Artistic Director Paolo Santalucia and Executive Director Gideon Arthurs are proud to unveil Soulpepper Theatre Company’s 2026/27 season, the first of Santalucia’s tenure. The season presents a high-caliber lineup of 12 plays and concerts united by the idea of connection as an intentional and meaningful act, works that ask what it takes to reach across differences and choose compassion over division. The season assembles plays that exemplify true excellence of the form, all celebrating Canadian artistry alongside a bold offering of world-renowned plays, authors, and artists.

Santalucia’s inaugural program offers a distinctive mix of essential and timeless masterpieces, such as Frank Wedekind’s SPRING AWAKENING, Edward Albee’s THE ZOO STORY, and Noël Coward’s DESIGN FOR LIVING, alongside revivals of beloved Soulpepper benchmark productions, Gregory Prest’s, Mike Ross’s and Sarah Wilson’s DE PROFUNDIS: OSCAR WILDE IN JAIL and Adam Pettle’s and Brenda Robins’ adaptation of Miklós László’s PARFUMERIE. The season also includes a World Premiere literary adaptation, the Canadian Premiere of a Tony-winning comedy, and a new production of a Canadian classic, Tomson Highway’s THE REZ SISTERS. Plays are complemented by Soulpepper’s signature concerts, two of which celebrate and honour Canadian musical legacy.

“All the plays in this season are major works — plays of scale, beauty, and consequence that remind us of what theatre can do that no other art form can,” says Soulpepper Artistic Director Paolo Santalucia. “Many are defining classics of the form; others are productions that have been foundational to Soulpepper’s own history and evolution. What unites them is a deep investment in our shared humanity. These are plays that wrestle with big ideas, insist on the value of human connection, and reveal the essential dignity present in every life. They ask us to look again — at one another, at the city around us, and at the lives we too often fail to fully see.”

Soulpepper is Toronto’s civic theatre: a place where art binds us together, deepens our sense of shared life, and reminds us of who we are — and what we might be capable of – together. In that spirit, the coming season expands the company’s year-round public programming, using theatre to deepen participation, spark conversation, and strengthen the social fabric of Toronto. Alongside existing initiatives, including free film screenings, art installations, and Soulpepper’s partnership with the Toronto Fringe Festival, the season launches two landmark civic partnerships. With the launch of Toronto Star Live, Soulpepper and the Toronto Star will inaugurate a new live journalism series that brings reporters, leaders, artists, and community voices into the theatre for urgent public conversation, further establishing the theatre as a place where great art meets the city. Also presented monthly, Soulpepper is partnering with Hot Docs to present the timeliest documentaries from around the world.

Gideon Arthurs, Executive Director of Soulpepper Theatre, says: “Soulpepper exists to serve this city. We see theatre as civic infrastructure, a place to gather around big ideas and big feelings, and to experience what it means to be together. Through our growing civic programming, which is already bringing tens of thousands of people through our doors, we are creating more ways for people to connect, participate, and find belonging beyond the stage. Paolo’s first season embodies that vision: bold, inviting, and a true big tent. It creates space for audiences to be challenged, moved, and connected.”

THE 2026.27 SEASON

Soulpepper’s 29th season begins in September with Santalucia’s first production as Artistic Director: a new staging and adaptation of Frank Wedekind’s landmark 1906 play, SPRING AWAKENING, with Associate Direction by Soulpepper Associate Artistic Director Luke Reece.

A foundational work in the history of modern theatre, SPRING AWAKENING is a fierce, haunting coming-of-age story about young people on the brink of adulthood — pushing back against repression, demanding truth, and struggling to claim agency in a world determined to deny it. Santalucia’s production will feature some of Canada’s leading next-generation talent, including Noah Beemer, Jake Bunyan, EJ Candelaria, Jasmine Case, Jake Cohen, Justin Eddy, Raylene Harewood, Anaka Maharaj-Sandhu, Eric Miracle, Olivia Neary-Hatton, and Mackenzie Wojcik, joined by Soulpepper veterans Raquel Duffy, Daren A. Herbert, Diego Matamoros and Liisa Repo-Martell.

“I chose SPRING AWAKENING to open this season because it is, quite simply, one of my favourite plays ever written,” says Santalucia. “It is a play about the next generation — about young people in conflict with the world they are inheriting, and what happens when that world refuses them the agency to meet it. At the beginning of my tenure, and at a moment when the future of our world can feel so precarious, producing this play feels both like an act of recognition and an act of faith.”

Next up, Soulpepper’s award-winning musical adaptation of DE PROFUNDIS: OSCAR WILDE IN JAIL returns to the theatre with Damien Atkins reprising the role which won him a Dora Award for Outstanding Performance in 2024. Adapted by Gregory Prest, Mike Ross, and Sarah Wilson and directed by Prest, this stunning critic and audience hit is a moving musical confessional from Oscar Wilde to the man he was persecuted for loving.

Soulpepper’s strategic partnership with Crow’s Theatre continues this season, first with the previously announced World Premiere of ALL’S WELL, adapted from Mona Awad’s bestselling satire by Erin Shields, directed by Jackie Maxwell and starring Maev Beaty.

Rounding out 2026, Soulpepper resumes a beloved tradition with a new production of Adam Pettle’s and Brenda Robins’ beloved adaptation of holiday classic PARFUMERIE, directed by Morris Panych. A lesser-known romantic comedy by Hungarian Miklós László, PARFUMERIE was the inspiration for the 1940 film Shop Around the Corner and the 1998 Tom Hanks rom-com You’ve Got Mail. Pettle’s and Robins’ adaptation first premiered in December of 2009 and was such a runaway success that it was produced biannually at Soulpepper between 2009 and 2015. Set in a Budapest perfume shop during the holiday season, PARFUMERIE follows two co-workers who can barely stand each other, as they unwittingly fall in love via anonymous correspondence. Audience favourites Akosua Amo-Adem and Peter Fernandes star in the lead roles, alongside Noah Beemer, Oliver Dennis, Dan Mousseau, Jordan Pettle, Brenda Robins and Sophia Walker. The production will be dedicated to the late Soulpepper founding company member Joseph Ziegler, who starred in every revival since its 2009 premiere.

As always, the mainstage holiday show will be complemented by a Soulpepper concert, this year presenting a new creation from Beau Dixon, Raha Javanfar, and Soulpepper Associate Artistic Director Luke Reece– THE THRILL OF HOPE: A Holiday Concert. Across cultures and centuries, people have met the longest nights of the year with music and singing. Directed by Reece, this premiere concert is a celebration of those songs – and to our instinct to gather and hold each other through the dark.

To kick off 2027, Soulpepper presents a new docu-concert in the Michael Young Theatre that revisits The Last Waltz, the legendary farewell performance by The Band that helped define the end of an era. With a once-in-a-generation lineup featuring Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Muddy Waters, and Eric Clapton, the original concert became an indelible moment in music history. Now, on the 50th anniversary of that landmark event, Soulpepper reimagines the songs that shaped a generation in a thrilling live tribute. LAST WALTZ is created and performed by Soulpepper mainstays Ben Kopp, Beau Dixon, Raha Javanfar, Andrew Penner and Talia Schlanger, and is created and directed by Soulpepper’s Slaight Director of Music Frank Cox-O'Connell.

Also in January, on the heels of the play’s 40th anniversary, Soulpepper presents a new production of Tomson Highway’s landmark play THE REZ SISTERS, directed by Jessica Carmichael and featuring Brefny Caribou, Nicole Joy-Fraser, Grace Lamarche, Trina Moyan, PJ Prudat, Tara Sky, Star Slade and Montana Summers. Since its premiere in 1986, THE REZ SISTERS has stood as one of the defining works of the Canadian theatre canon: funny, fierce, and unforgettable. Telling the story of seven women from the fictional Wasaychigan Hill Indian Reserve who set their sights on “the biggest bingo in the world,” the play remains a groundbreaking portrait of Indigenous womanhood, community, and survival — and one of the essential achievements of Highway’s extraordinary career.

In February, Soulpepper revives another enduring classic of modern theatre: Edward Albee’s THE ZOO STORY. In Albee’s blistering debut, a chance encounter on a park bench spirals into irrevocable consequence as one man struggles to be seen and understood in a world that would rather look away. Directed by Soulpepper’s Frank Cox-O’Connell and featuring one of Canada’s most recognizable performers –acclaimed film, television, and music star Noah Reid– alongside Soulpepper regular Peter Fernandes, this searing, intimate play cuts to the core of loneliness, alienation, and the desperate need for human contact.

Next, celebrated director Marie Farsi joins forces with legendary choreographer Peggy Baker to take on Sophie Treadwell’s MACHINAL, the explosive expressionist masterpiece that remains one of the most radical plays of the 20th century. A co-production with Necessary Angel Theatre Company, this rare revival features an ensemble cast led by Evan Buliung, Charlotte Dennis, Daren A. Herbert, Jeff Lillico, Dan Mousseau and Nancy Palk, and brings ferocious theatrical force to Treadwell’s shocking portrait of a woman driven to revolt. Inspired by the real-life case of convicted murderer Ruth Snyder, MACHINAL premiered in 1928 – a primal scream against conformity, repression, and the machinery of modern life.

In the spring, Soulpepper partners with Obsidian Theatre and Nightwood Theatre to co-produce, the Canadian premiere of Jocelyn Bioh’s Tony Award-winning comedy JAJA’S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING. Directed by Obsidian Artistic Director Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu and featuring Tony Ofori, Warona Setshwaelo, and Sophia Walker, this joyful, sharp, and deeply felt play unfolds inside a bustling Harlem hair-braiding salon, where wit, ambition, migration, and community collide. Uproarious and intimate, JAJA’S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING offers a powerful reminder that the places where people gather every day are often where a city’s deepest stories are told.

The last play of the season, Soulpepper partners with Crow’s Theatre to present Noël Coward’s daring, sexy, and subversive comedy DESIGN FOR LIVING, directed by Andrew Kushnir and featuring Jeff Lillico, Nicole Power and Antoine Yared. Set in the glittering worlds of 1930s Paris and London, the play follows three young artists whose shifting love triangle becomes something far more provocative: a rebellion against convention, a refusal of prescribed lives, and a bold pursuit of happiness on their own terms. One of the canon’s forgotten queer masterpieces, DESIGN FOR LIVING is witty, elegant, and quietly revolutionary — a play about freedom, desire, and the radical act of inventing a life for yourself outside the rules.

Concluding the season, in the heat of summer, Soulpepper presents the World Premiere of CLOSING TIME, a two-part docu-concert tribute to two of Toronto’s most legendary music venues, lost but not forgotten: CLOSING TIME: At the Matador, created by Andrew Penner and Frank Cox-O’Connell, and CLOSING TIME: At Maple Leaf Gardens, created by Beau Dixon and Frank Cox-O’Connell. Part concert, part live documentary, CLOSING TIME is inspired by Leonard Cohen’s iconic ode to these vanished landmarks and becomes, in Soulpepper’s hands, a love song to the city itself — to the rooms that shaped its cultural life, the artists who filled them, and the communities that gathered there.

PUBLIC PROGRAMMING

This season, Soulpepper stakes a clear claim as Toronto’s Civic Theatre — a place where great art meets the city, and where the theatre’s role extends beyond the stage and into public life. Guided by the belief that citizenship is an active practice, and that a city grows stronger when people are inspired to come together, Soulpepper is expanding its year-round public programming in a major way. In addition to free film screenings, art installations, and its ongoing partnership with the Toronto Fringe Festival, the company launches significant new collaborations with the Toronto Star and Hot Docs Film Festival, broadening its presence in the civic and cultural life of Toronto.

This summer, Soulpepper once again serves as a hub for the Toronto Fringe Festival, welcoming artists and audiences for a city-wide celebration of bold, independent performance, including free outdoor programming. New for 2026, as part of its ongoing Creative Collaboration Initiative, the theatre will present the The Fringe Encore Series from September 26 to October 11, 2026. Following the 2026 Toronto Fringe Festival, Obsidian Theatre, Soulpepper, and Bad Hats will have curated a limited engagement of standout productions, featuring some of the most exciting and innovative voices shaping Toronto theatre today.

In partnership with the Toronto Star, beginning this fall the theatre will host TORONTO STAR LIVE, a new monthly journalism series that transforms Soulpepper into a public square—a place where journalists, artists, and community leaders come together to explore the ideas shaping Toronto and to help imagine the city’s next chapter. Once a month, a leading journalistic voice will dive into one of the big questions alive in the city right now. From neighbourhoods and public life to culture, change, and possibility, these evenings bring people together for lively conversation, new thinking, and a shared sense of how we can help shape Toronto’s future.

Nicole MacIntyre, Editor-in-Chief, Toronto Star, said: “We’re bringing Toronto Star journalism to the stage. We’re excited to partner with Soulpepper Theatre to launch a new event series that will provide real-life access to the stories that matter to the city. By bringing together the Star’s journalistic rigour with Soulpepper’s intimacy, we will host conversations that are smart, accessible, and deeply rooted in Toronto. We want people to leave feeling both smarter and more connected to their neighbours.”

In partnership with Hot Docs, Soulpepper will also present a new screening series showcasing bold and visionary documentary films from Canada and around the world, further enriching the cultural life of Toronto’s East End. And every Tuesday beginning in September, PUBLIC TUESDAYS transforms Soulpepper’s lobby into a live social space: part hangout, part happening, part public gathering. Audiences can expect games, films, conversation, music, and the kind of encounters that remind you why we’re lucky to call Toronto home.

Soulpepper is also rethinking how audiences access theatre in Toronto. Beginning this season, all performances will offer earlier start times to better reflect the rhythms of audience life. Following a successful pilot in 2025/26, the company’s Countdown Pricing model will now become a permanent part of how tickets are sold, rewarding audiences who book early with savings of up to 40% on every show, with discounts tapering as performance dates approach.

At the same time, Soulpepper is making a renewed investment in subscription as the best way to experience the season. Early-bird packages are now available at up to 60% off regular ticket prices, with expanded flexibility and new benefits designed to make it easier than ever for audiences to take part throughout the year. Subscribers will also receive added value, including an exclusive annual subscription deal to the TORONTO STAR, discounts on TORONTO STAR LIVE programming, and greater flexibility across packages.

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THE 2026-2027 SOULPEPPER THEATRE SEASON

SPRING AWAKENING

By Frank Wedekind

Adapted and Directed by Paolo Santalucia

Associate Directed by Luke Reece

September 10th – October 4th, 2026, in the Baillie Theatre

“When I have children, I’m going to let them grow up like weeds. No one pays any attention to weeds.”

A group of youth on the cusp of adulthood are schooled in rules and expectations. Romantic, restless, and full of desire, they reach for love before they understand it—aching for connection as silence and misinformation hurtle them towards irreversible consequences.

Featuring Noah Beemer, Jake Bunyan, EJ Candelaria, Jasmine Case, Jake Cohen, Raquel Duffy, Justin Eddy, Raylene Harewood, Daren A. Herbert, Anaka Maharaj-Sandhu, Diego Matamoros, Eric Miracle, Olivia Neary-Hatton, Liisa Repo-Martell, and Mackenzie Wojcik.

DE PROFUNDIS: OSCAR WILDE IN JAIL

Adapted and Directed by Gregory Prest

Original Music and Lyrics by Mike Ross and Sarah Wilson

November 3rd – November 29th, 2026, in the Michael Young Theatre

“There is no prison in any world into which love cannot force an entrance.”

Writing from his prison cell, Oscar Wilde is cut off from the world that once adored him. As he writes De Profundis—a letter to the man he loved—memory, regret, and desire crowd the silence, turning confinement into confession. Set to an incredible award-winning score, this is Wilde unmasked: lover, icon, exile—insisting that even in the darkest places, love can still reach us.

Featuring original cast Damien Atkins, Jonathan Corkal-Astorga, and Colton Curtis.

PARFUMERIE

By Miklós László

Adapted by Adam Pettle and Brenda Robins

Directed by Morris Panych

November 18th – December 20th, 2026, in the Baillie Theatre

“‘Dear Friend’, that’s how we addressed one another. No names just ‘dear friend’”.

On a snowy night in downtown Budapest, a perfumery hums with chatter, gossip, and the spark of romance. Behind elegant counters, clerks scramble through the holiday rush as a secret love ignites.

Tender, sharp, and riotously funny: Parfumerie is a romantic comedy about yearning, connection, and the leap of faith love demands.

Featuring Akosua Amo-Adem, Noah Beemer, Oliver Dennis, Peter Fernandes, Dan Mousseau, Jordan Pettle, Brenda Robbins, and Sophia Walker.

ALL’S WELL (World Premiere)

By Mona Awad

Adapted for the stage by Erin Shields

Directed by Jackie Maxwell

A Soulpepper Theatre and Crow’s Theatre Co-Production

November 24th to December 27th, 2026, at Crow’s Theatre

“The theatre is a magical place, isn’t it, Miranda?”

Miranda Fitch was bound for the spotlight until a freak stage accident painfully ended her career. Now a theatre professor, she’s determined to prove the worth of one of Shakespeare’s most mysterious plays—and herself in the process. When three mysterious strangers offer a new life, Miranda is drawn into a surreal bargain where ambition, power, and the promise of a cure come with wickedly fine print.

Featuring Maev Beaty, Sturla Alvsvåg, Danté Prince, Bella Reyes, Khadijah Roberts-Abdullah, Rick Roberts, Amelia Sargisson, and David Storch.

THE THRILL OF HOPE: A Holiday Concert

Created by Beau Dixon, Raha Javanfar, and Luke Reece

Directed by Luke Reece

Music Directed by Beau Dixon and Raha Javanfar

December 15th, 2026 – January 3, 2027, in the Michael Young Theatre

The weary world rejoices!

Before Christmas, it was a celebration of the longest night, and the first promise that the light would return. Across cultures and centuries, people have met this moment with singing, and the same instinct: to gather, and hold each other through the dark. This is a celebration of that origin—the hush, the cold, the candle, the collective breath—and the music that’s always risen to meet it.

Come for the longest night.

Leave with a little more light.

LAST WALTZ

A Docu-Concert

Created and Performed by Ben Kopp, Beau Dixon, Raha Javanfar, Andrew Penner, and Talia Schlanger

Created and Directed by Frank Cox-O'Connell

January 12th – January 28th, 2027, in the Michael Young Theatre

The legendary concert. Reimagined.

In 1976, The Band took the stage for a final performance that defined an era. Joined by Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Muddy Waters, and Eric Clapton, the night became a landmark concert and documentary. Last Waltz is our 50th Anniversary tribute to that historic moment—a full-throated reimagining of the songs that shaped a generation and changed music forever.

THE REZ SISTERS

By Tomson Highway

Directed by Jessica Carmichael

January 23rd – February 21st, 2027, in the Baillie Theatre

“When I go to the biggest bingo in the world, in Toronto, I will win. For sure I will win.”

On the Wasaychigan Hill Reserve, seven Ojibway women dream about hitting the jackpot at Toronto’s biggest bingo. What begins as an uproarious road trip becomes a life-changing journey of friendship, survival, and a fierce reminder of the dreams we dare to keep alive.

Featuring Brefny Caribou, Nicole Joy-Fraser, Grace Lamarche, Trina Moyan, PJ Prudat, Tara Sky, Star Slade and Montana Summers.

Edward Albee’s

THE ZOO STORY

Directed by Frank Cox-O’Connell

February 16th – March 14th, 2027, in the Michael Young Theatre

“Every once in a while I like to talk to somebody, really talk.”

Peter sits on a quiet park bench on a seemingly ordinary afternoon. Then Jerry appears—a stranger whose loneliness shatters Peter’s quiet sense of the world. Edward Albee’s first major play is darkly funny, unsettling, and unforgettable, revealing how easily we misread one another—and how a single encounter can change our lives forever.

Featuring Noah Reid and Peter Fernandes.

MACHINAL

By Sophie Treadwell

Directed by Marie Farsi

Choreographed by Peggy Baker

A Soulpepper Theatre and Necessary Angel Theatre Company Co-Production

March 25th – April 25th, 2027, in the Baillie Theatre

“I am not interested in writing pretty plays. I am interested in writing true ones.”— Sophie Treadwell

From the outside, Helen Jones has a happy marriage—until she murders her husband. Inspired by a 1928 trial that shocked the world, this explosive play follows a woman trapped in an engine of routine—until she glimpses a way out and discovers the true cost of escape. An expressionist masterwork: Machinal is an electrifying portrait of rebellion, autonomy, and the fight to claim your own voice.

Featuring Evan Buliung, Charlotte Dennis, Daren A. Herbert, Jeff Lillico, Dan Mousseau, and Nancy Palk.

JAJA’S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING

By Jocelyn Bioh

Directed by Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu

A Soulpepper Theatre, Obsidian Theatre, and Nightwood Theatre Co-Production

May 13th – June 6th, 2027, in the Michael Young Theatre

“We all deserve some joy in our life”

Step into Jaja’s shop, where every braid carries a story. On a sweltering July day, this vibrant comedy celebrates five women building new lives far from home. Overlooked by the world around them, inside Jaja’s, they’re artists with gifted hands and bold ambition. Equal parts hilarious and tender, Jaja’s reminds us that everyday rituals can become profound celebrations of community, calling us back to who we really are.

Featuring Tony Ofori, Warona Setshwaelo, and Sophia Walker.

DESIGN FOR LIVING

By Noël Coward

Directed by Andrew Kushnir

A Soulpepper Theatre and Crow’s Theatre Co-Production

May 27th – June 27th, 2027, in the Baillie Theatre

“We’re not normal—and we don’t want to be”

Stylish, sharp, and unapologetically modern, Design for Living follows three artists in a love triangle that defies convention. Ricocheting between Paris, London, and New York, they refuse to choose respectability over desire. This glittering comedy is as sharp as it is subversive: love without permission, happiness on your own terms, and the thrill of living outside the margins.

Featuring Jeff Lillico, Nicole Power, Antoine Yared, Nancy Palk, and Liisa Repo-Martell.

CLOSING TIME: At the Matador

Created by Andrew Penner and Frank Cox-O’Connell

Directed by Frank Cox-O’Connell

&

CLOSING TIME: At Maple Leaf Gardens

Created by Beau Dixon and Frank Cox-O’Connell

Directed by Frank Cox-O’Connell

July 29th, 2027 – August 15th, 2027

“Last call at the music venues that shaped our city.”

Toronto is incredible at creating landmark music venues—and even better at shutting them down. Closing Time is a two-part musical docu-concert, inspired by Leonard Cohen’s “Closing Time”, tracing the shutdown notices across the venues that define our city.

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ANCILLARY PROGRAMMING

THE FRINGE ENCORE SERIES

September 26th – October 11th, 2026

Toronto’s best new work—selected, celebrated

Following the success of the 2026 Toronto Fringe Festival, Soulpepper, Obsidian Theatre, Bad Hats Theatre and The Toronto Fringe will bring you a curated showcase of the summer’s most exceptional Fringe productions. These are bold, innovative works that capture the talent, creativity, and ambition defining Toronto theatre today. Each production will be handpicked for its originality, vision, and ability to spark conversation. Experience a limited engagement of boundary-pushing performances, fresh story­telling, and the voices shaping the city’s vibrant theatre scene.

TORONTO STAR LIVE

In partnership with the Toronto Star, this new monthly series transforms the theatre into a public forum for the city, a placewhere journalists, guest speakers, and audiences come together to examine the ideas shaping Toronto right now.

Once a month, Star journalists will take audiences behind the headlines and into live conversation about the issues, questions, and possibilities defining life in the city. It’s a space for debate, discovery, and the shared work of imaginingwhat Toronto can become. More details to be announced this summer.

HOT DOCS AT SOULPEPPER

A new monthly series in partnership with Hot Docs, bringing visionary documentary filmmaking from around the world to Toronto’s East End. Programming to be announced this summer.

PUBLIC TUESDAYS

Every week, Soulpepper turns its lobby into a live social space: part hangout, part happening, part public gathering. Expect games, films, conversation, music, and the kind of encounters that remind you why we’re lucky to call Toronto home. Bring a friend. Talk to a stranger. Put your phone away. And take part in a new weekly ritual that makes the city feel human. Programming to be announced this summer.

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All programming details can be found at www.soulpepper.ca

Subscriptions on sale now at www.soulpepper.ca

Single tickets on sale May 25, 2026