Welcome to Theatre at Nextfest 2024!
Theatre projects in all stages of production are presented at Nextfest. Grab your ticket and settle in for new works from emerging artists.
Theatre mainstage performances are below. Want more? Check out our Progress Showings & Workshop Readings lineup.
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Good Boi Productions presents
THE ETHER JOURNEY
WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY ASIA WEINKAUF-BOWMAN
DIRECTED BY KATE COUTURE
Wednesday, June 5, 2024 at 8:00 pm
Thursday, June 6, 2024 at 6:00 pm
Sunday, June 9, 2024 at 4:00 pm
Roxy Rehearsal Hall Stage
“Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths” – Joseph Campbell. “The Ether Journey” is an exploration of the importance of dreams and myths in our collective conscious understanding of the world as human beings, as well as in our own personal unconscious understandings. Upon waking up from a nightmare, a young Storyteller seeks to understand where dreams come from, what they mean, and the journey that one’s soul must make when pulled into unconsciousness. Relying on stories told to her by her grandmother, the Storyteller explores her subconscious and discovers worlds within herself that she never knew existed.
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Oubliette Productions presents
HYSTERIA’S HOUSE
CREATED AND PERFORMED BY SOPHIE MAY HEALEY
FEATURING ALEX DAWKINS AND AUTUMN STROM
Saturday, June 1, 2024 at 3:00 pm
Tuesday, June 4, 2024 at 8:00 pm
Wednesday, June 5, 2024 at 6:00 pm
Roxy Rehearsal Hall Stage
Victorian socialite Hysteria Winthrop lives in the attic, and she hasn’t had visitors for a long, long time. Will you accept her invitation? She’s so looking forward to seeing you. Playwright-performer Sophie May Healey presents a delightfully interactive one-woman dark comedy about femininity, gothic literature, music, romance, scandal, and the morbid curiosities that won’t leave us alone.
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MAIDEN VOYAGE
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY MAIGAN VAN DER GIESSEN
Friday, May 31, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Sunday, June 2, 2024 at 2:00 pm
Tuesday, June 6, 2024 at 6:00 pm
Roxy Rehearsal Hall Stage
A daring experimental performance that weaves together storytelling, spoken word, and improvised music as an act of artistic resistance and reckoning. Maiden Voyage is a true story about teenage vulnerability, sexuality, power, and survivorship.
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ReadyGo Theatre presents
WHERE FOXES LIE
BY JEZEC SANDERS
DIRECTED BY ERIK RICHARDS
Thursday, June 6, 2024 at 8:00 pm
Friday, June 7, 2024 at 4:30 pm
Saturday, June 8, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Roxy Rehearsal Hall Stage
Koen never sleeps. Years after starting a rumor about another boy in his hometown that changed his life forever, Koen now finds himself cursed with insomnia, paranoia, and subjected to violent hallucinations. As Koen is forced to reckon with his past, he learns how the grip that a lie can have on a small town is not one that is easily released.
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Spoken Word Youth Choir presents
VOCAL PREROGATIVE
SWYC (Spoken Word Youth Choir)
Sunday, June 9, 2024 at 11:00 am
Roxy Rehearsal Hall Stage
SWYC (Spoken Word Youth Choir) is a spoken word troupe. Unique to Canada, it is a blend of Greek chorus, choir, improvisers, and poets who write text, choreograph movement, and adapt others’ texts. Created in 2007, the group is an outgrowth of YouthWrite®, a camp for kids who love to write…just about anything!©
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MEET ME AT THE RIVERSIDE
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY CHRISTINA HOLLINGWORTH
FEATURING KAITLYN LITROP, EMMA PANASUIK, AND LEO VANDERWOUDE
Mentored by Shyanne Duquettte
Saturday, June 1, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Saturday, June 8, 2024 at 9:00 pm
Sunday, June 9, 2024 at 1:00 pm
Lorne Cardinal Theatre
Meet Me At The Riverside is a play that takes inspiration from stories of Residential School survivors, especially a homage to my family, the Morin clan from Enoch Cree Nation. The Sekisowin is a monster who has been kidnapping children for generations in a tribal community. Charlotte tries to hide her daughter, Arabella, from being taken away. Will her efforts succeed or will Arabella fall victim to the charms of the Sekisowin?
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New Jubilee Productions presents
Pepperoni and Cheese
by Ali Muhammad Khowaja
directed by Kaitlyn Stang
featuring Ali Muhammad Khowaja, Kaitlyn Stang, Malcom Guglich, Michael McCarthy, Tolu Ayo-Farinloye, Andraya Diogo, Daniyal Daar, Robin Turna, Kate Boswell, Jenna Briggs
Tuesday, June 4, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Wednesday, June 5, 2024 at 7:00 pm
Sunday, June 9, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Lorne Cardinal Theatre
Asad is a Pakistani immigrant to Canada. He is witty, goofy, gullible, and struggles to make friends at school. When Amina (Asad’s mom) says that he can’t come back home and must complete his studies first, Asad approaches his roommate, Marshall. Marshall’s cool but is going through tough times himself. As they get to know each other, food, laughter, and secrets are shared. However, their nascent friendship takes a dramatic turn when Asad does something at a school party. Can their friendship stand the test of school drama? Or will they make the same mistakes as many before them?
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Squawk Theatre presents
The S.P.O.T.T.
created and performed by Meegan Sweet
featuring Sophie Healy, Stuart Old, and Autumn Strom
Sunday, June 2, 2024 at 8:00 pm
Tuesday, June 4, 2024 at 9:00 pm
Wednesday, June 5, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Lorne Cardinal Theatre
In the crummiest little town, in the crummiest trailer park, a raccoon needs to learn how to be good enough to be reincarnated into a human being. 18+ event, audience is advised to check content warnings
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Dog Bite Theatre Collective presents
Your Heart is Gushing Lavender
by Tori Kibblewhite
directed by Mika Boutin
featuring Nicole Maloney, Liam Sievwright, Candace Warren, Phoenix McLeod, Victor Snaith Hernandez, Jed Emms, Gabi Stachniak, Jaqueline Walters, Mika Boutin, and Tori Kibblewhite
Sunday, June 2, 2024 at 6:00 pm
Tuesday, June 4, 2024 at 7:00 pm
Wednesday, June 5, 2024 at 9:00 pm
Lorne Cardinal Theatre
It’s the end of the summer in a small town. Two drifting friends reunite on a suburban bridge, their paths intersecting outside a house party they’re both supposed to be at. As the night unfolds, they rehash their past, unravelling and pulsing truths out from deep within themselves. Your Heart is Gushing Lavender is an exploration of intimacy, or the lack thereof, through sound, movement, and the things we don’t say out loud.
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Staged Theatre Productions presents
Carter and the Train
written and directed by Grace Fitzgerald
Friday, May 31, 2024 at 7:00 pm
Saturday, June 8, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Sunday, June 9, 2024 at 6:00 pm
Nancy Power Theatre
Poster image by Jenna Sampson
Carter is trapped in the tiny mountain town of Frightened Man’s Peak, forced to watch the train surrounding its jagged cliffs pass every day with no sign of stopping. But one day, he meets someone. Someone who might just teach him what it really means to be desperate, to escape, and to try to jump a damn train.
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Black Arts Hub presents
Ms. Pat’s Kitchen
by Jameela J. McNeil
directed by Sue Goberdhan
featuring Yasmine Lewis-Clarke, Larissah Lashley, Timothy Noel, Kijo Gatama, Sue Goberdhan, and Jameela J. McNeil
Sunday, June 2, 2024 at 7:00 pm
Tuesday, June 4, 2024 at 8:00 pm
Saturday, June 8, 2024 at 7:00 pm
Nancy Power Theatre
The Bailey family has won their golden ticket! Their very own restaurant that is. A brand new kitchen in Edmonton, featuring Jamaican patties, stew chicken, and of course Ms. Pat’s famous soup! As Pat transitions into this new stage of her life, her daughter Kenise prepares to take a leap into adulthood. Although, her journey to independence is not what she thought it would be.
Something is troubling Kenise and Pat can sense it. Pat would do anything for her daughter, but in her attempt to save Kenise she must first recognize her own scars. This play examines intergenerational healing and how we all carry pain differently. 16+ event, audience is advised to check content warnings
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Ride Lyke Hell
written and directed by Aldynne Belmont
featuring Aldynne Belmont, Ramona Ehlert, and Andraya Diogo
Saturday, June 1, 2024 at 6:00 pm
Thursday, June 6, 2024 at 9:00 pm
Sunday, June 9, 2024 at 2:00 pm
Nancy Power Theatre
The year is 1903, and the Wild West is dead. When Leon Grant breaks up with her fiancé and makes an impulsive bet, she finds herself racing against the clock — and corporately-owned meatheads — to drive from one coast to the other in an open-top motorcar. Recruiting her long-time BFF Suzie as the trip’s mechanic, the girls find themselves on an odyssey that will test their resolve… and let their friendship blossom into something more. An irreverent riff on pulp literature and sapphic cinema, this “lesbian friends-to-lovers romantic-comedy road-trip post-western” is a ride you don’t want to miss.
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Metamorphoses presents
The Hand That Feeds
by Elyse Roszell
directed by Natasha Riddell
featuring Amy Dass, Kai Yakichuk, Michael Watt, Emily Berard, Max Vesely, Megan Holt, Annika Schultz, Bailey Bartee, and Trey Maruyama
Saturday, June 1, 2024 at 4:00 pm
Wednesday, June 5, 2024 at 9:00 pm
Sunday, June 9, 2024 at 12:00 pm (noon)
Nancy Power Theatre
The Hand That Feeds is a contemporary horror folktale following siblings Anne and Jack who go looking for a cabin in the woods that featured in a story their Grandmother told them. As Anne and Jack head deeper into the woods, Anne is haunted by the characters from that tale, which Anne learns might be more true than she first believed. Anne resolves to alter the end of the story and save the protagonist — Saskia — from the tragedy she is doomed to befall.
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What Am I Looking At?!
written and directed by Stretcher Hymen and hunny moon
Sunday, June 2, 2024 at 4:30 pm
Wednesday, June 5, 2024 at 7:00 pm
Thursday, June 6, 2024 at 7:00 pm
Nancy Power Theatre
In ‘What am I Looking At?!’, backstage antics unfold as three drag queens navigate the chaos of a cramped dressing room. Amidst mirror changes and gossip, they hilariously vie for their moment in the spotlight. This uproarious comedy explores the challenges and triumphs of performing in a crack-of-dawn production, offering a fresh and humorous take on the world of drag. Get ready to laugh, gasp, and maybe even shed a tear as these queens prove that the show must go on, no matter the chaos backstage!
This show is sponsored by
