Persephone Theatre Proud To Announce 2022/23 Season

Saskatoon, SK – Love, Science, Power, Romance, and Resilience – experience it all in Persephone Theatre’s 2022/23 season! Persephone Theatre’s new season aims to replenish the hope and spirits of audiences for the coming year.

Opening our season is the show which was halted in its tracks in March 2020. Stones in his Pockets by Marie Jones is back with its original team, ready to turn a sleepy Irish town upside down with the filming of Hollywood movie. A tour-de-force for two actors who play 15 characters, Stones in his Pockets shines a spotlight on the difference which can exist between the reality surrounding us versus the carefully crafted narrative we are asked to accept as reality, and what role we play in which story gets told.

In October, the sensational Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story will take the stage for a special limited engagement. Created by Hanna Moscovitch, Christian Barry, and genre-bending musician Ben Caplan, Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story is a Klezmer music/theatre hybrid – a dark folktale woven together with a high-energy concert headlined by Caplan himself, which details the story of two Jewish Romanian refugees coming to Canada in 1908. This not-to-be-missed show is produced by 2B Theatre and presented in partnership with the Saskatchewan Jewish Arts Festival and Broadway Theatre.

“I am so happy Persephone is able to help the Saskatchewan Jewish Arts Festival launch its inaugural year with this partnership,” Persephone Theatre Artistic Director Heather Cant said. “Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story is stunning piece of Canadian theatre that will delight theatre and music lovers alike. I know Saskatchewan audiences are going to love it!”

Next, it is the 1940s and Lucy can’t bear the thought of soldiers being sent off to war without the hope of someone to come home to. Lucy’s inability to say “no” puts her in a serious predicament when, not only do all the men she promised herself to survive the war, they all arrive home on the same day, ready for nuptial bliss. The Fiancée by Holly Lewis, is a hilarious, door-slamming, feminist farce with an I Love Lucy charm.

The New Year brings with it The Herd by Kenneth T. Williams. The birth of twin white bison brings an unexpected national media storm to a First Nations ranch in Saskatchewan. A clash of priorities between science, money, power, and Indigenous sovereignty arises as people ask whether the twins are a portent of a sacred prophecy or merely a one in a billion scientific event.

Rounding out the Main Stage is a landmark collaboration between Persephone Theatre and the Globe Theatre in Regina. Set in a small Canadian farming community, The Birds and The Bees by Mark Crawford, is a laugh-out-loud comedy about love, sex, science, and the artificial insemination of turkeys! Gail is too preoccupied with the exponential death of her honeybees to be sympathetic to the marital strife of the grown daughter who has taken over her spare room. As they attempt to negotiate their own sticky relationship, both women’s lives are complicated by birds, bees, and “the birds and the bees.”

“This partnership between Persephone and the Globe is a wonderful opportunity for each company to highlight the incredible theatrical talents of our local communities in one show, and then share it with both Saskatoon and Regina audiences,” Cant said. “Jennifer Brewin and I are both new in our roles as artistic directors and we are so excited to be working together to celebrate Saskatchewan theatre makers.”

On the Backstage Stage, we present Our Fathers, Sons, Lovers and Little Brothers, written and performed by Makambe K. Simamba, and produced by Tarragon Theatre and Black Theatre Workshop. Slimm, a seventeen-year-old Black boy in a hoodie suddenly finds himself in the first moments of his afterlife, wrestling with the truth of the life he lived and the death he didn’t choose. Our Fathers, Sons, Lovers and Little Brothers is a protest for all Black life beyond headlines and hashtags, a prayer for all families left behind, and a promise to the community that all Black lives matter. This production will also have school matinees for teen audiences as part of our Youth Series.

The Youth Series will also include Manitoba Theatre for Young People’s production of Frozen River by Michaela Washburn, Joelle Peters, and Carrie Costello. In nîkwatin sîpiy, Grandmother Moon tells the story of two eleven-year-olds, born under the same blood moon, but in different parts of the world. A broken promise from the past can be righted when there is finally an openness to learn from those who have protected and honoured the waterways for centuries. Frozen River will play on the Backstage Stage for public and school performances as well as tour to schools throughout the province.

Our 2022/23 season comes to a close with an introductory theatre experience for children aged three to eight with Velveteen Rabbit by Kevin del Aguila. Based on the beloved book by Margery Williams, this play uses the magic of storytelling to tell the tale of a stuffed rabbit who learns what it means to become truly loved.

“This season is about hope and transformation,” Cant said. “There are many times transformation can only be discovered through hope. Right now, finding hope to guide our paths is something I think many of us are actively searching for. Hope and transformation can come in many forms, and I hope this season will help audiences find more of both.”

Season subscriptions will go on sale June 1. To learn more about the season and to sign up for the mailing list to learn when subscriptions go on sale, visit www.persephonetheatre.org

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For more information about Persephone Theatre’s season or to set up an interview, please contact:
Jodi Schellenberg, Director of Marketing & Communications
306-384-2126 ext. 237
[email protected]

For information about the Saskatchewan Jewish Arts Festival, please contact:
Joel Bernbaum, Saskatchewan Jewish Arts Festival Curator
306-880-4786
[email protected]

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