On the heels of wrapping up their 11th season, which just received 13 Dora Award nominations, Toronto’s beloved “Off-Off Broadview” stage, the COAL MINE THEATRE, is thrilled to announce a dazzling and expanded line-up for 26.27. Their largest season to date, presenting five productions for the first time in their history, continues to see the company growing and charting a path towards increased production of new Canadian work.

The upcoming season is anchored by hotly anticipated premieres of international award-winners that have distinguished the company since its inception, alongside a powerhouse classic, and two exceptional Canadian plays – including the first World Premiere of a new work developed within COAL MINE’s partner company, The Vault Creation Lab. As always, the COAL MINE 26.27 season productions are performed by illustrious ensembles of some of the most esteemed actors in the country. It’s a quintessentially COAL MINE season, true to their mandate to present challenging, provocative, and entertaining work in a refreshingly intimate and entirely authentic setting.

“I am fond of answering the question ‘What's the best thing you've ever done?’ by saying ‘Whatever I'm working on right now,’” comments COAL MINE Artistic Director Ted Dysktra. “The same goes for The COAL MINE and my feeling that season 12 our best season ever. We are presenting five shows for the first time, and I love the balance of this season as a result. In keeping with the kinds of scripts we love, the plays all focus on different kinds of human relationships, different kinds of family, and the challenges of being human side by side. They are about love and loyalty, about effort, triumph and failure. And once again the best artists anywhere are presenting them to you. I am proud and grateful to the COAL MINE audience, who are the reason we exist. Another family, if you will.”

The season gets underway in September with the Canadian Premiere of Marin Ireland’s award-winning PRE-EXISTING CONDITION, in a production directed by comedy legend Linda Kash –making her COAL MINE debut– and featuring Amy Rutherford, Lindsay Leese, Diana Bentley and Philip Riccio. Ireland’s play, centered around a woman navigating the aftermath of a harmful relationship, first premiered in New York in June of 2024, with a rotating cast playing the lead character. COAL MINE’s production – the only other production of the play since it’s acclaimed premiere – will feature a single actor, Amy Rutherford, inhabiting the role.

I met Marin Ireland when we were both acting in an NBC series together,” shares Dykstra. “Coincidentally, I had just read her play, which had only recently been done in New York. It is the kind of provocative work we jump at the chance to do here, and I took the opportunity to tell her how much I loved it. Long and the short of the story is she has entrusted the COAL MINE to be the first theatre in the world outside New York to produce it, and I'm so grateful to her both for the amazing script and for her trust.”

In November, director Jordan Laffrenier makes his COAL MINE debut leading a new production of David Mamet’s AMERICAN BUFFALO, just a year after the play’s 50th anniversary. A treatise on friendship and the failures of the American dream, AMERICAN BUFFALO first premiered in November of 1975 at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. A true American classic that presages the MAGA movement, the play has been performed by an astonishing array of acting legends including William H. Macy, Robert Duvall, Al Pacino, John Goodman and Sam Rockwell. This new production will feature COAL MINE’s own Ted Dykstra, Gord Rand and Mackenzie Wojcik.

“Working at COAL MINE THEATRE for the first time is very special to me. For years, I've sat in that intimate room watching productions that proved small theatres can make an outsized impact, and now I have the chance to be part of that legacy with AMERICAN BUFFALO,” shares Laffrenier. “It's made even more meaningful by the opportunity to work alongside Ted Dykstra again, someone I've learned from as an associate director and admired as an artist. I can't think of anyone better suited to play Teach, a role that showcases Ted's remarkable skill as an actor and his sharp comic instincts.”

Next up, following the launch of partner company THE VAULT CREATION LAB in 2024, THE COAL MINE presents the World Premiere of the first play to be produced out of the lab, Diana Bentley’s playwriting debut THE DAY IT ALL WENT SOUTHon stage in February 2027. Set over a single explosive week, the play is a darkly funny and emotionally charged drama about marriage, motherhood, and the inescapable march of time, set against the backdrop of a retirement celebration. Bentley directs the illustrious Martha Burns in the leading role alongside Farhang Ghajar, Louise Lambert, Diego Matamoros and David Reale – all familiar faces to COAL MINEaudiences.

“It would be an understatement to say that it’s extremely exciting to begin to produce original work through our own development process,” says Dykstra. “The COAL MINE would not exist without Diana Bentley, and she has proven over 12 seasons here, to be one of the most exciting theatre artists in Toronto–both as an acclaimed actor and as an award-winning, hit-making producer and director. We are about to find out that she is no less adept at writing and at properly developing a script, which takes time, rigour and diligence. THE DAY IT ALL WENT SOUTH is a beautiful, funny, and deeply affecting examination of motherhood and family.”

“When Martha and I worked together on Yerma at the COAL MINE in the winter of 2023, we connected artistically in so many ways,” adds Diana Bentley. “I had the idea underlying this play swimming around in me and my goal when I started writing it was to write Martha a tour-de-force. Not unlike Yerma, I wanted to create a play that is a relentless journey for the leading actress. And because Martha is so curious, vivacious, hilarious and deeply playful, it's been one hell of an incredible ride writing this with her at the centre. I can't wait to share what we’ve been cultivating with COAL MINE audiences.”

In the spring, COAL MINE presents the long-awaited Toronto Premiere of Tracy Letts critical-smash THE MINUTES, directed by Ted Dykstra. A scathing dark comedy about small-town politics, THE MINUTES was both a Pulitzer and Tony nominee and a sweeping critical success when it premiered in Chicago in 2017 followed by continuing accolades for its Broadway run in 2022. Dykstra’s production is set to star Simon Bracken, Beau Dixon, Barbara Gordon, Christo Graham, Lucy Hill, Ryan Hollyman, Rick Roberts, Amy Rutherford and Richard Waugh – and Canadian icon Eric Peterson returns to the COAL MINE to join the ensemble.

“I am so thrilled that COAL MINE, once again, will be the chosen place for a Tracy Letts play to make its Toronto Premiere, following our productions of Superior Donuts and Killer Joe,” says Dykstra. “THE MINUTES is a huge undertaking for us, and it is going to be–in keeping with the COAL MINE's scrappy ambition–filled to brimming with the finest actors in the country, on a set that impossibly houses eleven people all at the same time, in one of the most intimate spaces in the city. This play is surprising, thrilling and shocking, all the things we expect from a Tracy Letts.”

Concluding the season in May, COAL MINE THEATRE presents the Hope and Hell Theatre Co. and Here For Now Theatre production of the Toronto Premiere of Canadian author and playwright Jennifer Fawcetts’ critically acclaimed APPLES IN WINTER, directed by Robert Ross Parker and starring Birgitte Solem. Telling a story of the depths and endurance of a mother’s love for her son on death row, her APPLES IN WINTER was first produced as part of the National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere initiative in Iowa and was presented in Stratford, Ontario, by Here For Now Theatre and Hope and Hell Theatre Company in the summer of 2025. Critics have called the deeply moving solo work “stunning”, “a moving testament to the power of parental love”, and “a flawless solo work of maturity and depth.”

Tickets for the 26.27 season are available now, including a limited number of $25 tickets for folks twenty-five years and under, preview and arts worker tickets for $45 and general admission tickets ranging from $67.50 - $82.50. Season passes, offering tickets to all five productions at a discounted price of $55.00 per ticket, and a newly introduced Preview Season Pass offering a rate of $40.00 per ticket, will be available until August 31st. For more information visit www.coalminetheatre.com.

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COAL MINE THEATRE 2026/2027 SEASON:

PRE-EXISTING CONDITION (Canadian Premiere)

September 6th – September 27th

Written by Marin Ireland

Directed by Linda Kash

Starring Amy Rutherford with Diana Bentley, Lindsay Leese and Philip Riccio

In the aftermath of a life-altering harmful relationship, Pre-Existing Conditionexplores the challenges, shared community and everyday indignities of learning to move forward. Described as “potent” and “shattering” (New York Times), well known actor Marin Ireland’s playwriting debut garnered international acclaim for its compassion, bluntness, and humanity.

JOHN GASSNER AWARD FOR AN OUTSTANDING NEW AMERICAN PLAY

*

AMERICAN BUFFALO

November 8th - November 29th

Written by David Mamet

Directed by Jordan Laffrenier

Starring Ted Dykstra, Gord Rand and Mackenzie Wojcik

In a cluttered, run-down Chicago junk shop, three small-time crooks plot to steal a valuable coin collection. As the heist unravels, the men's frustration and paranoia intensify. The result is a test of their trust, friendship, and the American Dream. Mamet’s uncanny prescience makes us feel the birth of MAGA, in 1975.

WINNER - OBIE AWARD FOR BEST NEW AMERICAN PLAY

TWO-TIME TONY NOMINEE FOR BEST REVIVAL

*

THE DAY IT ALL WENT SOUTH (World Premiere)

February 7th to February 28th

Written and Directed by Diana Bentley

Starring Martha Burns with Farhang Ghajar, Louise Lambert, Diego Matamoros and David Reale

Set over one explosive week, THE DAY IT ALL WENT SOUTH is a darkly funny and emotionally charged drama about marriage, motherhood and the inescapable challenge of time. A woman in her 60s is finally preparing to celebrate her husband’s long-awaited retirement with a family dinner and lavish party — but when things go south, she is forced to confront her mortality, identity, and longing for something much greater and inexpressible.

*

THE MINUTES (Toronto Premiere)

April 11th to May 2nd

Written by Tracy Letts

Directed by Ted Dykstra

Starring Simon Bracken, Beau Dixon, Barbara Gordon, Christo Graham, Lucy Hill, Ryan Hollyman, Eric Peterson, Rick Roberts, Amy Rutherford and Richard Waugh

Big Cherry is a town that values community and trust above all else - until a newcomer starts asking the wrong questions. Why is someone on the town council mysteriously missing? What happened to all those bicycles? What’s the deal with the available parking space? And why are the minutes from the last meeting being kept secret? A scathing, dark comedy about small-town politics and real-world power, The Minutes asks what you would do to prevent yourself becoming one of history’s losers.

NOMINEE - PULITZER PRIZE FOR DRAMA

NOMINEE - TONY AWARD FOR BEST PLAY

*

APPLES IN WINTER (Toronto Premiere)

COAL MINE THEATRE presents 

the Hope and Hell Theatre Co. and Here For Now Theatre production

May 23rd to June 13th

Written by Jennifer Fawcett

Directed by Robert Ross Parker

Starring Birgitte Solem

Miriam's son is on death row. His last meal request: the apple pie she's made him since he was a little boy. As Miriam makes this last pie in front of us, she must come to terms with her son's actions, society's judgement and the devastating power of a mother's love. Canadian playwright Jenniefer Fawcett’s play has been done across the United States and now makes its Toronto Premiere.