News

While other cultural institutions are cutting back, Edmonton's Citadel Theatre is expanding to a dozen plays next year - one of its largest seasons in recent history. Artistic director Bob Baker announced a mix of a mix of world premieres, British hits, classics and family shows for 2009-2010 Thursday. Michael Healey's latest satire, Courageous, and Rod Beattie's newest Wingfield play, Lost and Found, will both have their world premieres at the Citadel, while other Canadian content includes the Broadway musical hit, The Drowsy Chaperone, and Calgary hit, The Drowning Girls by Beth Graham, Charlie Tomlinson and Daniela Vlaskalic. Tom Stoppard's cerebral Rock'n'Roll will have its Canadian premiere on the mainstage, while David Harrower's Blackbird, the visceral play that beat Rock'n'Roll for the 2007 Olivier award for best play, will play in the Rice theatre. Also on the bill, Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie and Shakespeare's As You Like It, as well as family fare like Disney's Beauty and the Beast, The Jungle Book and, returning for its tenth season, Tom Wood's adaptation of A Christmas Carol.