Category Archives: Previews

All grown up at 31, and forever young: Nextfest, the festival of emerging artists, is back this week

Posted on June 1, 2026 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca All grown up, and forever young. That’s Nextfest, the 11-day multi-disciplinary festival of emerging artists that’s been asking “what’s next?” ever since it got dreamed up at Theatre Network in 1996. It’s back Thursday at the … Continue reading →

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Suddenly, amazingly, it’s starting: Edmonton’s summer festival season

Posted on May 26, 2026 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Edmonton’s magic box, the season of summer (and summer-ish) festivals, opens this very week on stages here. And that’s just the start (think Pandora). Common Ground Arts’ RISER New Works Festival, designed to support, profile, and … Continue reading →

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A new Canadian rom-com is the season finale at L’UniThéâtre (and other theatre too this weekend)

Posted on May 22, 2026 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca The grand finale of L’UniThéâtre’s all-Canadian season is a premiere: a new rom-com by an Edmonton theatre artist, set in a small Franco-Albertan village. Sophie Gareau-Brennan’s bouanderie/boulangerie — doesn’t laundry/bakery sound so much better in French? … Continue reading →

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A weekend to be in the theatre! So many choices, so little time. A 12thnight survey

Posted on May 8, 2026 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Put down your rakes, and your clickers, people. There’s a veritable explosion of theatre happening on Edmonton stages this weekend. A surfeit of possibilities: so many choices, so little time. At Shadow, it’s a comedy of … Continue reading →

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At the corner of art and high finance: Everyone Is Doing Fine at Workshop West. Meet playwright James Odin Wade

Posted on May 5, 2026 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca In Everyone Is Doing Fine, a new “comedy-drama” by James Odin Wade, premiering at Workshop West Friday, we meet a couple of stalled art school friends, late ‘20s, with nothing much going on. Sound like people … Continue reading →

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A different show every night: Request Programme, the wordless 50th anniversary finale at Northern Light, a preview

Posted on April 30, 2026 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca When the director says “it’s not really directing,” you know something’s up. “It’s more like supervision, or guidance, or something … or air traffic control?” says Trevor Schmidt of his production of Request Programme, the highly … Continue reading →

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”I started to see rhymes everywhere!” Jessy Ardern talks about her new verse adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac, at the Citadel

Posted on April 29, 2026 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca “All the fun stuff,” says Edmonton actor/playwright Jessy Ardern says of her initial attraction to Cyrano de Bergerac. “Sword fights, and romance, and war, and arrogant rich people getting their comeuppance….” Ah yes, and a famously … Continue reading →

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Two self-portraits onstage: Beth Graham & Brian Webb at Theatre Network

Posted on April 15, 2026 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca One of the season’s most unusual collaborations happens Thursday (through Saturday) at Theatre Network when two of the country’s most accomplished and adventurous artists take to the stage. Together. But apart. Beth Graham and Brian Webb … Continue reading →

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‘Come for the AI, stay for the human drama’: Trunk Theatre brings Marjorie Prime to the Varscona

Posted on April 10, 2026 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Amy DeFelice didn’t know this. When you phone her cell, as I did this week, a glossy automated voice intervenes, to ask you to state your name and the reason for your call. “And I’ll see … Continue reading →

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Rat-free? No way. Fingers and Shrimp are back in a Rat Academy double-feature: a big week of openings in E-town

Posted on April 8, 2026 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca In a self-proclaimed rat-free province they’re scrappy outliers, up against it in a hostile world. But the rat underground persists (call it a rodent infestation but only if you’re classist). In an unusual cross-town double-feature Batrabbit … Continue reading →

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