Theatre Calgary’s 2023-24 season is not yet complete, with the world premiere of Selma Burke, and Beaches the Musical coming in April and May, but the company is giving Calgarians a preview of the next season this week.

Stretching through the 2024-25 season of productions, is a focus on the power and importance of home, and the way that people connect.

It’s also true for the characters in the plays—many of whom will be instantly recognizable to Calgarians whether they are regular theatregoers or not.

“The theme of home runs very kind of clearly through all of these works, whether it’s the home that we consider in the most traditional way, which is about family, or it’s the home that exists in within your workspace,” said Stafford Arima, Theatre Calgary’s Artistic Director.

It’s also a thread that was a conscious choice for the company as they head into the second year of their Theatre For All pricing program, which began as a way to give everyone an affordable place in the theatre.

“It’s wanting to make sure of the accessibility of the titles, and the stories that become connected to our audiences,” Arima said.

Three and seven ticket subscriptions have been already opened for the new season, with general ticket sales starting on April 29.

The Play That Goes Wrong, directed by Dennis Garnhum

Sept. 3 to Sept. 29, 2024 at the Max Bell Theatre in Arts Commons

The 2024-25 season kicks off with, appropriately, a play that kicked off a continuous off-Broadway, U.K. touring production, and BBC comedy series based off the works of Henry Lewis, Henry Shields and Jonathan Sayer.

The premise of The Play That Goes Wrong is an inept local theatre troupe puts on a murder mystery, which becomes a play-within-a-play.

“It felt fitting to open the season with something that had energy and had familiarity, even if people might not know this work. But they will know of themes and the kind of trope of ‘oh my gosh, it’s the Mousetrap meets Noises Off,” said Arima.

“Those who don’t know the work, they’re going to come and experience something that was just in London, and is still playing in the U.K.”

He said that there was excitement within the company to open the new season with this title.

The Lehman Trilogy, directed by Sarah Garton Stanley

Oct. 15 to Nov. 3, 2024 at the Max Bell Theatre in Arts Commons

It would have been impossible for Calgarians to avoid the headlines about the United States’ fourth largest investment bank during the 2008 worldwide financial collapse, but The Lehman Trilogy goes beyond those headlines to tell the 163-year story of the iconic firm.

The five-time Tony award-winning production is being brought to the Theatre Calgary stage and would likely be of great interest to Calgary audiences—especially those who enjoyed the company’s production of Enron during the 2011-12 season, Arima said.

“Enron was very, very popular. When I think about all of the financiers that live here, and those that deal with the oil and gas industry and the financial industry and all of that, it felt to me that The Lehman Trilogy was an accessible play, really on many levels,” he said.

“The Lehman family that came over from Eastern Europe, it’s an inspiring story that I feel many Calgarians will resonate with, whether or not you know anything about the financial industry, but if you understand about passion and entrepreneurship.”

Arima said that it was also a very theatrical play, with three actors taking on many different roles and characters to bring the story of the family to life.

“When you combine the theatre elements, and you combine the kind of familiarity with perhaps who these Lehmann people are and their story, think it becomes a very powerful and poignant evening of theatre that I think the audiences are going to really eat up,” he said.

A Christmas Carol, directed by Stafford Arima

Nov. 29 to Dec. 29, 2024 at the Max Bell Theatre in Arts Commons

Theatre Calgary is well known for its sumptuous productions of A Christmas Carol, which has become a much-beloved Christmas tradition for many families in the city.

So much so that tickets for the post-pandemic return of the production last season began selling out in June and July.

“I think that what people realized last year, or last Christmas was like ‘oh my goodness, we usually wait to buy our tickets in November.’ We were selling tickets in June, in the blazing summer during the Stampede… which was unheard of,” said Arima.

“I think that those that didn’t get a chance to see it last year will probably take advantage this year and go ‘OK, better jump on this before it’s sold out.'”

The production will once again be one of Theatre Calgary’s biggest of the year, with between 40 to 50 people working on the show.

“To be able to bring it back like we did last year in its full spectacle, it just has become a beautiful tradition of Calgary. We really want to continue that, and celebrate the holidays with everything that we can learn, and continue to learn from Ebenezer Scrooge and those amazing three spirits,” he said.

A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Daryl Cloran

Jan. 28 to Feb. 23, 2025 at the Max Bell Theatre in Arts Commons

Tennessee Williams’ modern Pulitzer-winning masterpiece is returning to Theatre Calgary, with all of the passion and intensity that has made A Streetcar Named Desire a part of popular culture for over seven decades.

The classic story of Blanche DuBois and Stanley Kowalski (first made famous by Jessica Tandy and Marlon Brando on Broadway and then on film), has always been an audience favourite, said Arima.

“I think it’s one of the greatest plays ever written. It’s an audience favorite,” he said.

This will be the third time that Theatre Calgary brings the play to the stage, after holding productions in both 1984 and 2002.

“It’s a Pulitzer Prize-winning play, written by one of the greatest American playwrights of our generation, Tennessee Williams. For us to be able to have that great, powerful story back on our stage—one of those classics —I think, is going to really excite a lot of people.”

It will also be another one of those sumptuous Theatre Calgary productions, said Arima, demanding a certain level of production.

“With shows like A Streetcar Named Desire, where we have the capacity and the talent here to design something quite marvelous. I think you won’t be disappointed in the sumptuousness of the scenic design of the play.”

Blithe Spirit, directed by Nikki Loach

March 18 to April 13, 2025 at the Max Bell Theatre in Arts Commons

Noël Coward’s West End hit is making its return to a Theatre Calgary stage after 35 years, bringing back the farcical and fanciful comedy of the dead returning to the world of the living.

The play centres around Charles Condomine, whose dinner party turned seance brings his dead wife’s spirit back, and out to destroy his new marriage.

Although Blithe Spirit has been considered one of Coward’s comedic masterpieces, Arima said that Calgary audiences have long responded to all of his works.

“I think because Noël Coward is so unique in the wit. You know, there’s nobody else on the planet who gets that wit,” Arima said.

“The themes of love and marriage and death and the supernatural, it just seemed to be one of those classics that needed to come back. I think people nowadays are more open to talking about things like the supernatural and ghosts. The relevancy of this I think is going capture a lot of our familiar audiences, and some new audience members who’ve never experienced the show.”

He said that audiences who had taken in Steve Martin’s Meteor Shower during the 2023-24 season, would also appreciate the sort of diverse comedy that Coward brings to the stage, and the kind of diversity in Theatre Calgary’s season programming.

“With Meteor Shower, there was such a curiosity about this work. Some people left with jaws dropping to the floor—this was amazing theatre of the absurd… other people scratching their heads going ‘what was that? That was different. I didn’t expect that,'” he said.

“I feel, in many ways, what is so important to do when one’s curating a season is to make sure that there is enough variety and choice. Because here’s the thing: some people decide I don’t want to come to see the classics, I just want to come to see Lehmann Trilogy, or maybe Blithe Spirit because it sounds kind of cool.

“If all of the plays were comedies, or all of the plays were modern, or all the plays were musicals, then we wouldn’t be serving our audiences. I think in the best way that we can is keeping the titles diverse, and keeping the stories not from one era, but a plethora of eras.”

Awowakii (world premiere), directed by Alanis King

April 22 to May 11, 2025 at the Big Secret Theatre in Arts Commons

Local playwright Sable Sweetgrass’ story of Blackfoot transgender woman Chrissy Two-Guns unexpectedly having her estranged father entering her life again, is making its world premiere on a Theatre Calgary stage in 2025.

Sweetgrass’ play is a result of Theatre Calgary’s Page to Stage program that occurred during the pandemic and was one of the works selected by the company to be turned into a full-fledged production.

“It’s really important to me that a Calgary playwright is represented, and this play is one that is so fresh, exciting, and new,” said Arima.

“It’s almost like Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. It’s funny, it’s touching, and the thing that I love the most about the play is that it’s a family comedy, really about the resilience about the Blackfoot matriarchy, and about how families can come together even though there might be strife internally.”

The production of Awowakii is also one of the most interactive and intimate productions that Theatre Calgary will be putting on for their 2024-25 season, he said.

“Something that is becoming very popular these days called immersive theatre where the audience is not just sitting in their seats watching the play, but they’re actually in it. Not as characters and they don’t have to speak lines or anything, but they’re involved in it because they’re sitting at the kitchen table.”

Legally Blonde, directed and choreographed by Stephanie Graham

May 20 to June 15, 2024 at the Max Bell Theatre in Arts Commons

Theatre Calgary is closing out its 2024-25 season with Legally Blonde, based on the original story that became a hit film starring Reese Witherspoon and Luke Wilson.

Although it has been performed several times on Calgary stages over the past decade, including a recent run at StoryBook Theatre during their 46th season, the season finale production will be a first for Theatre Calgary.

“We’ve never done Legally Blonde before, and so many of our fans, our subscribers, they always say we want to see this musical done at Theatre Calgary because of our big sets, the big orchestra, the big cast, and the costumes,” said Arima.

“We give everything; we do a Theatre Calgary treatment, and a musical is something that we have the ability to do exceptionally well,” Arima said.

He said that it seemed like it was a natural thing to do this season to bring it to life, given the overarching theme of home.

“It felt like it was a wonderful way to end the season with a huge great musical, colourful in every way, and a way to send us off in 2025.”