Da Kink in My Hair, new Joe Clark play coming to Calgary theatres

Trey Anthony's hit 'Da Kink In My Hair is back – and headed west for Theatre Calgary's 2016-2017 season.

Anthony will reprise the role of Caribbean Canadian hairdresser Novelette in her Fringe Festival-turned-Mirvish hit about eight women in a Toronto hair salon, in a new co-production that will also run at Ottawa's National Arts Centre.

"When this play launched 15 years ago, it set the Canadian theatre scene on fire," Theatre Calgary's artistic director Dennis Garnhum said in a release. "We are so fortunate to have Trey reprising her role as this show comes to Western Canada for the first time."

Theatre Calgary is announcing its full season on Thursday. 'Da Kink will be followed by Boom – Rick Miller's acclaimed celebration and examination of the Baby Boomer generation – and then by the annual holiday production of A Christmas Carol.

In January 2017, Stratford Festival veteran Seana McKenna, who has played many Queens in her time, will take on another: Queen Elizabeth II. She will star in The Audience, a play by Peter Morgan that imagines the Queen's weekly private meetings with British prime ministers from Winston Churchill to David Cameron. Miles Potter directs.

Next, in March, Theatre Calgary will partner with American Conservatory Theater of San Francisco on the world premiere of A Thousand Splendid Suns, adapted by Ursula Rani Sarma from the novel by Khaled Hosseini. ACT artistic director Carey Perloff will direct.

Theatre Calgary's mainstage season finishes with a new production of the musical Crazy For You, directed by Dayna Tekatch in co-production with Edmonton's Citadel Theatre.

But that's not all: Next season, Theatre Calgary will expand beyond Max Bell Theatre into the Engineered Air Theatre for what it is calling TC UP Close. David Hare's Skylight will be presented on this more intimate stage; Dean Paul Gibson will star and Garnhum directs. For more information, visit theatrecalgary.com.

In other Calgary theatre news, Alberta Theatre Projects recently announced its 2016-2017 season: six Canadian-penned plays to celebrate the country's 150th birthday.

Perhaps most exciting is the first new comedy from Michael Healey since his controversial and popular Stephen Harper play, Proud. In 1979, Healey shines the spotlight on another Canadian prime minister, Joe Clark, and imagines his interactions with Brian Mulroney, Pierre Trudeau and others as he prepares to put his first, fateful budget before parliament.

Also on the ATP bill are new plays from Joan MacLeod (Gracie); Cathy Jones (Stranger to Hard Work); Catalyst Theatre's Jonathan Christenson (Fortune Falls); and Rebecca Northan (Slipper: A Distinctly Calgarian Cinderella Story). The theatre's season will open with a 40th-anniversary revival of John Murrell's Waiting for the Parade, directed by Kate Newby.

For more information, visit atplive.com.

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