, are not defined by predicaments in their lives and they don’t feel the need to bare them in detail to an audience, writes Carly Maga.

Twists and turns of Marivaux’s La Seconde Surprise de l’amour are underdeveloped in Théâtre français production by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

The dialogue is engaging in this comedic 18th-century romp about love, but the staging doesn’t facilitate a lot of physical action, writes Carly Maga.

Do these women a favour and see Now You See Her by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

Sometimes funny, often touching production at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre explores the many ways women are made to disappear.

The past ‘caught up with the present’ for Ain’t Too Proud writer Dominique Morisseau by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

Award-winning playwright Dominique Morisseau “wanted to make sure that the show can speak to a generation that did not grow up on The Temptations.”