Toronto 
The Canadian Stage
Were you wondering whether you will be able to watch Shakespeare in High Park under the summer sky this year? Then, we have fantastic news.
Presented as Dream in High Park, under the title originally launched in 1983, the Canadian Stage together with Roseneath Theatre, Lula Lounge, Storytelling Toronto, Tafelmusik, Toronto Outdoor Picture Show and other community partners, has unveiled a dynamic lineup that extends the 2021 season at High Park Amphitheatre from June to September.
The highlights of the in-person summer programming include Jeremy Dutcher in concert, new collaborations with Native Earth Performing Arts & dance Immersion, a new collective creation co-produced with York University and presented in partnership with SummerWorks, BLACKOUT by The Musical Stage Company, a new work by Jordan Tannahill and more!
Last year, the Canadian Stage tested outdoor performance COVID-19 safety procedures with Dance in High Park featuring outdoor and interactive events.
For 2021, depending on the public health guidelines at the time, the amphitheatre will welcome up to 100 patrons in physically distanced groups of one to four people from the same household, much lower than the 1,000 people capacity.
The Canadian Stage will be following all safety precautions for your safe and comfortable High Park experience.
2021 Line-up – Dream in High Park
LULAWORLD IN THE PARK (June 29 – 30)
A Canadian Stage and Lula Music & Arts Presentation
Lula Music brings the sound of Lula Lounge and their annual Lulaworld festival to the beauty of High Park with performances by local Latinx, Brazilian, Caribbean, and Indigenous artists.
25 FOR 25 (July 1 – 3, 8:00pm)
Small World Music in association with Canadian Stage
Celebrate Canada Day weekend and the launch of Small World’s 25th Anniversary festivities with three evenings of the finest culturally diverse sounds from around the globe and around the corner.
MADE IN EXILE: OUTDOOR SHOWCASE (July 4, 8:00pm)
Presented by Canadian Stage
In celebration of the first Tibetan Heritage Month in Ontario and the fifth year since its inception, Made in Exile will be screening short films created by emerging filmmakers from their 2020-21 Made in Exile x Charles Street Video’s Film Intensive Program. Canadian Stage is hosting this event to celebrate and showcase Made in Exile’s work in the community to date. We invite you to celebrate this historic month by witnessing the work of young emerging Tibetan artists.
FOREST DREAMS (July 5 – 10)
Canadian Stage welcomes Theatre Direct
Using High Park as inspiration, this week-long creation workshop for children will explore nature myths and stories through the magic of theatre. At the end of the week the children will perform their creation, Forest Dreams, at the High Park Amphitheatre for an invited audience of friends and family.
BAT NIGHT (July 6, 8:30pm, August 3, 8:00pm, September 14, 7:00pm)
Canadian Stage presents High Park Nature Centre
High Park Nature Centre comes to the Amphitheatre for a 30-minute interactive presentation where they’ll cover all things bat – behaviour, habitat and favourite foods. Audiences will then leave the Amphitheatre and explore High Park’s trails using hand-held bat detectors and, if lucky, may even hear the bats’ ultrasonic calls as they swoop and loop during their evening, mid-air forage and spot their silhouettes.
STORY FUSION CABARET! (July 7, 8:00pm)
STORYTENT (August 21 – 22, 10:00am)
Storytelling Toronto in partnership with Canadian Stage
Toronto’s hub for all story enthusiasts, Storytelling Toronto, will take over the Amphitheatre twice this summer with two unique programs.
Enjoy some of the city’s finest dream weavers, when Storytelling Toronto presents, Story Fusion Cabaret!’s Making Images with Words, hosted by CBC’s Ali Hassan. Then it’s StoryTent, the family-friendly program led by the exuberant host, Donna Dudinsky.
BAROQUE & BEYOND CHAMBER CONCERTS (July 8 – 10)
Tafelmusik in association with Canadian Stage
Experience the beauty of music of the past with these intimate chamber concerts featuring two or three members of Tafelmusik orchestra. Presented in an informal style with introductions from the musicians, a different program will be offered each night.
BOX CONCERTS (July 10 – 11 & 17 – 18, 3:00 & 4:30pm)
Tapestry Opera in partnership with Canadian Stage
Tapestry Opera’s joyful travelling pop-up stage returns with a brand-new show for 2021. Tenor Asitha Tennekoon performs your favourites from opera and musical theatre together with new songs, to tell a magical story of connection and belonging.
TORONTO OUTDOOR PICTURE SHOW (July 11, 9:00pm)
Toronto Outdoor Picture Show in partnership with Canadian Stage
Dedicated to sharing high quality, diverse, and engaging outdoor film programming with communities across Toronto, Toronto Outdoor Picture Show will present a one-night-only secret screening in the Canadian Stage High Park Amphitheatre, signaling the kick-off to the festival’s 2021 summer season.
STAND-UP COMEDY (July 12, 7:00 & 9:00pm)
In partnership with Canadian Stage
Under the open skies of the High Park Amphitheatre you’ll find local, renowned comedians emerge with fresh stand-up comedy. Join them for an evening of laughs and storytelling, in partnership with Canadian Stage.
MAGGIE & ME: A Healing Dance (July 15 – 18, 8:00pm)
A Friday Creeations Production in partnership with Native Earth Performing Arts, presented by Canadian Stage
Created and choreographed by Indigenous artist Christine Friday, Maggie & Me explores community, family, history, and the power of a healing dance as moments weave through the dream realm, spirit realm, and present realm.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, BOYS AND GIRLS (July 17 – 18, 9:30 & 11:00am)
Roseneath Theatre in partnership with Canadian Stage
Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls follows the story of 9-year-old Fiona who comes out as a boy and wants to be called Fin. Fin has always had this feeling – knowing something is different but not knowing what it was or how to say it. As Fin cuts his hair short and changes his name, his family works to understand and adjust to Fin’s gender identity. Dad is accepting of the change right away, but Mom doesn’t quite get it at first. Always from a place of good intentions, we see Fin’s family struggle with this change and through the course of the play ultimately begin to accept and embrace Fin for who he is.
Suitable for ages 9 – 14.
BLACKOUT (July 23 – August 15, 8:00pm)
A Musical Stage Company production in association with Canadian Stage
Originally slated for premiere as part of the 2020-21 season, The Musical Stage Company’s BLACKOUT will premiere under the stars on the High Park Amphitheatre stage.? Set on the evening of the northeast blackout of 2003, this thrilling new work depicts three stories of connection that unfolded when the city was dark, and strangers banded together to find the light. A new Canadian musical by two of Canada’s most exciting voices –Anton Lipovetsky and Steven Gallagher – BLACKOUT is a story of hope, resilience, and community.
NOWHEN (August 5 – 15, 3:00pm)
A Canadian Stage Production in collaboration with The Department of Theatre, School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design at York University, presented in partnership with SummerWorks
Created and directed by Alison Wong, nowhen is a collaborative creation reflecting one’s connection to place dramatizing seven stories that weave across High Park before converging in the Amphitheatre for a collective experience.
A NEW WORK PERFORMED BY CASIMIRO NHUSSI OF NAFRO DANCE AND PULGA MUCHOCHOMA (August 19 – 22, 8:00pm)
dance Immersion & Canadian Stage: Curatorial and Presenting Partners
Canadian Stage partners with dance Immersion – a company dedicated to producing, promoting, and supporting dancers and dances of the African Diaspora – on a new work to be choreographed and performed by Casimiro Nhussi and Pulga Muchochoma.
IS MY MICROPHONE ON? (September 2 – 19, 7:30pm)
A Canadian Stage Production
By Jordan Tannahill, directed by Erin Brubacher
This generation will no longer be able to avoid the consequences of climate change. In this Canadian premiere of Governor General’s Award-winner Jordan Tannahill’s newest play, a group of young people speak directly to the adults in the audience, holding them to account, questioning the choices that have not been made, the ones that children will be forced to make, and what kind of future they stand to inherit.
The creative team, led by director Erin Brubacher, supports a chorus of people aged 12 – 17 in turning the theatre into a site of intergenerational reckoning. Urgent, moving, and confrontational, Is My Microphone On? is both a declaration of war and a declaration of love.
BEYOND TORONTO TAIKO FESTIVAL (September 4 – 5)
Canadian Stage presents Raging Asian Womxn Taiko Drummers and Toronto Taiko Festival
Make some noise for this showcase of incredible Pan-Asian drumming groups, womxn drumming groups, qtbipoc drumming groups and others.
AN EVENING WITH JEREMY DUTCHER (September 6 – 8, 8:00pm)
Presented by Canadian Stage
Polaris Prize-winning performer, composer, activist, and musicologist Jeremy Dutcher comes to the High Park Amphitheatre for three intimate concerts. A member of Tobique First Nation of New Brunswick and trained in the western operatic tradition, Dutcher’s music playfully integrates classical influences into traditional songs of his Wolastoqiyik Nation people. An intimate evening under the stars, this will be a rare opportunity to commune with one of the most exciting and essential artists in the country.
inTO FOCUS (September 23 – 25, 7:00pm)
dance: made in canada/fait au canada Festival in partnership with Canadian Stage
Canada’s biennial contemporary dance festival, dance: made in canada/fait au canada, will present inTO Focus, a dynamic mixed program featuring five Toronto-based contemporary dance artists.
HOW TO GET TICKETS
Tickets for Dream in High Park performances will go on sale once outdoor performances are permitted to resume.
Ticket prices will vary based on production and performance. Like in the past, some tickets will be available for purchase at set prices and the majority of tickets will continue to be offered on a Pay-What-You-Wish basis. At noon, two days prior to each performance, at least 50% of ticket capacity will become available at PWYW and a limited number of those tickets will be available in-person starting 45 minutes prior to the performance to accommodate cash sales.
Upcoming Theatre Events
Queen’s Park Crescent from Bloor to Wellesley Street, Toronto
September 28, 2024 To September 29, 2024
Free
The Word On The Street is a non-profit organization that celebrates Canadian reading, writing, and champions literacy primarily through a free, annual outdoor festival. Each September, in ... »
Under the Big Top, 2150 Lake Shore Blvd. W, Toronto
May 8, 2024 To July 21, 2024
877-924-7783
Varies
Cirque du Soleil brings surprising new twists under the Big Top with Cirque du Soleil ECHO, a story of connection, intention, and the symbiotic unions between humans ... »
Various Venues, Toronto
May 11, 2024 To May 12, 2024
Free
Every year the Toronto Comic Arts Festival showcases Canada’s incredible comics talent on a world stage by promoting some of our best and brightest creators and ... »
Factory Theatre 125 Bathurst Street Toronto
May 30, 2024 To June 1, 2024
Varies
The legendary LGBTQ+ comedy festival will return with a variety of comedy, music, and burlesque performances to benefit the We’re Funny That Way Foundation. »
Alumnae Theatre, 70 Berkeley Street, Toronto
April 24, 2024 To May 5, 2024
$15
New Ideas Festival is an annual juried festival of new writing, works-in-progress and experimental theatre, with a different program of plays each week and staged readings. Proudly ... »
Aki Studio, 585 Dundas Street East, Toronto
May 13, 2024 To May 19, 2024
Free
Currently in the 8th year of partnership, Paprika Festival is working with Native Earth to present the 23rd annual youth-led performing arts festival. Following a year of ... »
Various Venues, Toronto
June 5, 2024 To June 16, 2024
4163684849
Varies
Luminato is Toronto’s international arts festival dedicated to performance, media and visual arts, and programming that cuts across traditional artform boundaries. Luminato works closely with Canadian ... »
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen Street West Toronto,
June 1, 2024 To June 9, 2024
$40.00 & up
Follow the eccentric Don Quixote and his sidekick Sancho Panza on a quest for love in the North American premiere of Carlos Acosta’s Don Quixote, created ... »
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen Street West Toronto
June 15, 2024 To June 22, 2024
$40.00 & up
“I like the colour of gems, the beauty of stones.” So said George Balanchine of the inspiration for his 1967 ballet triptych Jewels, a plotless work evoking the ... »
Guloien Theatre, 345 Carlaw Avenue, Toronto
April 23, 2024 To April 28, 2024
(647) 341-7390
$28.25 - $96.05
HUFF is the savagely funny and harrowing tale of Wind and his brothers as they struggle with their mother’s death, a reserve school system that’s ... »
Guloien Theatre, 345 Carlaw Avenue, Toronto
May 21, 2024 To June 9, 2024
(647) 341-7390
$28.25 - $96.05
Bashir Ladha, a young philosophy major leaning towards nihilism, reluctantly moves back home with his parents and is unwittingly chosen to serve in a prestigious religious position ... »
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen Street West, Toronto
April 26, 2024 To May 18, 2024
$35 & up
The aging Pasquale refuses to let his love-struck nephew Ernesto marry, and decides to get married himself. The only snag is that the woman he’s chosen ... »