Category Archives: Previews

Trying to ‘do gender right’ through the trans lens: Re:Construct, at RISER

Posted on June 7, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Playwright Even Gilchrist was in full producer mode at home one morning last week, making a cake for his new play. The play? Re:Construct, premiering Wednesday at the Backstage Theatre in RISER Edmonton’s 2022 series. The … Continue reading →

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Creation and destruction: the story of an artist in Stone and Soil, at Nextfest. Meet playwright Gabby Bernard

Posted on June 5, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca It’s not random chance that the role Gabby Bernard wrote for herself in her first full-length solo play is an artist character. It’s a sign of the age. After all, theatre artists have had two years … Continue reading →

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Strangers on a train: the real-life story that inspired Omisimawiw, at Nextfest. Meet playwright Shyanne Duquette

Posted on June 3, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Strangers on a train. Imagine the scene (with special thanks to the ETS): a young woman on the LRT, heading towards class at the university, notices another young woman on the LRT. There’s just something about … Continue reading →

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The building of Pressure, at Nextfest. Meet playwright Amanda Samuelson

Posted on June 3, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Amanda Samuelson remembers the moment Pressure began to build.  Her play, which gets a workshop reading at Nextfest Saturday and then becomes Nextfest’s first-ever official Fringe show in August, began in the winter of 2018. In … Continue reading →

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Nextfest 2022, live and under one roof, at the new Roxy

Posted on May 31, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca When you ask Nextfest artistic director Ellen Chorley what’s new at the festival this year, she laughs. “Everything!” she says of the 27th annual edition of the influential multi-disciplinary festival that showcases and celebrates emerging artists. … Continue reading →

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Destination Fringe: Edmonton Fringe Theatre is back with a moniker, a live festival, and a curated season of productions

Posted on May 26, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca The Edmonton Fringe is back, live, this summer, for a big 41st edition, in a place where that really matters. And its name speaks volumes: Destination Fringe. Yes, fellow travellers, as live theatre emerges from the … Continue reading →

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The strange cycles of theatre: Shannon Blanchet returns to Teatro to direct the vintage comedy thriller Evelyn Strange

Posted on May 25, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Every once in a while the world of live theatre pulls off one of those satisfying but fanciful multi-strand time loops that wouldn’t be out of place in a play. Opera is involved; so is comedy. … Continue reading →

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The inheritance of war and the passion for freedom: Alina is a Ukrainian story

Posted on May 23, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca In early 2015, a 19-year-old woman left Kyiv, and everything in her life there — and she went to the front line of the war zone in eastern Ukraine. Alina was not a soldier. She was … Continue reading →

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An ensemble devoted to expanding the comedy spectrum: Teatro at 40, the birthday season continues

Posted on May 18, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Teatro La Quindicina at 40. An artist-run company specially tuned to comedy, with co-artistic directors who both made their Teatro debuts as actors: same season (2005-2006), different plays, roles written specially for them by playwright/Teatro muse … Continue reading →

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Lighting the Bonfire: Rapid Fire’s wildest festival is back, and it’s live

Posted on May 10, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca For two years, the members of the Rapid Fire Theatre ensemble have been storing up their wildest, coolest, most ridiculously challenging new ideas in improv. And that, my friends, is a lot of pent-up crazy. RFT’s … Continue reading →

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