September brings with it a certain energy of revitalization: back-to-school, back-to-work, back-to-routine and, of course, back to the theatres with a brand-new season.
THEATRE CALGARY
Theatre Calgary opens its six-show season with the two-hander First Métis Man of Odesa exploring a courtship against the backdrop of the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Following that is the only musical of Theatre Calgary’s next season: Little Shop of Horrors. The cult hit features a blood-sucking plant and a drugged out dentist — perfect Halloween season fare. Up next is the long-standing holiday tradition of A Christmas Carol, followed by American playwright Sam Shepard’s gritty story about sibling rivalry, True West. Jane Austen’s classic Sense and Sensibility takes the stage in spring, and the season wraps in full-on comedy mode with Peter Pan Goes Wrong. If you loved The Play That Goes Wrong, this one’s for you.
“The theme of family is at the core of this season,” said Stafford Arima, Theatre Calgary’s artistic director. “From siblings and spouses to chosen families, unlikely friendships, and even one very demanding plant, every story reminds us that the relationships we call family are the ones that test us, sustain us, and make life worth the journey.”
ALBERTA THEATRE PROJECTS
Around the corner from Theatre Calgary’s MaxBell, Alberta Theatre Projects (ATP) offers up its “Edge of Being” season.
“We are focused on creating a season that brings audiences together with a mix of work that feels both familiar and unexpected,” said Haysam Kadri, ATP’s artistic director. “The goal is simple: to create a season that is exciting, accessible, and reminds people why gathering together for live theatre matters.”
ATP opens its season in time for Halloween with the campy horror comedy Evil Dead The Musical. The existence of an audience “splatter zone” says it all. The Hobbit comes to the Martha Cohen Theatre for ATP’s family holiday show, followed by Fifteen Dogs. Based on an award-winning novel, Fifteen Dogs follows Greek gods Hermes and Apollo who grant 15 dogs human intelligence as part of a bet about the joys of human consciousness. Up next is the one-woman show Burning Mom about a retired widow who attends the Burning Man festival in Nevada. The season finishes with Dream: A Canadian Musical about an orphaned teen who finds a new life with an elderly widow in rural Canada. The show is presented in partnership with with Forte Musical Theatre. Joe Slabe, Forte’s artistic director, describes it as “an incredibly moving, true story” that enjoyed a successful run at Rosebud.
VERTIGO THEATRE
Vertigo Theatre — “Canada’s national theatre for mystery and intrigue” — celebrates its 50th anniversary season with “a buffet of choices for all intrigue and mystery aficionados.” Jack Grinhaus, Vertigo’s artistic director, sums up the season as “a rollercoaster journey through the past, present and future.”
The season opens with The Lodger, a Canadian adaptation inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s 1927 film about a house guest who might just be a serial killer on the loose. This is followed by Sherlock Holmes: The Hunt for Moriarty. Vertigo’s first show of 2027 is a one-man supernatural thriller that was a hit on Toronto stages, The Veil. The story follows one lawyer’s willingness to do anything to make partner at his firm. A non-verbal visual performance, Last Candle, is next up at Vertigo, followed by The 39 Steps. Like The Lodger, this is also based on an Alfred Hitchcock film, though this Tony Award-winning adaptation takes a comic approach to suspense with four actors playing some 150 characters. Wrapping the season is the world premiere of Murdoch Mysteries, a theatrical adaptation based on the popular Canadian television drama series.
LUNCHBOX THEATRE
Lunchbox Theatre has moved to a new venue in cSPACE Marda Loop. Its season of “hyper-local plays” opens with Ribstone, a one-person showby long-time Calgary actor Christopher Hunt. He explores his family’s ranching roots and the history of Alberta with “old-time folksiness, old-time music and old-time humour.” Up next is Lunchbox’s holiday offering of a radio-play version of A Christmas Carol followed by Cree artist Michelle Thrush’s one-person show Inner Elder, in which she explores her Indigenous identity. Another one-woman show follows with Oh Mother! about one person’s journey to follow her calling as an artist. The final show of the season is Marv & Ev, billed as “part buddy comedy and part Twilight Zone episode.” The show tells the story of two friends in their 70s who are on a fishing trip when things take a strange turn.
DOWNSTAGE
Downstage has a unique approach to its lineup for the 2026-2027 season. “I’m thrilled to invite local audiences into a season that begins with questions rather than answers,” said Clare Preuss, Downstage’s artistic director. “What happens when playwrights imagine a shared speculative future? What unfolds when performers step onstage without knowing exactly what’s ahead? How does our relationship to theatre shift when we’re invited into the creative process itself?”
The season starts with October’s Dreaming Climate Consciousness. The evening will see four short plays, each offering “a unique window into this collectively imagined universe.” April 2027 brings A Study of Choices, during which three performers arrive on stage each night with no idea what awaits them. They will interpret instructions and improvised sound provided to them each evening, so no two shows will be the same.
FULL CIRCLE THEATRE
Full Circle Theatre offers up a two-show season that Full Circle artistic directors Erin Weir and Claire Bolten describe as exploring the societal impact of male fragility, and how women can exploit that fragility to gain power.
The first show opens in November. Titled They Say, it’s a new work billed as a prequel to Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. February 2027 will see a production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, a collaboration with Jupiter Theatre.
THE THEATRE
One of Calgary’s newest theatre companies – The Theatre – offers up a five-show lineup in the heart of the Beltline. “This season, we explore the stories we tell ourselves. From politics and religion to identity, class, and the very creation of story itself; each play this season examines the narratives that shape us,” said The Theatre’s Abagail Vanmerlin.
The Theatre’s season opens mid-September with David Ireland’s Ulster American, “a savage, fast-paced dark comedy about ego, politics, competing identities and nationalism.” That’s followed by award-winning playwright Vern Thiessen’s play Icemen, set during the Great Depression. A fringe solo show called The Commandment, in which “an atheist is chosen to deliver God’s newest commandment but refuses,” takes the theatre into December. Next February sees Annie Baker’s surreal comedy The Antipodes. The season finishes with Pulitzer Prize winning-play Clybourne Park. It deals with the “changing face of a neighbourhood” over a 50-year period.
CHROMATIC THEATRE
Late October into early November, Chromatic Theatre, in partnership with Handsome Alice, will present a new musical called Little Elves. It’s based on the folktale of St. Nicholas & the Evil Butcher, and will feature great music and creepy puppets.
INSIDE OUT THEATRE
Inside Out Theatre will stage its 2026-2027 season in the Erratics Indie Arts Club. Its feature presentation in January stars one of Canada’s most celebrated disability artists, Niall McNeil, in a piece called Beauty and The Beast: My Life. McNeil lives with Down Syndrome and has created a show that offers up a blend of “storytelling, humour, fantasy and autobiography.” In conjunction with next year’s High Performance Rodeo, Inside Out will stage an encore presentation of Deafy, “a stand-up / sit down tragicomedy” that blends ASL, spoken word and subtitles. And, in April, comes a show accessible to younger audiences, Bent Boy. Expect an epic adventure…
COMMUNITY THEATRE
On the community theatre scene, there is also a full and varied slate of shows for the upcoming season.
UNTOLD STORIES THEATRE
On the musical front, Untold Stories Theatre will stage hit musicals Grease and Disney’s The Little Mermaid.
FRONT ROW CENTRE
Front Row Centre’s three-musical bill includes Nine, a play about an Italian film director facing a mid-life crisis; Fun Home, billed as “a refreshingly honest, wholly original musical about seeing your parents through grown-up eyes”; and The Producers, the zany Broadway hit by Mel Brooks.
MORPHEUS THEATRE
Morpheus Theatre opens its season in October with a farce called Fox in the Fairway, followed by its holiday show, It’s a Wonderful Life. Early 2027 will see a mystery comedy with The Game’s Afoot. Morpheus closes its season with its longstanding tradition of staging a comic opera by Gilbert and Sullivan. This season, it will be The Grand Duke.
SCORPIO THEATRE
Scorpio Theatre brings Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song to the Pumphouse Theatre in October. This work explores the life of Arnold Beckoff, a torch-song singing, Jewish drag queen living in New York City.
There is no shortage of theatrical entertainment on Calgary stages throughout 2026 to 2027. The real issue is having the time to see it all.
