Toronto's Tarragon Theatre has unveiled its 55th anniversary season.Teagan McCanny/Supplied
Tarragon Theatre, recent recipient of a shoutout from actor Will Arnett on viral interview series Hot Ones, has unveiled its 55th anniversary season. The upcoming slate of programming revives one of the company’s greatest hits – Yaga, written by Kat Sandler and currently being adapted for TV by Crave, will close the season next spring – alongside five world premieres and a handful of transfers, local premieres and translations.
“Tarragon’s commitment to new work has been consistent for 55 years,” says the company’s artistic director Mike Payette. That commitment, he adds, doesn’t just mean commissioning new plays: The company often shepherds its playwrights from behind-the-scenes residencies to full productions, as is the case with two of the upcoming season’s plays, Anahita Dehbonehie’s Call Me By My Cousin’s Name and Katherine Gauthier’s You’re Still Here.
“We really wanted to double down on this moment of Canadian theatre,” says executive director Lisa Li of the upcoming season. “We know it’s good to have eyes on Canadian content and Canadian art. We know there are conversations right now around consuming American versus Canadian media. But for us, that’s no different from normal.”
While Yaga, a spooky whodunit inspired by Baba Yaga, was always envisioned as a highlight of Tarragon’s anniversary season, the play has acquired a newly global fan base in recent weeks. In February, Crave announced that the show’s TV adaptation will feature Heated Rivalry superstar Hudson Williams alongside Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix), Noah Reid (Schitt’s Creek) and Clark Backo (Letterkenny). News of the show’s casting sold out physical copies of Sandler’s script at booksellers around the world, even though no release date has yet been shared for the series.
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While Yaga’s original production at Tarragon in 2019 was directed by Sandler, the 2027 revival will be helmed by Jill Harper. Casting details are still to be announced.
The season opens in September with the world premiere of Prophetess, written by Tarragon associate artistic director Ho Ka Kei (Jeff Ho) and directed by Payette. Inspired by Shakespeare’s history plays, Prophetess will feature Karen Robinson (Schitt’s Creek, Law and Order Toronto: Criminal Intent), Christine Horne and Rick Roberts, with additional casting to be announced.
Tarragon Theatre Executive Director Lisa Li and Artistic Director Mike PayetteDAHLIA KATZ/Supplied
Next, in October, comes Monks, the wildly silly clown show created and performed by Veronica Hortigüela and Annie Luján. Featured in The Globe and Mail’s list of the top theatre productions of 2025, Monks is irreverent and goofy, but at its heart, the show is about friendship and the ways we choose to spend time with each other under the looming omnipresence of capitalism.
Then, in November, The Night Logan Woke Up, a co-production between Tarragon, Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland and Resource Centre for the Arts Theatre, will play in the Tarragon Mainspace. Written in French by Michel Marc Bouchard and translated into English by Robert Chafe, the anglophone premiere will be directed by Jillian Keiley.
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In February, Tarragon will welcome audiences back to the theatre with Call Me By My Cousin’s Name, an Outside the March co-production set to be directed by Mitchell Cushman. An exploration of the Iranian diaspora, the play will feature a “shattering, immersive climax,” according to Li and Payette.
A month later, The Shoplifters, written and directed by Morris Panych, will play in Tarragon’s intimate Extraspace. “Morris is a household name for us,” says Li.
“There are American and British playwrights you learn in theatre school,” she continues. “We see their names onstage all the time. But we want that for Canadian playwrights, both here and abroad. We want artists like Morris and Judith Thompson to have the Harold Pinter treatment in the U.S. and in the U.K. We want to get Canadian playwrights to be as popular as playwrights from other places.” The Shoplifters is set to feature Oliver Dennis, with additional casting details to be announced.
You’re Still Here, directed by Andrew Kushnir, will begin previews on March 23, 2027, with confirmed casting set to include Damien Atkins and Fiona Reid. Premise-wise, the play explores what happens when hospice patients learn exactly when they will die, as well as the ethical and emotional quandaries baked into the medical system.
Before Yaga opens in May, Tarragon and Obsidian Theatre Company will co-produce Definition, a new play by Soulpepper associate artistic director Luke Reece (As I Must Live It). A deep dive into family, the play will feature Akosua Amo-Adem (Table for Two), be directed by Payette and play in Tarragon’s Extraspace.