CENTRE WELLINGTON – The Fergus Grand Theatre is buzzing with excitement as audiences return, eager to experience the collective thrill of live performances once again.
On May 15 the theatre unveiled the artists that will be part of its 2022-23 presenting season, an eclectic mix of eight shows simply entitled Better Together.
“We’ve all been through a lot in the past couple of years,” said theatre coordinator Eric Goudie.
“The performing arts have an incredible capacity to help us heal, move forward, and consider our place in an ever-changing world. I’m looking forward to seeing artists and audiences having a great time, having fun, and getting better, together.”
The new season has something for everyone. Comedy fans will love Middle-Raged, a sketch comedy show starring two of Canada’s best comedians, Gary Pearson and Geri Hall.
There’s also lots of great music – perennial audience favourites The Fitzgeralds are back, fresh from touring around the world, with their high-energy fiddle-playing, step-dancing show, just in time for the holidays.
Adrian Sutherland, former frontman of all-Cree rock band Midnight Shine, and 2022 Juno Nominee for Contemporary Indigenous Artist of the Year, comes through in March, making the trek south to Fergus from his home on the Attawapiskat First Nation. And there’s The Derina Harvey Band, an East Coast Celtic group (from the Prairies) with an irresistible sound. Think of them as Great Big Sea if fronted by Adele.
Two theatre shows are included the series. Sansei: the Storyteller, a show by Calgary playwright Kunji Mark Ikeda, manages to find a beautiful, moving, humorous way to tell the story of one of the darkest chapters in Canada’s history, the internment of Japanese Canadians during the second world war.
Prophecy Fog, a solo piece by veteran Canadian theatre maker Jani Lauzon, will be something completely different: the show will take place with the audience on the stage, seated “in-the-round.”
Goudie has even managed to squeeze in two pieces that refuse to be easily labeled. The first is Vivek Shraya’s rousing theatrical memoir, How to Fail as Popstar.
The second is The Knitting Pilgrim, written, performed (and knitted) by Kirk Dunn, about Dunn’s quest to understand the three Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, featuring three knitted tapestries, created by the actor himself.
Single tickets for all shows are now on sale, but this year the theatre is offering its most flexible subscription package ever – purchase tickets to any five or more Better Together shows before Sept. 1 and save $10 per ticket.
Tickets are available at the box office, by phone at 519-787-1981 or online at www.fergusgrandtheatre.ca.
