March 23-25, April 4-8, 2018 at Essex Hall Theatre

Colossal Tragic-Comedy

Fifty reluctant brides run away from 50 determined grooms, asking for refuge in a villa on the coast of Italy. When the grooms catch up with the brides, mayhem ensues.  This modern adaptation of one of the western world’s oldest plays, The Suppliant Women by Aeschylus, is as bloody as a Greek tragedy and as entertaining as a modern Broadway musical. Big Love is a story of love, murder, passion, food fights, power struggles, refugees, gender politics and violence.  But in the end it is decreed: “Love trumps all.”

Mature content and adult language

“His [Mr. Mee’s] leap of boundless imagination has refashioned tragedy into a theatrical statement that is comedic, gymnastic, musical, sensual, shocking and redemptive.” – The New York Times

March 2-11, 2018 at Hatch Studio Theatre

Dark Comedy/Thriller

David, a gay waiter who has given up on his acting career, is watching his twenties tick away.  Together with his book-reviewing roommate, Candy, and his best friend, Bernie, David encounters a number of seductive strangers in their search for love, sex and meaning. But the games turn ugly when it appears someone in their group might be a serial killer. Brad Fraser’s raw thriller was immediately controversial when it premiered in the 1990s, and acclaimed by critics and audiences around the world, winning him numerous awards.

For mature audiences – Graphic language, sexuality, nudity and mature subject matter

Named one of the ten best plays of the year by Time Magazine.

Tragic-Comedy

Germaine Lauzon has won a million trading stamps and recruits her sisters, friends and neighbours to help her paste them into books so she can claim her prizes.  As they stick, the women reveal deeply moving truths about their relationships to each other, the men in their lives, their children, their Church, and their society.  Les Belles Soeurs has been called “the single most important event in the history of Quebec theatre” and is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its premiere. It broke ground for giving a voice to Quebec working class women and is still raucous, poignant and incredibly funny.

Warning: contains strong language.

“Emotional, funny and tragic all at the same time” – Kawarthanow.com