On stage this March at Buddies in Bad Times is The Herald, a world premiere It Could Still Happen production in partnership with Buddies, written by Jill Connell. Canadian theatre collective It Could Still Happen (ICSH) is known for formally innovative work that approaches the embodied experience of how things feel, prioritizing bold aesthetics, and communal experiences. The Herald runs from March 4 to 14. Opening night is March 5. Visit buddiesinbadtimes.com to learn more.

The plan will always feel like a mistake. Practice the mistake.

A lecture on Antonio Banderas’ astrological chart, a chorus questioning their calling, and a long walk in a small mortal body. Jill Connell’s poetics work backward, interlacing Greek myth and the grindset, trying to figure out how we got here. The Herald navigates the choreography of labour as it asks us for faith and gives us something like meaning, or at least a new way of paying attention. By the end of the play, all of us will know how to be in Shoppers Drug Mart, wondering how to handle time, and what will happen to all the work we do not make.

This bold new work will be performed by William Ellis, Stephen Jackman-Torkoff, Jackie Rowland, Rose Tuong and Fan Wu.

The Herald’s design team are long-time collaborators of ICSH, with a shared language for trust and aesthetics built over the past 10 years. Working outside of theatre conventions and across artistic disciplines, they are creating a soundtrack, a costume drama, an art installation and a movement piece.

The creative team includes: ciaran brenneman (stage manager), Paul Chambers (lighting design), Sascha Cole (creative producer), Jill Connell (playwright/director), Ishan Davé (scenography), Brian Drader (dramaturgy), Sebastian Marziali (technical director), Philip Nozuka (music and sound design), ORXSTRA (costume design), Laura Phillips (production manager), and Tedi Tafel (embodied practice / meta-witness).

The Herald is a meditation on the value of work, how to be in community, and the desire to make meaning of our time on earth.

Says Jill Connell, playwright & director: “With this play I really wanted to work on how we work together. There is so much that needs rethinking about how we make theatre, and what our ’work' on earth is more generally. Writing this play has been quite long and mysterious. I began to wonder: how much do we need to know in order to get to work? What work really needs to be done?

"I think a rehearsal hall is one of the best places to work with the unknown. In rehearsal, the world feels like a very alive place. More sensual than regular life and therefore more accurate. I like paying attention to things with the closeness of rehearsal, that’s the same as when you are lost. Like, really listening. Really trying to see. Really trying to figure something out as a group. We’ve been working together on this play since 2019, and developed our own Principles for Work, including #25: We’ll see how it works. It’s a thrill to be conducting this experiment at Buddies where other radical re-thinking and queering of the work is taking place.”

Adds ted witzel, Artistic Director, Buddies in Bad Times: “I’ve seen Jill’s work around the city for over a decade, and I’m beyond thrilled to be including this new work of hers in our season this year—I consider Jill to be among the most inventive, poetic, tender, and surprising writers in Canada right now, and she couldn’t be a better fit for Buddies. I was thrilled when Jill and Sascha [Cole] brought this piece to me, and I read it hungrily the next day. I was already sold, but having seen the piece evolve through their development processes at Buddies over the past year, it’s crystallized into an arresting, funny, virtuosic text that showcases Jill’s imagination for both intimacy and scale. I’m so stoked to see it onstage.”

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The Herald

Show Run: March 4 – 14 at Buddies in Bad Times, 12 Alexander St. Toronto

Opening Night: March 5 // 7:30PM

Show Times: Wed – Fri // 7:30PM Sat // 2PM + 7:30PM

Tickets for The Herald: $10 / $25 / $45 / $75 + fees.

Photo: Jill Connell © 2026 Fran Chudnoff.