6 hours Ago By Ben Waldman
A Will Ferrell Christmas classic, a locomotive whodunit, a ruthless family-owned telecom saga and an adaptation of a shipwrecked standard of Canadian literature are among the productions set to be staged next season at Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * A Will Ferrell Christmas classic, a locomotive whodunit, a ruthless family-owned telecom saga and an adaptation of a shipwrecked standard of Canadian literature are among the productions set to be staged next season at Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? A Will Ferrell Christmas classic, a locomotive whodunit, a ruthless family-owned telecom saga and an adaptation of a shipwrecked standard of Canadian literature are among the productions set to be staged next season at Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre.
Opening in October, the 2025-26 season is artistic director Kelly Thornton’s fifth at the helm, and she says the company’s strategy for programming its John Hirsch Mainstage is unchanged: providing a balanced menu of familiar fare with a strong built-in audience ( Agatha Christie’s the Canadian production première of Yann Martel’s ) and newer Canadian creations (the world première of Michael Healey’s Kate Hennig’s comedy and Manitoba performer Andrea Menard’s ). T. CHARLES ERICKSON / MCCARTER THEATRE CENTRE Murder on the Orient Express appears on the John Hirsch Mainstage next January.
“I always say it’s important to create a wide range of experiences,” says Thornton, who took on the RMTC creative mantle in 2019. “If I was only doing Broadway musicals or stupid, funny comedies (like the ) the whole time, I think it would get a little tiresome. So I think the diversity of theatrical experiences is super important to me.
” That’s reflected in the six-show mainstage season and the four-show slate at the Tom Hendry Warehouse, with both venues continuing with the same volume of productions as RMTC continues to climb out from its pandemic-inflicted hole. “It’s full steam ahead, but we’re still in post-COVID recovery,” says Thornton, who adds that the company was determined to “grow its way out of the problem.” “It’s certainly been a successful business practice since we started,” she says, noting that the company has put a significant dent in the 3,000-subscriber deficit caused by the pandemic while boosting single-ticket receipts.
“Give the people what they want. We are a giant theatre and a jewel of culture in Manitoba in terms of the theatre. We have the capability and the technical prowess to pull off these giant shows .
.. We’re open, and we are going to go big and we will draw them back with magnetic productions.
“The pipeline towards a subscription is always the pipeline of singles, and our singles are blowing through the roof,” she says, noting that more than 10,000 standalone tickets to its current production of the musical were sold. JAKE NETTER / 20TH CENTURY FOX The Canadian première of Yann Martel’s The Life of Pi at the RMTC mainstage will feature an articulating puppet of a Bengal tiger. At the mainstage, the next season is front-loaded, starting with (Oct.
16 to Nov. 8), the musical adaptation of (Nov. 27 to Dec.
20) and (directed by Thornton, from Jan. 15 to Feb. 7, 2026) before moving on to a co-production with Crow’s Theatre of (Feb.
19 to March 14), which is based on business reporter Alexandra Posadzki’s book of the same name about the Rogers family’s bid to control the Canadian telecom industry. Following that is Hennig’s (March 26 to April 18), about Henry VIII’s final spouse Katherine Parr, directed by Winnipeg’s Cherissa Richards; and (April 30 to May 23) a musical stew from Menard and co-creator Robert Walsh. CANADIAN PRESS FILES Puppet-master Ronnie Burkett returns to the RMTC Warehouse this fall for the first time in two decades.
As the mainstage season begins with a giant, articulating puppet of a Bengal tiger, the Warehouse season kicks off with legendary puppeteer Ronnie Burkett’s first visit to RMTC in more than two decades. (Oct. 9-26) tells the story of a man and his dog as they explore a condo-fied world after receiving an eviction notice.
Then, master British playwright Caryl Churchill’s comes to town (Nov. 13-29). A psychological thriller, set to be directed by Winnipeg’s Alex Poch-Goldin, the play explores technological creep and the ethics of cloning.
The Warehouse season closes with back-to-back world-premières scripted by Manitobans. JESSICA LEE / FREE PRESS FILES Holland, a dramedy directed by Suzie Martin (above) of Theatre Projects Manitoba and created in collaboration with Trish Cooper, premières at the Warehouse in February. First from Trish Cooper ( ) is , a dramedy co-presented with Theatre Projects Manitoba that deals with disability, family responsibility and an antagonistic social worker (Feb.
5- 21, 2026, directed by TPM artistic director Suzie Martin). Closing out the bill is , a haunting ghost story from Rhonda Apetagon, who developed the script during her stint in the RMTC’s Pimootayowin Creators Circle (March 12-28). ben.
[email protected] Sent weekly from the heart of Turtle Island, an exploration of Indigenous voices, perspectives and experiences. Ben Waldman is a National Newspaper Award-nominated reporter on the Arts & Life desk at the .
Born and raised in Winnipeg, Ben completed three internships with the while earning his degree at Ryerson University’s (now Toronto Metropolitan University’s) School of Journalism before joining the newsroom full-time in 2019. . Every piece of reporting Ben produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the ‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism.
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