A world première adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s fantasy novel A Wrinkle in Time starts preview performances tomorrow at the Avon Theatre. This new adaptation is directed and adapted by Thomas Morgan Jones, who is also artistic director of Prairie Theatre Exchange.

Set in modern day, A Wrinkle in Time – this season’s Schulich Children’s Play – follows a young heroine who leads her brother and a friend into a cosmic battle between the forces of good and evil as they embark on a spectacular multidimensional journey, with Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which, to find the siblings’ lost father.

“Identifying love as the key theme to this story is how we began this journey,” says Jones. “The next part of the journey was to identify for whom the story is being told. Our goal was to create a production that will transport and inspire grown-ups, but that is primarily focused on the experience of and for young people. The question then becomes: What does it mean to create theatre for young people? For us, it means an honouring of young people’s capacity – their emotional capacity, their intellectual capacity, their artistic capacity and their capacity to understand and process story.”

A Wrinkle in Time features Noah Beemer as the young genius Charles Wallace and Celeste Catena as Meg Murry, his smart and headstrong sister. They are accompanied on their journey by Kim Horsman as Mrs. Which, Nestor Lozano Jr. as Mrs. Whatsit, Robert Markus as Meg’s friend Calvin O’Keefe and Khadijah Roberts-Abdullah as Mrs. Who. The cast also includes Jahlen Barnes, Aidan deSalaiz, Christine Desjardins, Nick Dolan, Henry Firmston, Kelly Holiff, Evangelia Kambites, Germaine Konji, Beck Lloyd, Jamie Mac, Masini McDermott, Erica Peck and Jennifer Rider-Shaw.

We are brought along on this intergalactic quest thanks to the work of Set Designer Teresa Przybylski, Costume Designer Robin Fisher, Lighting Designer Kimberly Purtell, Composer and Sound Designer Deanna H. Choi, Projection Designer jaymez and Dramaturge Keith Barker.

A Wrinkle in Time has its official opening on June 17 and runs until October 29 in the Avon Theatre. Tickets are available at stratfordfestival.ca or by calling 1.800.567.1600.

The 2023 season also features King Lear, Rent, Much Ado About Nothing, Les Belles-Soeurs, Monty Python’s Spamalot, Frankenstein Revived, Grand Magic, Richard II, Wedding Band, Casey and Diana, Women of the Fur Trade and Love’s Labour’s Lost. For more information, visit stratfordfestival.ca.

Photo: Kim Horsman as Mrs. Which. © 2023 Ted Belton.