Crow's Theatre 2026.27 Season Announcement

Crow’s-commissioned adaptation of Rohinton Mistry’s A FINE BALANCE by Anosh Irani – Christopher Manousos’ productions of Shakespeare’s MEASURE FOR MEASURE and MACBETH – Crow’s-commissioned adaptation of Mona Awad’s ALL’S WELL by Erin Shields – A GERMAN LIFE by Christopher Hampton – Alisa Palmer and Hannah Moscovitch’s adaptation of Ann-Marie MacDonald’s FALL ON YOUR KNEES PARTS 1 & 2 – THE FISHERMEN by Gbolahan Obisesan – THE GHOSTS OF MARIUPOL by Christopher Morris – WE SWEAR by Matt Baram, Naomi Snieckus, and Kat Sandler – LAURA SECORD’S THING by Brad Gira – ROGERS V. ROGERS by Michael Healey returns 

Today, Crow’s Theatre Artistic Director Chris Abraham and Executive Director Sherrie Johnson are delighted to announce an extraordinary 2026.27 season—the organization’s 43rd season of programming—celebrating the 10-year anniversary of their permanent east-end home at Dundas and Carlaw. This milestone, 16-show season foregrounds Canadian artists and stories with four large-scale adaptations of beloved works of Canadian literature, all supported by the Crow’s Theatre Canadian Literature Adaptation Fund. These literary adaptations are part of a lineup boasting five World Premieres, two revivals of hit Canadian plays, an all-new production of a Canadian legacy adaptation, two Shakespeares, and two Canadian Premieres of international titles. Extending beyond the walls of Crow’s Theatre, the season features multiple shows on tour—including one national tour—and four additional partnership productions, which will be announced in the coming weeks.

Marking the beginning of their second decade in their thriving east-end venue, the company is also thrilled to share that their home, Streetcar Crowsnest, will officially be renamed CROW’S THEATRE, thanks to the support of the largest single private gift in their history. To celebrate the company’s 10th anniversary in the venue, B Street Collaborative, founded by Crow’s Theatre Board member Heather Jessiman, has made a transformational gift to support this milestone and the next chapter of the company’s growth. B Street Collaborative will also join the 2026.27 season as the lead sponsor of CROW’S CABARET, which will officially launch in September 2026 in the Nada Ristich Studio-Gallery, next door to the theatre’s on-site restaurant, Piano Piano.

“This theatre has become one of the most vibrant cultural institutions in the city,” says Jessiman. “Over the past decade, Crow’s has built something remarkable here: a place where artists and audiences come together with real curiosity and joy. I’m proud that B Street Collaborative can help mark this milestone and support the next chapter of the company’s growth.”

“This season feels like the beginning of a new chapter for Crow’s,” says Crow’s Theatre Artistic Director Chris Abraham. “Ten years ago, this building felt like a leap of faith. Today it’s home to a loyal, adventurous, and ever-expanding community. It’s also bursting at the seams, which is why we’ve been growing at Dundas and Carlaw, and expanding partnerships across the city and beyond. We’re enormously grateful to Heather Jessiman and B Street Collaborative for their extraordinary generosity at this important moment for the company. Despite the challenges facing the world and the arts sector, we feel deeply grateful and energized for what comes next.”

He continues, “As we look ahead to our next decade, we are unabashedly thinking big. We are looking for ways to bring our artists, stories, and perspectives into more places, spaces, and collisions with audiences here at home and around the world. We are asking ourselves how we can contribute to making Toronto the global destination for thrilling live theatre we know it can be.”

Executive Director Sherrie Johnson adds, “In the years ahead, alongside more national and international touring, we’ll be expanding our commissions of new plays and theatrical adaptations of Canadian literary works, while continuing to grow partnerships with companies like Soulpepper Theatre, Mirvish Productions, and Canadian Stage. At the same time, we’re expanding our home at Crow’s Theatre. The Nada Ristich Studio-Gallery will become a year-round cabaret and performance venue next season, and we have already opened our new rehearsal hall and production centre at 1220 Dundas Street East. These investments come at a moment of real momentum for Crow’s. We’ve grown to become one of the largest employers of theatre artists in Toronto’s non-commercial theatre sector, with a staff of 42 and a $10-million annual operating budget. This season, more than 90,000 people will see Crow’s productions at home and on tour, and another 60,000 attended NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812 at the Royal Alexandra Theatre this past summer. I believe it’s a testament both to the strength of our partnerships and to our shared conviction that theatre has an essential role to play in the city of Toronto.” 

CROW'S 2026.27 SEASON – The Next Chapter Starts Now 

The stories in our 2026.27 season take place across centuries and continents, from the early modern world to 20th-century Europe, from West African townships to a city by the sea in India in 1975, from a Ukrainian theatre to a Cape Breton kitchen. What connects them is not geography but upheaval: moments when the world shifts beneath a character’s feet and the choices they make reveal who they truly are. It is in such moments that stories—and lives—enter their next chapter. Next season at Crow’s Theatre, sixteen stories do just that.  

At the heart of this benchmark season are four extraordinary adaptations of essential and timeless Canadian novels—two World Premieres and the return of two critical and audience hits—all supported by the Crow’s Theatre Canadian Literature Adaptation Fund. The Fund was launched in 2022 with the visionary support of the Hilary and Galen Weston Foundation as a bold cultural intervention to support major works of Canadian fiction and non-fiction finding enduring life on Canada’s stages. In just a few short years, the Fund has enabled Crow’s to option, develop, and produce some of its most successful productions in recent memory, including FIFTEEN DOGS (based on André Alexis’ Giller Prize–winning novel), THE MASTER PLAN (adapted from Josh O’Kane’s book Sideways), and ROGERS V. ROGERS (based on Alexandra Posadzki’s award-winning book).  

“Through this hectic period of growth and experimentation, we started to notice a clear pattern emerging in our audience responses—a deep appetite for stories by beloved Canadian authors and for hyper-local narratives,” shares Abraham. “The shows that have become definitive Crow’s successes in the last decade, like THE MASTER PLAN, FIFTEEN DOGS, and ROGERS V. ROGERS, have taught us that our audiences are not ambivalent about Canadian storytelling. They are—with renewed force—innately drawn to stories that reframe and reflect their city, country, and national mythologies. We are at a pivotal cultural moment in Canada that demands recognition of the role storytelling plays in nationhood and cultural sovereignty—it feels absolutely right that our tenth-anniversary season be the most capital ‘C’ Canadian we’ve ever had.” 

The season gets under way with a truly epic adaptation of Indian Canadian author Rohinton Mistry’s novel A FINE BALANCE, adapted by playwright and novelist Anosh Irani. Published in 1995, the book was not only an international bestseller but also the second-ever winner of the Giller Prize, shortlisted for the 1996 Booker, one of only two Canadian novels selected for Oprah Winfrey’s Book Club, and the 2002 Canada Reads winner—cementing this work as a modern classic. A sweeping story of the endurance of the human spirit set during India’s 1975 Emergency, when democratic freedoms were suspended and the machinery of the state reached deeply into everyday life, this devastating and astonishing story of strangers divided by class, caste, and circumstance has been adapted by Dora Award–winner and Canada Reads finalist Anosh Irani for Crow’s Theatre. A FINE BALANCE will be directed by Chris Abraham and will feature Husein Madhavji, Anand Rajaram, Zorana Sadiq, Siddharth Sharma, Sugith Varughese, and Ben Yoganathan.

Early 2027 sees the return of Alisa Palmer and Hannah Moscovitch’s two-part adaptation of Ann-Marie MacDonald’s East Coast epic, FALL ON YOUR KNEES. Originally presented in 2023 by The National Arts Centre English Theatre, Vita Brevis Arts, and Canadian Stage, the Grand Theatre, and Neptune Theatre, now Crow’s Theatre and Vita Brevis, in association with Nightwood Theatre, bring a new, intimate production directed by Alisa Palmer to the east-end theatre. A story spanning generations in early 20th-century Cape Breton, FALL ON YOUR KNEES follows the four Piper sisters and their family, haunted by secrets, tragedy, and forbidden love. Like A FINE BALANCE, MacDonald’s novel was an international bestseller and critical smash. It was shortlisted for the 1996 Giller Prize, won the 1997 Commonwealth Writer’s Prize for Best First Book, and was the only other Canadian novel selected for Oprah Winfrey’s Book Club. The novel is adapted for the stage by Hannah Moscovitch, one of the most acclaimed Canadian playwrights of her generation, and features Ryan Allen, Tess Benger, Janelle Cooper, Diane Flacks, Amir Haidar, Martin Happer, Samantha Hill, Trish Lindstrom, Cara Rebecca, Maryem Tollar, Amaka Umeh, Dakota Jamal Wellman, and Jenny L. Wright.

As previously announced, the company has also commissioned and will produce (with Soulpepper Theatre, as part of their ongoing strategic partnership) the World Premiere adaptation of CanLit ‘It Girl’ Mona Awad’s ALL’S WELL, adapted by Erin Shields, directed by Jackie Maxwell, and starring Maev Beaty with Sturla Alvsvåg, Danté Prince, Bella Reyes, Khadijah Roberts-Abdullah, Rick Roberts, Amelia Sargisson, and David Storch. A scintillating dark comedy, ALL’S WELL wickedly considers ambition, pain, power, and the cost of a cure. Crow’s will also bring back their 25.26 runaway hit ROGERS V. ROGERS, starring Tom Rooney, presented with Canadian Stage. The production will begin a national tour in Ottawa at the Great Canadian Theatre Company and will continue to the West Coast with dates to be announced in the weeks to come.

Alongside these large-scale literary projects are two more Canadian plays, two Shakespeares, and one cross-border collaboration. Getting the Studio Theatre season under way in September, Crow’s Theatre will bring back House + Body’s acclaimed production of Shakespeare’s MEASURE FOR MEASURE—a critical breakthrough in 2025. Next up, another Shakespeare arrives with the World Premiere of MACBETH, an intimate solo performance reframing Shakespeare’s most haunting tragedy, directed by Christopher Manousos and starring Evan Buliung. In April, Human Cargo and Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, in association with Crow’s and Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theatre, present the World Premiere of THE GHOSTS OF MARIUPOL, written and directed by Christopher Morris. Based on extensive embedded research in Ukraine, the play follows two childhood friends and actors at the Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theatre in Mariupol, which was bombed in March 2022 during the Russian invasion. 

In the spring on the Guloien stage, the creative team behind 2024’s beloved hit BIG STUFF—Matt Baram, Naomi Snieckus, and Kat Sandler—return to Crow’s for the World Premiere of WE SWEAR. A Baram and Snieckus Production, presented by Crow’s Theatre, in association with the Luminato Festival, WE SWEAR brings the trio’s signature humour and open-heartedness to an exploration of promises and personal responsibility. 

Concluding the Studio season is freeswim’s World Premiere cross-border collaboration LAURA SECORD’S THING. Written by US-based writer Brad Gira, directed by Canadian William Dao, and in collaboration with Annie Luján, LAURA SECORD’S THING is a campy, high-stakes comedy that reimagines the legendary 20-mile trek of Canadian folk hero Laura Secord. 

Canadian originals are complemented in the season by the Canadian Premieres of two international titles: one a searing European drama, the other a searching work rooted in Nigerian myth. Based on the life and testimony of Brunhilde Pomsel, Crow’s Theatre presents British playwright Christopher Hampton’s A GERMAN LIFE in early 2027, directed by Stewart Arnott and starring the iconic Fiona Reid.  Later, Crow’s Theatre and Obsidian Theatre, in association with BCurrent, partner on THE FISHERMEN, another major literary adaptation based on the Booker Prize–shortlisted novel by Chigozie Obioma and adapted by British Nigerian playwright Gbolahan Obisesan, with direction by Tawiah Ben M’Carthy. 

Already announced, the Crow’s production of COMFORT FOOD by Zorana Sadiq will be presented as part of the Royal Manitoba’s Theatre Centre’s 26.27 season. Four additional partnership productions complete the season, to be announced in the weeks to come.  

CROW’S CABARET 

In September, Crow’s Theatre will throw open the doors to the CROW’S CABARET, a new year-round series in the Nada Ristich Studio-Gallery dedicated to intimate performance and bold artistic encounters that act as an energizing and playful complement to Crow’s Theatre season programming. 

First announced last season and now ready to come to life, the CABARET will transform 1210 Dundas Street East into a gathering place for music, storytelling, comedy, literary evenings, and boundary-crossing theatrical events. The launch arrives as Crow’s completes CROW’S TAKES FLIGHT, the company’s $7-million fundraising campaign, led by co-chairs David Peterson and Nancy Lockhart. This transformative campaign supports the continued development of Crow’s programming, the launch of the company’s first endowment, the addition of the new production centre at 1220 Dundas Street East, and the debut of the CABARET itself. These initiatives have been made possible through the generosity of many supporters, including major leadership contributions from The Slaight Family Foundation and B Street Collaborative. Together, they mark an important new phase in the life of Crow’s Theatre, expanding the company’s capacity to create, gather, and share extraordinary work.

Subscriptions for the 2026.27 season will be available March 24th and single tickets for A FINE BALANCE and all Studio Theatre shows go on sale June 1st. For more information on Crow’s Theatre 2026.27 season, visit crowstheatre.com. 

Media contact:

Suzanne Cheriton, suzanne@redeyemedia.ca, 416-805-6744 

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CROW’S THEATRE 2026.27 SEASON 

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A Crow’s Theatre Production
A FINE BALANCE 

Adapted by Anosh Irani 
Based on the novel by Rohinton Mistry  
Directed by Chris Abraham  

Guloien Theatre @ Crow’s Theatre
August 25–October 11, 2026
[World Premiere]

Anosh Irani’s adaptation of Rohinton Mistry’s beloved novel unfolds during India’s 1975 Emergency, when democratic freedoms were suspended and the machinery of the state reached deeply into everyday life.  

In a cramped Bombay apartment, four unlikely companions are drawn together: Dina Dalal, a widowed seamstress determined to remain independent; Maneck Kohlah, a student newly arrived from the mountains; and two tailors, Ishvar and his nephew Omprakash, who have fled caste violence in their village. 

As the pressures of a country in upheaval close in, their fragile household becomes a refuge. Inside that tightening vise, something unexpectedly luminous emerges. Devastating and astonishing in equal measure, this new adaptation by Anosh Irani—a Governor General’s Literary Award finalist and recipient of the Writers’ Trust Engel Findley Award—brings Mistry’s epic story vividly to the stage. 

Featuring: Husein Madhavji, Anand Rajaram, Zorana Sadiq, Siddharth Sharma, Sugith Varughese, and Ben Yoganathan. 

Accolades for the novel A Fine Balance: 

•  Giller Prize, 1995  

•  Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, 1996  

•  Oprah’s Book Club, November 2001  

•  Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, 1996 

•  Booker Prize Shortlisted Finalist, 1996 

 “Abraham’s capacity to orchestrate complex stagecraft and keep the pace moving swiftly while directing actors to be fully present in ever-shifting roles is in masterful display.”  — Toronto Star 

 “[Anosh Irani is] One of CanLit’s most innovative chameleons.” — Quill & Quire 

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A Crow’s Canadian Literature Adaptation Fund Commission
The Slaight Family Creation Residency
Crow’s Theatre Presents a House + Body Production
MEASURE FOR MEASURE 

By William Shakespeare 
Directed and Adapted by Christopher Manousos   

Studio Theatre @ Crow’s Theatre
September 15–October 4, 2026

Returning to Crow’s Theatre after its acclaimed limited run is House + Body’s bold reimagining of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, setting this urgent story of justice and morality inside a chaotic modern sound studio. 

When Isabella’s brother is sentenced to death, she embarks on a journey to save his life but is forced to confront a system where authority wavers and moral certainty erodes. Watch as five actors juggle twenty roles live on air, racing through a high-stakes broadcast as offstage antics spiral as wildly as the drama that unfolds. 

Fast, sharp, and darkly funny, this Measure for Measure asks who holds power—and who pays the price. 
 
Featuring: Jamie Cavanagh, Katherine Gauthier, Sébastien Heins, Beck Lloyd, and Danté Prince. 

 
Top 10 Productions of 2025 — Toronto Star and Next Magazine 

 “This production of one of Shakespeare’s most relevant plays is unlike anything you’ve ever seen (or heard) before.” 3.5/4 stars — Toronto Star 

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A Crow’s Theatre Production
MACBETH 

By William Shakespeare  
Co-created and Directed by Christopher Manousos  
Co-created and Starring Evan Buliung

Studio Theatre @ Crow’s Theatre
November 3–November 29, 2026

Shakespeare’s most haunting tragedy receives a contemporary framing, tracing Macbeth’s ruthless ascent to power and his unraveling descent into guilt and paranoia, in a solo performance by Evan Buliung.  

In Macbeth, the play begins not with action but with prophecy: a whisper of destiny that takes root in the imagination. The Witches do not command Macbeth; they awaken him. The prediction alters him long before he lifts a hand. 

In this intimate staging, ambition and fear reverberate through the dark, asking how belief—once planted—can shape fate itself. 
 
One of Canada’s leading stage actors, Evan Buliung returns to Crow’s after his acclaimed performance as Pierre in Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, as well as twelve seasons at the Stratford Festival, where he most recently played Iago in Othello. 

 “Let’s put Christopher Manousos on our radar as a creative, inventive theatre creator… 
His gift for theatrical invention makes you sit up and lean into the production.” — The Slotkin Letter 
 
“Unfailingly castable and reliable for a strong performance, Evan Buliung is the sort of actor that every company wishes they could depend on.” — My Entertainment World 

The Slaight Family Creation Residency 

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A Crow’s Theatre and Soulpepper Theatre Co-production
ALL’S WELL 

By Mona Awad
Adapted for the stage by Erin Shields
Directed by Jackie Maxwell
Starring Maev Beaty 

Guloien Theatre @ Crow’s Theatre
November 24, 2026–December 27, 2026
World Premiere 

In this wild comedy from celebrated Canadian author Mona Awad, writer of the bestselling novels Bunny and We Love You, Bunny, magical realism takes centre stage.  
 
After a freak onstage accident ends her promising acting career, Miranda Fitch is left in chronic pain and reduced to directing student Shakespeare productions in a struggling university’s theatre department. When her mutinous undergraduates want Macbeth instead of her beloved All’s Well That Ends Well, Miranda is determined to change their minds—by any means necessary. But when three mysterious strangers offer a magical cure to her pain, she’s pulled into a surreal journey that pushes her to the brink of sanity. 

The promise of a happy ending comes with wicked fine print in Mona Awad’s All’s Well– a razor-sharp comedy about ambition, pain, and power. 

Maev Beaty—whose work has been seen across nine seasons with the Stratford Festival, in A24’s Beau Is Afraid, and in the award-winning production Secret Life of a Mother—stars in Governor General’s Award winner Erin Shields’ adaptation.  

Also featuring: Sturla Alvsvåg, Danté Prince, Bella Reyes, Khadijah Roberts-Abdullah, Rick Roberts, Amelia Sargisson, and David Storch. 

Accolades for Mona Awad: 

• Three-time finalist for a Goodreads Choice Award  

• The recipient of an Amazon Canada First Novel Award  

• Shortlisted for the Giller Prize 

 “Awad has taken Shakespeare’s premise of illness and spiritual rebirth and turned it into an inventive horror-comedy full of altered realities and uncanny weirdness.”  — The Seattle Times 

“Once I started to read the book, I just kept going and going. Taking it in this way left me reeling, but when I was finished, I knew one thing for certain: Awad’s writing isn’t merely intoxicating. It’s incandescent.” — Washington Post 
 
“There are so many things to admire about Shields’ acute observations and inversions of expectations… every new play from her is a challenge and a treat.” — Toronto Star  

A Crow’s Canadian Literature Adaptation Fund Commission 

The Slaight Family Creation Residency 

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A Crow’s Theatre Production
A GERMAN LIFE 

By Christopher Hampton 
Drawn from the life and testimony of Brunhilde Pomsel 
Starring Fiona Reid 
Directed by Stewart Arnott 
 

Studio Theatre @ Crow’s Theatre
January 12–February 7, 2027
[Canadian Premiere]

From Tony- and Oscar-winning writer Christopher Hampton and based on the real-life testimony of Brunhilde Pomsel, secretary to Joseph Goebbels during Nazi Germany, A German Life traces one woman’s extraordinary life inside a regime built on propaganda and terror. 
 
At the age of 103, Pomsel looks back and recounts her work, her choices, and her daily survival. Hampton’s adaptation examines the incremental slide—the quiet rationalizations and small concessions through which ordinary people become entangled in extraordinary evil. 
 
A German Life is a meditation on memory, guilt, and the fragile line between complicity and innocence. 
 
The play stars Canadian theatre legend Fiona Reid, whose work has been seen across the country at Stratford, Shaw, and beyond, including on film in My Big Fat Greek Wedding and The Time Traveler’s Wife, and on Broadway in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. 

 “[A German Life is] a triumph for the playwright Christopher Hampton.” — The Times 

 “A compelling history lesson.” — The Telegraph 

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A Crow’s Theatre and Vita Brevis Arts Co-production in Association with Nightwood Theatre
FALL ON YOUR KNEES: PART 1 

Adapted for the Stage by Alisa Palmer and Hannah Moscovitch
Co-created and Written by Hannah Moscovitch
Co-created and Directed by Alisa Palmer 
Based on the novel by Ann-Marie MacDonald  

Guloien Theatre @ Crow’s Theatre
February 9–March 21, 2027 

Ann-Marie MacDonald’s epic novel of family, faith, and buried history comes to the stage in Hannah Moscovitch and Alisa Palmer’s intimate adaptation. Presented in two parts and spanning generations, Fall on Your Knees follows the Piper family, haunted by secrets, tragedy, and forbidden love in early 20th-century Cape Breton. 

In Part 1, a young piano tuner and the daughter of immigrants defy convention to build a life together. From their union grows a volatile household shaped by faith, ambition, and the transformative power of music. When their daughter Kathleen’s extraordinary voice offers a path to greatness, dreams of success carry her from a small coastal community to the electrifying cultural awakening of New York and Harlem. 
 
As tragedy fractures the Piper family, love curdles into silence, and Kathleen’s wayward sister Frances is driven to unearth the truth, even as it begins slipping into myth. 

Fall on Your Knees continues with Part 2. 

Accolades for Fall On Your Knees: 

• Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama Finalist, 2026 

 “Fall On Your Knees stage adaptation is six powerful hours that will bring you to your feet.” — The Globe and Mail 

Originally developed by Vita Brevis Arts and the National Arts Centre, English Theatre with support from The National Creation Fund. Premiered by the National Arts Centre English Theatre, Canadian Stage, Grand Theatre, Neptune Theatre and Vita Brevis Arts.

Supported by the Crow’s Canadian Literature Adaptation Fund

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A Crow’s Theatre and Vita Brevis Arts Co-production in Association with Nightwood Theatre
FALL ON YOUR KNEES: PART 2 

Adapted for the Stage by Alisa Palmer and Hannah Moscovitch
Co-created and Written by Hannah Moscovitch
Co-created and Directed by Alisa Palmer 
Based on the novel by Ann-Marie MacDonald

Guloien Theatre @ Crow’s Theatre
February 12–March 21, 2027 

Continue the journey of Ann-Marie MacDonald’s epic Canadian novel of family, faith, and buried history with the second part of Hannah Moscovitch and Alisa Palmer’s intimate adaptation. 

In Part 2, years have passed and the Piper family’s buried past begins to surface. Driven by her need to understand the truth, Frances reinvents herself while the youngest sister, Lily, sets out from Cape Breton toward New York City, carrying the diary of her sister Kathleen.  
 
Through the diary’s pages unfolds a passionate story of music, identity, and forbidden love set against the vibrant nightlife of Harlem’s Jazz Age. As Lily follows the diary’s clues, she searches for the people who knew Kathleen and the truth about her family’s secrets.   
 
Spanning generations, the journey of Fall On Your Knees reveals a family history shaped by silence, survival, and the enduring power of love. 

Featuring: Ryan Allen, Tess Benger, Janelle Cooper, Diane Flacks, Amir Haidar, Samantha Hill, Martin Happer, Dakota Jamal Wellman, Trish Lindstrom, Cara Rebecca, Maryem Tollar, Amaka Umeh, and Jenny L. Wright. 
 
Supported by the Crow’s Canadian Literature Adaptation Fund 

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A Crow’s Theatre and Obsidian Theatre Co-production in Association with BCurrent Performing Arts
THE FISHERMEN 

Adapted by Gbolahan Obisesan  
Based on the Booker Prize–shortlisted novel by Chigozie Obioma  
Directed by Tawiah Ben M’Carthy

Studio Theatre @ Crow’s Theatre
March 2–March 28, 2027
Canadian Premiere

Gbolahan Obisesan delivers an award-winning adaptation of Chigozie Obioma's celebrated novel following two Nigerian brothers who relive the moment their family was irrevocably fractured after a dangerous prophecy. 

While their father is away, they secretly fish in a forbidden river and encounter a local prophet who foretells that the eldest will die at the hands of one of his brothers. Suspicion spreads. Childhood adventure turns to paranoia. Words take on the force of fate. 

The Fishermen explores how belief can reorder identity—and how the fear of what might happen can begin to make it so. 
 
Featuring: Tony Ofori | additional cast to be announced 

 
Accolades for the novel The Fishermen: 

• The Observer’s Book of the Year, 2015 

• Man Booker Prize Shortlisted Finalist, 2015 

• New York Times Sunday Book Review Editor’s Choice, 2015

"The Fishermen is a production with a spark of something very special." — The Guardian 

 
TD Production Residency

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A Human Cargo and Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre Co-production in Association with Crow’s Theatre and Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theatre
THE GHOSTS OF MARIUPOL 

Written and Directed by Christopher Morris   

Studio Theatre @ Crow’s Theatre
April 20–May 9, 2027
[World Premiere]

 
As Ukraine enters the fifth year of Russia’s ongoing invasion, Christopher Morris presents a powerful new work inspired by the artists who survived the March 2022 bombing of Ukraine’s historic Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theatre in Mariupol. 

 The play follows two actresses, best friends whose lives are forever changed by the bombing. One collaborates with Russians in the rebuilt Mariupol Theatre. The other creates theatre for injured Ukrainian soldiers in Western Ukraine. Both are haunted by the choices they made that day to survive. 

 The Ghosts of Mariupol confronts impossible questions about survival, collaboration, truth, and resistance. It asks: when war shatters moral clarity, what’s the true cost of survival? And how do you hold on to yourself when war has changed you forever? 

 
Featuring: Amy Matysio | Additional cast to be announced  
 

TD Production Residency 
 

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Crow’s Theatre Presents a Baram and Snieckus Production in Association with Luminato Festival
WE SWEAR
A Show About Promises and Other Things We Meant at the Time 

Written and Created by Matt Baram and Naomi Snieckus
Co-created and Directed by Kat Sandler

Guloien Theatre @ Crow’s Theatre
April 27–May 23, 2027
[World Premiere]

From Matt Baram, Naomi Snieckus, and Kat Sandler, the creative trio behind the hit production Big Stuff, comes a bold and playful new show about the promises we make to the people we love, the people we barely know, and ourselves. 

On the way to Los Angeles after their low-key civil ceremony at Toronto City Hall, Matt and Naomi made a promise to themselves: no more corporate gigs, no moving back to Toronto, and a proper wedding within five years. 

Five years later… 

There’s no wedding planned. 

They’re back in Toronto. 

And most awkwardly of all, they’re there for a corporate gig. 
 
What follows is a funny and revealing exploration of marriage, commitment, and the strange cultural machinery of the wedding itself, an industry built on love, seating charts, and centrepieces that cost more than your first car. 

With light audience interaction throughout, We Swear blurs the line between personal vows and public confession, reminding us that keeping our promises rarely happens in grand gestures but in the daily, awkward work of trying to keep our word. Or at the very least…remembering what we promised in the first place. 
 
Featuring: Matt Baram and Naomi Snieckus.  

“Baram, Snieckus and Sandler are a terrific trio of writerly talent.” — The Globe and Mail 

“Baram and Snieckus are as much fun as you can have without taking your clothes off.” — Toronto Star 

Originally commissioned and developed at Crow’s Theatre 

The Slaight Family Creation Residency 
 

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A freeswim Production in Association with Crow’s Theatre
LAURA SECORD’S THING 

Written by Brad Gira  
Co-created and Directed by William Dao  
Co-created with Annie Luján  

Studio Theatre @ Crow’s Theatre 
May 22–June 6, 2027 
[World Premiere]

From the original mind of Brad Gira comes a campy, high-stakes comedy that reimagines the legendary 20-mile (or 32-kilometre) trek of Canadian folk hero Laura Secord. 
 
Secord's journey helped thwart an American attack during the War of 1812, though it was largely ignored during her lifetime—and many now only know her as a chocolate brand. This comedy pokes at a story we thought was settled—revealing the human pulse beneath the legend and reminding us that even our most fixed histories began as acts of risk. 
 
With wit and irreverence, Laura Secord’s Thing unpacks myth, memory, and the farcical spectre of national storytelling. 
 
Featuring: Annie Luján | additional cast to be announced 

“[William Dao] proves himself to be one of the city’s most exciting up-and-coming directors” — Intermission 
 
“ [Annie Luján is] enthusiastic and fearless” — My Gay Toronto 

TD Production Residency 

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A Crow’s Theatre Production Presented with Canadian Stage
ROGERS V. ROGERS 

Adapted for the stage by Michael Healey 
Based on Rogers v. Rogers: The Battle for Control of Canada’s Telecom Empire by Alexandra Posadzki 
Directed by Chris Abraham 
Starring Tom Rooney  

Berkeley Street Theatre / Marilyn and Charles Baillie Theatre at 26 Berkeley @ Canadian Stage 
November 8–December 13, 2026 

After a record-breaking, sold-out run at Crow’s last season, Rogers v. Rogers returns for a limited run at Canadian Stage. 

Telecom tycoon Ted Rogers built an empire by turning Canada’s airwaves into cash. Now his son Edward, long dismissed by his father, is fighting for control of the family business. Meanwhile, shrewd public servant Matthew Boswell is determined to derail Rogers’ multibillion-dollar takeover of Shaw Communications. 

Inspired by one of the most dramatic boardroom showdowns in Canadian history, this riveting drama examines the price of pushing back, the unraveling bonds of kin, and the legacy that money can—and cannot—buy. 
 
From award-winning playwright Michael Healey, writer of The Master Plan and The Drawer Boy, comes a story of outsized ambition, personal grudges, and corporate power. Rogers v. Rogers is performed by acclaimed stage actor Tom Rooney, whose celebrated work includes Crow’s productions of Fifteen Dogs and Uncle Vanya.

CRITIC'S PICK. “A dizzying one-man showcase for Tom Rooney.” — The Globe and Mail

“A hoot for every long-suffering Rogers customer.” — Toronto Star 

A Crow’s Canadian Literature Adaptation Fund Commission