A Year With the Centaur Theatre
As the workload is starting to pick up, morale is getting lower and lower. During a busy school year, it’s hard to find things to do that are both easy and fun, especially without the right information. If this affects you too, then look no further, because the Centaur Theatre has the answers to everyone’s problems. Offering a large variety of funny, interesting, and insightful shows, this theatre is a great place to go to get through a tough semester. Their season is shaping up to be incredible, offering something for everybody.
Before the season starts, the Centaur team is heading over to the “La Licorne” theatre to put on their production of “Une Pièce Pour les Vivants Dans les Temps D’extinction”. Originally written and produced in English 2 years ago, this play is a beautiful and interesting piece that covers the complicated ideas behind the climate crisis.
If you speak French, or want to improve your French skills, and have any interest in the environment, this play is for you. Head on over to the La Licorne website to purchase your tickets, but hurry, the play is on September 19, and tickets are selling fast!
Moving back over to the Centaur Theatre, they open their official season on October 17 with a show called AlterNatives, which will continue to be put on until November 5.
Written by Indigenous playwright Drew Hayden Taylor, this show is about a young woman, Colleen, who studies Academic Literature, and her partner, an indigenous man named Angel. Colleen surprises Angel with a dinner party involving both of their groups of friends, and chaos ensues. Adapted from the classic “dinner party gone wrong” trope, this play helps to shed light “on the uncomfortable truths that continue to colour the relationship between Indigenous and settler communities”, while still managing to remain a hilarious and fun watch.
Next, available from November 30 until December 9, is “Extra/Beautiful/U”. This play was written by Michaela Di Cesare, and describes the process of a young beautiful girl named Lara, who is forced to undergo facial reconstruction surgery after a life-changing accident. In essence, this show sets out to explore the pressures of beauty, and how that plays into the lives of many young women around the world.
That’s about it for the fall season, as the theatre is undergoing some construction, but it picks up again in January for their Wildside Festival!
Dates and show details will be available later on, but be sure to keep it in mind, as it’s sure to be a cultural event for the ages. There will be a variety of different and interesting shows going on, and the best part, cheaper tickets! More information will be out soon about the festival, so be sure to check it out in the winter.
Getting back to their regular schedule, March is another exciting month, featuring Diane Flacks and her one woman show “Guilt (A Love Story)”. Brought in from the Tarragon Theatre of Toronto, this show is an autobiographical production about Diane’s life as a mother, and how she wrestles with the guilt of blowing up her own marriage. To quote the theatre, “drawing on Western philosophy, pop culture, and her own Jewish heritage, she brings the audience on an erudite, emotionally turbulent, and hilarious journey”. So if you want to laugh, cry, and feel all the emotions, come down to watch Diane from March 12 until March 30!
Finishing their season off with a bang, April brings in something that’s never been done before: a show that encapsulated the stories of the women of Shakespeare. For this production, Centaur paired up with Repercussion, who normally do Shakespeare in the Park. This is their project, and they commissioned award-winning playwright Erin Shields to put their ideas on paper. Featuring seven of the most famous women of the Bard’s works, this production works as a “fierce feminist re-examination of Shakespeare’s work and the way it is taken up in contemporary society. It sheds new and urgent light both on the blindspots in the Bard’s oeuvre and on the modern social dynamics that continue to challenge women’s full participation in the performing arts”.
This type of show is incredibly unique, so don’t walk, but run to get your tickets to Shields’ magnificent production.
Now, some of you may be thinking that this many amazing shows would be too expensive. But, lucky for everyone reading this, you are all students. The Centaur Theatre offers a student rush discount, which means that any student who comes in one hour before the show will be able to get tickets for only $20! Not only that, but for those of you who are under 18, tickets are 16$! If that didn’t convince you, try gathering a group of 6 or more friends to receive the group discount. If that still doesn’t convince you, then what will?
In essence, the Centaur Theatre is a place for an incredibly moving and unique experience. In the words of Eda Holmes, the artistic and executive director at Centaur, “we look at theatre as a place where you come together for an experience, and you’ll have provocative ideas being presented in completely new ways, but still leave with things to ponder and talk about.”
So be sure to check out all of these amazing shows! For more information, go to the Centaur Theatre website, where all the details can be found.
