The 20.21 Season is the first season programmed by Artistic Director Marjorie Chan and will feature a diverse range of form and artists, encompassing Theatre Passe Muraille’s spirit of supporting artists with unique visions. Interdisciplinary and intersectional, the programming is intentionally eclectic and drawn from a broad range of theatrical disciplines, bringing forward works from new music, community arts and dance. Also, to herald in this new era of leadership and to reflect this season of change, we have collaborated with designer Louis Duarte, to bring a fresh perspective to the TPM image. Welcome to our new look! It's fun, bold and engaging as we work to welcome audiences back to our theatre and new artists to our community.

AD Marjorie Chan says about the upcoming year:

“This season we bring you pieces that are adaptable and flexible to respond to our current reality. We will be moving forward, navigating the now and constantly working to engage with the challenges and changes being brought before us. We have programmed works that push beyond walls and that will bring unique experiences to our audiences in new ways.

We have world premieres such as 11:11, the true and transformative story of Samson Bonkeabantu Brown, as well as Toka, Associate Artistic Director Indrit Kasapi’s daring and physical new work about Albanian blood feuds. We have works finding new life in theatre from other disciplines. From New Music Speculation, a personal work from Leslie Ting, a violinist and former optometrist, with her treatise on loss. From Dance, we have Anandam Dance’s Ephemeral Artifacts, in which Travis Knights explores the roots of tap. And as our last show of the season, from Community Arts we are pleased to welcome Red Dress Productions with their production of May I Take Your Arm?

We are continuing our partnerships with lemonTree creations, Tamyka Bullen and Donna-Michelle St. Bernard, and the Paprika Festival, which will take over the entire building with their 2021 Festival. We’ll also welcome new Artists-in-Residence including; Silk Bath Collective (Bessie Cheng, Aaron Jan and Gloria Mok), Aluna Theatre, as well as Katie Ready-Walters. Our touring partnership with the M.A.I. (Montréal, arts interculturels) continues, as we bring TPM shows to Montréal. This spring they are welcoming Ephemeral Artifacts into their space.

We have an incredibly full autumn ahead of us, as we give this time over to our BUZZ artists and Artists-in-Residence, developing 10+ new works in our spaces. Join us this fall for online development workshops from BUZZ artist Luke Reece and Artist-in-Residence Katie Ready-Walters with brand-new works devised and created with the digital age in mind. Also starting this fall, the inaugural TPM Book Club will be meeting online and discussing books curated in line with our upcoming live performances and in partnership with independent bookstores and publishers.

In the spring, we will launch our youth program Centre Court. Plus, after the success of our first ever Black Out night last season, we will once again be hosting Black Out nights exclusively for Black audiences to enjoy 11:11 and Ephemeral Artifacts this season. Additionally, we will continue our commitment to accessibility with a full slate of offerings which will include ASL interpretation, Audio Description and Relaxed Performances/Runs. We’ll also be continuing to experiment with new methods of accessibility such as exploring ASL interpretation with augmented reality.

We are committed to presenting you stories through dance, music, projection, and documentary audio from behind our big red doors this season in some capacity. By being adaptive, flexible and responsive, we are able to amplify our artists and their work. Below are our current offerings, both productions and works in development. Things might change but rest assured, TPM will change with the circumstances. We’ll still be here, bringing you these stories which need to be told and which need to be shared. Whether it is online or in the theatre, we hope you will join us for the 20.21 Season: Navigating the Now.”

PRODUCTIONS

11:11 by Samson Bonkeabantu Brown | February 2021

A Theatre Passe Muraille Production

Where the spirit world and the real world meet, lies a world unapologetically crafted and performed by critically acclaimed trans identified artist, Samson Bonkeabantu Brown. 11:11 explores the other side of fear through the eyes of a young, Black transman struggling to understand the ancestral messages saturating his dreams.

Speculation by Leslie Ting | March 2021

A Theatre Passe Muraille Presentation of a Leslie Ting Production

In Speculation, Leslie Ting, a former optometrist and now a professional violinist, presents a theatrical concert, taking the audience through her mother’s loss of vision, and eventual passing, created through projection and music from both Beethoven & John Cage.

Ephemeral Artifacts by Brandy Leary & Travis Knights | March - April 2021 | Touring: April 2021 - M.A.I. (Montréal, arts interculturels)

An Anandam Dancetheatre Production in association with Theatre Passe Muraille

Ephemeral Artifacts confronts the clichés associated with tap dance, exposing the racialized history that continues to affect us today. Exploring the indelible connection of jazz, and tap carried through Black bodies, Travis Knights draws us in with his signature style and challenges the status quo.

Toka by Indrit Kasapi | April 2021

A Theatre Passe Muraille & lemonTree creations Co-Production

Toka tells the story of siblings who wrestle with a long-standing land dispute that has resulted in generational death after death, and is threatening to come to a brutal climax. This startling work of physical theatre about modern-day blood feuds in post-Communist Albania is delicate, evocative and heart-breaking.

May I Take Your Arm? by Alex Bulmer, Tristan R. Whiston, Anna Camilleri, and Katie Yealland | May 2021

A Theatre Passe Muraille and Red Dress Productions Co-Production with the support of Common Boots Theatre

In a downtown Toronto neighbourhood, Blind artist Alex Bulmer takes the arm of community members. Together, they walk, listen, and share stories of place. Experience their journeys through these interdisciplinary portraits that consider the past, illuminate the present, and evoke possible futures.

Paprika Festival | May 2021

in Partnership with Theatre Passe Muraille

Celebrating the 20th anniversary, this unique performing arts festival, which celebrates the work of young and emerging artists, will take over the entire theatre, with panels/discussions, performances and readings. This partnership is part of our broader curatorial philosophy in order to diversify the entry points to the art on our stages.

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BUZZ Development Series (Workshops) 

*Building Relationships with the World by Luke Reece | October 2020 | Supported by the Canada Council for the Arts

*The Wall With A Door by Katie Ready-Walters (Artist-in-Residence) | November 2020 | Supported by the Toronto Arts Council (Open Door)

The Effeminates: A Queer Tale of Bloody Revenge by Raf Antonio with lemonTree creations (Company-in-Residence) | November 2020

Augmented Reality / ASL Project featuring 11:11 by Samson Bonkeabantu Brown | November 2020 | Supported by the Toronto Arts Council (Open Door)

Rubble by Suvendrini Lena with Aluna Theatre (Company-in-Residence) | November 2020 | With the additional support of Pandemic Theatre and Nightwood Theatre

What Brings You In by Leslie Ting | December 2020 | Produced by Leslie Ting Productions

*Erased by Coleen Shirin MacPherson | January 2021| Produced by Open Heart Surgery Theatre

Fear Of Men by Merlin Simard | January 2021

OK, You can stop now by Shakeil Rollock | January 2021 | With the additional support of b current performing arts

7 Pieces by Jenn Forgie | January 2021

In Defense of the Serpent by Tamyka Bullen & Donna-Michelle St. Bernard (Artists-in-Residence) | February 2021 | Supported by the Ontario Arts Council

*Iphigenia and the Furies (On Taurian Land) by Ho Ka Kei (Jeff Ho) | February 2021 | Co-produced by Saga Collectif, Tarragon Theatre and TPM.

Woking Phoenix by Silk Bath Collective (Company-in-Residence) | June 2021 | Supported by the Canada Council for the Arts

I Don’t Feel Pretty by Nancy Kenny | June 2021

* = Online Presentations currently scheduled

COVID-19 Protocols

We are operating with the utmost caution and with the best health and safety knowledge we currently have in order to bring theatre to our audiences. For that reason, we will not have public audiences until 2021, with productions resuming on our Mainstage in February. Among many other health and safety protocols we are enacting, our house capacity will be reduced and seating is flexible, so we can offer you socially-distanced seating by yourself or with members of your social circle.

Due to its intimate size, our Backspace will be used exclusively for workshop and digital development purposes. For a space that has seen so much creation, it will now have a new life for more innovative and exploratory digital and virtual theatrical experiments, starting this fall and beyond.

As we look forward, we will have more details about what to expect if you are coming through our red doors. We will have a set of safety protocols based on Public Health guidelines, which will inform our capacity and ability to have an audience safely in our space. Safety measures and health protocols, including masks, social distancing, and sanitation measures, will be fully announced when tickets go on sale, and updated as precautions for COVID-19 evolve and change.

Please see our website for the most current information.

Tickets

Tickets will be available for our Fall Digital workshops starting on Sept 11, 2020. Single tickets for the remainder of our 20.21 Season will be available mid-November. This season we will not be offering subscriptions. Instead, Theatre Passe Muraille will be embracing the Pay-What-You-Can-Afford model, and offering single tickets only.

The ticket prices this season are: $5, $25, and $50 for our Season Productions and $5, $10, and $20 for our BUZZ Development Series.

In order to remove barriers in our pricing, we are offering three price points so that a wide range of audiences are able to attend our 20.21 Season. We encourage audiences to make their own choices about what they can afford in order to experience theatre. Those purchasing at the $50 price point will do so with the understanding that their ticket price is helping to subsidize the $5 ticket price, and in doing so, making theatre more accessible for others.

For more information, visit www.passemuraille.ca.