When Bluma Appel, Ed Mirvish and William Hutt passed away last summer, a certain steadiness—even if it was in part illusory—departed with them. For evidence of this void, local theatre-goers need look no further than the first half of 2008.

The biggest upheaval in recent months was David Storch’s announcement that he would be leaving his post as Canadian Stage’s artistic director after less than a year on the job. (Endless conversations about the future of the company were stemmed when even more startling news was reported: Marti Maraden and Don Shipley of Stratford’s brand new tetra-headed dream team had tendered their resignations, just as the season was launching.) Although the troubled stalwart has laid off a number of employees, including its dramaturge, and has yet to announce a replacement for Storch, CanStage just brought the talented young director Natasha Mytnowych on board as its associate director of artistic and audience development, a new post. Its upcoming Berkeley Street programming also sounds promising: three of the city’s best alternative companies—Necessary Angel, Nightwood and Studio 180—have been enlisted for the 2008–2009 season. It’s a good thing, too, seeing as CanCon and new play development are supposed to be part of CanStage’s mandate. Mainstage productions will include It’s a Wonderful Life; Shirley Valentine; Doubt, A Parable; Miss Julie: Freedom Summer (a spin on Miss Julie); and Frost/Nixon. Two (Dream in High Park and Shirley Valentine) are return engagements (in Valentine’s case, this is the third kick at the can) and none of them are Canadian.

Theatre gossips have also been getting great material from the oh-so-polite dogfight between commercial giant David Mirvish and the man who would be king, Aubrey Dan. So far Mirvish’s season has been exceptionally strong: despite the eleventh hour cancellation of this spring’s Ha’Penny Bridge, shows like Twelve Angry Men (returning in June for 16 performances) and the two-part Nicholas Nickleby were critical successes, while Dirty Dancing scored big at the box office. And 2008–2009 looks even better, especially with the addition of the bold Broadway hit Spring Awakening. Meanwhile, the inaugural voyage of Dancap—Aubrey Dan’s ambitious enterprise—may not have gone as smoothly, but it’s not over yet. Dan is in possession of an all-important, not-so-secret weapon: the ridiculously popular Jersey Boys, which is opening in August and has sold out in cities across the States.

On the mid-sized theatre front, this season disproved that old chestnut about bad things happening in threes. Up-and-coming indie darling (and frequent Mytnowych collaborator) Hannah Moscovitch got her mainstream debut in October at Tarragon with East of Berlin, a show the theatre has chosen to remount in ’09. A mere three months later, Factory Theatre put on a double bill of Moscovitch’s earlier works The Russian Play and Essay. Here’s a thought: it might be time to consider saying she’s arrived.

A trio of combat-themed shows—Judith Thompson’s The Palace of the End, David Hare’s Stuff Happens, and Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner’s My Name Is Rachel Corrie—have also made headlines this year, injecting the Toronto scene with some timely (and welcome) political fireworks. The first, a much-needed hit for CanStage that is opening off-Broadway in a couple of months, is made up of three monologues featuring fictional characters from the Iraq war (two of which bear a more than passing resemblance to disgraced soldier Lynndie England and whistle-blower David Kelly). The second, put on by the excellent Studio 180 (The Laramie Project, The Arab-Israeli Cookbook) in March, showcases even higher profile players in the same war. Hare’s handling of Bush, Cheney, Powell, Blair, Rice and company has garnered him accolades in his native England and abroad. The third, which lands at Tarragon in June, is easily one of the season’s most anticipated shows. This retelling of the life and death of peace activist Rachel Corrie has been celebrated and reviled in almost equal measures, and it will be interesting to see how Toronto audiences react to it.

Like almost everything in life, Toronto’s theatre scene has always been, and will undoubtedly continue to be, a mixed bag. One can only hope that recent developments will foster real innovation and not a case of “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”

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