Shaw Festival plans to make a complete comeback in 2022, after a short season featuring both outdoor and indoor shows.
A 14-show season was announced Wednesday by the company. Highlights include “Damn Yankees”, the return of “Cyrano de Bergerac,” and “Everybody” in Canada.
The company will present all plays indoors. However, the company is also bringing back “A Short History of Niagara”, its outdoor puppet show that was so popular this summer.
Patrons will be able to enjoy the hour-long interactive shows Fairground and Shawground, which are both available at Festival Theatre grounds.
Festival Theatre’s main stage will host “Damn Yankees”, the company’s return in large musicals following the cancellation of “Gypsy” for the 2020 and 2021 seasons. It will be directed by Brian Hill and previews begin April 23.
The Festival Theatre will also feature Oscar Wilde’s Victorian satire, “The Importance Of Being Earnest”, directed by Shaw artistic Director Tim Carroll and Bernard Shaw’s timely drama about medical ethics, “The Doctor’s Dilemma,” which Diana Donnelly will direct.
The Royal George Theatre will host four shows, beginning with Cyrano de Bergerac in March. It’s back after a successful run in 2019 and is directed by Chris Abraham.
Kelli Fox directs Patrick Hamilton’s thriller “Gaslight,” and Kimberley Rampersand directs 2022’s one-act lunchtime show, “Chitra”, by RabindranathTagore.
Cicely Hamilton’s comedy, “Just to Get Married,” is the final addition to the Royal George slate. It was directed by Severn Thompson.
Jackie Maxwell Studio Theatre will host the Native Earth Performing Arts production of “This Is How We Got Here”, written and directed Keith Barker. This will be the opening and closing show of the 2022 season.
Shaw’s comedy, “Too True to Be Good”, will be shown in May. It will be directed by Sanjay Tarwar. In June, Jacobs-Jenkin will show “Everybody”. The morality play, by the author of “An Octoroon”, will have a lottery at each performance. This will allow the audience to pick which five actors will take the lead roles. Laszlo Berczes directs it.
August Wilson’s “Gem of the Ocean”, which opens in August, rounds out the Studio Theatre line-up. It’s directed by Philip Akin and is the first of Wilson’s 10 plays “The American Century Cycle”, which depicts the African-American experience during the 20th century.
Season ends with “A Christmas Carol”, the company’s annual production at Royal George Theatre. It is directed by Molly Atkinson. “White Christmas” by Irving Berlin at Festival Theatre is directed by Kate Hennig. Both shows are open in November, and will close in December 2022.