Fall Theatre Preview

Lisa Ryder and Hrothgar Matthews in Helen Lawrence. Photo by David Cooper.

Fall theatre in Toronto brings with it the promise of fresh and exciting stage productions as companies show off their new programming. Here, we highlight our top 10 shows to watch this season. Bring on fall!

1) Ubu Mayor (One Little Goat Theatre)

Alfred Jarry's 1896 play Ubu Roi meets Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and his brother Doug Ford in One Little Goat Theatre's Ubu Mayor, a new work written and composed by Adam Seelig. Featuring Michael Dufays, Richard Harte and Astrid Van Wieren, this is the first time the company has staged a show with a live band. A timely political comedy in light of the upcoming Toronto mayoral election. Ubu Mayor runs from September 12 - 21 at Wychwood Theatre.

2) The Mountaintop (Obsidian Theatre)

Kevin Hanchard and Alana Hibbert star in the Obsidian Theatre/Shaw Festival co-production of Katori Hall's The Mountaintop directed by Philip Akin. Set in 1968, the play centres around Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s last night in the now iconic Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel where an encounter with a young hotel maid forces him to confront his destiny. The Mountaintop runs from September 27 to October 19 at Aki Studio Theatre (Daniels Spectrum).

3) Helen Lawrence (Canadian Stage)

Visual artist Stan Douglas collaborates with screenwriter Chris Haddock in this hotly anticipated multimedia production inspired by post-war film noir. The show incorporates theatre, visual art, live action filming and computer generated simulations. Helen Lawrence runs from October 12 - November 1 at the Bluma Appel Theatre.

4) Spoon River (Soulpepper)

Soulpepper's Albert Schultz directs a powerhouse cast, including Oliver Dennis, Stuart Hughes, Diego Matamoros, Nancy Palk and Gregory Prest in this musical adaptation of Edgar Lee Masters' poems of the dead. Composed by Mike Ross, the production offers a slice of rural America as residents of the town narrate their own epitaphs. Spoon River runs from October 29 - November 15 at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts.

5) Arcadia (Mirvish Productions)

The Shaw Festival production of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia is coming to Toronto this November as part of Mirvish's 2014/15 theatre season. Directed by Edna Holmes, this critically-acclaimed intellectual comedy is poised to make an entrance. Arcadia runs from November 4 to December 14 at the Royal Alexandra Theatre.

6) Take Me Back to Jefferson (Theatre Smith-Gilmour/Factory Theatre)

Theatre Smith-Gilmour's darkly comic, movement-based adaptation of Falkner's As I Lay Dying returns to the stage as part of Factory Theatre's new season this fall. This unique take on the Bundren family's ill-fated odyssey across the Mississippi countryside is sure to be a moving experience. Take Me Back to Jefferson runs from November 5 to 23 at Factory Theatre (Mainstage).

7) Sextet (Tarragon Theatre)

Written and directed by Morris Panych, this Tarragon Theatre world premiere follows a group of six stranded musicians as they struggle to come to terms with their failing careers, failing marriages and unfulfilled desires. Sextet runs from November 5 - December 14 at the Tarragon Theatre Mainspace.

8) NSFW (Studio 180/The Theatre Centre)

Studio 180 brings British playwright Lucy Kirkwood's 2012 play NSFW (Not Safe For Work), a cutthroat comedy about the world of magazine journalism, to the Theatre Centre this fall in a new production directed by Joel Greenberg. NSFW runs from November 7 - 30 at The Theatre Centre (1115 Queen Street W.).

9) Angus Drive (Theatre Passe Muraille)

Alan Dilworth directs Maev Beaty and Cyrus Lane in Andrew Templeton's Angus Drive, a booze-fuelled murder mystery set in 1920s Vancouver. "Based in part on a vintage cold case, I wanted to create a murder mystery that blended the witty banter (and excessive drinking) of Dashiell Hammett with the plot intrigues of Agatha Christie and the theatricality and bite of Edward Albee," says Templeton. What more could we ask for? Angus Drive runs from November 20 - December 14 at the Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace.

10) The Stronger Variations (Theatre Rusticle/Buddies in Bad Times Theatre)

What happens when a woman decides to meet her husband’s mistress on Christmas Eve? This is the question that playwright August Strindberg asked in his 1889 play The Stronger and that Allyson McMackon revisits in The Stronger Variations. A hit at the 2005 Toronto Fringe Festival, Theatre Rusticle's adaptation uses an intergenerational cast of five women to examine the many ways feminine power, sisterhood, sexuality, compassion and betrayal can express themselves. The Stronger Variations runs from November 26 - December 7 at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.