Mary Francis Moore, Artistic Director, and Lorna Zaremba, Executive Director of Theatre Aquarius are proud to announce its 2021-2022 Season of four stunning productions, all Canadian and all Hamilton proud.

“I can’t tell you how excited everyone at Theatre Aquarius is to welcome people back after the 20-month closure of live in-door theatre,” said Mary Francis Moore, Artistic Director of Theatre Aquarius.

“The world has changed significantly since we last gathered in the theatre. I think you will find that the 2021-2022 Season reflects our new reality and that the plays we are presenting are entertaining, challenging and inspiring. This season is about family, where we come from, about the tales we carry and the relationships that matter the most to us.”

Created by renowned artists from across the country and from right around the corner, the shows will be presented on the Irving Zucker Mainstage and in the Norman and Louise Haac Studio Theatre and will run from December 2021 through May 2022.

“The health and safety of our patrons, artists, volunteers and staff remains our top priority. We are overjoyed to welcome you back and want your experience to be safe and comfortable,” said Lorna Zaremba, Executive Director of Theatre Aquarius.

“We’ve developed a comprehensive set of health and safety measures to help protect everyone. In addition to implementing a number of new measures required by the Province of Ontario as part of our reopening plan, including checking proof of full vaccination status along with government-issued photo ID, the 2021-2022 season will open with 50% seating capacity.”

Theatre Aquarius 2021-2022 Subscription Season

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

December 1 to 18, 2021

Created by Mary Francis Moore and the Home For The Holidays Company

Directed by Mary Francis Moore, Artistic Director, Theatre Aquarius

Come celebrate the season with a holiday concert for the whole family featuring a homegrown, all-star line-up of Hamilton’s most beloved actor-musicians. Home For The Holidays is a rousing kitchen party that captures the joy of reuniting with old friends. This magical experience packed with stories and sounds of the festive season will uplift your hearts and bring light to our shorter days.

This Hamilton-proud cast, some of whom got their start right here at Theatre Aquarius, includes Olivia Sinclair-Brisbane, Hailey Gillis, Stephen Ingram, Emily Lukasik and Adam Stevenson and Patrick Bowman (Music Director). With credits from Broadway, the West End, the Stratford Festival, the Shaw Festival and more, we are thrilled to welcome these brilliant performers home.

OLD STOCK: A Refugee Love Story

January 12 to 29, 2022

Created by Hannah Moscovitch, Christian Barry & Ben Caplan

This Klezmer-folk music-theatre hybrid starring Hamilton’s own genre-bending sensation Ben Caplan is inspired by the true stories of two Jewish Romanian refugees coming to Canada in 1908. Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story is a humourously dark folktale woven together with a high-energy concert about how to love after being broken by the horrors of war.

It’s about refugees who get out before it’s too late, and those who get out after it’s too late. And it’s about looking into the eyes of God. Old Stock has toured to 29 cities around the globe, receiving many awards and accolades along the way including a Herald Angel Award, Edinburgh Fringe First, seven Theatre Nova Scotia Merritt Awards, six Drama Desk nominations, including Outstanding Musical, and a New York Times Critics pick.

Suitable for ages 14+ years. Includes strong language, sexual references and describes violent acts.

MADE IN ITALY

February 23 – March 12, 2022

Created and Performed by Farren Timoteo

A coming-of-age story in 1970s Alberta. Meet Francesco Mantini, a second-generation Italian teen struggling to find his place in Jasper, Alberta. Inspired by pop culture icons Rocky Balboa and John Travolta, Francesco reinvents himself as Frank Martin: crooner and ladies’ man. As buoyant and bubbly as a glass of prosecco, Made in Italy is a celebration of music, food, and family that’s so delightful you won’t soon fuhgeddaboudit.

An Arts Club Theatre Company production, based on the production by Western Canada Theatre

The Hours that Remain

April 20 – May 7, 2022

By Keith Barker

Directed By Mary Francis Moore, Artistic Director, Theatre Aquarius

Associate Director Donna-Michelle St. Bernard, Artistic Director, New Harlem Productions

Denise has spent the last five years investigating the disappearance of her sister Michelle. Haunted by visions of her sister, Denise must come to terms with what she has so desperately been avoiding. The Hours That Remain is a moving, emotionally charged story of unfaltering hope.

Playwright Keith Barker is a member of the Métis Nation of Ontario and the current Artistic Director at Native Earth Performing Arts in Toronto. He received a Saskatchewan and Area Theatre Award for Excellence in Playwriting for The Hours That Remain, as well as a Yukon Arts Award for Best Art for Social Change.

In association with New Harlem Productions. Norman and Louise Haac Studio Theatre Productions

In addition to the 2021-2022 subscription season, Theatre Aquarius will be announcing two thrilling productions that will be presented in the Norman and Louise Haac Studio Theatre in 2022.

PAT & SKEE

February 25 to March 12, 2022

World Première

Written and Performed by Sky Gilbert

Featuring Sky Gilbert, Suzanne Bennet and Ralph Small

Sky Gilbert is a ‘child of divorce.’ Pat and Skee is an homage to Sky’s parents—who did their best to raise him despite all the unpleasantness. Sky Gilbert plays himself in Pat and Skee, which gives him a chance to chat with his mother (Patricia) about her divorce from his father (Skee). Pat and See goes beyond meta-theatre—searching for the wistful, often comic essence of the struggle that lies at the very heart of any broken family.

Novelist, poet, filmmaker, director, actor, and drag queen extraordinaire, Sky Gilbert is one of Canada’s most controversial artistic forces. Gilbert is the winner of three Dora Mavor Moore Awards, the Pauline McGibbon Award for theatre directing, and the recipient of The Margo Bindhardt Award.

OUR FATHERS, SONS, LOVERS AND LITTLE BROTHERS

April 26 to May 7, 2022

Written and Performed by Makambe K. Simamba

Directed by Donna-Michelle St. Bernard

Slimm, a seventeen-year-old Black boy in a hoodie suddenly finds himself in the first moments of his afterlife. He calls out for God. God does not respond. What happens next is a sacred journey through the unknown, as Slimm grapples with the truth of the life he lived and the death he didn’t choose.

Our Fathers, Sons, Lovers and Little Brothers is a protest for all Black life beyond headlines and hashtags, a prayer for all families left behind, and a promise to the community that all Black lives matter.

A Tarragon Theatre and Black Theatre Workshop co-production.

Based on the world première production produced by b current.

RESCHEDULED FROM THE 2019-2020 SEASON

RING OF FIRE

The Music of Johnny Cash

June 8 to June 25, 2022

Created by Richard Maltby, Jr.

Conceived by William Meade

Adapted from the Broadway Production by Richard Maltby, Jr. and Jason Edwards

From the songbook of Johnny Cash comes this unique musical about love and faith, struggle and success, rowdiness and redemption, and the healing power of home and family. More than two dozen classic hits, including “I Walk The Line,” “A Boy Named Sue,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” and the title tune. Performed by a multi-talented cast, these songs paint a musical portrait of The Man in Black that promises to be a foot stompin’, crowd pleasin’ salute to a unique musical legend. Johnny Cash’s remarkable life story is told through his music, climaxing in a concert that will both move and exhilarate!

From the opening chords to rockabilly, to searing ballads and gentle songs of love and deep faith, Ring of Fire celebrates the songs that are such a part of our collective experience.

Tickets go on sale for all productions on Monday, November 29 at theatreaquarius.org.